ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 148 No. 15
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020
Happy birthday, Miami! The history of Miami University in 1000 words
TANG DYNASTY FAILS
MADELINE PHABY STAFF WRITER
Miami University celebrated its 211th “birthday” on Monday, February 17. Today, it’s best known for its picturesque campus, strong undergraduate teaching and party scene. But, Miami also has a long, fascinating history that spans three centuries and includes more than 200,000 alumni. Old Miami
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The state of Ohio chartered Miami on Feb. 17, 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio and the tenth-oldest public university in the United States. Miami was located in a then-unincorporated section of southwestern Ohio that became the Village of Oxford in 1830. Contrary to popular belief, Miami did not draw its name from the Myaamia Tribe (now known as the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) — the tribe didn’t reside on the site of the university at the time of its founding, but they lived near this and other areas of the Great Lakes region prior to their removal in 1846. Though Miami was chartered in 1809, classes weren’t held until construction of the first academic building — Franklin Hall — was completed in 1824. Miami’s first students paid $93 in tuition and fees for the entire academic year, which is equivalent to $1428.87 in 2019. In 1826, the Literary Focus, the first student-produced periodical at Miami, was established. An early predecessor to The Miami Student, the Focus staff aimed to “produce a magazine of education value for themselves and the community,” wrote former Miami professor Walter Havighurst. Alpha Delta Phi, the first fraternity founded at Miami, was established in 1833. Five other Greek organizations — Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Chi, Delta Zeta and Phi Kappa Tau were subsequently CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
TO PAY EMPLOYEES
PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN
RACHEL BERRY NEWS EDITOR
Tang Dynasty, a restaurant located on West High Street in Oxford and partially managed by a Miami University sophomore, neglected to pay its employees, according to court documents and the account of a former cook. Weiping Peng began working as a cook at the restaurant on Sept. 1, 2019. He was promised $6,000 a month, to be paid at the end of each month. Peng worked a minimum of 60 hours a week, according to court documents. Peng was given his September wages in multiple installments. He was paid in cash and through transfers of renminbi, Chinese currency, over the Chinese social media platform WeChat. He said in China it’s normal to be paid through the app. It’s unclear when Peng received the last of these installments. He said it was on Nov. 4, but his employer, Miami sophomore Zhenyu Tang, said it was in October. As he was paid in cash, neither has a record of the transac-
tion, although the Ohio Revised Code 4111.08 specifies that employers must keep records of employee names, pay and hours worked. Peng continually asked his employers — Tang, Zefreng Bing, Jingwei Wu and Ben Mou — when he would be paid for October and November’s wages. Tang and the other owners told Peng business had been slow recently, so they didn’t have the money to pay him. Tang said Peng agreed to be paid late because he understood the restaurant wasn’t doing well financially. But, when Peng was hired, he said none of the owners mentioned anything about slow business or a lack of money. On Oct. 22, Peng sent a WeChat message to Tang. Tang told him “We won’t get money until tomorrow. Tomorrow I will pay you.” On Nov. 1, Peng pleaded, “Tang, you need to come at 3 p.m. to pay the September payment. I really need the money.” (These messages were originally in Chinese but have been translated to English). Their conversation went on like this for weeks, according to messages obtained by The
Miami Student. Peng continually asked Tang for payment, and Tang promised the money. “According to the law, I know this problem is wrong,” Tang told The Student. “That’s why I talk[ed] with him personally.” “‘I’ll give you the money later [after] a week, two weeks,’” Tang told Peng. “‘Please trust me. I will pay you.’” According to WeChat messages between Peng and Tang, at least one of the restaurant’s other employees was also paid late. Li Ci, the other cook at the restaurant, said through a translator that he has always been paid on time. In mid-November, some of the employees went on strike. It’s unclear exactly which employees went on strike — Tang said it was all the employees, whereas Peng said it was the two cooks. The restaurant was forced to close and hasn’t been able to reopen since. Peng no longer works for Tang Dynasty, and Tang said he isn’t sure if CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Miami Cheerleading is more than a team — it’s a family
MIAMI CHEERLEADING IS "A GAME OF CONSTANT CONCENTRATION" WITH "ONE WRONG MOVE" ANYONE CAN COME CRASHING DOWN. THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN
TIM CARLIN
Normally, the team practices on the main floor of Millett, but because the space was transformed for career fair, the cheerleaders moved underground. Aside from the lack of windows, the practice space, known as the sub-gym, lacks any subterranean feeling. It looks exactly like a typical gymnasium: a full-size basketball court, white walls with hanging memorabilia and padding along the perimeter. Rap beats pump out of the sub-gym’s speakers as the team practices. At the center of the
room, boys stand red-faced. Repeatedly throwing smiling girls into the air, their faces tense and relax at a rhythmic pace. It’s a game of constant concentration. One wrong move and the girl comes crashing down. This is Miami cheerleading. In the team’s second UCA National Championship run in the last 20 years, Miami took twelfth place out of the 22 schools in the division. “It takes a ton of work, and it takes a ton of sacrifice,” said Jerel Stewart, Miami’s head
NEWS
CULTURE
SPORTS
I can hear the bells
From eye contact to iContact
Zambonis and fixing toilets.
ASST. NEWS EDITOR Hours after the career fair, underneath Millett Hall, down a winding staircase and behind a passcode-locked door, Miami University’s cheerleading team begins its two-hour practice. It’s the first practice after the team’s trip to the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) National Championship competition during J-term.
cheerleading coach. “Once you go out there, we have one chance to compete for two minutes and 30 seconds, and it’s just nuts … No matter how you place, you know you gave it your all.” Stewart has been a coach for his entire post-collegiate life, but he has been a part of the cheerleading world for much longer. “I was a gymnast first,” Stewart said. “And then when I got into college, I went to a small university first, Otterbein University … and then the cheer coach actually saw me just do a flip, and then of course she was like, ‘We’ll give you some money if you join our team.’ So it was a little friendly bribe there.” “Once you’re in cheerleading,” Stewart added, “you’re pretty much hooked for life.” Stewart recruited nine of his male friends to join Otterbein’s all-female cheer team with him, so he knows firsthand about the stigma surrounding boys in cheerleading. But he explained cheerleading requires just as much athletic ability as other male-dominated sports. “You get a lot of ex-athletes, who may not be getting a football scholarship, who may not be playing scholarship sports here at Miami, but definitely still want that athletic feel,” Stewart said. “Once they do come in and try it and figure it out and I tell them what cheerleading actually is, they’re like, ‘I had no idea! This is a whole different world,’ And then they kind of get hooked.” Dane Doebereiner, a sophomore marketing and interactive media studies double major, began cheerleading in college. He was a self-described theater kid until college cheerleading. “I basically just walked on with no prior experience, with no prior knowledge of what the cheer world was,” Doeberiner said. “Now, it’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
This Issue
The story of Pulley Tower. page 5
How the gay dating scene has changed. page 6
OPINION
"I'm nervous ..."
The do-it-all men of Goggin.
- our Opinion Editor
page 10
page 12