ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2018
Volume 146 No. 25
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be around’ OBITUARY
MEGAN ZAHNEIS MAGAZINE EDITOR
It was December 2000 when Venelin Ganev arrived in Oxford for a second-round job interview at Miami University. He was being considered to join something called the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies. At about 7:30 a.m. that morning, there was a knock on Ganev’s hotel-room door. “And there she was,” he recalled. “Karen Dawisha.” As a graduate student in the 1990s, Ganev had admired Dawisha’s work on the Russian electoral system. Now, he was sharing breakfast with her at Bell Tower Place as
GREEK LIFE’S LACK OF DIVERSITY MEANS MIXED EXPERIENCES DIVERSITY
Dawisha laid out plans for the Havighurst Center, which she’d just been hired away from the University of Maryland to direct. “At the time, there was no Center. There was Karen Dawisha and $10 million,” Ganev said, referring to the bequest that founded the Center. “But she had this vision of what needs to be done.” That was typical of Dawisha, who died Wednesday in Oxford after an 18-month battle with cancer. She was 68. Dawisha hired Ganev and spent the next 16 years, until her retirement from Miami in 2016, building the Havighurst Center into an internationally renowned institution for scholars of Russia and post-Soviet CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
LAURA FITZGERALD STAFF WRITER
72 percent of
undergrads at Oxford’s campus are white. White students make up 89 percent of Greek life.
KAREN DAWISHA WAS THE FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE HAVIGHURST CENTER . UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Buzzing around Miami Apiculture Society brings new hives to campus
Miami University’s Greek community has lower portions of minority and international students than the general undergraduate population, creating mixed experiences for minority students in Panhellenic Association (Panhellic) and the Interfraternity Council (IFC). Greek life at Miami is governed by the Tri-Council, consisting of the Panhellenic, IFC and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). Around 72 percent of all undergraduates at the Oxford campus are white, according to Miami’s enrollment statistics. However, white students made up about 89 percent of IFC and Panhellenic as of fall 2017, according to the Office of Institutional Research. Domestic minority students make up 13.4 percent of Miami’s undergraduates, while they only made up 11.4 percent of the Tri-Council. Domestic minority students comprised 10.4 percent of IFC and 10.3 percent of Panhellenic. All 26 students in NPHC, which is much smaller than either IFC or Panhellenic, are African-American or multiracial. International students, who make up almost 15 percent of the total undergraduate population, comprise just 0.5 percent of IFC and 0.4 percent of Panhellenic. Mackenzie Solomon, NPHC presCONTINUED ON PAGE 8
BAM 2.0 PLANS CONTINUE ACTIVISM
THE MIAMI APICULTURE SOCIETY SHOWS OFF ITS NEW QUEENS, TAMPS DOWN THE TRAVEL BOX AND INSTALLS ITS YOUNG, BENIGN BEES IN “HIVELAND,” LOCATED ON WESTERN CAMPUS. ARTHUR NEWBERRY DESIGN EDITOR BEES
CAROLINE CREEK ASST. NEWS EDITOR
As the sun rose early Tuesday morning, four Miami students retrieved an unusual package from the Oxford post office. After arriving the students received a 3-pound box made of plywood and mesh siding, containing nearly 10,500 Italian honey bees. The students are members of the Miami Apiculture Society, the university’s first student run beekeeping organization. The Italian honey bees will form the organization’s second hive. Its first hive, obtained a year ago, perished in November from food shortages and disease. “[We did] too little, too late last year,” said Jack Fetick, cofounder of Miami’s Apiculture Society. Members of the organization, better
known as “bee club,” plan to regularly check on the hive throughout the summer to ensure the honeybees enter the fall healthy. Specifically, they will monitor the varrao mite count, the number of parasites that attack honey bees, which contributed to the hive’s demise last winter. Although the bee club is student run, they receive guidance from Alex Zomchek, Miami’s apiarist. Zomchek has been conducting beekeeping research on campus for 24 years. Historically, Miami has a profound impact on the beekeeping world. The modern hive was invented in Oxford in 1852 by Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth. “Oxford, Ohio is the birthplace of modern beekeeping,” Zomchek said. Zomchek was overjoyed that students wanted to learn about beekeeping and start the bee club.“I’ve been waiting for [these students] for 24 years,” he said.
FOOD page 6
NEWS P.3
BOOKLOVERS CELEBRATE WRITING Fans of the written word gather for seventh annual writing festival.
“Oxford, OH is the birthplace of modern beekeeping.” Last year, members of the club took full responsibility for the hive while Zomchek mentored from a distance. “[It is] necessary to have a beekeeper as a mentor but you’ve got to just get in the hive and do it yourself,” Fetick said. Due to the first hive’s demise, Zomchek will work alongside members of the club to ensure this hive remains healthy. “I’ll be working with them to show them what they don’t know,” he said. During spring break, several memCONTINUED ON PAGE 9
STAFF REPORT This past week several academic departments and organizations within Miami University pledged their support to the Black Action Movement 2.0 (BAM 2.0) in the last week. BAM 2.0 expressed their gratitude in a Facebook post last Friday, April 13, in which they thanked “everyone who is standing in solidarity with us.” Altogether, three academic departments and three Miami affiliated associations condemned racist behavior and shared their support for BAM 2.0. These groups included the Department of Psychology, the Department of English, the Department of Media, Journalism & Film alongside statements issued by the Howe Writing Center, the Graduate Student CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
CULTURE P.4
EDITORIAL P. 12
JAZZ IN DOUBLE TIME
KNOW YOUR OWN DATA
MU Jazz Ensemble channels ‘20s swing while Rehugnant Quartet brings fusion flair.
Don’t unplug, but make sure you know who has your info.
SPORTS P.14
INTL. ATHLETE RETURNS TO OXFORD A Nigerien basketballer stuck back home returns for next season.
On-Ramp Workshop at Chestnut Fieldhouse
131 West Chestnut St
Session 4 Thursdays • April 19–May 3 • 6:00–7:00 pm
Questions? Contact Seth Cropenbaker at cropensw@MiamiOH.edu or at (513) 529-6007