ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 147 No. 26
Student pleads not guilty to keeping ‘hit list’ on frat brothers
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019
Miami athletic department uses student fee money to purchase tickets
CÉILÍ DOYLE
MANAGING EDITOR Cameron Wallace, Miami University junior and former Alpha Sigma Phi (Alpha Sig) fraternity member, plead not guilty Thursday to charges of aggravated menacing in Butler County Area I court at the Oxford Courthouse. Wallace was removed from the Alpha Sig house two weeks prior for allegedly kicking and choking a frat brother, texting chapter president and sophomore Billy Shand that he had a “hit list” of members he’d like to kill and threatening to “shoot up” the frat house and burn down the room of a specific member, according to a Oxford Police Department (OPD) report and court documents. On April 27, Shand and fellow Alpha Sigs, junior Jacob Golovan and senior Mark Holtgrave, reported Wallace to OPD. Shand became increasingly concerned after Wallace texted him about Wallace’s “hit list” against the frat members he “didn’t like.” Wallace said if Shand or any fraternity executive members kicked Wallace out of Alpha Sig he would retaliate by reporting the frat for false sexual assault and hazing allegations to Miami, according to the incident report. Shand, Golovan and Holtgrave were worried about Wallace’s mental health and told OPD he had threatened suicide and hurt himself over the past semester, Officer Anthony Jones wrote in the incident report. OPD also spoke with junior Joseph Patracuollo, who Wallace called on April 26. During their conversation, Wallace named four specific fraternity brothers he wanted to hurt, but Wallace assured Patracuollo he would be safe when Wallace came to “shoot up” the Alpha Sig house. Shand told OPD that Wallace was officially kicked out of the fraternity on April 28. The Student reached out to Shand, Golovan and Hotgrave, but none of them responded to requests for comment. OPD issued a warrant for Wallace’s arrest on April 30. He was taken into custody on May 1 and spent a day in Butler County Jail before posting bail May 2. Wallace was released before his initial CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
DESIGN EDITOR CONNOR WELLS
SARA BEY
THE MIAMI STUDENT The Miami University athletic department purchases approximately 10,000 football tickets per game with student fee money to meet the quota to remain a Division I-A football program. According to NCAA Bylaw 20.9.9.3, this practice is completely legal. The bylaw requires each school in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) to “[a]verage at least 15,000 in actual or paid attendance for all home football contests over a rolling two-year period.” The phrase “actual or paid” allows schools to buy tickets to reach this threshold.
The money Miami uses to buy its own tickets comes from the Intercollegiate Athlete fee students pay every semester. For the 2019 fiscal year, each student paid an average of $1,044.87. For the 2016 and 2017 Miami football seasons, there was a large discrepancy between scanned and announced tickets. Scanned indicates how many actual attendees entered the stadium, while announced indicates the attendance number shared with the public.The difference is how many tickets the athletic department bought on its own. In 2016, there was an average of 12,531 tickets bought by the athletic department for each game. The average was 10,514 per game in 2017
and 11,772 per game in 2018. In total, 58,861 tickets were bought by the athletic department over the course of the five games hosted at Yager Stadium during the 2018 football season. Miami’s 2016 season-opener, played against Eastern Illinois University, produced a scanned attendance of 2,845 people. But, that number was multiplied over sixfold when Miami released the announced number — 17,369. In Miami’s game against University of Cincinnati during the 2017 season, 13,006 people attended, but 21,881 were announced. With the RedHawks fighting for bowl eligibility against Ball State University during the CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
U. Vermont has ‘no confidence’ in Miami provost candidate
David Rosowksy’s ‘incentive-based’ budget caused concern in former position CAROLINE HAUBENSTRICKER THE MIAMI STUDENT
David Rosowsky, a candidate for provost at Miami University, received a vote of no confidence from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) faculty at his former university in April. Rosowsky resigned from his previous provost position at the University of Vermont (UVM) at the end of April after UVM hired a new president, Suresh Garimella.
In 2015, Rosowsky tested an “incentive-based” budgeting (IBB) model at UVM. The plan was fully implemented in the 2016 fiscal year. The CAS faculty ultimately agreed they had no confidence in Rosowsky’s ability to sustain university programs with such a funding model. Enrique Corredera, UVM’s executive director of news and public affairs, said the model moved financial decision making and responsibility from the central university administration to the college’s individual schools.
UVM’s CAS expressed concern that their revenues weren’t sufficient to cover their expenses. Rosowsky’s plan did not provide sufficient funding to academic programs to keep them viable and competitive. According to the Vermont news site VTDigger, faculty in CAS at UVM have “expressed disdain for [his] IBB which they say forces CAS to compete with other schools for resources and discourages cross-disciplinary cooperation.” Another article from VTDigger states that the Dean of CAS at UVM, Bill Falls, said that CAS student enrollment has “fallen 17 percent in the past eight years [due to Rosowsky’s IBB]”. According to UVM’s website, Rosowsky’s
model has led to, “challenges with smaller course offerings, disincentive on hiring adjuncts that advance academic quality in some applied areas and no incentives for cost centers to promote or sustain academic quality.” When asked for comment, Corredera sent UVM’s initial press release and refused to comment further. The Student reached out to Miami’s director of university news and communications, Claire Wagner, who was unable to provide a comment. “All I can say is that this is a not a topic that I am able to comment on,” Wagner said. haubence@miamioh.edu
This Issue Capping off the year
2 Sports, 1 RedHawk
Style
pages 8 & 9
Data
pages 10 & 11
Get a glimpse of what students are working on
Alexx Zielinski proves he’s a man of many talents
Open carry controversy
News » page 5
Our columnist tries to grapple with role models who turn out to be problematic
News » »page Culture page48
Culture » page 6
Opinion » page 14
Gun rights advocates walk through campus Sports » page 13
Growing up is realizing your heroes ... aren’t
CALL FOR ART Your opportunity to show work (and win cash!) in the Miami University Art Museum Student Response Exhibition Spring 2020
Open to ALL Miami Students Submission Deadline October 14, 2019 Learn more at MiamiOH.edu/ArtMuseum and tinyurl.com/circle-sp20