The Miami Student | February 6, 2018

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Volume 146 No. 16

city

matters

A public safety forum with Oxford’s public health service leaders

Miami University — Oxford, Ohio

Wednesday February 21, 2018 7PM in Wilks Theatre

CRISTESCU SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON CRIME

CÉILÍ DOYLE EMILY WILLIAMS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Former Miami student Nicolas Cristescu was sentenced to five years in prison for a felony charge of gross sexual imposition Monday in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas.

Cristescu, 20, was originally indicted for rape, sexual battery and 11 counts of voyeurism after allegedly drugging, raping and filming an unconscious woman in his Heritage Commons residence in the hours between Oct. 11 and Oct. 12.

As part of a plea bargain, Cristescu pleaded guilty to the amended charge of gross sexual imposition in December. The charges for voyeurism and sexual battery were dismissed.

The five-year sentence that Judge Michael Oster ordered is the maximum sentence for gross sexual imposition, a third degree felony. Oster also ruled that Cristescu be registered as a Tier I sexual offender, requiring Cristescu to register every 12 months for a period of 15 years.

As part of the plea bargain, Oster said, he was directed to view and watch the photos and videos of the victim. After seeing the footage, he said, he knew he was watching someone being raped.

“This perpetrator knew exactly what he was doing,” Oster said.

During Cristescu’s allocution — CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

First-year Jessica Enhelder helps sophomore Maya Fenter try on a hijab for World Hijab Day. SEBASTIAN NEUFUSS THE MIAMI STUDENT

OESCR director Vaughn running for state rep POLITICS

ANDREW TILBE

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Until 2016, Susan Vaughn, Miami’s director of the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution (OESCR), had no aspirations to run for public office. Now, she’s seeking election to the Ohio House of Representatives in November 2018, as representative of Ohio’s 51st district.

Vaughn, who has worked at Miami Uni-

versity for 33 years, is running as a Democrat. At 67 years old, this is her first time running for public office.

One main objective of Vaughn’s campaign is reducing the role of large companies throughout the district and pushing resources toward small business development.

“I think there’s been real attention to big corporations, and the people who support those corporations are the ones who benefit from it,” Vaughn said. “And we gotta get back to bringing life to our smaller towns.”

Student movement fights racism, sexual assault ACTIVISM

LAURA FITZGERALD THE MIAMI STUDENT

From walking students home from the bars to organizing rallies, The Collective brings together Miami students and Oxford community organizations to combat sexual assault and white supremacy.

“It is like a movement or an initiative that is made up of a bunch of different people, activists who are interested in doing what they can to make this campus a better place by attacking major issues on campus that affect a wide variety of students,” said senior Taylor Edwards, an organizer in The Collective.

Senior Jc Statt, another organizer, said it doesn’t seek recognition from the university as a student organization because it exists to serve and bring together other organizations already working on issues in the community. The Collective also doesn’t want the university to hold any power over it, especially when the initiative is trying to challenge university policies and culture.

With about ten organizers, the movement started gaining momentum last semester with a rally against white supremacy on Aug. 30 and a rally against sexual assault on Oct. 25. But, Statt said, the movement is built off the previous work of students and activists who participate in their respective organizations.

“Those folks who involve themselves and who identify as collective organizers have been around,” Statt said. “They were

NEWS P.3

BUILDING BETTER BONES Researchers pursue a less painful, risky way to repair bone trauma.

Vaughn believes that shifting focus toward sustainable jobs for the lower and middle classes will bring prosperity throughout the county.

“I think it’s, to some extent, rigged, so that the people who are the supporters of the big business are the ones who are going to benefit from it,” she said. “And towns like this don’t prosper in circumstances like that.”

Although Vaughn is a registered Democrat and is receiving money and campaign CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

Lack of diversity leads director to look outside Miami for casting DIVERSITY

MADELINE MITCHELL THE MIAMI STUDENT

THE COLLECTIVE ORGANIZED RALLIES AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT (ABOVE) AND WHITE SUPREMACY (BELOW). JUGAL JAIN, RYAN TERHUNE, BO BRUECK THE MIAMI STUDENT

here in the spring, and some weren’t.

Some are freshman; they came in and just dove right in, and that’s amazing. But, it’s obviously all built upon groundwork laid by previous years of students.”

Junior Hannah Abigail Clarke, president of Spectrum, spoke at both rallies held by The Collective. Through the rallies, Clarke formed a relationship with Black Women Empowered, an organization that Spectrum has never worked with before, and began planning an event.

Clarke said she hopes to continue that re-

CULTURE P.4

EDITORIAL P. 12

HUMANS OF OXFORD: BEAKER BROS

WHAT RECRUITMENT RULES REFLECT

“One day you’ll realize science is just failure to disprove something.”

The ways that Greek men and women recruit show gender disparities.

lationship for years to come.

Each weekend, The Collective has a group of students wait at the Phi Delt gates on weekend nights that offer to walk students home.

The group recently partnered with Students for Survivors from the University of Cincinnati (UC) on a social media campaign that highlighted sexual assault stories and statistics.

This semester, the group plans to supCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Recent recasting in the Department of Theatre has stirred discussion of an elephant in the room: Miami’s lack of racial diversity.

The department’s upcoming production of “We Are Proud to Present…” held auditions last fall and posted a cast list before students were released for winter break. But the last-minute withdrawal of two cast members left director Torie Wiggins scrambling to find replacements in the last three days before their first rehearsal last Tuesday.

What made the situation particularly dire? The two roles which needed to be recast had to be black males, as specified in the script.

“I wasn’t upset with [the actors who dropped],” Wiggins said. “It was just like, I’m not necessarily in a demographic where I have my pick, so my only freakout was, ‘Now where do I find black men?’”

Senior theatre major Anthony Thompson, who was originally cast as Actor 4, decided after a second round of interviews a few weeks ago to take an internship with Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles for the spring semester while CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

SPORTS P.14

HOCKEY UNABLE TO SWEEP WMU After beating the WMU Broncos Friday, the Hawks fell 3-2.

ENTERTAINMENT page 6

2 NEWS

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Alumni to offer online mentorship ALUMNI

AUDREY DAVIS NEWS EDITOR

AT THE BEGINNING OF FALL SEMESTER THE COLLECTIVE ORGANIZED A RALLY AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY. JUGAL JAIN PHOTO

‘The Collective’ organizes activists FROM PAGE 1

port organizations that are creating events and raising awareness for Black History Month, Edwards said.

Statt said the group also plans to work with a coalition of Cincinnati-based organizations to protest white nationalist Richard Spencer’s scheduled lecture on UC’s campus in March.

Sophomore Clara Guerra, a Collective organizer and the political action chair of the Black Student Action Association, said she and Edwards are creating a list of demands in a letter to the Miami University containing actions the university can take to fight sexual assault.

Miami University is the subject of three active federal Title IX investigations into the school’s sexual assault policies and procedures, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Title IX Tracker.

“We’re going to provide some things

that actually would solve the problem that the university could do that would actually help students,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the group has a Facebook page that shares events sponsored

by The Collective and other organizations such as Spectrum and Women Helping Women. The Facebook page also answers any questions students have about the issues The Collective addresses.

The group faces several challenges, such as lack of enthusiasm, while continuing the movement, Guerra said.

“It’s hard to organize and create a movement when people are so apathetic,” Guerra said. “There is a lot of burnout.”

Edwards added that members have been verbally harassed while offering to walk students home or participating in demonstrations.

Edwards said it’s important students fight for what is right in the current political moment, as conversation surrounding

sexual assault surfaces in the news and white supremacists become more emboldened.

“People are afraid right now,” Edwards said. “It’s a time where there is really this huge struggle that’s happening, and, for us, it’s very important to say what side we’re on and to participate in the fight.”

Going forward, Clarke hopes The Collective outlines clearer goals and specific steps to achieve them. She hopes it will continue to gain momentum even as some leaders in the movement graduate.

“We’re gonna bring some change to this campus,” Guerra said. “You should expect more protests. You should expect more outrage. You should expect more letters, more signs, more involvement from us, and we’re not just a one-time thing that is going to go away.”

Interested students may message The Collective on Facebook at https://www. facebook.com/TheCollectiveMiamiU.

Severe flu season hits Miami HEALTH

RACHEL BERRY

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University students, faculty and the rest of the country have been hit hard with the flu this year.

Hospitals are seeing three times more flu cases this month than the five-year average, and the Cincinnati area has been heavily affected, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Since the beginning of flu season, McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital has had 259 positive flu tests and 22 hospital admissions due to the influenza, said TriHealth spokesperson Joe Kelly.

Although it is harder to measure data for Miami, since students recently returned to campus, Student Health Services has also been treating an increasing number of students, faculty and their families for the flu.

First-year Mady Neal caught the H3N2 strain of the virus before coming back to

school.

“I felt horrible. I had a fever of 103 [degrees], and I would alternate between sweating and getting cold chills. I had no energy, and my head was always pounding,” Neal said.

It is this particular strain of the virus that is producing the worst side effects.

“H3N2 seems to be a very strong aggressive strain of the virus, so people are a little bit sicker than with some other strains,” said Cynthia Traficant, practice manager of the Miami Student Health Services.

Neal affirmed this, saying that although she had the flu before, it has never been this bad or lasted this long.

The health center urges students to wash their hands and avoid sharing food or drink in an attempt to stop the spread of the flu.

Symptoms include chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and congestion.

The early onset of the virus also makes it stand out, as someone could feel fine one

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moment and feel the full impact of the flu a few hours later.

In addition to typical flu symptoms, this strain can lead to more serious complications such as pneumonia, septic shock and organ failure.

Although flu vaccinations have been said to be only 12 to 30 percent effective this year, Traficant said there are still benefits to the vaccines. Those who have had the vaccine are likely to experience lower complication rates, less severe symptoms and a shorter recovery time.

It is easier to treat the earlier it is brought to attention, and if students come to the center within 24 to 36 hours of noticing symptoms, they can be prescribed medicine, such as Tamiflu, which will relieve symptoms more quickly.

“If you think you’re getting influenza... don’t waste time and seek treatment right away,” Traficant said. berryrd@miamioh.edu

Hottest club in Oxford?

King library 2nd floor baby open 24 hours

Miami University’s Alumni Association launched Miami Alumni Connect, an online mentorship program, in January.

The new program aims to grow the Miami network through mentoring and other purposeful connections between alumni and current students.

Miami Alumni Connect was designed with the help of J.J. Slager, Associate Director of Alumni Career Education and Development.

Slager’s position was created in the fall of 2016 with the idea of providing more career opportunities for alumni.

There was already a career advisor for career coaching, but they wanted to hire someone who could organize programming and develop career-related activities for alums.

The programming created under Slager includes monthly online events in the form of Facebook Lives and a program geared toward professionals called Miami at the Merc, which is an after-work program in downtown Cincinnati that provides networking and a panel discussion on different topics each quarter.

“But, the major thing I heard when I took over this role was people wanting mentorship,” Slager said. “So that kind of became my biggest project, figuring out how to set up mentorship for alums on both sides.”

The alumni development team is often working with alumni to get them to donate money, Slager said, but they will sometimes say that they’re not in a good position to donate but would like to give back to Miami with their time. Mentorship, he said, would solve that need.

“A lot of people want to just stay connected, and any way that we can keep them connected to Miami and engaged with Miami is good for the long term,” Slager said. “We also have alums who want to find mentors and find connections. And, we’re always looking to connect alums to students.”

Slager said a lot of the students don’t know what the Alumni Association does and think it’s sole purpose is to collect money after graduation.

“When in fact, everything we do is to try to keep alumni engaged and try to keep them involved in the school,” Slager said. “[Alumni] ask about helping students all the time … But the only way to really make it scalable to where everybody across the world could be involved was through a software system.”

Slager looked at several start-ups and demoed eight different companies before deciding on PeopleGrove as their software provider.

“It’s kind of a Miami-centered LinkedIn, but one of the reasons we went with People Grove is their very focused on the mentorship piece,” Slager said. “I didn’t want to just create another social media site because people aren’t going to just add this into their daily websites … We wanted to be very purposeful in that you sign up and it shows you the algorithm and gives you people you’ve potentially matched with and makes it very easy to make that connection and set up a conversation.”

Miami Alumni Connect officially launched in January to alumni. They sent out two emails and had over 2,500 people join since them.

“These are all alumni who’ve basically heard the call to action,” Slager said.

“They’ve put their hand up and said ‘yes’ and filled out a profile and put themselves as available to be a mentor.”

The next step is to get Miami students on board and let them know that there are alumni waiting and willing to give them advice.

“If we could get 10,000 alums on and active, that’s a big picture high number goal,” he said. “Students, I haven’t quite figured out what a good goal would be. I was kind of thinking about a quarter of the students, so around 3,000 would be amazing, but I’m not sure if that will happen. We’ll see.”

What Slager is really looking forward to is hearing about the individual connections and hearing stories from both alumni and current students using the site.

“I think that will be even more satisfying to hear somebody say, ‘I connected with this person and they helped me figure out what to do with my major and how to prepare myself for the work force and now I got this job,’” Slager said. “Those are the kinds of stories which I know will happen.

I’m really excited to see that.” davisa10@miamioh.edu

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

3 NEWS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Entrepreneurship Program Explores Air Force Technology breaking innovation opportunities without necessarily viewing AFRL as the only potential customer,” said Jim Heitner, Director of Technology Commercialization and Transfer at the Wright Brothers Institute.

A capstone class has been added to Miami’s entrepreneurship curriculum this semester. Students will put the patents through a “funnel,” meaning they will evaluate the patents for their possible use and potential marketability. Afterwards, they will categorize them into small high-priority groups for further research.

The process began this week.

This semester the class is focused on the funnel, but beginning next fall students may go one step further with the top patents. The goal is to develop business plans for company start-ups or create marketing strategies to find businesses that want to license the AFRL patents.

One of the ultimate goals of the project is to find ten “alignments,” companies, student groups or faculty researchers that are interested in developing the high-priority patents.

“Once we get through this first step, we’ll be matching faculty research interests with some of the patents…which could turn into undergraduate research projects, graduate research projects and those kinds of things,” said James Oris,

RESEARCH

JULIA ARWINE STAFF WRITER

A budding partnership between Miami University and the Wright Brothers Institute is bringing opportunities and curriculum changes to Miami’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, starting this semester.

Students and faculty are working with the Wright Brothers Institute to speed up the process of assessing and commercializing the technology contained within patents. The Wright Brothers Institute acts as an intermediary between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and universities, businesses and communities.

Miami’s partnership with the institute gives the university access to a portfolio of around 1,000 AFRL patents for review, some of which have gone unexamined for up to 20 years. By working with Miami, the institute gets access to state resources related to commercialization technology uniquely available to universities.

The institute saw an opportunity to expand their collaborations into new territory with Miami.

“We believe more potential partners should be leveraging AFRL technology to pursue many commercial and ground-

outreach or commercialization projects.

“We’re less investing in a focused program than we are tapping into ongoing capabilities and initiatives,” Heitner said about the collaborations with other schools.

At Miami, “it’s much more of a program-building partnership.” This goes beyond merely sharing resources.

“This allows students to take a really deep dive into real-world problems and evaluate marketing and business plans for patents that are out there,” Oris said.

“So if students are interested in going into patent law or becoming patent examiners, if they want to come up with creative ideas for business startups, this adds a whole new dimension to the entrepreneurship activities.”

The current agreement between Miami and the Wright Brothers Institute is an 18 month contract that lasts through the entire following academic year. The continuation of the partnership depends on the results from the next three semesters.

“If we have success, then maybe there’s more, but right now the project goes through the end of June of 2019,” Oris said. “We’re hoping it gets to continue.”

Associate Provost for Research and Scholarship at Miami.

Within the partnership, he acts as chief research officer for the university.

“I suspect that by the middle of this semester we’ll be able to start matching groups of patent areas with different departments on campus,” Oris said.

The patents contain technology with a wide variety of potential uses in fields including medicine, military science, energy and power, optics, bio science and even aerospace.

This diversity opens up new venues for faculty researchers in these areas, so that they may be able to open up their own collaborations with the Air Force Research Lab in the future.

This partnership may even eventually lead to getting some of the same technologies used by the Department of Defense adapted for public use, Oris said.

“This a really cool potential example of a university and a federal lab working together in a commercialization area,” Heitner said. “I like that it’s broad in the direction that it could go. It has the potential to utilize a lot of Miami’s resources.”

The Wright Brothers Institute has similar relationships with other universities, such as the University of Dayton, Wright State University and Purdue University, who collaborate on research projects,

arwinejk@miamioh.edu

SECOND-YEAR GRADUATE STUDENT SONGMI KOO EXPLAINS THE PROCESS OF CELL CULTURE. JUGAL JAIN, PHOTO EDITOR

Miami researchers build better bones RESEARCH

JACK EVANS

MANAGING EDITOR

Up two flights of stairs in the Engineering Building, behind a handful of heavy, grey doors and through an airlock, Miami University researchers are looking for a better way to regrow bones.

“If you have a defect in a bone, and if the bone defect is beyond a certain size, younger connective tissues forms, but it’s not bone,” said Paul James, an associate professor of biology and one of the lead researchers on the project. “You need a bridge.”

The other project lead is Amy Yousefi, a professor of chemical, paper and biomedical engineering who has been working on the project since its inception in 2009. Together, the pair hope to develop synthetic scaffolding that can be 3D-printed to fit large swaths of missing or trau-

w

matised bone. After printing, the scaffolding is seeded with cells to encourage bone regrowth.

This type of technology could offer major benefits to veterans and other trauma victims, reducing the need for painful surgical bone grafts.

The importance of the research hasn’t gone unnoticed.

The project is funded through 2019 by a grant from the National Institute of Health.

Yousefi and James aren’t alone in their pursuit of bone repair solutions, even at Miami. An associate professor in the engineering department, Justin Saul, is studying the effects of keratin (the material that makes up your nails and hair) on bone regeneration.

However, the approach taken

by Yousefi and James offers their scaffolding system qualities that they hope will help it stand out among other options.

“This is the first step to make

our scaffold,” said Songmi Koo, a second-year graduate student researching polymers for the project. “This is the most interesting thing for me, the 3D-printing.”

To make the scaffold, the researchers use a bioplotter — essentially a large 3D printer that can layer complex medical materials — in addition to a system of solvents and solutions.

Combined, the processes create a scaffold that has “macro” channels, which are specialized to house blood vessels and transport nutrients, as well as “micro” holes less than a tenth of a millimeter wide that help fluids move between cells, said Yousefi and James.

Past the interior pores, the solvent-solution technique also carves out nanoscopic pockmarks on the surface area of the scaffold that help attract and retain biological cells to the synthetic scaffold.

“This is where Dr. Zhang

comes in,” said James, speaking about Jing Zhang, a Miami statistics professor assisting with the research. “We want to optimize the number and size of the pores while maintaining a certain thickness.”

Broadly, the goal of the researchers is to find the right balance between mechanical factors, like the strength and resistance of the scaffold, and biological ones, like cell adhesion.

The projects’ most recent acquisition is a new bioreactor, which recently arrived in the clean room behind the airlock on Jan. 29. The machine’s primary task is to replicate the conditions of the human body for testing the scaffolding, imitating fluid pressure around a bone and the Ph of the body, among other factors.

“With the right kind of bioreactor, we can put stress on the bone structure,” said Yousefi, adding that the right type of stress on a bone actually encour-

EVENTS THIS WEEK

ages bone growth.

To improve the fluid flow within the bioreactor, Yousefi and James brought on more researchers: four undergraduate design students with access to a RedHawk high-performance computing cluster.

“They do the simulations and we have some results,” said Yousefi. “Eventually, we are optimizing the fluid velocity with the flow rate and hopefully in one month or two we are going to start with the commercial scaffolding.”

Competing with the basic commercial scaffolding and bone graft techniques is perhaps the most important step for the project, as Yousefi and James hope to ultimately offer their own scaffold to the public.

“We are hoping that we can outperform the commercial scaffolding,” said Yousefi. “Hopefully.” evansjm4@miamioh.edu

w

Events to catch this week on Miami’s campus and in Oxford Winter Mega Fair

Devotion in Motion

Love.Care.Honor Game

Mud Lick March

Armstrong Fritz Pavilion Wednesday, 5 to 8 p.m.

MacMillan Hall, Great Room Thursday, 4:30, 6:30 p.m.

Millett Hall Saturday, 1 to 3 p.m.

Hueston Woods Lodge Saturday, 2 to 3 p.m.

Meet the staff of The Miami Student and learn about our opportunities for writers, editors, photographers, designers, copy editors and business staff. Oh, and there will be many other student organizations there, too. Can’t make it?

Visit miamistudent.net/join-us.

The opening of this photography exhibit, which depicts a 2016 pilgrimage to Juqulia in Oaxaca, Mexico, will be celebrated with gallery tour at 4:30 p.m. and a lecture from Vanderbilt history professor Edward Wright Rios and photojournalist Mike Dubose at 7.

Tickets are free to Saturday’s women’s basketball match against Buffalo University, and proceeds from sales of spirit wear will be donated to Luna Cares, an Oxford non-profit which provides financial support to women who are undergoing treatment for cancer.

Meet at the Hueston Woods Lodge to take a stroll down the Mud Lick Trail.

Learn more about the history of the park and its native wildlife while making the trek around Acton Lake. Practical footwear, weather-appropriate clothing and a sense of adventure are encouraged.

4 CULTURE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

PERELMAK@MIAMIOH.EDU

LACK OF DIVERSITY IN DRAMA DEPARTMENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

finishing up the two credits he needs to graduate online.

“I couldn’t justify turning down an opportunity like that,” said Thompson, referring to his internship. “I accepted it even though it was an incredibly difficult decision, especially since it’s not all the time that Miami has shows that showcase people of color.”

According to Miami University’s diversity inclusion data report from Oct.15, 2016, just 3 percent of Miami’s undergraduate students self-identified as Black/African American, compared to 73 percent of undergraduates who classified themselves as White/Unknown.

“It’s not the fact that we lost actors,” Wiggins said. “It’s the fact that we don’t have the casting pool to pull them from in 2018 in a theatre department of a university that is striving for more diversity. So I will go ahead and point at that elephant in the room and say, ‘Yep, he’s standing there. What are we gonna do about that?’”

Wiggins did end up finding actors to fill the roles at the last minute, but from outside Miami’s campus. Neither Shaun Diggs (a 2016 graduate from Sinclair Community College) nor Keith Holland Jr. (a former student of Wiggins’) had heard of “We Are Proud to Present…” before last week, but now they are both driving an hour to and from Oxford every evening for rehearsals.

“It’s a welcoming environment,” said Diggs. “It wasn’t uncomfortable. As soon as I got here it was great, no egos. Within the

first week we’ve gotten to know each other.”

“We Are Proud to Present…” depicts six actors working together to devise a piece of theatre that explains the genocide of Namibia, the first genocide of the 20th century where 80 percent of all Herero people were killed. Through its humor and experimental style, the metatheatrical play aims to call out racial misconceptions and judgements that many Miami students face on a daily basis.

“What this play does deal with is people speaking from other people’s perspective,” Wiggins said. “The importance of finding specific cast members racially is because of that main theme. So the idea that I did have to go off campus to find [black male actors] generally speaks to the demographic. Diversity is getting better on this campus, but we still have a long way to go.”

Thompson spoke along the same lines as Wiggins.

“It’s kind of a chicken or the egg scenario,” said Thompson. “There is the ultimate need for black bodies and bodies of color on stage, but it’s hard to do that when they don’t already see themselves on stage or know that these opportunities exist for them. It’s not a theatre issue only, it’s definitely a university-wide issue.”

When choosing this piece, the department did not foresee any obstacle with telling these minority narratives despite the lack of people of color at Miami. Now, however, Wiggins can admit to the humor of the situation.

“It is so ironic,” she said with a dry laugh.

“We’re doing this show on this campus and

couldn’t find two black male actors here to do the roles.”

The first week of rehearsals consisted of reading through the script as an ensemble and having dialogues revolving around the difficult subject matter of the play. Wiggins believes that conversation is key, and she has not even had the actors get on stage yet.

For Holland, this play serves as an especially important opportunity for him to learn about a major African genocide that most people, including himself, are never taught.

“Just looking at the educational system in America, our history is condensed to February,” Holland said. “It’s a very tight-knit section of history that’s presented to us in our school system. There’s so much more that I never had the opportunity to learn, and this is showing us that we’re all human.”

These conversations have allowed each cast member to dive deeper into their characters and understand what they like and don’t like about these people that they are portraying.

“He feels that he is always correct, which is not always the case,” said senior theatre major Mario Formica, referring to his character, Actor 1. “When tumultuous things start to happen I have to get into the mindset that I can’t judge my character based on his actions because if I judge him then I’m not doing that character justice.”

Diggs believes that his character was the most intense.

“He gets to a point where he has to be direct,” he said. “[He believes] the story must

WORLD HIJAB DAY: DISPELLING THE MYTH

be told right and told by someone with the black experience that can understand and pull from his own life experience through the lineage of being black. In life, I feel like... white guys or people sometimes will take something from our experience and try to water down what actually happened or try to deny it because it’s not them that did it, the people who are alive now. With this story, the truth is so ugly. It has to be told.”

With one week of rehearsals already completed, the chaos of finding new actors seems to be behind Wiggins. Now she is focused on making the most out of this short rehearsal process and ensuring all of her actors feel safe and welcome in this creative space.

“It’s amazing,” Wiggins said. “In a week we have managed to create a safe and supportive space for the type of subject matter that we’re dealing with. That was very important to me. I’m really, really optimistic.

Everybody is doing their due diligence in being inquisitive and curious and respectful and honest, and as a director I could not have asked for a better environment in the room.”

The Department of Theatre will be putting up Jackie Sibblies Drury’s “We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915” at 7:30 p.m.

March 7-10 and at 2 p.m March 10-11 in Studio 88. mitche49@miamioh.edu

Humans of Oxford

Beaker Brothers: William Carson & Samson Zacate pursue research in the Chem Lab

THE SECOND PART OF THE WORLD HIJAB DAY CELEBRATION WAS A PANEL DISCUSSION MODERATED BY FATIMA EMLEMDI. SEBASTIAN NEUFUSS THE MIAMI STUDENT

RELIGION

MAYA FENTER STAFF WRITER

“Do you want to try one on?”

First-year Jessica Enhelder and senior Elisabeth Dodd greeted me as I walked up to their table in Armstrong. On the table were about a dozen scarves in various colors and patterns — from subdued solids to bright florals. The table was also decorated with other Islamic artifacts such as a tea set, candles and clothing.

Without a second thought, I said yes. This is definitely one of the less risky things that I could partake in on a college campus.

Jessica handed me a piece of stretchy fabric and told me to put it on like a headband. It held back my hair and covered most of my scalp. She stood facing me and began wrapping a pink scarf with pale pink stripes around my head.

There are several different ways to wear a hijab based on culture and personal preference. Some women choose to pin the ends of the scarf together for a more secure fit while others simply drape it over their head and around their neck. Some women choose to cover all of their hair while others leave some of their hair showing.

Jessica secured the scarf with a pin and stood back to let me look at myself in the round mirror sitting on the table.

I didn’t expect to feel as self-conscious as I did.

The girl with the pink fabric bordering her round face didn’t feel like me. It was a Thursday afternoon during class, and Armstrong wasn’t buzzing with students, but still I felt like people were staring at me.

I haven’t quite grown out of the adolescent tendency to worry about what other people think about me. But what exactly did I think other people would think about me wearing a hijab? Was I worried that they would stereotype me? Think of me differently?

I think these concerns that I had while wearing a hijab for a mere five minutes speaks to the importance of World Hijab Day. On Feb. 1, the Miami University American and Muslim Women’s Collaboration joined over 100 other countries in celebrating World Hijab Day. This is the second time that the organization has recognized the day.

“This is not cultural appropriation; this is a celebration,” said Rhonda Jackson, administrative assistant for the Women’s Center. “This is a cele-

bration of their freedom to cover or not to cover and to celebrate the Islamic faith that we all need to learn more about so that we’re not so afraid and standoffish. It helps to normalize it and makes it easier for Muslim women to navigate this campus.”

By giving people the opportunity to try on a hijab, the organization hoped that it would help break down the negative associations that people have with Islam and those who practice it.

“It becomes less of this intangible symbol and you see it as an everyday reality and something that is for beauty and expression,” Elisabeth said.

The second part of the World Hijab Day celebration was a panel discussion moderated by Fatima Emlemdi, visiting assistant professor in the Center for World and American Cultures. On the panel were seniors Megan Zimmerer and Helene Kabasele, both of whom have converted to Islam, and Dr. Nathan French, assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Religion. The panel served as an opportunity to dispel myths around women who wear hijabs and for people unfamiliar with Islam to ask questions.

In addition to being stereotyped as terrorists and threats, another big misconception of women who wear a hijab is that a man has forced her to do so.

“When I started putting on the hijab, people always asked me, ‘Are you married?’ because they’re assuming that I got married and I converted to Islam because my husband is Muslim,” Helene said.

“But wearing a hijab has nothing to do with men. I don’t wear a hijab because I feel like men are going to lust if I don’t wear it. I wear a hijab because of my commitment to God.” The reason that women wear hijabs stems from modesty, though different women wear it for different reasons. Some wear it to show their Muslim identity, while others wear it to feel closer to God. Regardless of the reason, Rhonda considers wearing a hijab “a purposeful risk.”

“You never know what someone’s going to say or what someone’s going to do,” Rhonda said. “But to honor your faith and to be purposeful about that, women are willing to take that risk and to stand up for their right to practice their faith no matter what it is. I think absolutely [the current political climate] has made [wearing a hijab] more difficult, but we see strong brave women doing it every day on our campus.” fentermc@miamioh.edu

BO BRUECK ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

PEOPLE

BO BRUECK

THE MIAMI STUDENT

“My seventh grade science teacher was low-key wise,” William Carson said. “She said one day in class — and no one knew what the hell it meant at the time, but now I finally get it — she said, ‘Guys listen, one day you’ll realize science is just failure to disprove something.’”

Failing in order to succeed is what Carson and his research partner, Samson Zacate, have been doing ever since. They are both first-year chemistry majors studying under Dr. Wei Liu, looking to broaden their knowledge of the subject through specialized research and lab work.

Both students are working in a field revolving around increasing the effectivity of medicine, a process which has required them to expand their vocabulary as well as their technical ability.

“I’m fluorinating different compounds using electrochemistry with a catalyst that creates nitrogen radicals,” Samson said. “Fluorination is good because it has really good biological effects, and it helps in the pharmaceutical industry to get stuff into your bloodstream faster.”

Carson is working on a similar project involving Trifluoromethylation.

“Our project is basically trying to find methods to trifluoromethylate various molecules and some of those molecules are drugs, because if you are able to add trifluoromethy groups to any active drug, you get way better effects.”

This research has never been done before. William and Samson are some of the only people in the world doing this sort of experimentation.

“I remember in the lab literally three days ago I made this chemical that no one’s ever made before,” William said. “That’s one of the main reasons why we’re in it, it’s just so fucking cool to think that I’m the first person to ever make this chemical.”

Working in the lab as first-years isn’t all fun though. The pair of young chemists work hard to keep up with the rest of their studies, as well as find time to relax.

“It’s definitely hard to balance schoolwork with research,” Samson said. “Especially since we’re still getting used to college, or at least I am, and also spending time with your friends. It’s a fine balance.”

But, as they’re learning from their research, it’s the times of struggle that yield the best results.

“Everytime you fail you gain knowledge,” Samson said. brueckro@miamioh.edu

WOOF! WOOF! LOOK FOR ANOTHER LILLY AND ME COLUMN IN NEXT TUESDAY’S EDITION

PERELMAK@MIAMIOH.EDU

CULTURE 5

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Ballroom dance club finds rhythm in new roles DANCE

CHLOE MURDOCK

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Mambo. Cha cha. Quickstep.

Foxtrot. All ballroom dances involve a “leader,” which is traditionally a man, who directs the “follower,” traditionally a woman. To help others learn to dance — regardless of gender identity — through the ballroom dance club, first-year Brynne Menkhaus and graduate student Josh Schussler are learning to be both leaders and followers.

“It shouldn’t matter who follows or who leads, so we let people choose,” Josh said. “You become a much better dancer when you know how to do both.”

Josh first switched roles while dancing at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he received his bachelor’s degree in physics and a few years of ballroom dance lessons. Brynne’s grandfather once won a dance contest in Jamaica by pairing American dances with reggae music, and years later he taught Brynne her first dance steps in middle school. She began learning to lead in ballroom dances last summer at A-Marika Dance Company.

“I went from the ‘advanced following’ class to the ‘beginner leading’ class,” Brynne said.

Brynne and Josh jumped through the necessary hoops to start the club last fall, but they are still working out some kinks.

“This could easily be an ad for half-priced violins,” Brynne said about the club logo, which she thought still needed work.

Brynne and Josh tucked themselves into the corner of an Armstrong conference room, which was devoid of furniture, to discuss the logo and other plans while waiting for people

to trickle into the meeting last Wednesday. One of those people was first-year Brooke Bennington.

“My mom gave me a list of clubs to join this semester, and this is one I actually chose to go to,” Brooke said.

After learning the basic foxtrot steps, Brooke paired up with sophomore Marcus Meyer.

They traveled around the room without music, stepping slow, slow, quick-quick in unison.

The power dynamic in a dance is hard to trace. Marcus, the leader, gave direction to Brooke, the follower, by putting slight pressure on any point where they touched. But the follower can also direct the leader without realizing it. This makes it hard to find out how dancing partners end up making a misstep.

Once, Brynne and Josh stopped Brooke and Marcus mid-quick to figure out how the two made a wrong turn. They could not figure out how it happened, until: “Oh, I was leading you!”

Brooke said through surprised laughter.

To newcomers, it can feel awkward to dance with a stranger. Dance partners hold hands, switch partners every few minutes and are close enough to smell the other person’s deodorant.

But over the course of the night, everyone loosened up.

The group danced to unexpected foxtrot tunes that ranged from Michael Bublé to Bruno Mars. Josh flashed funny faces at a partner in the middle of a move. Marcus surprised Brynne by twirling her in the middle of dancing the hustle. Brooke cracked jokes at everyone’s expense, including her own, and Brynne exclaimed in sheer glee

ANGELO GELFUSO AND HIS DANCE PARTNER MAKE THEIR WAY AROUND THE MAKE-SHIFT BALLROOM ERIK CRAIGO THE MIAMI STUDENT

while successfully leading her partner.

“Yes! I’ve never been able to lead a quarter-turn before!”

Brynne said.

The MU ballroom dance club

meets from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in Armstrong 2084. Josh and Brynne will teach the waltz, hustle, cha cha, tango, merengue, salsa and other ballroom

dances to anyone who comes during these times. Dues are $20. murdocc3@miamioh.edu

How to survive the winter in Oxford STUDENT LIFE

DUARD HEADLEY STAFF WRITER

With its warm, clear nights, verdant foliage and musical wildlife, summer is nearly always a wonderful time to be in Oxford. The weather allows for comfortable outdoor exploration, and the magic that is air conditioning provides relief whenever the sun gets to be too hot. Truly, summer is a season for exploration, activity and enjoyment.

But once the calendar rolls around to winter and the days begin to shorten, that summer sun can feel hopelessly far away. Biting cold and persistent snow often make traveling outdoors a daunting prospect. The number of backyard parties dwindles, and the lush and vibrant trails lose some of their appeal as the leaves fall from their trees.

In this bleak and barren season, it can often feel like there really isn’t that much to do in and around Oxford. Looking past the tried and true options of going Uptown or staying in your dorm, there are several alternative ways for Miamians to occupy themselves during the winter months.

When Miami advertises the miles upon miles of wooded trails to traverse, they likely do it with spring and summer in mind. And, although the forests are certainly more colorful during those seasons, there’s a stark beauty to the woods of winter time. With snow on the ground, the forest trails become scenes straight out of a holiday card, and strolling through the pristine white woods is sure to evoke a sense of peace, quiet and tranquility that may be much needed as classes intensify. For those who want to escape campus, drive or snag a ride with friends to Hueston Woods, Oxford’s local state park, which boasts miles of trails. In addition, Hueston Woods features a fully furnished lodge, a nature center, dog park, historic pioneer house and covered bridge.

If the cold weather isn’t too much to bear, quintessential winter activities such as sledding or snowboarding remain fun and accessible at Miami.

Despite the relatively flat nature of the Oxford area, there are a few hills around campus that offer prime sledding opportunities. For instance, just past Flower Hall, on the way toward the

THE SECOND WEEK OF CLASSES STARTS WITH THE FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE SEMESTER AND CHLLY TEMPERATURES JUGAL JAIN PHOTO EDITOR

football field, there’s a hill that could fulfill any and all sledding/snowboarding needs, provided that there is snow on the ground. Whether hiking or sledding, those first few moments after stepping back inside, cold-nosed and rosy-cheeked, are magical, and a post-winter activity cup of hot cocoa is not to be missed.

However, the chill of winter can often prove too formidable, and on the days when it’s just too chilly to venture out into the winter wastelands, there are certainly indoor activities to take the place of outdoor adventure. Throwing movie nights with friends is always nice, but there are times when watching films on a tiny screen, crammed into a dorm room or common area just isn’t

grand enough. Hamilton, a few miles southeast of Oxford, offers the AMC Classic Hamilton 8 movie theater. Tickets are $5.99 for adults, making them affordable enough, provided that any would-be movie goers can make the drive.

Other indoor activities can be enjoyed at Oxford’s Community Arts Center, which hosts various performances, rotating art exhibits and a monthly celebration called Second Sunday, a free event which offers access to local artists’ studios and musical performances.

For those seeking a fresh place to study, relax or grab a cup of coffee, the Oxford Coffee Company provides a quiet environment to drink some java and take a breather. The Company

sells house-roasted coffee and the right equipment for those who want to enjoy coffee at home, and their store, located at 21 Lynn Street in Oxford, offers an excellent place to unwind if Kofenya is packed, as it often is.

So whether indoors or outdoors, winter in Oxford doesn’t have to be a four-month period of waiting for spring to arrive. Consider braving the cold and exploring Miami in the winter. An experience unlike anything summer has to offer might just be waiting behind the next leafless tree or drift of snow. Or, staying indoors and finding a new nook to curl up in and escape the cold might spark a new tradition. headledd@miamioh.edu

Entertainment

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DAVISKN3@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

How the ‘Me Too’ movement is shaping this awa

ILLUSTRATION: ARTH

CULTURE

KIERRA SONDEREKER THE MIAMI STUDENT

In 2006, social activist Tarana Burke wrote two words on her MySpace page: “Me Too.” Since then, MySpace has fallen out of significance in the realm of social media, but Burke’s words have remained relevant. Originally used to convey unity and empathy to women of color who have experienced sexual abuse or harassment, “Me Too” has ignited a global conversation empowering all survivors of sexual misconduct, while highlighting just how widespread the problem is.

The “Me Too” revolution has had an influence on the entertainment industry, in particular. When October 2017 brought about allegations against producer Harvey

Weinstein, everyone saw how the movement contributed to taking down the Hollywood big shot who abused his position of power. We read and listened to subsequent allegations and reports of sexual misconduct against celebrity after celebrity, as “Me Too” continued to garner attention and give women everywhere the courage to speak up.

But the movement has extended beyond a few people, and is beginning to shape the industry — including its awards ceremonies. These events are the pinnacle of media entertainment in America, at which the best of the best are recognized for their achievements, and the winners become faces of success and role models in our society. However, the 90th Academy Awards recently established just how much the “Me Too” movement and other initiatives like it have permeated entertainment culture,

with some prominent people left off the nominations list.

There are always favorites going into the Oscars, and this year, James Franco was one of them. A shoo-in for Best Actor for his film “The Disaster Artist,” Franco was passed over for any nomination, possibly in light of the recent sexual misconduct allegations against him. This was an especially surprising move after Casey Affleck won Best Actor last year, despite two sexual assault lawsuits against him. The allegations against Franco came on Jan. 11, just one day before the Oscar nominations closed, and Franco’s name was quickly struck from the list in what I saw as a remarkable show of solidarity and respect from the Academy to survivors everywhere, emphasizing how “Me Too” is not just a demand to listen, but a call to action as well.

The most surprising Academy Award

nomination went to Christopher Plummer, who’s up for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in “All the Money in the World.” Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in the role of J. Paul Getty, after Spacey was hastily removed from filming due to numerous people accusing him of sexual assault. For me, this decision to remove Spacey is crucial, because without the “Me Too” revolution, it would have been Spacey on the verge of winning that award instead of Plummer — and that would have been unacceptable. Hollywood is no longer sweeping celebrities’ personal lives under the rug while continuing to reward them for their public performances, and we have “Me Too” to thank for that.

A message in support of “Me Too” was also sent out during the Golden Globes in early January, when many celebrities wore black to the ceremony and Oprah Winfrey

Films to prepare you for studying abroad FILM

HALEY MILLER

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Often, we look to movies and television to see our own experiences reflected back to us in a way that feels poignant and accurate. The seven films outlined below contain a multitude of perspectives that can help prepare you for the emotional roller coaster that is studying abroad. If you find yourself purchasing a dilapidated Italian villa, or becoming involved with a tortured artist who is also involved with your best friend and his ex-wife, or being controlled by a rat that has hidden himself in your chef hat, these stories can shine a light on your truth.

“Taken” (stream on Amazon Prime) Honestly, host a family movie night with your parents for this one. It’s full of helpful tricks about traveling, such as: Have a retired CIA agent dad, and avoid following U2 on tour. It also might be helpful for your parents to memorize Liam Neeson’s “particular set of skills” monologue. Hopefully it doesn’t prove useful, but in case you need it, it’s the international standard for vengeful threats.

“Ratatouille” (stream on Amazon Prime) As the most prominent example of the classic rat-turned-gourmet-chef-in-spiteof-discrimination trope, “Ratatouille” is a must-see for any self-respecting Francophile. While foreign cinema can seem pretentious or inaccessible, “Ratatouille” is the rare Pixar film that has mass appeal and a heart of gold.

“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (stream on Amazon Prime) Work through your complicated feelings about Woody Allen and his body of work with this romp through Barcelona starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz

ILLUSTRATION: CONNOR WELLS

and Scarlett Johansson. Sure, you’ll barely be able to watch the film without Googling “Dylan Farrow interview” or “Woody Allen and Soon-Yi,” but at least you’ll get a taste of that famous Spanish architecture.

“Under the Tuscan Sun” (stream on Amazon Prime) Think “Something’s Gotta Give,” but in Italy. A divorced writer, played by Diane Lane, purchases a Tuscan villa hoping to become inspired and finds herself embracing and enjoying this new chapter in her life. This is super-relatable for students studying abroad, especially the part about buying a villa in Tuscany on a whim.

“Before Sunrise”

(stream on Amazon Prime) Disclaimer — this particular Paris-set movie will give you such lofty expectations for romance (and conversation) that it may ruin your life. But even then, it would be worth it. Giving new meaning to the term “slow burn,” “Before Sunrise” is so enjoyable it spawned two sequels and currently enjoys a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Call Me By Your Name” (in theaters) Come for the beautiful Italian landscapes; stay for Armie Hammer in a bathing suit! Or stay for the sex scene involving Timothée Chalamet and a certain stone

fruit. Or the Oscar-nominated soundtrack!

Or Armie Hammer in a different bathing suit!

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (stream on Amazon Prime) Maybe if you play your cards right, you too could inspire a disfigured man living in an old cathedral! Or YOU could be the person living in the cathedral, with only gargoyles to keep you company. Both scenarios are equally likely in that they will almost certainly happen. millerhh@miamioh.edu

DAVISKN3@MIAMIOH.EDU

ards season

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

‘Phantom Thread’ weaves a delightfully twisted narrative FILM

KIRBY DAVIS

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

I wanted to be a fashion designer until I was 12 years old and realized: 1. my idol, Coco Chanel, was a Nazi sympathizer, and 2. I wasn’t talented enough, anyway, and couldn’t draw to save my life. But I’ve remained fascinated with the high fashion industry, and wish it were more often represented in film. As evidenced by “Phantom Thread,” the field’s seductive glamour provides the perfect, contradictory backdrop for all the ugly drama hypothetically bubbling underneath.

The movie is certainly dreamy, initially, but it doesn’t remain a whimsical period romance. It gradually unfolds into a psychological thriller and character study —though it’s important to note that it remains aesthetically pleasing throughout.

Daniel Day-Lewis, in what he’s declared his last-ever performance, plays prominent fictional fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (a name that began as a joke between Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson) in the film, operating a London fashion house in the 1950s. Accustomed to dressing elite women, some of whom are actual princesses, Woodcock is brilliant but uptight and deeply troubled. Encouraged by his ever-present sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), to take a break at their country

HUR NEWBERRY

gave a riveting speech praising the women who have come forward with their stories.

While the movement began with Hollywood at the forefront, it is swiftly and surely migrating into the world of music entertainment as well. Music’s most prestigious award ceremony, the Grammys, just had its 60th anniversary last week. In between James Corden jokes that didn’t quite land and unforgettable Kendrick Lamar performances, the Grammys presented a number of speeches and presentations that confirmed the growing support for “Me Too” and similar initiatives like “Time’s Up.” Kesha was invited to perform for the first time at the show, and she used the opportunity to sing “Praying,” an emotional powerhouse of a song that confronts her abuser (rumored to be producer Dr. Luke) and gives voice to her newfound strength as a survivor.

Support was also shown by celebrities on the red carpet, such as Anna Kendrick, Lady Gaga, Nick Jonas and Sarah Silverman, who all wore white roses. A particularly eloquent speech given by Janelle Monae also acknowledged that ignorance is no longer an option. Sexual misconduct is prevalent in the world of music, too, and everybody, not just women, needs to step up and work for a society rooted in equality.

The Grammys, Oscars and Golden Globes symbolize the past and present of the entertainment industry. These actions and performances foreshadow a coming change, though, that will prioritize social justice and build a solid, nationwide platform for women to confidently speak out.

Ultimately, the presence of movements such as “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” in award ceremonies has proclaimed to the world that the voices of survivors will no longer come second to the entertainment industry’s love of fame and prestige. sonderk@miamioh.edu

ILLUSTRATION: CONNOR WELLS

home, Woodcock does so, and meets Alma (Vicky Krieps) at a local cafe.

The clumsy but coyly stunning waitress quickly becomes Woodcock’s muse. Soon, she’s living in his swanky townhouse and modeling his luxurious gowns. But the film is a character (or, more accurately, couple) study more than a love story, and their relationship evolves, deteriorates, then evolves some more as they try to figure out what they really want in each other.

This is definitely an actor-driven film, featuring a small but formidable cast led by powerhouses Day-Lewis (pitch-perfect, in

a surprise to no one) and Manville (subtly commanding as Woodcock’s sister). Krieps is also excellent as Alma, striking a delicate balance of naive and calculating, the perfect foil to his meticulously plotted lifestyle.

Going into any more detail about “Phantom Thread”’s plot and characters would ruin the experience of watching it all transpire, so I’ll just say that it’s a gorgeous period piece and an engrossing, suspenseful 130 minutes.

Well-known fashion designers are in a unique position. Everyone is familiar with their names, and usually with their creative bodies of work (or at least recurring trademarks in their designs). But they’re not exactly public figures, and they rarely make headlines for their personal lives.

Gianni Versace, whose 1997 murder is currently playing out on FX’s newest season of “American Crime Story,” is an exception.

Not all fashion designers’ lives are as colorful as Versace’s or Chanel’s. But, again, the surface-level glamour of their profession does provide an ideal stage for potential drama to occur, as it does in this film.

I doubt another fashion house-related film could quite match the elegant horror of “Phantom Thread,” but I’d like to see more of them try.

daviskn3@miamioh.edu

BROCKHAMPTON had an epic 2017, and you didn’t even know it MUSIC

SAM KEELING

THE MIAMI STUDENT

BROCKHAMPTON’s origin story is a strange one. All of its members met via Kanye West fan forum Kanyetothe. They talked about their favorite music and shared their own creations online until, in a risky decision, deciding to relocate to a single house in L.A. Although they’re young, poor and a little crazy, the move paid off. Last year alone, while remaining an independent group, they released three full-length records as a part of the “SATURATION” trilogy. With stunning vision and immense talent, they emerged from the underground to gain millions of plays and amass an avid fan base, not unlike those of more stereotypical boy bands.

Sure, you have to be confident to churn out three releases in a year, but unlike most collectives, this is not a group of wannabe solo stars vying for attention. In fact, not only are all the vocalists under the BROCKHAMPTON umbrella, but so are the producers, designers, video editors and whoever else contributes to the overall brand. Hell, even the web developer is a staple in the music videos. The group’s name connotes more than the voices you’ll hear; it encompasses all the creative minds needed to keep their mission of saturation alive.

Among the vocalists, there’s fantastic variety and energy. Kevin Abstract is, in some ways, the face of the group — as an openly

gay rapper/singer, his ability to craft instantly catchy hooks as well as fiery, unapologetic verses makes him invaluable to the group. Ameer is the Cool One, touting his street cred and all-around bad-assery with a distinct baritone that alternates from sultry to aggressive. Matt Champion is sort of the Smooth One, with an appealing drawl to match. Dom, with his speedy raps and witty, culturally literate references, comes off as the Smart One. Merlyn is the Wild One, with an unmistakable vocal delivery and idiosyncratic presence. And Joba utilizes his sweet, yet strange falsetto and crazy personality to convey a twisted version of the classic boy band member. Producer and occasional vocalist, Bearface, is the odd duck, wielding a guitar and belting out each album’s closer like an indie rocker.

Taken alone, some of the more problematic elements of these individual singers — Kevin’s propensity to electronically manipulate very sweet melodies, Ameer’s dedication to a specific flow, Joba’s insistence upon pulling out that falsetto — might not hold their own. However, the whole of BROCKHAMPTON is truly better than the sum of its parts. Each member complements and builds upon the others. Their egos seem to dissipate, and it feels like one cohesive mission (hence the title of their upcoming fourth album, “TEAM EFFORT”).

When every member takes the mic on a posse cut like “GOLD” or “SWEET,” it’s electrifying.

Every good performer needs a dynamite producer. Luckily, BROCKHAMPTON has

three. The primary beatmaker, Romil, is the group’s secret weapon. He writes brilliant, textur ++ed tunes that combine Eastern instrumentals, droning G-Funk synths and incredible percussion. The sheer amount of tracks he crafted this past year is worthy of praise. The other two, Jabari Manwa and Kiko Merley, write together as Q3 and provide undeniably important contributions to the catalogue.

Most impressive about BROCKHAMPTON’s past year is how consistently high-quality their releases were. These aren’t hastily thrown-together mixtapes; they are chock full of fantastic songs ranging from blistering bangers to tender ballads.

“SATURATION I” might be the most inconsistent in terms of songwriting, and “SATURATION III” will satisfy fans looking more for experimental hip-hop. It’s the second release that is the real star. It features some of the group’s greatest tracks, like “JUNKY,” in which the members discuss sexuality, drug addiction, education, rape culture and suicide with refreshing frankness.

Energetic, creative, talented and motivated, BROCKHAMPTON blew up in the underground and made quick strides toward becoming a cultural mainstay. Their redefining of “boy band” is refreshing enough to remove some stigma surrounding the term, bolstered by an invigorating blend of classic group aesthetics and, most importantly, brilliantly catchy hip-hop. keelinst@miamioh.edu

Justin Timberlake sings about his new identity in ‘Man of the Woods’ MUSIC

BEN FINFROCK

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Five years after the release of “The 20/20 Experience,” Justin Timberlake returned to music Friday with his new album “Man of the Woods.” In the album, Timberlake calls upon his Southern upbringing and uses themes such as fatherhood and marriage as inspirations. Gone are the aesthetics of a dapper Timberlake dressed in suit and tie, and in their place is a new Justin, wearing flannel shirts and ripped jeans.

While his music’s themes have changed, its sound has not. Much of the album is still full of the electrifying dance music typical of a standard Timberlake album. This one begins with the song “Filthy,” and ends with the song “Young Man.” As the album progresses, the songs’ tones change as well.

“Filthy” is a gritty, sexy dance tune, whereas “Young Man” is a soulful message from

Timberlake to his son Silas. The album’s progression is representative of Timberlake’s journey over the last five years, to a loving husband and protective father. With these new themes of fatherhood and marriage, “Man of the Woods” is Timberlake’s most mature album to date.

In songs such as “Morning Light,” “Flannel” and “The Hard Stuff,” Timberlake draws from his undying love for his wife, Jessica Biel. He sings about wanting to protect her and stick with her through the good and bad.

When I heard these songs, I was reminded of his earlier love- and heartbreak-inspired tracks such as “Cry me a River,” and I realized the pure difference between those songs and those on “Man of the Woods.” Timberlake sings about Biel more lovingly than any woman before her. Through these songs, I felt that I was allowed a glimpse into their relationship, and that I was able to understand what makes their love so extraordinary. In “Morning Light,” he sings “In the whole wide

world of guys/I must be the luckiest alive.”

The crown jewels of the album are its two collaborations: “Morning Light” (feat. Alicia Keys) and “Say Something” (feat. Chris Stapleton). In both songs, Timberlake puts the focus on Keys and Stapleton and, rather than trying to overpower their voices, pairs them to create two songs to get lost in.

On almost every Timberlake album, listeners have come to expect catchy dance songs, and “Man of the Woods” is no exception. Timberlake includes songs such as “Filthy,” “Sauce” and “Supplies” in order to get the listener up on their feet and dancing.

The only difference between these songs and the dance tracks from earlier albums is that these songs seem to stick together and become repetitive. When I went through these tracks, they stuck together in my head and left me feeling bored.

There was one notable exception, and that was “Midnight Summer Jam.” When I heard this song, I was immediately struck by visu-

als of a summer party. “Midnight Summer Jam” is an eclectic hit, which combines the music of a party in the South with the beat of a New York nightclub. This song needs to be preemptively added to your summer 2018 playlist.

“Man of the Woods” is a testimony to what’s happening in Timberlake’s life right now. He’s no longer singing as the young man who brought sexy back and rocked nightclubs across the world. Rather, he is singing as the father who spends his days working and returns home at night to be with his family. Timberlake accepts that he will not be able to return to the sexy, dapper images and sounds of his previous works, but he doesn’t obliterate them completely. He combines the sounds of his past with those of his present, in order to craft a statement about his identity as a whole. finfrobd@miamoh.edu

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

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Named the Best College Newspaper (Non-daily) in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists.

EMILY WILLIAMS Editor-in-Chief Jack Evans Devon Shuman Managing Editors

Morgan Nguyen Science Editor Alyssa Melendez Web Designer

Arthur Newberry Design Editor

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Audrey Davis Bonnie Meibers News Editors

Kate Rigazio Asst. Culture Editor

Jugal Jain Photo Editor Emily Simanskis Sports Editor

Lindsay Cerio Business Manager

Ceili Doyle Asst. News Editor Megan Zahneis Special Projects Editor Angela Hatcher Kirby Davis Opinion Editors

James Tobin Faculty Adviser Fred Reeder Business Adviser WDJ Inc. - Bill Dedden Distributor

Alison Perelman Culture Editor

Cartoonist Arthur Newberry

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Super Bowl LII: A glimpse into the NFL’s future?

NFL

NICK SCHLETER

THE MIAMI STUDENT

On Sunday, the world witnessed a Super Bowl unlike any before it — one where Philadelphia is left holding the Lombardi Trophy.

Featuring a record-blasting offensive explosion and a redemption story for the ages, perhaps most significant was what it means for the future of the NFL and how the game is played and coached at the highest level.

Super Bowl LII shattered the record for yards in a Super Bowl by over 200 yards.

The two teams compiled 1,151 yards over the course of the game. The game saw only one punt, one sack and two turnovers. The one turnover by each QB was the only bump in the road for either. The difference between the two turnovers ended up deciding the game.

The Eagles’ turnover happened in the first half, and was a fluky arm punt that put the Patriots in bad field position. The Patriots’ turnover was a fantastic pass rush by Eagles’ DE Brandon Graham that left the Eagles in scoring position. It occured with just over two minutes left in the game with a chance to win with one first down.

The Eagles were unable to end the game on that possession and settled for a field goal, giving Tom Brady a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. Brady was able to get over 500 yards on the resulting drive, but was unable to to connect on a Hail Mary.

The Hail Mary was close enough to silence the stadium for a moment only for it to erupt seconds later with the cry of generations of unburdened Eagles fans.

Brady was admirable in defeat, breaking his Super Bowl passing yards record from just a year ago to go with three touchdowns and no interceptions. By the box score, it was the greatest performance by a QB in Super Bowl history, but in reality, it was the second best performance of the night.

Nick Foles was absolutely sensational in earning Super Bowl MVP. No one could have predicted he would shred Minnesota’s vaunt-

formal statement a guilty defendant is allowed to make before being sentenced — he cited the events of Oct. 11-12 as the “biggest mistake of [his] life,” and said he had consumed alcohol and Xanax the night of the assault.

“This defendant did not care about his fellow human being,” Oster said, calling this sentencing “one of the most appalling things” he has had to do in his years on the bench.

Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Kelly Heile described the amount of pornography and nudity found on Cristescu’s phone as “extreme” and “one of the worst” she had seen.

“The phone’s content shows an entirely different person than the one described in the letters,” Heile said, referring to the nine character references written by Cristescu’s friends to the judge.

Cristescu had developed a filing system on his phone, Heile said, storing explicit photos and videos of individual, unidentified females.

The victim addressed Cristescu at the hearing, tearfully describing how the October assault had traumatized her and her family, who watched from the front row of the courtroom. She described how she now has to seek frequent medical treatment for her trauma, recently dropped out of school and had to move away from her friends — her largest support group.

“My life will never will never be the same,” she said.

After the assault, Cristescu called her, she said, because he was facing drug charges, and, when law enforcement officers were searching his phone, they found explicit photos and videos of her.

He asked her to lie about the photos and videos of her on his phone and the events of the assault, she said.

The victim eventually went to the police and identified herself as the woman from the photos and videos.

“I felt as though I didn’t have ownership of my body anymore,” she said after viewing the video with the detective.

Oster took a moment to speak to the victim after she finished reading her statement.

“I hope you’re able to understand, yourself, that this isn’t your fault,” Oster said.

On Dec. 14, in Butler County Area I Court in Oxford, Cristescu pleaded guilty to a marijuana paraphernalia charge and an amended class one misdemeanor for disseminating matter harmful to minors. The drug charge was the original offense which prompted the search of Cristescu’s phone.

Cristescu studied finance at Miami and was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity — two facts which Cristescu’s attorney, Steve Kilburn of Rittger’s & Rittger’s, cited in defense of his client’s character.

As of December, Cristescu was a sophomore, but Cristescu was not enrolled at Miami for the spring semester, said university spokeswoman Claire Wagner.

Initially, Oster had told Cristescu his 33 days already served in Butler County Jail would apply toward his fiveyear sentence. However, Heile cited that Cristescu was not eligible for Ohio Revised Code 2967.19 “Petition for Early Release” ordinance, and Oster revoked Cristescu’s earned time.

After clarifying the terms of Cristescu’s sentence, Oster addressed the victim one last time.

“The court system is ill-equipped to make someone whole,” Oster said. “Never let anyone take away your power to live, only you get to define your life.”

Cristescu was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs to serve his sentence.

ed defense and out-duel Brady two weeks later, but here we are. While Tom Brady gained a majority of his yards on uncovered receivers and screens, Nick Foles was absolutely surgical. His touchdown passes to Alshon Jeffery and Corey Clement were incredible throws of the highest difficulty.

After one of the better two game stretches in playoff history, Nick Foles goes into the off-season as Carson Wentz’s backup.

His career has been a story of high highs and low lows, but this has taken the highs to new heights.

With more tape outside of the oppressive offensive suffocation that is Jeff Fisher’s system, Foles is an attractive piece for QB needy teams, and a valuable trade piece for the Eagles who believe they have their franchise QB in Wentz. He is under contract for next year, and Wentz may not be ready by week one, so it will be fascinating to see how Foles’ off-season progresses.

For the Eagles, the game was won by their success when they went all in on aggressive play calls. Doug Pederson’s decision to call the trick play “Philly Special” on 4th and 1, and put the Super Bowl in the throwing arm of his backup tight end Trey Burton, has been universally lauded today. Since most of the sports world is prisoner to results-based analysis, it is easy to imagine a world where Pederson is lampooned for “getting too cute” and “giving up the points.” However, we saw that a short field goal is by no means guaranteed points when Patriots’ kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 26-yard field goal because of a bad snap and hold.

For all of the grief the nebulous ‘analytics’ took because of the Browns’ “perfect” season, the world saw them in action on football’s biggest stage. The Eagles have a coach in Pederson who actually respects the facts presented to him. He played the odds and maximized his win probability with each fourth down call — coaching to win as some confusingly call it. (Who isn’t? And if they’re not, why are they employed?)

The game was a possible glimpse into the

doyleca3@miamioh.edu willi501@miamioh.edu

future where yardage totals like this aren’t so uncommon. Pederson’s mentor, Andy Reid, says that the NFL is often five years behind the college game. Well, for the last five years, spread offenses have been putting up these types of numbers almost weekly in the Big12.

The Eagles borrowed heavily from the college game on offense (and are obviously pleased with the results). The trick play Foles ran, was very similar to the one Oklahoma ran last month in the Rose Bowl, and the same play as one he ran in high school. They also utilized run-pass options, a staple of the college game, though not nearly as often as the unusually off Collinsworth would’ve had you think.

As is typical of the modern NFL, the run game had little to do with winning. Neither team tried to “establish the run” or anything like it. Just a few months before Penn State superstar running back Saquon Barkley is likely to be a top-10 pick, it is interesting to note the earliest drafted running back of either Super Bowl team was the Patriots’ James White out of Wisconsin in the fourth round, and White’s value primarily comes in the passing game. Corey Clement, another Wisconsin running back, was an undrafted free agent rookie, who had 100 yards receiving.

The Eagles and Patriots both made it to the Super Bowl on the cutting edge of playstyle and roster construction in the NFL. As long as teams refuse to exploit readily available, new information, we will continue to see the Eagles and the Patriots at the top of their respective conference.

Super Bowl LII was a textbook example of why the NFL continues to be the premiere American entertainment product -- bittersweet because it won’t be back for 212 days, but anyways, my apologies to tails bettors and my congratulations to Eagles fans everywhere. schletna@miamioh.edu

Hockey FROM PAGE 12

count showed 5-3 in Miami’s favor though the RedHawks seemed behind most of the play. Sophomore goaltender Ryan Larkin could be heard directing traffic to try to help his team transition out of the defensive zone.

To end the period, a hooking penalty was whistled on Western Michigan and the ensuing RedHawk power play struggled in the early going. Then, with 37.2 seconds on the clock, freshman forward Casey Gilling beat Blacker on the right side to put his team up 1-0 heading into the first intermission. Senior defenseman Louie Belpedio and junior forward Josh Melnick notched assists.

The second period started with early offensive pressure from the Broncos, though only 1:46 into the middle frame and the RedHawks jumped to a 2-0 lead. Sophomore forward Carter Johnson scored his first goal of his collegiate career by tipping in a Belpedio point shot. Sophomore forward Gordie Green logged the secondary assist.

Any jump generated from Johnson’s first goal was squashed by Western Michigan’s answer two minutes later. Freshman forward Ethen Frank had a short breakaway off a rush and beat Larkin to make it a 2-1 game.

Undeterred, the forward line of junior Kiefer Sherwood, freshman Ben Lown and Knies almost found the back of the net, but Knies fanned on a centering pass. Freshman defenseman Alec Mahalak then fed an energized Johnson out in front, but Blacker made the point blank save to keep it a onegoal game.

A 4-on-4 situation came and went without change to the scoreboard, and then the Broncos couldn’t capitalize on a following power play as Larkin made impressive glove saves to get necessary stops.

A RedHawks’ offensive rush up ice with four minutes left to play in the period led to a turnover and the Broncos raced back the other way. DiPietro fed Frank who shot from the inside of the right faceoff circle, beating Larkin high glove. Frank’s goal tied the game 2-2.

Another turnover cost the ’Hawks another goal 1:24 later. This time, sophomore forward Lawton Courtnall had an open lane toward the left side to rip a shot past Larkin and give the Broncos their first lead of the weekend -- one they took into the intermission.

“You can’t chase the game,” Blasi said.

“We let it get away from us in the second period and that’s on us. Give them credit, they’re a good hockey team, but we turned the puck over and they made us pay.”

In a game of momentum, Miami started the third looking to regain some they had earlier in the game. A power play opportunity 1:20 into the third gave Miami the chance to tie it, but the RedHawks looked tentative with their playmaking and couldn’t net the equalizer.

Western Michigan withstood the pressure and head coach Andy Murray burned his timeout to rest tired Bronco bodies after an icing call. The break didn’t prevent undisciplined play, and the Broncos would go down a man for the sixth time.

Johnson had been cross-checked dangerously into the boards and the RedHawks would have five minutes to try to even the score. Five minutes came and went, as Miami’s power play was sluggish and uninspired.

“Any time you’re on the power play for five minutes, sometimes the power play gets too relaxed and that was the case,” Blasi said. “We weren’t ready to go, we weren’t intense on it and they outworked us.”

The fruitless power play took the wind out of Miami’s sails and, though Western Michigan didn’t generate any spectacular offense, the Broncos did a good job of limiting Miami’s chances by sealing the boards and getting between passes.

The period ticked on and with three minutes left, the crowd at Steve ‘Coach’ Cady arena held its breath. Blasi mixed up the offensive lines in an attempt to net the tying goal and then pulled Larkin with 1:30 left. A power play with 35.8 seconds left gave Miami a two man-advantage, though the horn sounded and sealed the 3-2 loss.

“We had opportunities to shoot the puck and we wanted to be cute with the puck,” Blasi said. “We want to make the ‘pretty play’ instead of getting pucks to the net which gave us some success earlier in the game.”

Blacker stopped 26 of the 28 shots he saw, and Larkin stopped 13 of the 16 he saw.

The Broncos’ Frank ended with two goals and, at the other end, Belpedio was the only RedHawk with a multipoint game (2a).

“We went into the game knowing that puck management was going to be a key issue,” Blasi said. “Turns out, we were right, but we didn’t do a very good job of managing the puck so it cost us another game.”

Miami looks to right the ship this weekend against No. 3/4 St. Cloud State. Friday’s game starts at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Saturday’s game will have an earlier start at 7:05 p.m. simansec@miamioh.edu

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

9

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

VAUGHN FROM PAGE 1

support from Ohio democratic organizations, she is trying to take a nonpartisan approach to her campaign, she said.

“I have no platform,” Vaughn said. “I have nothing [where] I say, ‘I’m gonna get out there and I’m gonna do it and change it for you.’”

Instead, she says she wants to focus on being a conduit for her local and regional community. Her campaign slogan is “Your Voice in Columbus.”

In order to sway voters in the heavily Republican Ohio 51st, Vaughn is hoping the district will look past party affiliation. She believes the local population has the ability to produce effective change regardless of their voting records.

“I believe that there are enough people in this town who, red or blue, care enough about their community,” Vaughn said.

“These are people that lived here all their life.”

Vaughn traces her personal connection to southwest Ohio and the Rust Belt back to her childhood. Her father, Bill Reams, worked at Fisher Body, a General Motors assembly plant in Fairfield, for 32 years.

Today, Vaughn lives in Hamilton with her husband, John.

Her daughter, Lizz, also lives in Hamilton and her son, Patrick, lives in Los Angeles.

In 2005, Vaughn appeared on the seventh season of reality TV show “The Amazing Race” with Patrick. Vaughn recalled a particular quote in which she described her motives for the contest, which she believed was taken out of context.

“They want something for television,” Vaughn said. “And so, you know [they asked], ‘What’re you going to do to win?’

And of course, I said, ‘I’ll lie, cheat, steal. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.’”

Vaughn sees a parallel between her time spent on the show and her potential career as a politician.

“I did things I never in the world thought I would do. And I said, ‘Maybe there is a comparison with that and politics,” Vaughn said. “I don’t know what’s coming my way as a politician.’”

Vaughn also commented on the various lawsuits she has been involved in as a result of her position at the university.

“In this job, I’m subject to litigation everyday,” she said.

“You can’t please everyone. Everyone has a right to take legal action and challenge what the university does.”

She plans to host a campaign kickoff on Feb. 25 in Hamilton.

While Vaughn is currently running unopposed in the Democratic primary, at least five Republicans have come up in consideration for the seat, including incumbent Wes Retherford, former Butler County Commissioner Greg Jolivette, Matthew Taggart, Sara Carruthers and David Davidson.

Until the Butler County Board of Elections certifies the election petitions on Feb. 20, the Republican field is unclear.

Vaughn said she turned her petition in early, and already made the 50-signature cutoff after some signatures were invalidated.

Regardless of the result of the election, Vaughn said she will be retiring from her position at Miami University in July.

When asked about about her retirement plans in the event she doesn’t win the election, Vaughn seemed unfazed.

“Oh, I’ll find something,” she said.

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Groundhog days - stay woke

Additional reporting by Jack Evans.

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If you are a student, staff or faculty member of any of the Miami University campuses – you are invited to apply for grants ranging from $2,500 to $20,000!

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10 OPINION

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

HATCHEAM@MIAMIOH.EDU

Different recruitment rules reflect gender disparities The following reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

From Thursday, Feb. 1, to next Monday, Feb. 12, all National Panhellenic Council (NPC) sororities maintain a “dry period.” Anyone already in a sorority or participating in recruitment is not allowed to go Uptown, attend or host parties with Interfraternity Council (IFC)-affiliated men, or participate in their recruitment in any way.

During the same period, male students looking to rush a fraternity will be heading Uptown and to off-campus houses, bonding with potential future brothers over cold beers.

The “dry period” rule highlights a gendered disparity between the ways fraternity and sorority recruitments are framed. Those rushing fraternities are often invited Uptown to Happy Hour-style events in order to meet their potential brothers in a social setting. Alcohol, for them, is a normal part of hanging out. On the other hand, a sorority recruitment process free of alcohol represents an unrealistic ideal of purity — an expectation that when women socialize, alcohol is not involved.

While the intention behind the “dry period” policy is presumably to reduce the amount of alcohol-related incidents during the recruitment process and uphold Greek life’s core values (community, philanthropy,

leadership, etc.) rather than partying, history has proven the policy to be ineffective.

The “dry period” imposed by the NPC ends the day after Bid Day, when the women find out which sorority they will join. It’s a day that has come to be known informally as “Blackout Monday.”

Last year, in an effort to decrease the amount of alcohol-related violations on that night, “Blackout Monday” was simply pushed back to Thursday. Miami made headlines all over Ohio that weekend, when the Oxford Fire Department was called 21 times to deal with overly intoxicated students. Most of them were female and underage, though it’s not certain how many had received a sorority bid earlier that week.

This “dry period” simply creates events like “Blackout Monday” or “Blackout Thursday,” and makes it easier to ignore that alcohol can be a problem for sororities. While sorority drinking is less publicized than fraternity substance abuse, it’s still an issue.

Nationally, Greek life is in a vulnerable state at the moment. A sophomore Beta Theta Pi pledge’s death at Penn State University last February sparked nationwide fury — and a conversation about alcohol abuse in fraternities. Penn State shut down its Beta Theta Pi chapter, then all fraternity social activities. Several other schools across the country followed suit after experiencing their own incidents. Three other schools have

banned Greek activities almost entirely, following alcohol-related deaths of fraternity pledges.

Consequently, Greek life is under national scrutiny, and Miami is not exempt. In recent years, seven fraternities and one sorority have either been suspended from Miami for violating the student code of conduct or had local chapters revoked by their organizations’ headquarters.

Greek leaders have been cracking down on rule violations this recruitment season. But rules like the “dry period” and trying to prevent rushing males and females from interacting have not proven successful in the past. They continue to superficially patch problems instead of addressing them at their root and working to fix them long-term.

These antiquated and gendered rules Greek community members must adhere to, along with other non-rush-related ones — like sororities not being able to have houses as fraternities do — feel arbitrary at this point. And while sororities and fraternities are not run by the same national entity (they’re dictated by NPC and IFC, respectively), they are still connected by the nature of their organizations. It doesn’t make sense for sororities to be governed by such strict sets of rules, while fraternities are not.

TALES FROM STUDENT TRAVELLERS I did that!!

ride in a gondola in Venice

drink champagne in Champagne

bike in Copenhagen

take the EuroRail to a place you’ve never heard of ILLUSTRATION: KAT HOLLERAN

Study Abroad 101 with your travel companion, Haley HALEY MILLER

THE MIAMI STUDENT

While most Americans are preparing for another semester of illegal underage drinking, rigorous class schedules and close attention to punctuality, some of us are setting sail toward exotic locations.

We may gain gelato weight and may even be pickpocketed within the first month (tag yourself, I’m the person being pickpocketed), but it’s all worth it for the Instagram likes.

Here’s some advice that I wish I had given myself before I left the country for a whole semester. Yes, various sources told me similar things, but no one as funny or low-key as me did, and I am willing to be that person for you. You’re welcome in advance.

Packing: Do not fall for the Big Luggage Conspiracy that convinces you to check two suitcases. Honestly, all you really need is a bandana tied around a stick, containing your parents’ AmEx and a cando attitude. You will seem extra-charming if you engage in some soulful jug-blowing, so make sure your bandana can fit the empty jug, too.

Making friends: The easiest way to forge a bond with someone is through hardship, and what’s harder than flying economy for eight hours, being served a mediocre dinner and then only being able to use your phone if there’s Wi-Fi? If you start complaining loudly enough, you’ll eventually attract other people with your privileged, whiny and overbearing vibe.

Foolproof.

Culture shock: It’s totally okay to be fearful and suspicious of almost everyone in your host country. But don’t let that stop you from making friends with other American college students! These people will be your surrogate familia, so to speak, so make sure they are open to new things, like pregaming at midnight instead of 11 p.m. and drinking mojitos instead of vodka sodas. Getting out of your comfort

zone is what studying abroad is all about.

Living arrangements: For me, the best way to get adjusted to my host family was to treat them just like my family back in the U.S. That meant interacting with them when they fed me, and then retreating into my bedroom to watch Netflix when they weren’t offering me food.

I set this precedent on day one and have not had an issue with them since. Once they became really comfortable with me, I started taking long, hot showers and leaving my belongings all over their home. It’s been a dream.

Other logistics: You can get an international phone plan, or wait until you arrive in your destination to purchase an international SIM card. Either way, if you don’t have enough data to post killer Instagram stories of you clinking glasses during the day because you’re legal and it’s just, like, a different culture here, then you might as well go home. A data plan will also come in handy when you go out to crazy discotecas and want everyone back home to see them. You know they will because you’ll be posting at, like, 10 p.m. their time, but then they’ll do the calculation and realize you’re partying at 4 a.m. your time, and it will be amazing.

Crimes: If you can get your phone stolen, you’ll instantly level up. Post a self-congratulatory Facebook status about how “everything happens for a reason,” and it’s probably best that you unplug from our modern online toxicity, and share your new international phone number complete with an exotic country code.

Finally, your friends will be forced to constantly take photos of you, and you’ll have a reasonable excuse! Totally a win-win.

With these tips, told to you in my signature tone, you too can rule the entire world, just like the imperialist American you are. millerhh@miamioh.edu

Life is short, and other reasons why I travel KELLY BURNS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

They say there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. So the question, “Why do we travel?” can’t be dumb. However, (and I would bold, italicize and underline that word if possible) there are some answers that are so lacking in intelligence that I find myself staring into the void wondering where we went wrong.

Rick Steves speaks to my soul (this isn’t an unrelated tangent — I promise). He writes that there are “ugly Americans.” These are people who look at the world and instead of trying to understand it, write it off as inferior to their own country, snap a picture holding up the Tower of Pisa and shuffle on.

I’ll just say it: I don’t get those people.

I also don’t get the people who take Pico Iyer’s words of “looking for hardship” on a surface level — the people who come back saying how they’re a better person now than they were two weeks ago when they left. The people who say: “It was life-changing!”

“I feel so humbled to live as I do!”

“I wanted to see how the rest of the world lived so I can be aware of how privileged I am.”

All after they took a bus tour around Quebec.

So, now the question is: Why do I travel?

I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m better, or why I came to Europe or what I’m going to be at the end of this.

The reasons I travel can be summed up from the three most important phrases in the iconic “Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again” trailer.

“Life is short.”

Tell me when I’m going to have another chance to live in Europe for three months with another family and an education, almost all on someone else’s dime?

If I didn’t take this chance, I guarantee I would be the woman in the future going, “Yeah, I didn’t want to go anyways,” and then silently stewing in my watered-down white wine.

“The world is wide.”

Just the other day, I made a joke about how we’re told not to smile. I said even the kids here in Luxembourg are stone-faced. The guy I was talking to laughed (of course, I’m hilarious) and then said, “How sad.”

These kids aren’t running around thinking, “Oh god, how I wish I was American so I could smile.”

No, they’re living their lives perfectly happily.

People don’t live their lives comparing them to American ones. As a journalist, a wannabe novelist and a lowly human, I feel like if I didn’t try to experience how other people walk through life, I would be a fraud whenever I tried to talk about the world.

“I wanna make some memories.”

Besides all the half-deep responsibilities and YOLO attitude, there is also this sentiment: I want the experience.

I want stories to match my friend getting drunk and ending up petting cows on the side of a Croatian highway. I want to have a response when one of my other friends tells me about Israel and Norway and everywhere else she’s been. I want to look back and, even if I accomplish nothing in my life but delivering well-timed snarky comments, be able to say: “I did that.” burnskl2@miamioh.edu

DAVISKN3@MIAMIOH.EDU

OPINION 11

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

A.J. NEWBERRY NEWBERAJ@MIAMIOH.EDU @AJNWBRRY

LOCAL MAN STILL ISN’T TOTALLY SURE WHAT A PERIOD IS, AND AT THIS POINT HE’S TOO AFRAID TO ASK

ILLUSTRATION: KAT HOLLERAN

KIRBY DAVIS

OPINION EDITOR

Senior Evan Busch still isn’t entirely sure what a period is, and at this point, he said, he feels like it’s too late to ask.

“I’ve been dating my girlfriend since high school, and I have two sisters, so I definitely know a little about . . . periods,” the 22-year-old said, hesitating before uttering the word itself.

Busch said he took a mandatory sex-ed class at Harker Middle School in Columbus, Ohio, but that his teacher didn’t delve too deeply into the topic.

“He just kinda said it lasts for a week and girls get it every month, but he didn’t actually, like, talk about what it was,” said Busch. “And it’s not like we were gonna ask.”

He said the school distributed “free stuff” to girls after the class in which they briefly touched on menstruation. It was allegedly all colorfully wrapped and appeared to be some type of candy. Busch and the other boys, he said, got nothing.

“They just gave us deodorant,” he said. “Which was kind of rude.”

In high school, Busch and his classmates were also required to take health for one semester, but he said his teacher never broached the subject at all.

Busch said he really has no way of knowing whether his girlfriend, 21-year-old Erica Strasser, is on her period or not unless she turns down sex with him for no other apparent reason. He said he

understands it contributes to females’ moods, but that she can be “kind of a bitch” at other times as well, when she is not menstruating.

Once, Strasser grabbed a box of tampons while they were at CVS buying beer for a party later that night.

“She just picked them up off the shelf, carried them around the whole store and put them down on the counter with the beer like it was nothing,” said Busch. “I couldn’t believe it.”

He said Strasser didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed to be purchasing the feminine products, and was, allegedly, inexplicably annoyed when he refused to carry the bag with the tampons in it.

“She asked why it mattered, because they were still in the box,” said Busch. “And I was like, ‘Seriously, babe?’ She knows we’re not supposed to touch them.”

Busch said that while he would love to empathize more with his girlfriend and better understand the sometimes excruciatingly painful process her reproductive organs undergo every month, she’s not particularly forthcoming about the topic.

Strasser, on the other hand, said she’d be more than happy to explain the phenomenon to Busch.

She said despite countless attempts in the past to enlighten him, though, he has cut her off each time, saying it sounds “gross” and that he doesn’t need to know.

Editor’s Note: This work is a piece of satire. daviskn3@miamoh.edu

Republicans can, and should, do better CHARLES KENNICK THE MIAMI STUDENT

Republican leaders can — and should — do better.

Surprise — the party that hates government can’t effectively govern.

Last month, the federal government shut down over the weekend of Jan. 20, due to Congress’s failure to pass a budget resolution. At the end of this week, we will have an encore presentation of the American government’s ability to perform its simplest task: governing.

There is a clear delineation in this country between the two major political parties, that’s been brewing since the Reagan years and was only exacerbated following the infamous Citizens United decision and 2016 Presidential election. If you are in favor of the federal government governing, you’re a Democrat. If you are in favor of them hobbling and dismantling the government down to a skeletal structure, with the exception of the Department of Defense, you’re a Republican.

Almost every month since Trump took office, the Republicans have looked to cut the Achilles tendons of major federal government functions. This includes everything from the most serious recent event, the Nunes Memo, looking to discredit the Department of Justice, to the very beginning of government website censorship, to refute the validity of climate change. The Republicans don’t just want less government, they want a weakened and incompetent shell of the current government. There is no vision, no plan, no magical conservative elixir to the nation’s problems and, currently, we are seeing how hard Republicans are willing to defend the Trump presidency and its accompanying far-right goons to achieve these ends.

Instead, weakening the government with tax cuts, eliminating Obama-era regulations with no plan of how to fill the void they will leave, and continue to leave

vital administrative leadership positions empty, while blaming anyone — the Democrats, the media, whomever — for their own government’s ineffectiveness is their plan. They can’t make a budget or bipartisan deal on DACA, and they can’t even agree on the repealing of the Affordable Care Act, their signature complaint for almost a decade. They can barely agree to pass the “historic” tax cuts without their donors breathing down their necks.

The Republican Party currently controls a majority in the House, Senate, state governments (just over half), and, of course, the White House. We, as a nation, and supposedly they, as a party, have been waiting since 2012 to be in the position they are in right now, for their ambitious conservative agenda to solve the nation’s myriad issues. Unfortunately, it looks like we will continue to wait while they sit on their hands.

This is a time when domestic government services are under the most stress we’ve seen in decades. Opioids are killing our neighbors, infrastructure is crumbling, oceans are rising and there’s a complete lack of action from a president who, potentially, colluded with Russia in the 2016 election. Still, Republicans refuse to execute simple constitutional checks on the three branches of government.

This November, all Americans ought to send a clear message at the ballot box. We must admit to our mistakes, reject politicians’ lies and demand decisive, bold, courageous public leadership from all of our elected officials, but especially from the party of Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and even their beloved President Reagan. If the government shuts down again this week or a deal on DACA and immigration is not reached, the Republicans are to blame. kenniccd@miamioh.edu

Sports

12

SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018

MIAMI HOCKEY UNABLE TO SWEEP WMU HOCKEY

EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR

After its first win since early January on Friday night, Miami hockey fell 3-2 to the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night. The RedHawks allowed three goals in the second period and were boxed out by the Broncos’ defensive efforts.

“I thought we started off the game well and in the second period we got loose, got out of our structure and started chasing the puck instead of playing our positions,” head coach Enrico Blasi said in his post-game press conference.

“Good teams make you pay — that was pretty much the difference in the game tonight.”

The No. 1 nationally ranked Miami power play was less effective on night two than night one, going only 1-for-7 on Saturday. Though the RedHawks’ penalty kill went 4-for-4 and the ’Hawks outshot the Broncos 28-16, Western Michigan capitalized on a couple of Miami turnovers and poor defensive play.

Miami (9-13-3, 5-9-2-0 NCHC) has yet to sweep an National Collegiate Hockey Conference opponent

SENIOR DEFENSEMAN LOUIE BELPEDIO IS KNOCKED OFF THE PUCK BY WMU DEFENSEMAN. ANGELO GELFUSO THE MIAMI STUDENT

and sits ninth in the nine-team NCHC after the weekend. No. 15 Western Michigan (14-13-1, 9-9 NCHC) snapped a four game losing streak on Saturday and now sits third in the conference.

Miami to host ‘Wally Night’

Not a minute into the game, Western Michigan was whistled for too many men on the ice and Miami had an early opportunity to control the game. The RedHawks’ power play was lackluster, though

it forced sophomore goaltender Ben Blacker into making two saves.

Almost immediately after the too many men penalty expired, the Broncos incurred another disadvantage on the same call. This time,

sophomore forward Carson Meyer almost found the back of the net off a pass from freshman forward Phil Knies. Knies moved the puck right to left, but Meyer fanned on his shot, and Western Michigan would survive the disadvantage.

The Broncos skated the other way after the penalty expired, and Miami was forced into defensive play. Western Michigan had their turn at a power play with 13:19 left in the period.

The RedHawks withstood a minute of the Broncos’ offensive pressure before sophomore forward Dawson DiPietro fired the puck from a cross-ice, right-to-left pass. The goal was reviewed, however, and it was ruled the Broncos had entered the zone offsides. The period would remain scoreless and the ’Hawks killed the rest of the penalty.

An offensive cycle from the RedHawks was interrupted with another penalty just past the halfway point of the period. This time, the Miami penalty kill had good sticks and more hustle to clear the puck and effectively kill time.

The period wound down and, with five minutes left, the shot CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

Men’s basketball dominates NIU

BASKETBALL

CHRIS VINEL STAFF WRITER

Millett Hall is set to become “Wally’s World” once again.

Miami athletics has deemed Friday Feb. 9 “Wally Night” to celebrate the return of basketball legend Wally Szczerbiak to campus. Szczerbiak returns as a member of the CBS Sports Network broadcast team and will call the action when the men’s basketball team hosts Toledo.

“I am looking forward to returning to Oxford to call the game on Feb. 9 on CBS Sports Network,” Szczerbiak said in a statement. “Miami has always held a special place in my heart and it will be fun to be back on campus.”

Szczerbiak joined the RedHawks (then Redskins) in 1995 and etched his name into the MU history books over the next four years. He played in two NCAA tournaments and led Miami to the Sweet Sixteen in 1999 -- the team’s only appearance in school history. He also helped the RedHawks to a MAC tournament title in 1997.

He won MAC player of the year in 1999 and is one of just three All-Americans in program history. He was also a finalist for the Naismith, Robertson and Wooden player of the year awards. His 1,847 career points ranks second on Miami’s alltime scoring list.

Upon graduating from Miami, Szczerbiak was drafted sixth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1999 NBA Draft and went on to play for three other teams during his 10-year career.

His No. 32 jersey was retired by Miami in 2001 and he was inducted into the Miami Hall of Fame in 2008.

Szczerbiak has transitioned into broadcasting since his playing career ended. In addition to his responsibilities at CBS, he is currently a studio analyst for the New York Knicks.

“It is always great to have our alumni return to Oxford, but to have Wally come back as part of his job with CBS Sports Network is truly special,” Miami athletic director David Sayler said in a statement. “I expect our RedHawk fans to strongly show their appreciation for Wally upon his return.” vinelca@miamioh.edu

FRESHMAN FORWARD DALONTE BROWN DUNKS AT MILLETT HALL LAST WEEK. MEN’S BASKETBALL BEAT NIU ON THE ROAD ON SATURDAY. MATT HECKERT THE MIAMI STUDENT

MEN’S BASKETBALL

CARTAN SUMNER

THE MIAMI STUDENT

This past Saturday in DeKalb, IL the men’s basketball squad (13-10, 6-5 MAC) defeated Northern Illinois University (10-13, 3-7 MAC) by a score of 81-65. This matchup marked the first meeting of these two Mid-American Conference opponents and was an exciting one for the ’Hawks.

Freshman forwards were key to the ’Hawks’ dominant performance, per usual, as Nike Sibande and Jalen Adaway logged 20 and 17 points, respectively. The ’Hawks opened the matchup with a 7-0 lead courtesy of a couple of layups

by Sibande.

In addition to tallying 20 points, Sibande would add seven rebounds. Sibande’s clutch performance was highlighted by a deep 3-pointer with 5:08 left in the first half to extend the ’Hawks’ lead to 33-16. NIU then cut the Hawks’ lead to 10 at half, but the ‘Hawks still had control over the matchup, as NIU shot just 34 percent from the field in the first half.

The ‘Hawks remained in possession of the double-digit

lead until late in the second when it was cut to nine. However, freshman guard Isaiah Coleman-Lands made three quick threes in the subsequent possessions to put the game well out of reach.

This succession of baskets was a part of a 14-2 Miami run over a four minute span. In addition, sophomore forward Bam Bowman scored a difficult layup. Adaway then added an empathetic dunk courtesy of an outlet pass by Sibande.

Freshman forward Dalonte Brown put an exclamation on the RedHawks’ rout in the waning minutes of the game with a decisive dunk late in the second. From there, the ’Hawks cruised to a 16-point victory.

Miami shot 58 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point land, led by the efforts of Sibande. Northern Illinois only went 40 percent from the field and 29 percent from three-point land.

The RedHawks stay on the road and take on Western Michigan in Kalamazoo tonight. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. sumnerlc@miamioh.edu

Women’s basketball wins tight game in Bowling Green WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BEN PANZECA

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami women’s basketball traveled to face Bowling Green on Saturday, and came away from the Stroh Center with their third straight road victory, winning 66-62.

Entering the game with a 5-6 record away from home, the RedHawks (14-8, 6-5 MAC) were considered favorites over a struggling Falcons (10-12, 2-9 MAC) squad that sits second to last in the Mid-American Conference East. However, neither the ’Hawks nor BGSU could pull away by more than five points during the entire game.

Sophomore guard Lauren Dickerson dominated the first-half highlights by scoring 22 of her 24 total points in the first 20 minutes of the game. She has reached or eclipsed the 20-point mark in six of the last seven games.

Miami carried a 33-32 lead into the break.

Once again, Dickerson’s first half performance forced the opposing team to manage her. In the second half, she dished out six assists, while junior guard Leah Purvis and sophomore forward Savannah Kluesner stepped up as Dickerson went cold from the field. Purvis and Kluesner combined for 20 of the team’s 33 second-half points.

On a day where Miami only managed to shoot 38 percent from the field, it was its shooting ability that pushed the RedHawks ahead of the Falcons in the end.

Down to the wire, the game remained close and Bowling Green found themselves ahead 62-61 with 51 seconds left on the clock. With the shot clock expiring, Purvis drained a deep step-back three to put the ‘Hawks up 64-62.

This proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Falcons, who had previously done well shutting down some of MU’s best scoring options in the second half.

Kluesner had a strong performance on both ends of the court,

scoring 12 points with eight rebounds and four steals on the day.

The RedHawks have also done well limiting turnovers of late. Coming off of a game against Ohio University where they gave away the ball 27 times, Miami only had 13 against NIU and nine against BGSU in its past two games. Regardless, the RedHawks are on a four-game winning streak and are coming into their own for the final push of the season.

The Red & White return to Millett Hall on Wednesday to take on Toledo for National Girls and Women on Sport Night. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN3. panzecbj@miamioh.edu