The Miami Student | November 5, 2019

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

VOLUME 148 No. 10

MIAMI UNIVERSITY — OXFORD, OHIO

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR, PEOPLE.

ELECTION DAY

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES HAVE TROUBLE NAVIGATING CAMPUS

Miami offers no comment on alleged sexual assaulter’s enrollment

CONTRIBUTED BY MARION COUNTY INMATE DIVISION

ERIN GLYNN

NEWS EDITOR

DESIGN EDITOR CONNOR WELLS

HANNAH HORSINGTON THE MIAMI STUDENT

As Rosie Ries began to exit the stage after being presented with a prestigious scholarship, any joy she was feeling was immediately overshadowed.

When she reached the stairs, she knew she would have trouble. She didn’t have a choice but to use those stairs, and it almost turned a happy night into an embarrassing incident.

Last month, Ries, the president of the Miami

University Students with Disabilities Advisory Council (SDAC), was one of two students to receive the Astronaut Scholarship in Hall Auditorium. This merit-based scholarship is awarded to STEM majors who intend to pursue post-grad research.

Ries has a visual impairment that affects her depth perception. While walking up on stage to accept her award, she found that she had to navigate unmarked wooden stairs that only had a hand railing on one side.

“I almost fell sideways off the stairs, to the

point where Dr. [Renate] Crawford … stood up and gave me a hand because she saw that I was unsure where to put my feet,” Ries said.

Ries was surprised this had not been thought through better.

“We’re at a major auditorium, and I’m getting a major award,” she said. “We shouldn’t have this kind of problem.”

While Miami University renovates and updates buildings across campus every year, there CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Kaite Anderson first let Miami University know that Nicholas Shaw, a student who was expelled from his previous university in relation to sexual assault charges, was a student on Miami’s campus in early September.

On Sept. 5, Anderson tweeted “just saying hi to the boy who raped me ... hope you’re having a great time @miamiuniversity.”

Shaw had previously been expelled from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) after the university investigated an accusation of sexual assault and found Shaw responsible for sexual assualt and sexual exploitation.

Shaw was originally charged with two counts of rape, one count of criminal confinement with bodily injury and one count of criminal confinement. He pleaded guilty to criminal confinement and served six days CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

‘The struggle isn’t over; in fact, it’s just beginning’

Activism at Miami, from Freedom Summer to BAM 2.0

MADELINE PHABY STAFF WRITER

When a Miami University student used a racial slur in a GroupMe message in November 2017 and then joked about it in a Tinder conversation a few months later, black students on campus reached a breaking point.

Thus, the Black Action Movement (BAM) 2.0 was born.

Josiah Collins, Vice President of the Black Student Action Association (BSAA) and member of BAM 2.0, said that the movement was started in response to apathy from administration and seeks to benefit all minority groups on campus.

“A group of students came together to let administration know that we were tired of being disrespected on a campus we pay to be on,” Collins wrote in an email to The Miami Student. “The goal wasn’t to just make it better for black students, but for any minority on this campus currently and for those who will be here after us.”

Borrowing its name from the original BAM of 1997, members of the new movement produced a list of demands and deadlines for the administration. Many, but not all, of these demands were met by their respective deadlines.

In 1997, a black first-year student received a voicemail laden with racial slurs and threats.

This incident was the catalyst for the original Black Action Movement (BAM) in April 1997.

Many of BAM’s demands were similar to those of BAM 2.0 — increased enrollment and retention of minority students, formation of a CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

This Issue NEWS

MEMBERS OF THE FREEDOM SUMMER EFFORT PARTICIPATED IN A PANEL AND SHARED THEIR EXPERIENCES AS YOUNG ACTIVISTS NEWS EDITOR RACHEL BERRY

CULTURE

shots, shots, shots could keep you safe page 4

one student suffers an unfortunate axi-dent page 6

SPORTS

Jaylon Bester earns his stripes page 10

OPINION

It’s written in the stars They know a thing or two. Maybe. page 12

This Week

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NEWS 3

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The hateful environment on this campus needs to be brought to attention A few weeks ago, a racist picture was sent by now-former ASG Senator Maxwell Hessling.

The Miami Student, while doing good work with the original story and editorial they published, failed to note that the offensive meme that was posted by a member of the College Republicans.

It is important that things like this are stated and put to the forefront and that groups on campus condemn this type of behavior in their own groups and to their friends exhibiting harmful behavior.

When the article was published in The Student, I contacted a member of the College Republicans’ executive board to ask if they were aware of this and whether they would be doing anything about it.

Even after I tried providing screenshots of the incident, the member I talked to seemed to not know what I was talking about, not to know who Hessling was and failed to follow up afterward.

I was hoping that a member of their own executive board would be willing to look into this and condemn this type of behavior.

I was sadly mistaken.

The problem is not only that my inquiries were essentially ignored but that their response to this was not to condemn what their own member was saying. Instead of handling the incident, members pretended it didn’t exist.

The College Republicans, specifically members of their executive board, need to condemn intolerance within their community.

This certainly isn’t the first incident of something hateful happening on campus. White supremacists with Patriot Front spread posters of their hateful rhetoric. We’ve seen students on our campus send anti-Semitic Venmo requests which perpetuate hateful rhetoric that marginalizes Miami’s Jewish community. The Turning Point USA organization, known for spreading racist, harmful and false ideals, has made a recent insurgence on campus.

Incidents like this should not be ignored as they have been thus far. It makes marginalized groups feel unwelcome on this campus, and the things said by members of the College Republicans, along with other groups on campus, contribute to the toxic environment at Miami

today.

Ignoring this behavior helps foster an environment of ignorance, hatred and intolerance on campus.

It’s the responsibility of leaders on campus to call out these things and condemn them publicly. President Crawford and other members of the administration must speak out. The Student needs to make sure to call out these actions, as does ASG (which it has done a good job of doing, considering the circumstances).

More needs to be done to hold groups accountable for the hateful environment they foster on campus and condemn hateful actions that happen at the hand of their members.

It’s time that we stop walking on eggshells and call out bigotry for what it is.

Omar Elghazawi, student elghazoa@miamioh.edu

are still buildings, both academic and residential, that are not easily accessible for those with disabilities.

According to the interactive campus map, at least two dorms (Thomson Hall and Dodds Hall) have no apparent accessible entrance.

Other dorms appear to have no accessible entrances but, in reality, do, indicating that the map has not been updated.

Robert Bell, associate director of planning, architecture and engineering, said Miami’s Physical Facilities department (PFD) does not track these statistics and could not confirm the number of inaccessible buildings on campus.

“All academic buildings have accessible entrances,” said Dan Darkow, accommodations coordinator for the Miller Center for Student Disability Services. “As a wheelchair user myself, I find this campus to be very accommodating as I navigate campus, and Miami is committed to continual improvement ensuring an accessible experience for all.”

Junior Malone Breland said she faces difficulties while navigating campus. Malone has a non-visible disability in her ankle ligaments, which makes walking or even putting weight on her foot extremely hard at times.

Like Ries, she finds the number of stairs on campus to be a constant source of pain. But Breland said the setbacks a physical disability can cause probably do not even occur to most people.

“I think that’s kind of the thing about being disabled on campus — you can do a lot, but most of it is not easy,” Breland said.

Darkow said approximately 10 percent of Miami students are affiliated with Disability Services, totalling about 2,000 students with reported disabilities. These disabilities include physical disabilities as well as non-visible disabilities, like ADHD, anxiety, depression and migraines.

As listed in the Housing Master Plan, which maps out which buildings will be renovated and when, all residential buildings on campus should be renovated or shuttered by 2030.

The plan, which began in 2009, focuses on remodeling a few dorms each year, taking them out of service during the renovation process.

The oldest dorms were scheduled to be renovated first, with more modern dorms to follow in later years. But renovations have yet to reach many residence halls on campus.

According to the Master Housing plan, as of 2019-2020, 15 residential buildings are yet to be updated. Another five were slated to have been taken offline.

“We do have a lot of buildings across campus that are not accessible or [have] limited accessibility,” Bell said.

Thomson Hall, for example, located on Western Campus, has no handicap accessibility. The building entrances only feature steps, and the elevator is used solely for maintenance.

Buildings like Boyd Hall also have poor accessible entrances. It has handicap accessible entrances, but these entrances are located in the back of the building, behind dumpsters or in difficult to access areas.

“Some of the places on campus are send-

ing the message that ‘we don’t really want you here because we don’t want to give you access to the front door,’ and … I don’t think that’s the message we should be sending,” Ries said.

Breland has faced other accessibility issues on campus, like struggling to find a handicap accessible shower. When she requested one and explained that it was crucial for her ability to shower, she found it difficult to convince the university that she truly needed to change dorms. She was eventually given a room on the second floor of her building, far away from the bathroom.

“They did the absolute bare minimum for me, and I felt so uncared for,” Breland said.

“Especially, like, to have the Miller Center make me feel like I don’t have the right to accessibility. What do you do after that?”

While recovering from surgery during her sophomore year, Breland returned to her on-campus job as a student manager for one of the dining hall markets. She notified her manager about her surgery and provided a doctor’s note explaining restrictions to her level of physical activity, such as not being allowed to carry heavy objects as she recovered.

Breland said the note sat unread on her manager’s desk for two weeks.

“It didn’t move once, but she said she sent it to her superiors,” Breland said. “So, it was ignored.”

Breland’s manager could not be reached for comment.

Miami’s accessibility problems aren’t limited to the lack of wheelchair entrances. Visually impaired students, for example, often also find navigating campus to be difficult.

SDAC has advocated for marked staircas-

‘The struggle isn’t over; in fact, it’s just beginning’ Activism at Miami, from Freedom Summer to BAM 2.0

FROM FRONT

recruitment of black faculty.

Like BAM 2.0, not all of the original movement’s demands were met. Miami’s administration dismissed certain demands, such as the formation of minority studies programs and increasing minority enrollment to make it proportional to the state population, according to The Miami Student’s summary of the university’s response to the demands.

BAM 2.0 may be the most recent activist movement at Miami, but it’s far from the first.

Miami has a rich history of such movements, which can be traced back 55 years to the Freedom Summer training that took place at the Western College for Women, now part of Miami, in 1964.

Though Miami didn’t directly contribute to the training, the university adopted it as part of its history when it merged with Western in 1974.

In the decades following the Civil War, many black people in the southern United States were unable to register to vote for a number of reasons, including the fact that county officials enforced arbitrary literacy tests and poll taxes designed to make voting impossible for people of color. Even today, laws such as ID regulations disproportionately affect people of color and act as barriers to their political participation.

Freedom Summer sought to remedy this disenfranchisement by sending northern activists — most of them young, white students — into Mississippi to help people of color register to vote.

At Western College, the activists were trained in everything from how to confront angry mobs to how to protect their vital organs while being attacked.

To commemorate Western College for Women’s role in this monumental event, the Humanities Center sponsored the conference “Freedom 55 Mini-Conference: Freedom Summer, Then, Now and the Future” on Nov. 1 and 2, which

took place at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

The conference aimed to expose more students to Freedom Summer’s legacy and keep the memory of the movement alive.

A new documentary about the event, which was shown publicly for the first time at the conference, is a step toward achieving this goal. Production of the documentary took six years and was led by Richard Campbell, professor emeritus of journalism.

“I’m very proud of [the film],” Campbell said.

“I believe every University 101 class ought to be showing it, just to understand the history of this.”

Several of those who participated in Freedom Summer took part in a panel moderated by Miami Professor of History Nishani Frazier and shared their experiences as young activists.

Following the panel, Miami Professor of Global and Intercultural Studies Rodney Coates commented on the significance of the participants’ presence.

“When was the last time you were in a room with three giants — three people who have given so much and received so little?” Coates asked.

Coates also moderated a panel comprised of black Miami alumni who are successful in their careers and involved in social activism.

Yvette Simpson, CEO of Democracy for America, said the opportunities she had at Miami greatly influenced her future success as an activist. She emphasized how crucial it is to know about Miami’s involvement with Freedom Summer.

“This legacy, which Miami should talk about more, is important for folks to know,” Simpson said. “Miami was doing this and was the grounds for these events many decades ago.”

The first major protest at Miami after Freedom Summer was the 1970 occupation of Rowan Hall, now part of the Armstrong Student Center.

On April 15, 1970, hundreds of Miami stu-

As a former VAP and now-instructor at Miami University, I wholeheartedly agree with a designated midterm exam week leading into fall break. I think it’s an excellent idea — just one midterm exam and one final exam. There should also be a moratorium on quizzes and projects due in the preceding and following week(s) of the mid-term exam week.

Andor J Kiss, PhD Director - Center for Bioinformatics & Functional Genomics kissaj@miamioh.edu

Editor’s Note: If our reporters had evidence Hessling was a member of the College Republicans, we would have said so.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES HAVE TROUBLE NAVIGATING CAMPUS FROM FRONT

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

dents occupied the building, which housed the ROTC program, in protest of both the Vietnam war and racial inequality. About 150 students were arrested for trespassing and hundreds more were attacked by Ohio state troopers with tear gas, according to a special report published

by The Miami Student the day after the demonstration.

Following the protest, Miami’s Black Student Action Association (BSAA) produced a list of demands to the administration, including increasing enrollment of black students, hiring more black faculty members and absolving those who had been arrested during the Rowan Hall occupation.

Though conditions were gradually improved for students of color, black students still experienced discrimination on campus.

From racist imagery in Miami’s yearbook, Recensio, to racial slurs in GroupMe messages, Miami has a complicated racial history. However, Coates said that there is plenty of evidence that the university has changed for the better in the past fifty years, and will continue this upward trend in the future.

“There were no black folks on this campus fifty years ago, so clearly, things have changed,” he said. “The fact that students are aggressive and actively engaged within this institution means that it is constantly changing.”

Addressing the attendees of the conference, Coates indicated that the legacy of Freedom Summer must be continued through further activist efforts, both on Miami’s campus and beyond.

“Thank you all for this moment in time; this moment when we reflect upon how we got here,” Coates said. “But as we contemplate this moment, let us not forget that the struggle isn’t over; in fact, it’s just beginning.” phabymr@miamioh.edu

es which would allow those who struggle with depth perception to see stairs more clearly.

This request, which Ries said has been submitted to PFD multiple times, has never been granted.

“I’ve not heard that myself. Depending on how she made the request, if it was to the Physical Facilities Department through the work order system, it should have gotten at least a response,” Bell said.

Bell said PFD doesn’t consider the accessibility of a building until it’s slated to be renovated.

Legally, buildings constructed before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 are not required to be handicap accessible unless renovations have been made.

“We do what we can with what we have,’’ Darkow said.

When questions arise about accessibility issues, the Miller Center works with the university and is “actively involved in those conversations.”

Bell said that PFD consults with Disability Services while planning new buildings, asking them to review floor plans and highlight any features that may be a problem.

Even when the buildings are renovated, though, some students don’t find the buildings to be fully accessible.

“Large windows next to transparent or open doors can be difficult for the visually impaired to navigate, and running into these windows happens more frequently than they would like,” Ries said.

Ries explained that she understands the university will not become 100 percent accessible overnight.

“I get it. And I get it would cost a lot,” she said. “But it seems like every time they renovate a building, they should think about it more carefully.” @h_horsington12 horsinhp@miamioh.edu

Miami offers no comment on alleged sexual assaulter’s enrollment in jail.

Later on Sept. 5, Anderson spoke to Miami’s Office of Admission and the Division of Student Life.

“I got kind of generic answers,” she said.

Anderson said she was told the university would look into the situation and get back to her. The university did not ask for her contact information.

The Office of Admission refused to comment to The Student on when they became aware of Shaw’s expulsion and criminal history.

After her conversations with the Miami offices, Anderson began to reach out to Facebook groups related to Miami. The “Miami University Class of 2023 - Parents” group was the first to respond and approve her post, which detailed Shaw’s criminal history, asked the parents to tell their students to “watch out for themselves and their classmates” and included a link to the court record for Nicholas Shaw v. Indiana.

Director of Admissions Bethany Perkins said Miami has a process that requires prospective students to disclose whether they have been charged or convicted with a crime and that a student who does not share accurate information can face expulsion.

As of Friday, Shaw was no longer enrolled at Miami. The Student’s initial report on Shaw’s case came out Thursday night.

Anderson reached out to Perkins again after Shaw’s departure. She said she asked the university to “be a part of the conversation so that this never happens again.” Miami did not respond.

Asst. News Editors Tim Carlin and Briah Lumpkins assisted with the reporting of this story. @ee_glynn glynnee@miamioh.edu

4 NEWS

BERRYRD@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

PASSING CARS HONKED IN RESPONSE TO ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTORS OUTSIDE THE OXFORD COURTHOUSE. STAFF WRITER CAROLINE HAUBENSTRIKER

Animal cruelty bill coincides with two Oxford cases ABBY BAMMERLIN CAROLINE HAUBENSTRICKER THE MIAMI STUDENT

Nine adults stood outside protesting in the rain, holding umbrellas in one hand and signs in the other as they gathered in front of the Oxford Courthouse to protest animal abuse.

One sign said “Honk 2 demand justice 4 animals.” While the group peacefully protested, many passing cars honked to share their enthusiasm for animal protection.

There was a sense of comaraderie among the protestors because they had all followed two animal cruelty cases — David Neanover’s and now Zichang Li’s — as both go through the court system.

Neanover, a resident from Reilly Township, was charged with cruelty to animals, a second degree misdemeanor, for the death of his two-year old dog, Lou, after failing to feed him. According to Local12, Lou had to resort to eating rocks.

Li, a Miami sophomore, was charged with cruelty to animals for failure to feed her dog, Dollar, and leaving him in his own excrement.

While the two animal abuse cases are being prosecuted in Oxford, Congress is attempting to change how animal abuse crimes are prosecuted.

The U.S. House of Representatives

passed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act on Oct. 22, making many forms of animal cruelty a federal crime. The bill now faces the U.S. Senate for a vote.

“The rain doesn’t stop us,” said protestor Nick Bandura. “Compared to what the dog went through, this is nothing.”

Bandura is not an Oxford resident; however, he and his friends have followed Neanover’s case and protested animal cruelty since May 2019.

Bandura held a laminated photograph of Lou as well as a sign that read “Honk if you want the Maximum penalty 4 animal abuse.”

“I follow everything animals,” said Oxford resident, Nancy Curtiss. “We’re here protesting them both. It’s a two for one.”

Those protesting attended both Neanover and Li’s hearings at 10 a.m. on Oct. 31 at the Oxford Courthouse.

During Neanover’s hearing, Judge Lyons discussed planning a jury trial date for Neanover’s charges.

Neanover’s attorney filed a motion to suppress evidence.

Li pled no contest to her charges, meaning she will forego a jury trial to allow the presiding judge to decide if she is guilty.

Li’s attorney, Jing Zhang, translated for Li. Because Li is an international

City Council candidates debate housing, sustainability

student from China, she could be deported if found guilty, Lyons said.

On Sept. 13, the property management at Oxford Commons, where Li lives, called the Oxford Police Department (OPD) for an animal welfare check, concerned about Li’s rottweiler, Dollar. OPD officer Angela Schatzle went to Li’s apartment and found Dollar, who looked like he had been caged for a prolonged amount of time.

Schatzle told Li to take Dollar to the vet, giving her information for two vet clinics close to Oxford.

Schatzle checked in multiple times with Li over the next month. On Oct. 18, Schatzle found Dollar in a crate filled with a moist pile of feces and could see the dog’s ribs. Schatzle then took Dollar to the vet, and Dollar weighed 45 pounds.

Dollar remained in the vet’s custody until the court hearing last week, where Judge Jeffrey Bowling ruled that Dollar should no longer be in Li’s custody. Li agreed to give up custody, and Dollar was taken to the Animal Friends Humane Society.

Lyons and Zhang agreed to order a pre-sentence investigation report (PSI).

A PSI is a report written by a probation agent of the Department of Corrections with information regarding the case and the defendant, so the judge can make an informed decision about the

defendant’s sentencing.

Li will be sentenced at 10 a.m. on Dec. 19 in the Oxford Courthouse.

Schatzle said that animal cruelty cases are uncommon in Oxford but supports the bill to make animal cruelty a federal crime. In the past three years, Shatzle said she can only remember four or five cases where the department has criminally charged a suspect.

“Anything that can give us another tool to prosecute crime is great,” Shatzle said.

Shatzle said that the bill will not greatly impact the way in which she handles cases. She said the bill would only impact the department in the case of large, out-of-state cases, like a multistate dog fighting ring.

Schatzle said the most common problems she deals with in regards to animal control are “dog at large” cases.

These typically refer to dogs that have escaped their owners’ property and are not considered under “reasonable control.” These animals are usually roaming around without supervision.

Despite the rarity of animal cruelty cases in Oxford, Shatzle said she has received free training in how to handle animal cruetly cases from the Humane Society.

Molly Buckley, a veterinarian at the Animal Care Clinic in Oxford, said that she rarely sees animal cruelty.

Buckley said she is “disheartened” by the Facebook posts she’s seen criticising student pet owners as a result of this case.

“I realize that students are pulled in a lot of directions, and the social aspects of our lives [in] our twenties have heavier weight than our forties,” Buckley said. “But that’s normal, and I don’t think you can look at a 20-year-old and tell them that they shouldn’t have a pet.”

Buckley said that animal education is important for all ages. The Animal Care Clinic helps train pet owners at “pet parties” in apartment buildings around Oxford at the beginning of each semester. The clinic also uses an app called PetDesk to help pet owners stay up to date on information regarding their pet.

OPD Lieutenant Lara Fening said she believes the main causes for animal cruelty relate to a person’s upbringing, culture, mental illness and insuffient income. For her, giving up the animal would be better than failing to care for it.

“Even if you’re not a doting animal owner,” Fening said, “no one wants to see an animal suffer.” bammeraj@miamioh.edu @haubenstrickerc haubence@miamioh.edu

Commuter students find community in each other MADELINE PHABY STAFF WRITER

THE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES DEBATED HOUSING, TOWN-GOWN RELATIONS AND SUSTAINABILITY AT LAST WEDNESDAY’S DEBATE. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

ERIN GLYNN

NEWS EDITOR Five candidates answered questions about the most pressing issues in Oxford at the second-ever Oxford City Council debate, hosted by The Miami Student.

The candidates — who are running for three open seats — discussed the lack of variety of housing in Oxford, the status of the town’s relationship with Miami University and environmental sustainability.

Three of the candidates, Jason Bracken, Glenn Ellerbe and Bill Snavely, called on Miami President Gregory Crawford to sign the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments, a commitment to making the university more sustainable and carbon-neutral.

Jason Bracken emphasized his belief in compassion, empathy and evidence-based decision-making during the debate. He stressed the need to gather good data on the homeless population in Oxford, stating it was necessary in order to aid “the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Current Councilor Glenn Ellerbe has spent four years on council. He describes himself as a realist and a centrist who believes in making decisions with a municipal focus.

Ellerbe said when making any decision on council he first considers whether that decision will move Ox-

ford forward.

He said he plans to work to improve strategic alignment between the city and Miami.

Hueston Kyger described himself as a “townie and proud” and stressed the need for additional housing in Oxford to promote growth. He said that he hoped to especially encourage young professionals and people with young families to move to the city because they have the most disposable income.

Chris Skoglind moved to Oxford three years ago and previously served as a public servant for twenty years in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania.

Skoglind emphasized his desire to expand the Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) routes in Oxford and look into alternatively-fueled vehicles for Oxford’s public transportation in the future.

Bill Snavely served 12 years on City Council starting in the 1980s, and he spent six of those years as Oxford’s mayor. He said he hopes to address housing affordability with planned unit developments in the Oxford neighborhood overlay that cover a variety of types of housing so that not all spaces become housing for students.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5 and polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. @ee_glynn glynnee@miamioh.edu

“Three of the candidates, Jason Bracken, Glenn Ellerbe and Bill Snavely, called on Miami President Gregory Crawford to sign the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments, a commitment to making the university more sustainable and carbon-neutral.”

Tucked behind a study room on the second floor of the Armstrong Student Center is a small room equipped with multiple sets of tables and chairs, a kitchenette and a shelf filled with board games, among other things. Several students are seated throughout the room, either quietly studying or chatting with one another.

This is the Commuter Center, located in Armstrong 2045. Despite its name, it’s open to all Miami University students between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Outside of this time frame, commuter students can tap their ID cards to gain access to the room.

Although it’s a comfortably-sized space, it’s far too small to serve as the home base for the 667 commuter students at Miami. It isn’t even labeled on the directory in Armstrong.

However, the Commuter Center is the one place on campus that commuter students can call their own and form connections with others who share their experiences — and sometimes struggles.

At Miami, commuters come from towns all over southwestern Ohio, not just Oxford. In addition to their different hometowns, they have several different motivations for commuting instead of living on campus.

Ben Clift, a junior economics major who commutes to Miami from Eaton, Ohio, chose to commute because traditional residential life simply didn’t appeal to him.

“I was not very enamored with dorm life; it did not seem like something that I was interested in experiencing,” Clift said. “My parents were happy to let me live in the house, so I took that [opportunity].”

For other commuters, such as mathematics majors Emma Jewell and Holden Isaacs, the decision to remain at home is primarily financial.

“Graduating debt-free sounded much better than graduating in debt, so that’s why I chose to commute,” Jewell said.

Isaacs gave a similar reason for choosing to commute.

“I didn’t want to spend the money. I was able to go here for fairly cheap with scholarships, so I was just like ‘meh, let’s do that,’” he said.

Clift, Jewell and Isaacs are all members of the executive board of the Commuters of Miami (COM) organization, which meets in the Commuter Center and provides a designated time for

THE COMMUTER CENTER PROVIDES A SPACE FOR STUDENTS TO STUDY AND HANG OUT. PHOTOGRAPHER DAKOTA SKINNER

commuters to voice their complaints and build community.

For many commuters, COM — which meets in the middle of the day to accommodate everyone’s schedules — is the only organization they’re involved with at Miami because driving back to campus for a nighttime meeting is too much of a hassle.

Jewell, who commuted for her first two years but now lives on-campus, said that the difficulty of getting involved contributed to her lack of attachment to Miami when she lived at home.

“For my first two years, when I wasn’t involved in much, [Miami] was just a place that I would come to, go to classes and go home,” Jewell said.

“Now that I live on-campus, and I’ve had more on-campus involvement, it’s different.”

Since many residential students tend to make friends through organizations, this lack of involvement makes it difficult for many commuter students to form connections with their peers aside from those who spend time in the Commuter Center.

“I only have two or three good friends that are outside of the commuters, like from classes and stuff,” Isaacs said. “It’s just a lot more difficult.”

Despite having to drive to campus every day, commuter students must park in the same lots as residential students.

They also do not get special privileges for class registration, even though taking an 8:30 a.m. class may mean having to wake up at 6 a.m. to beat traffic.

First-year orientation is heavily geared toward residential students, but it provides no information on resources for commuter students.

To remedy this issue, this year COM attempted to hold its own orientation session for commuter students, but only 30 of the approximately 250 commuter students in the class of 2023 attended.

Adam Leftin, assistant director of the Armstrong Student Center, became the adviser of both COM and the Commuter Center in May 2019. Determined to address the students’ common complaints and enhance their experience at Miami, he led a focus group with the Division of Student Life to decide what changes need to be made to increase the commuters’ sense of belonging on campus.

“I’m really looking to take this year to focus on the mission of the Commuter Center: What services do we want it to be able to provide for commuter students, and what are ways that we can advocate for commuter students,” Leftin said.

The students have expressed appreciation for Leftin’s efforts so far.

He’s secured new study tables and a mini fridge for the Commuter Center.

But no matter what the future holds for Miami’s commuter students, they say they’re grateful for the resources they already have.

“I feel like what’s been going on lately has been a lot better for us,” Isaacs said. “People have actively been trying to help us.”

But most of all, they’re grateful for each other.

“I don’t have a good connection with a lot of the people I see walking around [Miami]. I don’t feel like a Miami student in the same way they do,” Clift said. “But I feel like a Miami student when I’m with the commuters.” phabymr@miamioh.edu

GLYNNEE@MIAMIOH.EDU

NEWS 5

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

ASG advocates for angel shots in Uptown bars CAROLINE HAUBENSTRICKER STAFF WRITER

Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) wants to implement angel shots at Uptown bars to increase student safety. Angel shots are used at bars as a code for people who feel uncomfortable on a date or are in an unsafe situation to signal discreetly that they need help from the bartender.

According to CNN, angel shots have gained popularity in recent years due to the high numbers of sexual assault reports.

Three sexual assaults have been reported at Brick Street Bar & Grill this semester.

On Sept. 16, a case of fondling was reported to Miami University Police Department (MUPD) that occured in Brick.

On Sept. 21 and Nov. 3, students reported being sexually assaulted at Brick.

“We loved this idea [of implementing angel shots],” Off-Campus Senator Ben Finfrock said. “I have been in situations where a friend was uncomfortable, and this is an easy and discreet way to handle that.”

Finfrock is acting as the point person on the project.

Finfrock said that ASG came up with the idea at a senate retreat in early September. However, ASG is only now starting the process of writing the angel shot legislation.

“Claire [Keller] was the one who got the ball rolling,” Finfrock said. “She knew Ted Wood [the owner of O’Pub, Left Field Tavern, Pachinko’s, Side Bar and The Wood’s], who was pleased by the idea.”

Keller, ASG secretary for off-campus affairs, along with six other ASG senators, including Finfrock, Julia Koenig, Shelby Frye, Halle Sarkisian, Anna Burke and Dan Bosworth, spearheaded the push for angel shots to be implemented in bars owned by Wood. They hope this will be implemented in all of the Uptown bars.

On Oct. 2o, ASG sent out a Google form to students to gather research on angel shots. The form asked students questions about their knowledge of angel shots, if they would use them and suggestions on ways that ASG could improve the implementation of angel shots.

“Well over half of the student body said that they’d use it,” Finfrock said.

The data gathered from the Google form will be used by the bill’s authors when presenting it to the senate for a vote.

“I really like angel shots,” said sophomore Rachel Anthony, who visits the Uptown bars regularly. “I would definitely use this.”

Sophomore Lauren Havlin is also a fan of the potential program.

“I’ve never been in [a] situation [to ask for an angel shot],” Havlin said. “But it would be a smart thing to have at the bars.”

ASG, along with Wood, plans to implement a tentative trial run this coming weekend of angel shots at Wood’s properties. Senators working on the initiative plan to meet with Wood to discuss how helpful the program was after the trial run.

“To me, it’s 100 percent worth participating in a program that could potentially keep someone safe or even save a life,” Wood said.

Wood said he understands that bars are no exceptions for potential danger and trains his employees to be able to spot potential problems and dangerous issues.

However, Wood knows that some issues can go unnoticed.

“A solution like ordering an angel shot can bring awareness to a potential problem to light, so preventative measures can be taken,” Wood said.

Wood and the senators aimed to make the shot as simple as possible. Rather than having an angel shot ordered “neat,” “with ice” or “with a lime,” which some places use to indicate how severe the bartender will

react to the order, Miami students would just order an angel shot.

“We wanted it simple so that if a student ordered it incorrectly, they wouldn’t get something they didn’t want,” Finfrock said. “The bartender and the student would decide the best course of action from there.”

ASG has drafted a graphic for ordering an angel shot that will be placed in the bathrooms of all of Wood’s properties.

Finfrock hopes to pass legislation through ASG before Thanksgiving to implement the angel shots full-time.

Finfrock’s eventual goal is to implement angel shots in all of the Uptown bars.

“I think this will be very beneficial,” said senior bartender Sophia Fisher. “[It’s] an easy way to say something is wrong without explaining yourself.”

Fisher has been a bartender at Side Bar and The Wood’s since her junior year.

As a bartender, Fisher said that she’s unable to always watch every student to make sure they’re safe. She believes this program will help students feel more comfortable when going out.

Fisher said even before angel shots were being implemented, if a student came up to the bar and told the bartender they were uncomfortable, the bartender could get the manager to help the student home.

She thinks that this program will only be an issue if the bars are extremely busy, as the bartenders would have trouble stepping away from the bar.

“If a student is super drunk or unresponsive, we send them home or call a friend of theirs to help them get home,” Fisher said.

ILLUSTRATION BY KAT HOLLERAN

@haubenstrickerc haubence@miamioh.edu

Conservative ASG HOLDS IMPEACHMENT HEARING, PASSES group tries to buy FREEDOM SUMMER REMEMBRANCE BILL influence in ASG RACHEL BERRY NEWS EDITOR

tically ignoring the history of marginalized communities,” Stephens said.

During debate time for the bill, ASG members expressed support and concern that many members of the Miami community don’t know about Freedom Summer.

“This is such a critical moment that happened in American history, and the fact that we just tuck it away and that Miami only appropriates that history when it benefits itself is just disgusting; it’s disgusting,” said Parliamentarian Adrian Radilla.

The bill passed unanimously. Small said President Gregory Crawford has already expressed support for the initiative. The Board of Trustees will vote on the name change at its meeting in December, and, if approved, it will be implemented in the spring.

Senators also elected Tatum Moleski as a College of Arts and Science hard science senator. Moleski is a senior but said she was running because she was sexually assaulted earlier this semester and wants to make changes with how the university deals with assault reports.

An ad-hoc committee called the Associated Student Government Operational Study Committee also formed to study ASG’s operations.

An ad-hoc committee is a temporary committee formed to complete a specific purpose.

Last year, there was an unsuccessful attempt to restructure the executive cabinet.

The ad-hoc committee is tasked with auditing ASG’s positions and efficiency to essentially determine if structural reform is necessary, said Radilla.

The committee was approved and will report back at the end of the semester. It will be chaired by On-Campus Senator Ryan Barr.

At least two Associated Student Government (ASG) cabinet members received emails offering scholarships and mentorship from the Campus Leadership Project (CLP), a mentorship program for student leaders and subset of Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit group.

According to its website, the CLP is a leadership development program that supports and trains student leaders while also giving them educational and career opportunities.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Turning Point USA seeks to exert influence over student government leaders and often gives money to try to elect conservative students.

In 2017, candidates at The Ohio State University and the University of Maryland at College Park dropped out after it was revealed that they received campaign donations from Turning Point USA, according to The Chronicle.

Last year, a student body president at Texas State University resigned after being accused of taking campaign money from the organization.

Representatives from CLP couldn’t be reached for comment.

On Monday, Oct. 28, Antonio Vasquez Lim, ASG’s secretary for infrastructure and sustainability, and Ben Mitsch, ASG’s secretary for safety, received emails offering them a scholarship and mentorship from CLP. Mitsch said he thought the email was spam.

“I don’t really know much about [CLP], and I don’t really have the time or the interest to reply to it,” Mitsch said.

Lim also hadn’t heard of the company but thought the email seemed weird and did some research, finding articles about CLP’s involvement in student government at other schools.

Lim said he will not accept the scholarship from CLP and didn’t respond to the email.

“I just wanted to stay far away from it,” he said.

Lim thinks he was targeted because of the nature of his position.

“I would think it’s because my position is related to sustainability, and a lot of times conservatives differ in views from maybe my views even though I don’t really vocalize them that often,” Lim said. “I feel like they want to change my views on sustainability, I guess make me just stop pursuing it as much or kind of make my position impotent.”

Lim clarified that he would never take bribes for his work in ASG. “Involving money in the affairs of people that are supposed to be representing the student body, it just isn’t right to me, and it kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” he said. “I think that trying to tempt these students with scholarships who might not have any money … is just not a good tactic to me.”

@racheldberry berryrd@miamioh.edu

@racheldberry berryrd@miamioh.edu

AFTER JOSHUA KENNEDY GAVE HIS STATEMENT AND HIS WITNESSES’ TESTIMONY, SENATE VOTED NOT TO IMPEACH HIM. NEWS EDITOR RACHEL BERRY

RACHEL BERRY NEWS EDITOR

Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) failed to impeach an on-campus senator at its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

The oversight committee filed articles of impeachment against On-Campus Senator Joshua Kennedy on Oct. 27. Kennedy had accumulated 11 total points, which is ASG’s internal way of holding senators accountable for their attendance. Senators are given points for missing meetings and other mandatory events. Receiving ten points is grounds for impeachment.

Kennedy didn’t attend the inclusion forum on Sept. 18, which was required for all senators. He hasn’t attended his weekly office hours all semester and missed one senate meeting without providing prior notice or arranging for an alternate. He also missed four out of five total meetings of the two committees he is a member of.

Speaker Pro Tempore Victoria Villanueva had previously emailed Kennedy to notify him that he had accumulated a large number of points and offered to set up a meeting. Kennedy never responded.

“It’s not as bad as it looks; there’s always more to the story,” Kennedy said of his record during his impeachment hearing.

Kennedy’s uncle died before the semester began, and his grandpa was recently diagnosed with cancer. He said these were the reasons he missed so many meetings.

Kennedy acknowledged that he should have notified someone prior to missing the meetings and said if he were allowed to stay in ASG, he would do better.

“If I didn’t care about the senate, I wouldn’t

be speaking in front of it because it’s kind of hard to do, but I feel like if I didn’t speak and resigned, I wouldn’t be doing my job,” Kennedy said.

After struggling through part of his speech, Kennedy became nervous and said he couldn’t go on. Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion Brandon Small came forward and read the rest of the speech.

After Small finished speaking, Kennedy called him as one of his witnesses.

Small called himself an empathetic person and implored the senate to give Kennedy another chance. Then he spoke directly to Kennedy.

“If they do decide to give you a second chance, you need to do better,” Small said.

“You need to hold yourself accountable.”

After debate, the senate voted to acquit Kennedy.

Later, Academic Senator Vada Stephens presented a resolution which would rename the lounge spaces in Beechwoods, Hillcrest and Stonebridge Halls after Freedom Summer activists Micheal Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman.

Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman were part of a group of 800 volunteers who gathered at Western College for Women in 1964 for training before going to Mississippi to register African Americans to vote. Klansman killed Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman shortly after their arrival in Mississippi.

Stephens and the other sponsors of the bill see renaming the lounge spaces as a way to remember these men. Artwork and plaques will be placed in the lounges depicting these men and other events or figures from the Civil Rights Movement.

“There are numerous powerful stories that sit on our campus, yet an overarching privileged mindset consumes the campus, prac-

6 CULTURE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

HEADLEDD@MIAMIOH.EDU

Former Kosovo president wants gender equity and you to visit sometime CHLOE MURDOCK

ASST. MAGAZINE EDITOR Atifete Jahjaga, former Republic of Kosovo president, described her career path in male-dominated, post-war fields that led to her 2011-2016 presidency in a talk on Monday, Nov. 4. Before delving into those topics, however, she began by thanking her audience and asking Miami students and faculty to visit Kosovo.

Carl Dahlman is a Miami professor and coordinator for international studies who also directs the university’s Kosovo study abroad program. After Jahjaga sat down for coffee last summer with a cohort of ten Miami students studying in Kosovo, Dahlman paved the way for Jahjaga to come speak at Miami as part of the Grayson Kirk Lecture series.

In Laws Hall, Dahlman introduced Jahjaga as the fourth president of Kosovo, the first woman in her country to reach this rank and the youngest head of state at the time of her presidency.

“Her CV is impressive, but not as impressive as what she has to tell you,” Dahlman said.

The Kosovo War started in 1998, when Jahjaga hadn’t yet joined the workforce. The Republic of Kosovo gained independence in 2008 from Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo as a country and waged war for control of it in the past and lost. With Russia’s backing, Serbia has since blocked Kosovo from joining the United Nations and the European Union.

Like many in her generation, Jahjaga completed high school in secret when Kosovo was not yet a country and Serbian forces prevented Albanians from public education that included their culture and language.

KOSOVO’S FORMER PRESIDENT SETES HERSELF APART FROM HER PRESIDENTIAL PEERS IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE. THE MIAMI STUDENT KELSEY WARNING.

“The normal route of going from one class to another for us became the trip from one home to another,” Jahjaga said.

In 2000, a year after the war ended, she obtained a law degree at the University of

Pristina, located in what is now the capital of Kosovo, and began work as a legal aide for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Within a few months, the country established a new police force.

Jahjaga, against her family’s wishes, quit a “comfortable, well-paying job” to be a police officer, “which was not deemed an appropriate job for a woman” in Kosovo.

“Soon, I learned that there was a solid expectation that women would fail in the police force and would ultimately withdraw,” Jahjaga said.

Jahjaga gradually rose up the ranks to become General Lt. Colonel, challenging policies within the force that Jahjaga said discriminated against women.

In 2011, male candidates clamored to replace Kosovo’s third president, Beghet Pacolli, whose corrupt rule was deemed unconstitutional. The international community saw Jahjaga as a clean slate outside of the “boys’ club” and tapped her to run.

Jahjaga at first doubted her ability to lead because of her gender.

“There was no one in that position before me, not in Kosovo, not in the region,” Jahjaga said. “That was when I realized that someone had to be the first.”

Jahjaga faced an audience of Miami faculty and students, including Majlinda Shalijani, a Luxembourgish exchange student who has dual citizenship in Kosovo.

Shalijani related Jahjaga’s experiences to her own mother’s stories about growing up.

“There were boys who made her feel like she would not be able to achieve the same things they would be able to do,” Shalijani said.

Defying expectations, Jahjaga ran as an independent. The Kosovo Parliament ushered her into office with an unprecedented single round of voting. murdocc3@miamioh.edu @chloeannmurdock

Notes of nostalgia: A dull hatchet and a bright friend BO BRUECK

ASST. PHOTO EDITOR Some memories are so poignant that you’re able to recall specific details of the situation long after the event has passed. This series highlights the truly memorable moments of our writers’ lives, those that have stuck with them for days, months and years and now take shape as stories on the page. *** Laughing on the way to the hospital is a strange feeling.

It’s a serious matter, sustaining an injury worthy of the ER, but I couldn’t help but smile.

Maybe it was because I was relieved the cut wasn’t worse or because I was trying to put my friend, Sean, at ease. But more than likely, it was because I wasn’t the one with the bloody stump.

It was Sean’s thumb dangling in a make-shift paper towel wrap on the road to surgery, not mine.

The summer after my senior year of high school taught me a lot of things, and most of those “life-lessons” have faded away with their corresponding memories. But Sean cutting his thumb, well, you could say it cut a little deeper.

We had just gotten off the water after a day of fly fishing in northern Michigan. Cold, hungry and annoyed at the fish for refusing to be caught, we started prepping dinner. No fresh trout tonight, just some skinless Oscar Meyers because Sean didn’t like the texture of a crisp hotdog. Un-American, if you ask me.

I chopped firewood while Sean drained the wiener juice from the package. Dinner would have been right on time had he not insisted on breaking in his new toy.

“I brought my hatchet,” Sean said. “I can help split the kindling.”

“Alright, sounds good,” I said, not thinking anything of it.

Chop. Twang.

The dry wood splintered to the dirt.

Chop. Chop.

“Uhhh…” Sean said.

I glanced over to him. He had his back to me with his right arm at his side, hatchet dangling there, useless.

“I cut myself.”

He turned to me, holding his left hand up in front of his wide blue eyes. Blood dripped down through his palm and dropped to the earth, staining the grass red.

I could see through him. Literally through his split thumb and into his eyes. He was scared.

Sean’s a smart guy, University of Michigan chemical engineering smart. But when you hack into your own hand, that stuff goes out the window.

Afraid he might bleed to death from a hand injury, we piled into his Mercury Mariner and sprayed dirt across the campground as we sped toward town.

I had wrapped his thumb in an arm’s length of paper towel that seemed to be stemming the bleeding.

He squeezed it tight with his good right hand, not daring to take any chances.

Halfway through the 30-minute drive to the hospital, he had calmed down enough to talk about it. He said things like, “I’m such an idiot,” and I said things like, “It could have happened to anyone.”

He was going to be fine, we both knew that now.

“It’s kinda funny,” I said.

“Yeah, maybe for you,” he said. But he was smiling.

“Lemme see it,” I said.

He showed me.

The cut was clean through his fingernail but not the entire digit. The tip of his thumb jutted out at an unnatural angle, clinging to his hand by the fingerprint alone.

“Damn, you’re an idiot,” I said. “But at least you still got the tip.”

We laughed. It’s a good thing that hatchet wasn’t too sharp. brueckro@miamioh.edu

Seeing triple:

THEY DIDN’T THINK THEY’D END UP IN THE SAME PLACE, BUT THE KELLERS ARE HAPPY THEY STUCK TOGETHER. CONTRIBUTED BY THE KELLER FAMILY.

Catching up with the Kellers EMILY DATTILO

CULTURE EDITOR When Miami first-years Jonas, Dominic and Luke Keller tell people they’re triplets, they often get asked to show their IDs. “That’s not the first conclusion that they jump to, that we’re triplets,” Luke said. “They just think when we walk together, they think we’re college friends until we tell them.”

Born a minute apart, the boys share a birthday, but each have a personality and style all their own.

With his wild brown hair, dark eyes and quiet demeanor, Jonas is the oldest and tallest. A biology/pre-med major, he sports a black Miami t-shirt, black shorts and red, white and blue Nikes.

Dominic has shorter dark hair, dark eyes and a serious expression. He wears tan shorts, a light pink sweatshirt and two beaded brown bracelets. He’s a business economics major.

Luke is the shortest and youngest, always smiling. His white t-shirt and grey Adidas jacket, gold-blonde hair and blue eyes set him apart from his brothers. He’s also a business economics major.

“We all like to think we’re the leaders I guess, but in reality, no one is really far separated from the other two,” Jonas said.

“We all kinda run parallel.”

The triplets have been a tight-knit unit since day one, and Luke remembers goofing around being a big part of that dynamic.

When the boys were five or six, their mom would do laundry, place a basket of clean clothes in their room, and the triplets would throw clean clothes down the laundry shoot. When the boys were 10, they won their first baseball championship

as a team with their dad as coach.

“Just the thrill of celebrating with Luke and Jonas was amazing, with my dad there as well,” Dominic said.

Growing up, they shared friend groups, a love for baseball and a room until they were 12 or 13. They attended The Seven Hills School in Cincinnati and traveled to all 50 states together.

The triplets, like any set of siblings, argue every now and then, but it’s never too serious. During high school, the boys’ dad bugged them for “fighting like girls over clothes.”

“It’s definitely an ego thing,” Luke said.

“There’s inner competition between the three of us to be the best. Grades, sports, who’s dating the prettiest girl, it’s all that.

Sports is the biggest competition thing.”

When they were younger, to celebrate their Dec. 16 birthday, they’d host “Keller Bowl.” Even when it was snowing, the boys’ mom would outline a giant football field in white spray paint with a K in the middle of the backyard and invite a bunch of friends over to celebrate.

Luke describes himself as nice, social and confident. His proudest moment was starting a sports-broadcasting club in high school. He says he’s more energetic and a bit more obnoxious than his brothers.

“I would always get in trouble for messing with Jonas and Dominic,” Luke said.

“Especially during high school, they would be minding their own business, we would all be doing homework and I would just go in their room and tackle them.”

Dominic describes himself as caring, friendly and funny. His proudest moment is senior season when he threw a perfect game during the last home high school baseball game. His favorite color is red, and his favorite movies include the “Dark

Knight” trilogy.

Jonas describes himself as smart, responsible and fun. His proudest moment was when he and his brothers played piano at nursing homes during Christmas-time.

“I’d say I’m a little bit more quiet,” Jonas said. “I’m more introverted compared to them. My decision-making is a little more responsible sometimes, that’s at least what my friends think.”

The triplets’ parents, Dennison and Theresa, were Miami mergers and the entire family are huge OSU fans, so it makes sense that when the time came to decide where to attend college, the triplets all had varying ideas of where they’d like to go.

Dominic was originally interested in South Carolina, Ohio State and Dayton, but then he got into the Farmer School of Business. Jonas was pretty set on Ohio State. Luke went Early Decision at Miami, and eventually his brothers started to change their minds.

“Jonas saw that Dom and I were going to Miami, we were gonna have fun,” Luke said. “So he sort of wanted to join the party, so he chose Miami, too.”

At school, the three visit each other’s dorms, play ping-pong and go Uptown together. When they’re in the same room, the trio joke around with each other, reminiscing over old times. Jonas and Dominic bug Luke about how terrible he is with directions.

And despite the differences in hair color and height, the triplets’ faces split into the same grin when they laugh. So far, the boys love the campus and their classes, and they’re beginning to sign up for clubs and organizations.

“I like being a triplet,” Jonas said with a smile. “And it makes me famous.” dattilec@miamioh.edu

DATTILEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

CULTURE 7

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Halloween(Up)town LILY FREIBERG LISA ARCURE

THE MIAMI STUDENT For some, a normal weekend at Miami University consists of partying at the Uptown bars and sometimes drinking, but last Thursday night was different. Students still hit the bars and participated in other fun events, but this time in their Halloween costumes.

Halloween night was far from balmy. The temperature dropped throughout the day, and the wind was so strong that students couldn’t feel their faces. There was snow falling from the sky.

But unlike the temperature outside, the Halloween spirit was high. Girls still ran to the bars in mini skirts and guys still sported their jerseys.

First-years Jenna Watterson and Raychel Avila were dressed up as Velma from “Scooby Doo” and Karen Smith as a mouse from “Mean Girls,” respectively.

“I’m a mouse, duh,” she said, quoting the iconic chick-flick.

Avila also mentioned her favorite childhood Halloween memory: “When I was in the sixth grade, me and my only friend, my best friend, sat in one chair and passed out candy at my house,” Avila said. “Our English teacher said, ‘Are you a two headed monster,’ and we weren’t but we said, ‘Yeah.’”

Students Clare DiCuccio and Caroline Rothlisberger were dressed in bell bottom jeans and tinted circular sunglasses, showing off the 70s aesthetic. Although their costumes worked great for the spooky evening, their favorite holidays are Earth Day and International Women’s Day. Sophomore Nicole Van Gorp painted half her face to appear as a jack o’lantern. It was her first year experimenting with face paint for Halloween.

Her friends Sydney Hoffman and Anna Hofferberth were also with her. Hoffman dressed as the devil and Hofferberth was the Theatre Thug from the show “Drake and Josh.”

Last year, Van Gorp was a first-year student at Ohio University but still came to Miami to celebrate Halloween with her friends. She then transferred to Miami to start her sophomore year.

Senior Delaney Sherman and her two sorority sisters from Alpha Epsilon Phi, Jasmine Denofsky and Heather Steeby, helped pass out water bottles. They stood at a corner across the street from Brick Street Bar and offered water bottles to students passing by so they didn’t get dehydrated.

Denofsky was a panda and Steeby was a unicorn. Sherman wasn’t wearing a costume, but she mentioned that she has a Coraline costume, which is her favorite Halloween movie.

Some of their favorite Halloween candies are Milky Ways and Hershey’s Chocolate, and Sherman’s best Halloween memory was dumping out and combining all the candy her and her siblings got from trick-or-treating. *** In the Armstrong Student Center, first-year Autumn Marshall enjoyed the provided screening of the movie “Us” dressed as Post Malone.

She replicated his tattoos and braided her hair.

Marshall is very passionate about any type of sour candy, but especially Warheads.

“I like to take a lot of them and put them in my mouth and see how long I can hold them in for,” Marshall said.

Post Malone wasn’t the only costume that allowed students to try out some fake tattoos for the night. First-year Nicole Valencia put on an orange jumpsuit and fake tattoos to make herself appear as a prisoner.

Her favorite candy is nerds and her favorite movie is “Halloweentown” because of how much she watched it as a kid.

Arianna Fix celebrated a part of her Halloween night in Pulley’s Diner, ordering a cheeseburger and fries in a panda onesie. Her favorite Halloween movie is also “Halloweentown,” and her fondest memory of Halloween was when she scared younger children in her neighborhood with a zombie costume.

“I dressed up as a zombie and I had one of

What goes on during Halloween at Miami

SAM CIOFFI

THE MIAMI STUDENT

THE CHILLY AIR MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE SCARIEST THING ABOUT HALLOWEEN, BUT THAT DIDN’T STOP MIAMIANS FROM FILLING THE STREETS. THE MIAMI STUDENT LILY FREIBERG/LISA ARCURE.

my friends who does really realistic makeup art do wounds, so I looked like I had actual wounds,” Fix said. “We took a backpack through a woods area, and there were a couple of little kids with an older babysitter. And when we came out, I decided to do the really mean thing of acting like a zombie and trying to attack them. They screamed so loud and ran off. It was brilliant.”

The spark of Halloween festivities even reached students who live off-campus.

Sophomore Kyle Hench dressed up as Batman and his friends dressed up as other superheroes. Hench’s favorite Halloween candy is Snickers and his favorite Halloween movie is the ever-popular “Halloweentown.”

His favorite memory of Halloween back at home was trick-or-treating, even if he just passed out candy. His favorite part of this year’s Halloween celebration was eating a lot of candy.

“At my house, with all my friends, we played

this game where we had a large bowl of candy in the middle,” Hench said. “We basically just had a buffet of candy.”

Like every year, Halloween was a huge deal at Miami, full of fun events and celebrations throughout the night. Whether students were on-campus or roaming the streets of Oxford, everyone got a chance to get into the spooky spirit.

“It was better than I expected,” first-year Jenna Watterson said.

Spooky Roundup: - Most Popular Candy: Kit Kat - Most Popular Movie: Halloweentown - Strangest Favorite Candy: Apples @lilyfreiberg freibell@miamioh.edu arcurelv@miamioh.edu

Spooky stories fuel creative minds JENNA CALDERÓN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

BACHELOR HALL IS NO STRANGER TO WRITERS. BUT LAST FRIDAY, THE FEATURED STORIES WERE OF A SPOOKY VARIETY. THE MIAMI STUDENT ABBY BAMMERLIN

Chuseok dishes out food, friendship and festivities

The crescent moon hung high as the Halloween spirit carried on into the evening of Nov. 1, when 20 students gathered in the Reading Room of Bachelor Hall to celebrate the holiday in a creative and expressive way.

The event, “Spooky Souls, Short Stories,” gave students the opportunity to express themselves and their love for the Halloween season.

Attendees read creative writing including original works of short stories and poems as well as already published, well-known pieces.

The night started out with the telling of an urban legend about the said-to-be haunted Bachelor Hall, followed by an uncomfortable silence as people shifted around in their seats.

The realization that the lower level might be a little too close for comfort spread throughout the room.

Cookies and apple cider disappeared from the back table throughout the night, as audience members grew more and more invested in stories from Edgar Allen Poe, the “Welcome to Night Vale” podcast and student pieces.

Those who signed up to read their personal writings were met with applause and compliments.

“If you have a passion and you know that there’s a group of other people that share that passion, then it’s important to get together and talk about it,” said Aaron Boyd, a graduate student studying speech pathology. “Especially when it’s something like writing a story; with that kind of depth it gives insight into what’s going on in a person, and to share that, I think it’s really cool.”

The campus organizations behind it all were the English Honors Society, Sigma Tau Delta,

Happy Captive Magazine and the Miami University Association of Creative Writers (ACW).

These groups focus on bringing creative minds together to support students in majors like English and professional writing, as well as creating thoughtful communities and friendships with a professional outlook.

“Part of our thing is showing people you can have a career in English and have a rewarding life in the major,” Henry Roach, junior English literature major and president of Sigma Tau Delta said.

Senior Anna Maltbie, a literature major and the editor in chief of Happy Captive Magazine, a publication written and produced by undergraduate students, talked about the benefits of hosting readings.

“We usually do some kind of reading every semester,” Maltbie said. “It’s a great form of expression and way of getting people’s opinions out there.”

Sigma Tau Delta’s event is typically held in Uptown Oxford at Top Deck. When the idea for a new venue and holiday theme came up during an executive board meeting, all were excited for a change of pace.

As the evening came to a close, formal readings at the podium turned into casual storytelling and conversation. Scary tales continued as people recited them from memory and bonded over their mutual love for the medium of expression.

People filed out one by one to return home, keeping the story of the basement just below them in the back of their minds.

For those interested in getting involved with any of the organizations listed in this story, they can be found on the HUB. calderjm@miamioh.edu

Armstrong Pavilion is a large room, but last Saturday it felt small as people of all different backgrounds came together as one to celebrate the Korean holiday “Chuseok.”

This holiday, which is typically celebrated in September, is a Korean Thanksgiving, with the purpose being to gather with family to share stories and food.

The Korean American Student Association (KASA) hosts this event each year, but usually has it later in the semester in order to give themselves more time to plan the event.

The event kicked off at 5 p.m. and before entering the Armstrong Pavilion, guests were handed a pamphlet that explained the schedule for the Thanksgiving.

While free food was provided, guests had to travel to at least three different booths before they could enjoy the meal.

Each booth was named after a city in Korea: Pyongyang, Seoul, Daegu, Busan and Jeju Island.

Different activities could be found at each location.

One booth was dedicated to traditional Korean games and displayed games that people could try. A Korean version of hacky sack, called Jegi Chagi, was available for guests to kick around.

Another booth promoted the nonprofit organization “LiNK,” which stands for Liberty in North Korea. The organization advocates for the people of North Korea. KASA provided guests with information on how they could get involved.

At the food station, guests were offered a variety of Korean foods including bulgogi — sliced, marinated beef, kimchi — salted, fermented vegetables, jeon — oil-fried vegetables and meat and Korean-style pancakes.

After learning about Korean traditions and food, people migrated to the chairs set up in the middle of the room, facing the wooden floor that would serve as a stage.

Around 6:45 p.m., the president of KASA, Eric Cheng, and vice president, Kayla Stone, introduced the performers for the evening.

The first act was the Miami University Martial Arts Club. Members of the organization demonstrated their skills to the audience, some even breaking wooden boards with their bare hands and feet.

The next three performances were by different K-pop dance groups: Itzy, (G)-Idle and O’Nite Vibes.

Sophomore Tracy Collier watched the performers with rapt attention. Collier joined KASA this semester in order to learn more about Korean culture. “[KASA] gives people that don’t know a lot about Korean culture a chance to learn more about it in a comfortable environment,” Collier said.

She’s had an interest in the culture ever since she watched a Korean drama on Hulu and wanted to learn more about the people featured in the show.

Jakin Wu, the vice president of the Asian American Association, was also in attendance.

The sophomore engineering management major used his organization, which works closely with KASA, to advertise for the event.

Wu found importance in “seeing all the cultural aspects, especially seeing the combination of more traditional as well as modern” at Chuseok.

The evening wrapped up with Cheng and Stone thanking everyone for coming out.

While the event technically ended at 7:30 p.m., several people stayed after to take photos with one another.

Although it was Cheng’s first time as president putting on Chuseok, he was impressed by the turnout.

The Korean Thanksgiving gave people the opportunity to not only learn about a new culture but also experience it with friends and unfamiliar faces. “[I wanted to] raise awareness because, in my opinion, Miami’s campus is predominantly white and [there aren’t] many Asian events,” Cheng said. “So, I just wanted to have an event where people could come and learn more about Korean culture and just have fun.” cioffism@miamioh.edu

“[KASA] gives people that don’t know a lot about Korean culture a chance to learn more about it in a comfortable environment.”

-Tracy Collier

8

FRANCONC@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

It’s a Party in a Box! ABBY JEFFREY STAFF WRITER

“EVER SINCE I WAS LITTLE, I’VE ALWAYS LOVED DRESSING UP.” ILLUSTRATOR MIN KIM

“The joy of dressing is an art.”

— John Galliano Feathers, sequins, battery powered lights — all nestled and flung together in a big red plastic tub in my closet. If you need it, I probably have it. Though I’ve always had a party box, this is my most outstanding to date.

Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved dressing up. My dad sewed my Halloween costumes every year, which allowed me to choose pretty much anything to be. My costumes ranged from a rainbow pegasus to a ballerina cat.

In high school, Friday night home football games were my favorite day of the week because I could put on an aggressive amount of glitter, face paint and themed clothes.

I’d started collecting pieces of clothing from thrift shops, party stores and my grandma, regardless of whether they had a practical use toward the end of high school. In college, especially in the first couple years, Halloween became my “thing” and these pieces of clothing were used as inspiration and incorporated into costumes.

Here is how my party box has grown with me the past three and a half years: Freshman year, I wanted to prove how fun and outgoing I was, and did so through my costumes. For Halloween, I knew I wanted to go all out. The first night I was an alien, dressed in a matching purple iridescent top and bottom, only complete with a sparkly antenna. This was the first costume that started my party box.

I also knew I wanted to create something unique. I decided that I would make a jellyfish hat, complete with battery powered lights and streamers and ribbons that went down to the ground.

I ordered yards of tulle and glitter from Amazon. The hat and the extra ribbon got thrown in the box as well.

Though I was only on campus one semester during my sophomore year, I still managed to add to my party box. I made a Kuzco costume from “The Emperor’s New Groove,” which in-

volved a red t-shirt, a crown made out of yellow felt and a headband and earrings made by sticking earrings through more felt fabric. I even attempted to be a flamingo one night by pinning feather boas to a pink tube top and pink tutu.

All of those feathers and sparkles made their way into the red tub.

Junior year was the year the party box became what it is today. I brought various fun accessories and clothing, like a flashing pink, sparkly cowboy hat and a glittering pink strapless dress, that I had picked up over the summer to school. My friends started to come to me for outfits and fun things to wear to date parties.

This was also the year the party box gained its first wig and sequined dresses when I was a disco ball for Halloween.

This year, I haven’t added to it as much as I would like to. I’m starting to incorporate these unique articles of clothing I previously thought were exclusively for a costume into my daily and nightly rotation.

The most fun accoutrements I have to date are as follows: my grandma’s flapper-esque dress from the 50s she wore out for dancing, a sparkly Playboy tube top from the early 2000s and a long silver tinsel wig.

When I was a freshman, I used costumes as a way to show off my individuality and, in a sense, my style. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to embrace the part of my style that gravitates toward loud, funky clothing instead of reserving it for a holiday or party.

Creating costumes every year in college has allowed me to explore my style in a way that’s safe, since there is little to no judgment of those who choose to dress up for Halloween or a party.

It has directly impacted my confidence because I feel powerful when I wear clothing that makes a statement.

To me, there’s no feeling quite like creating— and then wearing—something that grabs the attention of a whole room.

Most importantly, it’s fun. jeffrea2@miamioh.edu Insta: @abby__jeffrey

Not your boomer’s blue-suede shoes BO BRUECK

ASST. PHOTO EDITOR I bought my first pair of shoes when I was in high school.

They weren’t the first pair of shoes I owned, just the first pair I bought with my own money.

A pair of blue-suede mid-top Vans. They beckoned to me from the window of the Miami Beach Vans store. I had perfectly good skate shoes on my feet, but these Vans were different, and I liked that.

I dragged my family into the store to make the big purchase. I tried them on. They felt amazing. I took them to the counter. I pulled out my wallet. I only had 20 bucks. I looked back at my mom.

“Can you cover me?” I asked her, with love in my eyes. “I’ll pay you back at home, I swear.”

She covered me.

So, I guess I really didn’t buy them with my own money, but you get the point.

My shoes are a symbol of freedom and individuality. Being able to dress myself was a huge step toward becoming my own person, and as my ability to dress developed, so did my taste in sneakers.

I love the way sneakers can influence an outfit. A dress shirt and chinos with dress shoes looks like you’re giving a high school presentation. But untuck the shirt, cuff the pants, throw on some skate shoes, and you’re sharp but casual.

As I’ve grown into the sneaker-head I am today, I wear Vans less often, but don’t think I don’t still love them.

Those first blue-suede vans became my feet.

I wore them into the ground.

I’m talking holes in the soles, holes in the toes and holes in my soul for having to retire them because they let the snow in during Michigan winters.

Little did I know — wearing out your shoes is a blessing in disguise. Wearing out your shoes is the best reason to get new ones, after all.

I took to the internet this time to find my replacements. I tried Nike and Adidas, but I kept finding myself back on Tillys.com, drooling over another pair of blue-suede Vans.

I know. I know. Blue-suede Vans? Again?

Hell yes.

This time they were Sk8-His, fitting for a blossoming skater-boy in his last year of high school.

I tried to save them until I got to college, but the feeling of walking down high school hallways in fresh kicks is irresistable.

Turns out I do a lot of walking at Miami, too.

And with more direction to my style, and more money in my bank account, I’ve got Air-Max and Air-Jordan, React runners and trail runners and, of course, my latest blue-suede Vans.

The third pair, if you were wondering.

I love my shoes: the new sneakers and the old beaters. They offer me different styles and different outfit combinations that make getting dressed in the morning a little more bearable.

But more than just making me look good, my shoes make me feel good about myself.

A lot of people are sneaker-heads, but nobody else can wear the shoes I have on my feet. brueckro@miamioh.edu

OUR ASST. PHOTO EDITOR HAS WORN THE HELL OUT OF BLUE SUEDE VANS FOR YEARS. CONTIRBUTED BY BO BRUECK

AMY CREATES PINTREST BOARDS FOR HER CLIENTS TO HELP THEM NAVIGATE THEIR NEW WARDROBES. ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK

Shedding my old layers

From ‘matronly’ to modern

SAMANTHA BRUNN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

“Oh wow, that really is a lot of earth tones,” Amy said, not unkindly but definitely not enthusiastically.

She peered into the depths of my closet and realized I was very honest when I said most of my clothing conforms to the same three or so colors.

“It’s okay,” she said quickly. “We can work on it.” *** Amy Kuptz runs her own business, Get Dressed with Amy, where she curates style guides for her clients based on their needs and preferences. First, she analyzes your closet. Then, she helps you rework the pieces you already own and picks out things to fill in the gaps.

She’s also a senior education major at Miami, where she’s meshed her passion for fashion with helping her friends reinvent their looks.

“It’s something I love to do for fun, but then my dad said I should make something of it if I was going to spend so much time doing this for people,” Amy said. Thus, Get Dressed with Amy was born. *** I like to think of myself as being relatively stylish. I have an online shopping habit my housemates and my dad can attest to, a Pinterest board nearly 2,000 pins deep of outfit inspiration and a reputation for dressing up for class.

But I don’t take a lot of risks with my wardrobe — and in today’s fashion landscape, it seems like my tried-and-true might not fly so much anymore.

Our style editor, Nina, was my roommate when we went to Washington, D.C. for a semester away sophomore year, so she was intimately aware of just how lacking my wardrobe is in terms of pops of color and going out attire.

This project was our chance to change that.

Enter Amy: she was here to reinvent my wardrobe.

“This is promising,” Amy said, holding up

my black denim skirt that she plucked from the closet. “You can do so much with this piece.”

Other clothing items received far less praise. There was the plaid shirt dress, which she and Nina agreed was definitely out as they laughed at my defense of the former fall staple.

Or the approaching-double-digits number of army/olive green items that we pulled, one by one, from their hangers.

“I’ve clearly got a problem,” I said, realizing how much of a crutch those items were to my style.

We purged the worn-out sweaters and t-shirts that I’ve had since early high school, some of the business attire I first purchased for speech and debate competitions nearly eight years ago and some tops that Amy described as “kind of matronly, you know?”

Once we finished, I was left with a pile of clothes on the floor and a renewed idea of what I wanted my style to be.

“I want to dress more fun,” I said, with jazz hands for emphasis.

Nina and Amy laughed.

Amy then used the experience to fuel a late-night online window shopping excursion, compiling a pinterest board of ideas that could supplement what was left of my closet.

A few days later, Amy sent me the board.

I clicked the link, a little nervous about what I might find out about how she thought of my style. But as I scrolled the options, I realized she was far better at seeing how I wanted to be seen than I was able to on my own.

I was greeted with soft neutral sweaters, bold graphic tees and leather jackets and skirts — a perfect mix of femininity with hard edges.

I immediately gravitated toward the fun, colorful hoop earrings she picked out, pleasantly surprised because I had seen the same pair as I was shopping recently, but had passed them by because I wasn’t sure if they were “me.”

They are now.

You can find Amy on Instagram, @getdressedwithamy brunnsj@miamioh.edu @samantha_brunn Insta: @samanthajoan.b

FRANCONC@MIAMIOH.EDU

9

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

‘SUSTAINABILITY SPECIAL’

TOO MANY TEES

What are our clothes doing to the planet?

Why I’m not shopping for a year

OWEN BERG

ASST. DESIGN EDITOR College is essentially a trick-ortreat for free t-shirts.

As students join organizations, attend hockey games, mom’s and dad’s weekends and formals, they accumulate closets full of comfy cotton tees with slogans, graphics and hundreds of Miami “M” logos.

But as the concern over sustainability becomes urgent and ever-present, many students are curious — where does all this free stuff come from?

On the wall in the most recent pop-up thrift shop put on by Miami’s Zero Waste Oxford (ZWO) organization, a handmade poster asked shoppers “how much water are you wearing?” It then broke down how much water is used in the production of specific articles of clothing. A t-shirt takes 713 gallons (nearly three years worth of drinking water for one person), a pair of jeans takes 1800 gallons and a new leather jacket needs nearly 8000 gallons.

This is what motivates Halie White, ZWO’s thrift shop manager, to choose thrifting over buying new clothes.

“It’s like, do I need to go buy a new t-shirt?” she said.

She likes how thrifting can take an old garment and “give it a new purpose, and avoid using all those resources.”

ZWO saw other zero waste organizations setting up thrift stores on their campuses and thought it would be a good opportunity for Miami students to be able to buy used without making the trek to Goodwill or Valley Thrift.

“Getting the original stuff to actually put in the store was hard,” White said.

In exchange for volunteer work, ZWO was able to get clothes from ShareFest, a non-profit that takes donations from Miami students during move-out week. What sur-

“Think about who made your clothing,” -Quinn Mills

OWEN BERG

ASST. DESIGN EDITOR

THE GHOSTS OF FREE TEES PAST STICK AROUND TO HAUNT THE ENVIRONMENT LONG AFTER WE’RE DONE WEARING THEM. DESIGNER ALISSA MARTIN

prised White was how little some of the clothing they received had been worn.

“We found a bunch of brand new stuff with tags and everything,” White said.

Right now, the pop-up thrift shop is open six or seven times a semester in the L&H room inside Armstrong Student Center for one or two weeks at a time. It will open its doors again on November 18th.

While the thrift shop isn’t open, there are still plenty of ways for college students to be more sustainable in their shopping habits.

Quinn Mills, president of the Sustainable Fashion Initiative at the University of Cincinnati, believes that we should do our best to learn about the brands we buy from.

“I know researching companies isn’t fun when you just want to buy stuff,” she said. “But just try to be more conscious.”

Fast fashion brands tempt consumers with impossibly-low prices, but Mills makes a point to really break that price tag down.

“If you see a shirt for five dollars that’s brand new at a store ... wouldn’t you want to receive more than five dollars to make this?” she said, emphasizing that the company, retail employees, factory owner and garment workers are all splitting that tiny check.

Mills summarized her attitude by simply saying: “Think about who made your clothing.”

Both Mills and White demonstrate just how many sustainable

alternatives there are to buying new clothes, but what about getting rid of old clothes?

White pointed out that while many of us might donate to Goodwill, this isn’t the end of your clothing’s environmental impact.

“While donating is great, you also have to think about the other side of it,” White said. “Even when people are donating, they’re still buying new.”

In 2016, Fashionista reported that thrift stores are only able to sell about 20 percent of the donations they receive, while the rest is sold in developing countries. In many of these countries, local garment businesses are struggling to compete with the massive bales of used, mostly American clothing being imported.

Choosing recycling over donating can be hit-or-miss as well.

Clothing recycling programs set up by retailers, promising discounts in exchange for any and all clothing donations, don’t do much but promote more consumption. Recycling textiles is a deceptively difficult process, especially as more and more garments are made from mixed-fiber fabrics, like polyester-cotton blends.

According to Industrial Fabrics Association International, these fibers cannot be mechanically separated, meaning recycling facilities often resort to chemicals that damage the fibers and harm the environment when they are disposed of.

Instead of donating or throwing

Does Forever 21’s bankruptcy mean an end of an era for fast fashion?

ABIGAIL PADGETT

THE MIAMI STUDENT Many American millennials can vividly remember their middle school selves walking into the synthetic-ridden, plastic emporium that was Forever 21.

The store was notoriously messy, clothes haphazardly thrown on racks and strewn across the cheaply tiled floor, a jean jacket randomly embroidered with the word tacos stuffed in between two seemingly-identical eyelet dresses of varying shades of white and ivory, apparently separate styles.

But hey, it was cheap.

Middle school students today will never be subject to the brand’s headache-inducing and uncomfortably distinct smell of thousands of items made of flimsy fabrics pumped full of synthetic dyes stuffed into one cramped space.

They’ll never know the feeling of walking out of the store with an entirely new wardrobe, that yellow plastic monstrosity nearly filled to the brim.

Senior Julia Carroll remembers her Forever 21 excursions.

“It felt disorganized, and there were too many products,” Carroll said.

Senior Sydney Bailey, an English education major, who has spent time talking with high school

How less becomes more

students about conservation issues, agrees with Carroll’s sentiment.

“It was a good place for me to get quantity over quality, but as I’m getting older, I prefer quality all the way,” Bailey said.

On Sept. 29, 2019, Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy, ending the company’s 35-year reign as one of fast fashion’s first and most aggressive players.

And aggressive it was.

Carroll said it’s incredible how problematic — and normalized — producing copious amounts of stuff really is.

“It’s overwhelming because instead of shopping for timeless pieces of good quality, you feel like you need to buy a bunch of trending clothes, and a lot of the things you buy get worn once and hang out at the bottom of your closet,” Carroll said.

In 2017, Forever 21 hit its peak year of sales, maxing out at a staggering $4.4 billion.

According to Business Insider, “Forever 21’s goal was to become an $8 billion company by 2017 and open 600 new stores in three years. But the company’s aggressive expansion would also lead to its downfall.”

The company extended too far, too fast. And as other global brands like Zara and H&M continue to offer a similar, if not elevated, ver-

sion of Forever 21’s “more model,” the word itself seems to be the name of the game.

More. More. More.

The idea of “too much” is inconceivable in the realm of fast fashion. As other companies surpass Forever 21’s quotas, there seems to be no slowing of fast fashion. A whole host of conglomerates are already filling Forever 21’s void.

Though these companies allow people the opportunity to afford trends at affordable prices, what are the hidden costs? And at whose expense?

Bailey, like many young adults, is frustrated with this pressure to “keep up” with the speed with which trends come and go.

Not only is she annoyed, Bailey

away, White recommends repairing, swapping or borrowing from friends. She used Halloween as an example — a holiday almost dedicated to unrepeatable outfits.

“If you have a costume and needed like, one thing, see if you can borrow it from a friend,” White said.

Miami’s Fashion and Design club holds clothing swaps, where any student can come in, donate old clothes in exchange for tickets, which can be used to “buy” other donated items. King Library also debuted their Makerspace earlier this semester, which includes sewing machines that students can use to repair or hem their clothes.

So, before you order a new t-shirt from your favorite campus club, or “make some noise” at a basketball game for a tee shot out of an air cannon, think about what went into making it, how you’ll use it and what you’ll do when you don’t want it anymore.

There are plenty of ways to get clothes on campus with a smaller carbon footprint. Buying used, swapping with friends, borrowing for special occasions and repairing are all ways to extend the life of our clothes and to give them new purpose when we’re done with them.

As sustainability becomes an unavoidable concern in all of our lives, we can look into our own closets, and the closets of our friends, to see what we can do to help. bergoe@miamioh.edu Insta: @owwnberg

is also tired.

“Creating cheap clothing that people will throw away in a couple of months is an extremely wasteful thing to do,” she said.

Any discussion of making sustainability more accessible gets lost in the ease and sheer quantity — no, excess — of options.

“It is hard for people to resist the pressure to purchase fast fashion,” Carroll said. “It might not be realistic on a large scale for people to be sustainable in the way they shop unless fashion trends and advertising become more oriented towards sustainable shopping.”

Until sustainability — a word that in itself hinders, if not negates the notion of speed — becomes more enticing than sheer quantity, there seems to be no return from this fashion era of more. padgetac@miamioh.edu Insta: @abspadgett

“Creating cheap clothing that people will throw away in a couple of months is an extremely wasteful thing to do,” -senior Sydney Bailey

Runway shows this past fashion month were riddled with references to the climate crisis, with the buzzword “sustainability” paraded down almost every catwalk.

However, fashion is one of the world’s most polluting industries and has a history of treating these kinds of social issues as short-lived trends — to be discarded just like last season’s silhouettes and color palettes.

So, how do we remain eco-conscious in our shopping habits for more than one rotation of the fashion cycle?

This past summer, I took a class called “Fashion Design and Production for Wellbeing.” It exposed the terrible effects that clothing production has on the environment, like the pesticides used in Indian cotton fields, the toxic chemicals used to distress jeans and the thousands of pounds of next-to-new clothes sent to landfills every year.

After spending six weeks surgically dissecting the global fashion industry, I turned to my own closet.

I piled everything on my floor à la Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and got to work.

I realized that I barely wore half of the things I owned and most of my clothes hadn’t even been there for a year. So many impulse purchases were crumpled in a pile in my closet, just waiting to be donated in my next closet cleanout.

I thought about how those clothes were made, and if my habits were justifying that process. Was the environmental stress the fashion industry puts on the earth a fair price for a sweater I only wore three times?

With this in mind, I decided to take a year off — one year — without buying any clothes at all, new or used. The only exceptions: I will buy one black dress shirt if I am suddenly required to attend a funeral, or a few pairs of chinos and dress shirts if I get a job with a business dress code.

That’s it.

No cool new sneakers, no new cozy sweaters for fall and no new shorts for next summer. If something rips, I’ll repair it. If I’m gifted an article of clothing, I’ll set it aside until next September. If all my clothes suddenly become out of style overnight, I’ll still wear them the next morning.

And, so far, what started out as a sweeping self-restriction has turned into a new, fresh way to get dressed.

My love for fashion has shifted into something beyond simply an interest in shopping. I’ve started taking the time to really pay attention to fashion design, business and runway shows to understand why people wear that they do. And instead of browsing online shops when I want something new, I’m reaching deep into my own closet and really learning about my own personal style.

For as long as I’ve cared about my clothes, I’ve always felt like I was one more shopping trip away from having the perfect wardrobe. But the “new stuff”-shaped hole in my closet was never filled. There was always a new trend to make my old clothes feel dated and worn out. But knowing that I’ll have to make do with what I have until next September has forced me to find alternative, creative ways to switch things up.

I’ve mixed clashing patterns, cut the hems off of my jeans and raided my mom’s closet. Even if my styling experiments aren’t always successful, I haven’t run out of new ways to express myself through dress.

In an age where celebrities and influencers are scrutinized for wearing the same thing in public twice, sticking to the same old thing can actually feel kind of refreshing.

Clothes can’t last forever. Styles and bodies change, and fabric will fade and wear out. I’m absolutely already thinking about what I’ll be buying next fall. But as young people champion the fight toward a sustainable future, we need to look at our own consumption habits.

No matter how many “sustainable brands” pop up, or “turtle saving” bracelets we buy, it’s impossible to shop our way out of the climate crisis. Instead, we can understand how buying less, or maybe not at all, can actually add value to the things we already have. bergoe@miamioh.edu Insta: @owwnberg

Sports

10

VINELCA@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

JAYLON BESTER HAS THE EYE OF A TIGER

JAYLON BESTER CELEBRATES A SHORT TOUCHDOWN RUN AGAINST BUFFALO ON SEPT. 28 AT YAGER STADIUM (LEFT). BESTER WALKS INTO THE END ZONE AS PART OF HIS CAREER-HIGH 107 RUSH YARDS AGAINST THE BULLS (RIGHT). THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN

CHRIS VINEL

SPORTS EDITOR In his room that’s decorated with LED lights and a Fathead wall sticker of his own heel-click touchdown celebration, Jaylon Bester hung a poster of a tiger.

The wild cat is Bester’s favorite animal. As one of the jungle’s apex predators, it’s intimidating, selfish and calibrated to strike at any time — the opposite of Bester’s rambunctious, social energy.

Until he steps onto a football field.

“I’m totally two different people,” Bester said. “I’m a real chill type of dude.

I get loud sometimes. I feel like I’m an extrovert, but once I’m on the field, I don’t care. I’m trying to kill everybody.

It’s a totally different personality.”

Off the field, Bester, 20, can’t sit still. He hates car rides. He wants to become a coach to avoid being confined to an office. He takes tests with his headphones on, rhythm and blues blaring.

On the field, he becomes that tiger.

His brown eyes, typically wide open to take in as much of the world as possible, turn intense. His infectious, white-toothed smile disappears.

“I like the personality of a tiger,” Bester said. “They don’t give a damn.”

Now a junior at Miami, Jaylon Bester has become one of the mustwatch players in a RedHawk uniform this year. He grabbed the starting running back position before the start of the season and has solidified himself in that position with 267 rush yards and a team-high five touchdowns.

Miami head coach Chuck Martin said he knew Bester was going to be a special player while the latter was still playing at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleview, Illinois.

Once Bester arrived in Oxford, any doubts Martin had about him were assuaged on Sept. 30, 2017, a month into his freshman year.

Bester, back to return a kickoff against Notre Dame, caught the ball at his team’s own 2-yard line. He broke two tackles, outran a Fighting Irish cornerback and kept going before being

tackled at the 36-yard line.

“He’s fine on this field, and he’s just a freshman,” Martin remembers thinking at the time.

Bester finished the game with seven kick returns for 163 yards.

At 5 foot 8, 184 pounds, Bester’s biggest knock on a football field is his size. It kept him from being recruited by football powerhouses coming out of high school.

“If he was a couple inches taller, he wouldn’t be a RedHawk right now, so we’re glad he’s a couple inches shorter in stature,” Martin said. “He can play with anybody, and he’s never been on a football field where he’s been outmatched.”

His size might have also contributed to the only things holding him back on the field this season: injuries.

Bester got hurt in the seasonopener at Iowa and missed the next three games, including contests at Cincinnati and Ohio State. With his goall-out style of play, Bester was looking a little like his first car, a red 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he named Daisy.

“I did some damage to that car,” Bester said, shaking his head. “I had about six accidents in that car. My little baby, Daisy, woo! She was a trooper.”

Within a month of Bester leaving for college in 2017, Bester’s parents sold Daisy. He endured more than a year without a car before they surprised him with a silver 2008 Nissan Altima last spring. He named it Delilah.

Even though Bester lives off campus, he doesn’t drive Delilah much.

He often rides his electric scooter.

Bester shares a house with three teammates — junior defensive back Mike Brown, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jalen Walker and junior wide receiver Dominique Robinson.

“Dom is like the dad,” Bester said, pointing across the field to Robinson.

“I guess you could say I’m the child in the group … I’m the worst in the house.

They get on me and nitpick me more than anybody.”

Robinson said he agrees that Bester is a child.

“He does a lot of dumb stuff,”

Robinson said.

Bester keeps lights on, leaves doors open and strews his belongings throughout the house.

He’s the only one who can cook, so if he isn’t cooking, no one is. He makes only breakfast and, sometimes, treats himself to McDonald’s, his go-to fast food restaurant. His usual order: a triple cheeseburger, a plain McChicken and a strawberry cream pie.

And, most importantly to Bester, he destroys his housemates in video games.

“I’ve got the gaming room in the house,” Bester said. “Everyone comes in my room if they want to play a game.

I’ve got a PlayStation 4. If you play Xbox, I can’t trust you.”

It doesn’t matter if the game is NBA 2K, Madden or Call of Duty.

“I’m the best at all of them,” Bester said.

Robinson has seen Bester flip the switch from light-hearted to serious many times.

The two became friends during their freshman year, when they lived on the same floor in Flower Hall.

Robinson liked to mess with Bester by sneaking into his room or stealing his snacks. Bester responded by throwing his flip-flops and, if he was really mad, his phone at Robinson.

“He would be pissed, very angry,” Robinson said.

It’s the same type of attitude Bester had while watching his teammates lose to Cincinnati and Ohio State from the sidelines during his injured stretch this season. Bester, not always a vocal leader, wasn’t happy about the way his team was playing without him.

“He wanted to kill everyone on our team [during the loss to Cincinnati],” Martin said. “He wanted to kill me, and he wanted to kill his teammates. Off the field, he’s happy-go-lucky, fun-loving.

He’s got a great personality. But you

don’t really see that on the field. He’s all business.”

Martin said he’s never had to rein in Bester. Bester is just naturally competitive.

“He doesn’t have a lot of tolerance for not being good,” Martin said. “He’s been good his whole life, and he’s been on good teams.”

That mindset comes from his dad, Marcus, and older brother, Jamone.

Both are former players, so he talks to each one after every game.

Bester values the time he gets with his family, especially now, because he isn’t home often. He said he’s just like his mom, Sheria. They both despise being wrong.

“Me and my mom are, like, split images of each other,” Bester said. “We look like each other and act like each other, as well.”

He has a tattoo dedicated to her on his right arm. He talks to her on the phone at least four times a week and his dad at least three times a week.

“They’re one of the best families you’ll meet,” Martin said. “They’re so close and so fun to be around. I remember my home [recruiting] visit with them in the wintertime, we were watching some NFL playoff game on a Sunday, and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard on a home visit. Just an awesome kid from an awesome family.”

Bester expects the best from himself. The last few times he’s scored, he wasn’t happy and didn’t celebrate.

He was disappointed because he felt like he didn’t shoulder enough of the load.

“I felt like I wasn’t playing as well,”

Bester said. “The touchdowns came inside the 5-yard line, and I don’t feel like I earned all my touchdowns. I was given them ’cause I was the person in the game. I didn’t do the hard work of getting down there, so I did the easy part.”

Bester wanted the big run, the 50-yarder.

On Oct. 26, with Miami clinging to a 16-13 lead against Kent State late in the fourth quarter, he got his chance.

The RedHawks were stationed near midfield, just inside Kent State territory. Bester, hands on his knees, assumed his pre-snap stance in the shotgun formation next to freshman quarterback Brett Gabbert.

Gabbert took the snap and handed the ball to Bester.

Bester shot toward the right side of the offensive line and went in between the right guard and right tackle.

He sped to daylight.

Fifteen yards into the run, two Golden Flash defenders converged on him. He cut upfield and exploded between them, outrunning both.

Track meet, end zone, 47-yard touchdown.

He stared directly into a camera and let out a tiger-esque roar. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK

Chuck Martin wanted Miami to become Ohio U. CHRIS VINEL

SPORTS EDITOR Chuck Martin is missing only one element of turning Miami into what he envisioned when he took over as head coach in 2014.

Consistency.

He and his RedHawks will come head-to-head with that vision this week.

“When we got here, I looked around the league, and there’s a lot of good teams,” Martin said. “I’m trying to think, like, ‘I want to become like one of these good teams. Who do we want to become like? Who’s the picture of Miami five years from now?’”

He settled on Miami’s hated rivals, the Ohio Bobcats. He told his players and assistant coaches that’s the type of program he wanted to establish.

At that point, OU was enjoying a streak of five consecutive seasons with at least seven wins and a bowl game.

Head coach Frank Solich arrived in Athens after the 2004 season, inherit-

ing a team that had won just 18 games since the turn of the century. It took him only one year to lead the Bobcats back to the Mid-American Conference Championship game and bowl eligibility with a nine-win 2006. His team has earned six or more victories in every season but one since then.

“They’re right there every year,” Martin said. “Whether they win our side [division] or don’t win our side, they’re right in the hunt every year.

They’re always predicted to, and there’s a reason. They play really good football, and they’re really consistent.”

Martin’s situation was a little bit tougher and took a little bit longer to correct. He signed on to coach arguably the worst program in Division I college football. The RedHawks suffered through a winless 0-12 2013 season before Martin accepted the head coaching position.

He trudged through two will-testing seasons to start. First, two wins. Then, three. Miami lost to Ohio both seasons, and again in the two years after that.

“First year, we had them down,” Martin said, “but they were way better than us. They came back to beat us.

Second year, it’s 31-0 at halftime. I told Frank after the game, ‘Hey, that wasn’t even a good scrimmage for you guys.

It’s embarrassing.’”

But Martin kept telling Solich something else, too. “‘We’re going to become you,’” Martin said.

The talent level on Martin’s Miami squads improved every year. The RedHawks won six games and earned a bowl berth in 2016, dropped to 5-7 in 2017 and went 6-6 last season. They even beat the Bobcats in a 30-28 thriller — only the third time Miami has beaten OU during Solich’s tenure and the first in Martin’s.

Ohio chugged along. 8-6, 9-4, 9-4.

Consistent as ever.

That’s the last element for Martin’s RedHawks to grasp, as his team battles its model for first place in the MAC tomorrow night.

Five years have gone by. Martin’s

picture of Miami is almost painted. He can add another stroke to it at 8 p.m. tomorrow night in Athens. The conference’s top spot is on the line.

“I’m very proud of our organization, that I think we have become that,” Martin said. “I think we’ve become a very

mirror image.”

We’ll find out just how accurate that reflection is tomorrow. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

THE REDHAWKS RUN TOWARD THE SIDELINES DURING A 76-5 LOSS TO OHIO STATE ON SEPT. 21 AT OHIO STADIUM. SINCE THEN, MIAMI IS 3-1. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

VINELCA@MIAMIOH.EDU

Men’s basketball is full of CHRIS VINEL

SPORTS EDITOR “All of you, get up right now.”

It was 3 a.m. on a late July night when two Miami Naval ROTC sergeants barged into the film room in Millett Hall and yelled at the men’s basketball team to wake up.

The players rose and sleepily wandered out of the room toward the concourse.

“Run, run, faster,” the RedHawks were instructed as they trotted down to Yager Stadium.

By 3:15 a.m., they began a series of military-style workouts. They pushed and encouraged each other for hours, all in the hopes of building team chemistry and continuing to create a “winning culture” under head coach Jack Owens.

“That experience alone really brought us together,” senior forward Bam Bowman said.

“I feel like it’ll make us more fun to watch ’cause we’re out there playing for each other and Miami.”

Since Owens arrived in 2017, he has attempted to instill a winning culture. He took over an 11-win team that had not made the NCAA Tournament in a decade. The RedHawks still haven’t earned entry into the annual March tourney, but they’ve upped their victory total to 16 and 15 in Owens’s two respective seasons.

“Before you can win, you have to establish a program with winning in every area,” Owens said. “That’s an area that I think, on and off the court, our guys are really brought in to playing for each other, playing the right way and playing hard.”

LUKAS NELSON

THE MIAMI STUDENT The Miami women’s basketball team will start the season with a lot of new faces this week.

New players include freshmen Taylor Boruff, Amani Freeman and Peyton Scott.

The RedHawks also added transfers, junior Monique Esbrand and redshirt senior Bree Paulson.

But no new face is more important than first-year head coach DeUnna Hendrix, who will look to lead the RedHawks to their third 20-win season in a row. Hendrix became Miami’s ninth head coach in program history after seven seasons at High Point University, where she amassed 125 wins and two postseason appearances.

“This is a team that has seen success, you know, in the past couple years,” Hendrix said, “So, they know how to win. I guess when we came in as a staff, our biggest message was, ‘Let’s have fun doing it.’”

Even with a new head coach, Miami will look to continue last year’s success, when it had a 23-9 record and appeared in the Wom-

SPORTS 11

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Now, Miami returns the same core group of players it has featured for the last two seasons.

Bowman is the only senior. Juniors, Nike Sibande and Dalonte Brown, are back. Those three paced Miami in scoring a year ago, and it wasn’t even close. After missing all but five games last season, redshirt

experience and ready to win sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman-Lands is healthy.

All four of those players have been with Owens throughout his entire Miami tenure.

“I feel like we’re kind of in sync,” Coleman-Lands said. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so we can highlight our strengths and kind of help

DALONTE BROWN ATTEMPTS TO WIN A TIPOFF AGAINST BUFFALO’S MONTELL MCRAE ON MARCH 1 AT MILLETT HALL. THE MIAMI STUDENT CHLOE COCHRAN

Miami looks to build on recent success with new head coach en’s National Invitation Tournament under Megan Duffy. Duffy left to accept the head job at Marquette, while former starters Kendall McCoy, Leah Purvis and Baleigh Reid all graduated. Still, the RedHawks return seniors Lauren Dickerson and Savannah Kluesner, who were the team’s leading scorers last year.

Dickerson, a two-time All-MAC first team selection, was named to the Preseason AllMAC East Division Team last Wednesday.

She was also selected to be on the Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch List, which recognizes the best point guard in women’s Division I basketball.

Dickerson, who has scored 1,670 points in her career, is just 497 away from becoming the leading scorer in Miami women’s basketball history.

Hendrix has experience coaching against Dickerson, who dropped 16 points in last year’s game against High Point. However,

she’s still been impressed with what she’s seen from the senior point guard so far.

“I knew she was good,” Hendrix said at last week’s season-opening press conference, “but to see what she can do on a daily basis is pretty amazing.”

Hendrix has liked what she’s seen from the rest of the RedHawks, calling her new squad “the toughest team” she’s ever coached.

“It’s a mentality for them,” Hendrix said after practice on Friday. “So, literally, whatever you tell them to do, they’re going to do it, and they’re gonna do it with max effort.”

The RedHawks will be busy during their non-conference slate, as they’ll be playing in two early-season tournaments this month.

Their first home game is Nov. 22, when they take on the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Miami’s first MAC game will be Jan. 4 against Buffalo at Millett Hall.

Miami golf has the Jacks of all trades

manage our weaknesses.”

The RedHawks bring back Mekhi Lairy, Milos Jovic, Precious Ayah, Eli McNamara, Michael Ritchie and Benjamin Litteken. Myja White is coming off a redshirt year. They recruited Javin Etzler and Dae Dae Grant, and added James Beck and Josh Brewer via transfer.

“This is the deepest we’ve been,” Owens said. “We just have to stay healthy. If we can do that and just continue to do that each practice, each game, we should be fun to watch, for sure.”

After two years of short-stretch brilliance mixed with growing pains, Owens is pushing his players to put it all together.

That’s why he had them sleep in the film room and do ROTC workouts at 3 a.m. in July.

That’s why Nike Sibande never went home to Indianapolis this summer, choosing to spend it working in the gym with the coaching staff.

That’s why Owens stresses “winning the day” by improving every single practice.

Owens is hoping the winning culture carries over to the court. The RedHawks’ goal is to play in the NCAA Tournament.

“We haven’t won at a high level yet,” Owens said. “For us to think big picture, I just think we have to focus on winning the day and taking care of the day.”

Miami has its first chance to win the day over an opponent this Saturday against Wright State. The contest will tip off at 2 p.m. in Millett Hall and will air on ESPN3. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

Miami currently has two ranked opponents on their schedule: Miami (FL), who the RedHawks will be playing on Nov. 30 as part of a Thanksgiving tournament, and DePaul, who the RedHawks play Friday in the first round of the Preseason WNIT. Led by Dickerson’s fellow Lieberman Watch List point guard, Kelly Campbell, the Blue Demons come in boasting a No. 18 ranking. However, the RedHawks are ready for the challenge.

“It’s just a challenge,” Kluesner said. “I mean, we haven’t really faced the top of the top in awhile, and especially with the whole new group, so I’m excited to see what we can do against them.”

Friday’s season opener against DePaul is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. If the RedHawks win, they’ll play the winner of Saturday’s Drexel-Davidson matchup.

“We’re Miami,” Dickerson said, “so we gotta do what we gotta do.” @LukasTheDream nelso156@miamioh.edu

SCOREBOARD THURSDAY

SOCCER Ball State................................ 2 Miami..................................... 1

FRIDAY

HOCKEY USA National Team FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: JACK MORTELL, JACK EBNER, JACK KATARANCIC, JACK HERCEG CONTRIBUTED BY MIAMI ATHLETICS

MADELINE CONROY THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Miami University golf team consists of just seven members. Four of them are named Jack.

Jack Herceg, Jack Ebner, Jack Mortell and Jack Katarincic make up more than half of the team, and all go by the same first name, which can get pretty confusing.

But the craziest part about all of them being named Jack is that none of them actually are named Jack.

None of the “Jacks” on the team have that name on their birth certificate.

Senior Jack Katarincic is really named Joseph. Redshirt Sophomore Jack Herceg’s real name is Jackson. And Sophomore Jack Ebner and Junior Jack Mortell are both named John.

In order to keep all of them straight, Mortell said that they have to get creative with nicknames.

“Obviously if you say Jack, we all respond, so I feel like all of us has three, four, five different nicknames because we can’t just call each other Jack,” Mortell said.

“When we’re all together and someone

says ‘Jack,’ everyone’s heads turn, and then we figure out who they’re talking to,” Ebner said.

By spending any amount of time around the team, it’s easy to see how tight-knit it is.

Whether they’re playing jokes on people who don’t believe their names are mostly Jack, watching the Sunday round of a PGA tournament or at practice, they know how to have a good time with each other.

“A lot of it revolves around us just watching the end of a golf tournament on Sunday, all on the couch,” Mortell said. “We tune in to the golf tournament, but we’re also just talking and messing around.”

Each of these golfers bring a different and unique role to the team.

Herceg spent a full year behind the scenes, redshirting last season.

“I think I have a little added perspective that way,” Herceg said. “I like to think I’m pretty mature for my years. Especially with the younger guys that come in, I like to take pride in helping them out when I can.”

Katarincic is trying to take his last year to contribute as much as he can as a leader.

“There’s not one person that stands out on the team as a leader this year, but we’re all in this together collectively,” he said.

Ebner joined the team in 2018 off of a gap year, having an added sense of maturity.

“Coming in as a freshman last year … I came in and felt like I was able to contribute

and push,” Ebner said, “and, to a certain extent, lead as a freshman. I was able to develop a lot of relationships with the guys before getting here, and so I felt like I was able to come in and help right away.”

Head coach Zac Zedrick also recognizes the camaraderie the group shares. Zedrick has coached Miami for the past nine seasons, but this team has a special sense of depth to him.

“What’s different about this team is that I feel like I could throw all seven names in a hat and draw five out and I would feel comfortable taking them to a tournament and us having a chance to win,” Zedrick said.

Zedrick said he is proud of the program he has built and the bond his golfers share.

“I’m very proud to be the coach at Miami, and I want our guys to be proud of the golf program here, so I think that creates a similar bond and similar approach to what they do,” Zedrick said. “If you get everyone on the same page, it’s easier to get everyone pushing forward together.”

The Jacks and Co. were in Nassau, Bahamas for their last tournament of the fall last weekend, finishing sixth at the White Sands Invitational. Their season picks up once again in February, where they will travel to Bluffton, South Carolina to play Michigan State. @madconroy9 conroymm@miamioh.edu

Development Program �������� 2 Miami.....................................4

VOLLEYBALL Ohio........................................ 1 Miami..................................... 3

SATURDAY

FIELD HOCKEY Central Michigan..................0 Miami..................................... 5

WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

Buffalo............................. 148.5 Miami............................... 151.5

VOLLEYBALL Kent State...............................0 Miami..................................... 3

Opinion

12

RIGAZIKM@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019

STAFF EDITORIAL

Hope you’ve stretched out, because it’s time to exercise your civic duty!

The following reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

It’s the first Tuesday of November, which means citizens across the country are heading to the polls to vote in local elections. And while national media outlets are already laser-focused on next year’s presidential election, it’s our job as your local neighborhood news outlet to tell you it’s important to vote on what’s on the ballot *today*.

Federal elections may dominate our national political landscape, but our local government officials are far more accessible than our state or national representatives. This is especially true for Oxford, as our local officials are heavily involved in the community.

The officials elected into office today will enact policies that directly impact our day-today lives here in Oxford, dealing with everything from parking tickets to long-term sustainability in Oxford.

Today, Oxford voters have the opportunity to elect three of the five candidates running for Oxford City Council.

After hosting last week’s City Council debate, we at The Miami Student endorse Jason Bracken, Glenn Ellerbe and Bill Snavely for City Council. We believe these candidates represent the best vision of what Oxford has the capacity to become this election cycle.

All five candidates focused on the same general issues and presented themselves as on relatively similar platforms. The veil of bipartisanship, however, is most likely due to the fact that overt right-wing talking points and ideals have cost Oxford candidates the election in the

past.

While it’s true that local government doesn’t face the same partisan gridlock we see on Capitol Hill, our staff fears Kyger and Skoglind will prove to be less aligned with the progressive ideals of affordable housing for all and city-wide carbon neutrality once they’re in

vacancy fees to help incentivize filling Oxford’s many empty storefronts and homes, whereas Hueston Kyger simply chalked up the lack of economic options in town to solely a population issue.

We’ve reported in this town long enough to know that’s not the reason we have empty

“The people elected today will shape Oxford, and that matters regardless of whether you’re a full-time resident or student.” office.

Bracken and Ellerbe are running on affordable housing platforms, and both proposed promising plans to rezone for multi-use housing and development and to better support the homeless community in Oxford.

Miami University is the largest employer in Butler County, and much of the surrounding community’s population is vulnerable to poverty and homelessness. Our staff encourages all Oxford voters to support these candidates who will work to improve the lives of our students and our workers.

Not only will these candidates help the housing crisis in this city, but they promise to encourage local businesses in a more sustainable manner. Bracken proposed raising

storefronts and inflated housing prices in Oxford.

Our staff wants to elect officials that provide Oxford with plans for real change that will benefit its citizens, not excuses.

That’s not to say that the candidates we have chosen to endorse are perfect.

For instance, Snavely said he wants to improve both public parking and the bus system in the city. But if you want to encourage sustainability, you can’t be complicit in enabling car reliance. It would be far more beneficial to focus on improving public transportation, as it will encourage residents to develop more environmentally conscious habits and will better serve the community than additional parking ever will.

Also, for a candidate that so clearly has a background to talk all day about sustainability, we were sorely disappointed that Bracken rarely took his full time in the debate to actually elaborate at length the plans he’d like to institute.

But Bracken, Ellerbe and Snavely are committed to sustainability, and each expressed their support for University President Greg Crawford to sign the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments, (PCLC) which will commit Miami to carbon neutrality.

We at The Student have been vocal about our support for signing the PCLC, and we’re excited to see candidates backing issues that are so important to us. And maybe Crawford will finally listen once the pressure starts coming from someone other than the student body.

The people elected today will shape Oxford, and that matters regardless of whether you’re a full-time resident or student.

This community gives us so much, and offers us our first step into the real world. This election is an opportunity for us to give back.

To use our voice and elect individuals invested in improving our community. To show that our investment in Oxford goes beyond four years of undergrad.

And if you’re of the “my vote doesn’t matter” mindset, remember your vote today is not gerrymandered, and a small scale election means that your vote carries the full weight that it deserves.

Happy Election Day, Oxford. Make it count.

Co–Star told me to write down my good ideas today, so here we go

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WILL GORMAN

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Throughout history (alternatively, since 1998), I’ve had a long-running record of moments where I’ve made fun of people who read too much into astrology. It’s really easy to quip about, so I often do — I even wrote a shambly, one-act play with a joke character dedicated to garnering laughs about those who turn to the constellations for guidance.

But then something funny happened.

I downloaded Co–Star onto my phone over the summer, and I give it validity more often than I’d like to admit.

Am I now the person searching for guidance down any avenue possible?

It’s possible.

Co–Star is an aesthetically pleasing app that offers “hyper-personalized astrology,” “real-time horoscopes” and a “social experience.” I didn’t know about it until some friends were talking about it at a grad party one hot afternoon. The way they spoke about it indicated that this wasn’t a new phenomenon, and I realized I was definitely out of the loop.

Curious and eager to contribute to the discussion instead of just looking at other people’s phones, I downloaded Co–Star and set up a profile. I gave it my birth date, birth time and location and, in turn, it gave me more aspects to my horoscope than I ever thought I needed.

To make a long story short, I now have access to what all 11(!) of my “signs” are, the triumphs and troubles I’m astrologically poised to face on any given day and — perhaps the most interesting part — if my friends are experiencing the same thing and if we’re cosmically compatible as people.

So, yes, there is now a monochrome, self-proclaimed “21st century” astrology app on my phone. And, thankfully, it told me this morning that my “creative flow” today will help me “use [my] brain at full capacity.” So, the stars say it’s an optimal time to write this column. Compared to yesterday, when I reportedly was feeling “uninspired,” this is a great thing to hear.

I can look at Co–Star today and find that Stephanie and I will both feel alienated, Julia and

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I will both experience work stress, Duard and I will both feel out of sorts and a whopping 10 of my friends will experience social anxiety with me!

It’s a lot to take in, and it all sounds so legitimate at first glance.

Of course, I want to believe that Ceili and I truly do make a “magical pairing” based on our star signs, and I truly hope that I’m in the promised “safe place” to raise my self-worth today.

All of it sounds so sentimentally glamorous and it’s written so smoothly that it’s not really instinctive for me to question.

Maybe that’s because I get lost so easily in good writing.

But the fact still remains that Co–Star is, at its core, a free astrology app. Nice graphics, big words and vague-sounding adjectives don’t really change the fact that this is the radioactive version of grabbing horoscopes out of a daily newspaper.

The first modern horoscope was printed in the 1930s, and I think we’ve come far enough as a society to recognize how ridiculous astrology is.

Just this past summer, Twitter was aflutter with mockery over a clip from “The Bachelor Australia” in which a contestant, upon learning that the Australian bachelor she’d just met is an astrophysicist, tells him her zodiac sign.

Sure, sometimes my life also goes haywire when Mercury is in retrograde, but I’m a college student. My life has been going haywire on twoweek intervals for years at this point. With the general chaos of college life, job search anxieties and the current political climate, there’s a lot of instability going on.

So, it makes sense to me that Co–Star is so easily trustable, even if it’s just for fun. It’s fun to see what turns life, should the stars really dictate our fates, will supposedly take every day. It’s assuring to receive little fortunes that tell me when any given Friday is a good day to try something new. It’s amusing to find messages saying that I should avoid conflict on a random Tuesday.

And it’s sort of exciting to compare Co–Star profiles with someone else and get the horoscope for an entire relationship. It’s fun to mutually celebrate what the app gets right and laugh at what it gets horribly wrong. In some bizarre way, the app can offer moments of human intimacy — brief moments in bonds that feature two people garnering amusement from statements they approve or deny about one another.

The app provides concepts to both agree with as fact and reject as fiction — it provides the pretense of existing objectivity in personality.

That’s some kind of stability. And that’s really cool to have in times like these.

So, while I’m going to continue to make punchlines out of star signs, I’m probably going to keep Co–Star on my phone for a while, too. gormanwm@miamioh.edu

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