The Miami Student | May 7, 2019

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

This Week

2 FYI

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019 Named the Best College Newspaper (Non-daily) in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Things to do

SAMANTHA BRUNN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ceili Doyle Managing Editor

Emily Brustoski Video Editor

Connor Wells Design Editor

Maya Fenter Magazine Editor

Julia Arwine Rachel Berry News Editors

Alyssa Melendez Web Designer

Emily Dattilo Duard Headley Culture Editors

James Tobin Faculty Adviser

Will Gorman Opinion Editor

Fred Reeder Business Adviser

Sydney Hill Brianna Porter Copy Editors

WDJ Inc. - Bill Dedden Distributor Aim Media Midwest Printer

Jugal Jain Photo Editor Owen Berg Ethan Fridman Designers

Bachelor Hall room 341 Mosaic, a new student publication focusing on diversity, will unveil its online site.

5/7

6:30 pm

Night Thurs Trivia Red Zone, Armstrong Student Center

Erin Glynn Asst. News Editor Bo Brueck Asst. Photo Editor

Derek Stamberger Nikki Saraniti Video Producers

Mosaic Launch Party

Tues

Bea Newberry Business Manager

Chris Vinel Sports Editor

5/9

Come de-stress before finals with fun, trivia and prizes!

Fri

Sharing Ramadan

8:00 pm10:00 pm

Jack Evans Editor-in-Chief-At-Large

Michael Serio Humor Editor Noah Bertrand Asst. Humor Editor

Kirby Davis Alison Perelman Megan Zahneis Managing Editors-At-Large

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Emily Simanskis Sports Editor-At-Large

Anna Minton Style Editor

Maia Anderson Madeline Mitchell Culture Editors-At-Large

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The Miami Student is published on Tuesdays during the school year by the students of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

The content of The Miami Student is the sole responsibility of The Miami Student staff. Opinions expressed in The Miami Student are not necessarily those of Miami University, its students or staff.

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Alumni Weekend is almost here, and we need help from Miami students! Earn extra cash, connect with

7:30 pm9:30 pm

Sketched Out Improv

5/10-5/11

Apply today! alumni and drive a golf cart!

MacMillan Hall room 212 Celebrate Ramadan with the Muslim Students Association, including a Qur’an reading, cultural talks and free food.

Pearson Hall room 128 Spend your Friday night laughing out loud at Sketched Out’s last comedy shows of the semester.

7:30 pm

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TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

NEWS 3

A ‘Lone Wolf’ preying on success

BENJAMIN PHILLIPS’ BOOK WAS MADE AVILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON APRIL 30. ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK

BRIAH LUMPKINS STAFF WRITER Most days, you’ll catch Benjamin Phillips III wearing a tailored dark-colored suit with his briefcase in hand as if he were on his way to an important meeting.

Many times he is.

If he’s not in class, he’s involved with student organizations like the Multicultural Business Association (MSB) and the Governmental Relations Network, speaking with kids at schools in the surrounding area or working as an intern at a consulting firm.

As a finance major, the Farmer School of

Student pleads not guilty to keeping ‘hit list’ on frat brothers

Business (FSB) is his home. There, he learns the ins and outs of the business world and utilizes the skills he has learned to secure prestigious internships.

He has already interned with Ernst & Young at their Cincinnati location and J.C. Baker & Associates. Obtaining such a prestigious internship as a college freshman or sophomore is a goal that not many young people are able to achieve.

As treasurer of MSB, he enjoys being able to teach students basic business etiquette as they enter college.

“I think that’s where I really flourish: in teaching those students how to craft their resume, how to public speak and dress accordingly,” Phillips said.

Phillips, at only 20 years-old, has obtained success in many aspects in his life. He is now adding another victory to his list as he becomes an author of his own book: “Lone Wolf Mentality: A Millennial Mindset.”

The book is centered on the transition from high school to college life and provides tips geared around the fundamental concepts of money and advice on how to be successful in this current generation.

“The Lone Wolf method is originally from my father. It’s kinda about not running with the pack,” Phillips told Julian Huff on Miami Television News on May 2. “I talk about being a businessman. Business is dog eat dog all the time. It’s a very cut throat industry. So be a

lone wolf and watch your own back.”

Phillips wrote the book over J-term while he was interning at J.C Bakers and Associates.

Everyday after he got off work, he would write his book from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. After finishing his draft, he sent copies out to publishers, hoping for positive feedback.

Being aware of how much publishing could cost, he was nervous about the result.

The copy made its way to the desk of David Braughler, President of Braughler Books LLC. After reading the draft, he told Phillips he wanted to “take a chance” on him and covered the cost of publishing.

“It was such a blessing,” Phillips said.

The book was published on April 10 and was released for purchase on April 30.

Phillips has enjoyed the process of writing the book and feels it has benefited him for the better.

“This was a very therapeutic process,” Phillips said, “because whether or not your book gets published, or is at the degree of commercialization, I think everyone should write a book. Because people go through so much and have so much in their heads; just write them down.”

As a new author, Phillips is already looking toward the next step in his life.

“A problem that I have is that I can never be content,” Phillips said. “I could have stopped when I got to college. I got here on a pretty nice scholarship, and I could’ve just been cool with that, but then I wanted an internship freshman year. When I got that, people say the same thing now, ‘You’re a freshman; you have a big-time internship. You’re doing all the right things.’ Yeah, but what’s the next thing?”

As he continues throughout life, he hopes to build a foundation for his future and those who will eventually come after him.

“What’s the next thing I can do to shape the Phillips empire? Because that’s what I’m doing it for. I’m doing it for my last name, for my grandchildren,” Phillips said.

Lone Wolf Mentality: A Millennial Mindset is currently available for purchase online on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $15. lumpkibm@miamioh.edu @briah_lumpkins

Strictly Business

BY CONNOR WELLS

FROM FRONT

hearing on the condition he would have “no contact with victim[s] or Alpha Sigma Phi,” according to court documents.

Wallace is still enrolled at Miami, university spokeswoman Claire Wagner wrote in an email to The Student. He also faces a separate third degree felony charge for “making [a] terrorist threat,” through Butler County Area I court.

Wallace’s defense attorney, Michael D’Amico, pushed back the initial hearing to 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 6 for a pre-trial conference.

Judge Robert H. Lyons will preside over the next hearing in the Oxford Courthouse.

Wallace faces up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the charges. doyleca3@miamioh.edu @cadoyle_18

Miami uses student fees to purchase tickets FROM FRONT

2018 season, 2,360 people attended the game. The announced attendance was 17,917 people.

Director of Athletics David Sayler and Deputy Athletic Director Jude Killy declined to comment on the ticket buying process.

Associate Athletic Director for Revenue Generation D’Angelo Solomon and Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations and Services Liz Bath did not respond for comment by publication.

The Wall Street Journal released an article in August 2018 discussing the growing problem of college football attendance across all Division I-A conferences. It listed Miami as an “attendance gap leader,” indicating that for the 2017 football season, it fell fifth in line for schools that have the highest percentage of tickets bought by its own athletic department.

Only 36.1 percent of the tickets announced in the 2017 football season were actually scanned.

Even schools in larger conferences, such as the Big Ten and Southeastern, boost their numbers. The University of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference announced a total of 551,776 attendees for their 2017 football season when only 465,379 scanned in.

The University of Alabama in the Southeastern Conference announced 712,053 in the 2017 football season, when it scanned in 546,488.

The Crimson Tide won the National Championship at the end of that season. beysc@miamioh.edu

As the lines between newspaper layout and real life gradually fade together, Design Editor, Connor Wells, confers with his nine-foot-tall co-worker about “the need to have a sound mind when working into the early morning hours. Without mental fortitude like mine, you’d go crazy in minutes.”

4 NEWS

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

System to Gun activists spark controversy at Miami Classes cancelled as open-carry help ‘at-risk’ walk takes place on campus students RYAN DERN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

RACHEL BERRY NEWS EDITOR

The office of the provost is implementing a system to identify students at risk of dropping out and offering a targeted advising approach to assist these students.

Previously, students were identified by each department, so the new system helps to create a more centralized and structured approach, said Craig Bennett, senior director of the Student Success Center.

Miami University created a coordinated action team (CAT) to examine retention (the amount of students who return after their first year) and persistence (how many students carry over year after year from sophomore year onward). Although Miami’s retention rate of 92 percent was not seen as worrisome, the team still wanted to do better, said Associate Provost Jeffrey Wanko.

“I want all students to be successful,” Wanko said. “I don’t want students to muddle through a system and say, ‘I don’t know who to talk to about this.’”

The team decided to implement a system called Civitas, which uses data analytics to examine a number of factors to identify atrisk students. Miami already used Civitas in other capacities, such as determining student success in certain courses; however, it was not previously used in this way.

One factor the system considers is students’ use of Canvas. If students are not checking their grades, doing their online assignments and engaging with class discussion boards, they are less likely to persist from year to year, Wanko said.

Another factor is performance in certain courses in each major that are identified to be critical. Students who do not do well in these courses are less likely to succeed in their college career, Wanko said.

Civitas takes these into consideration, in addition to numerous other factors, to determine which students are most in need of support.

The Student Success Center will implement a new position called success navigators for fall 2019. Each incoming first-year will be assigned one of these navigators, so they have an advisor to answer questions unrelated to their major. The goal was to have one person students can go to, as often times students don’t know where to find answers to their questions, Bennett said.

Once students are identified by the Civitas system, their success navigator will determine who is the best person to reach out to them — typically their academic advisor or residential assistant, whoever knows them the best. The success navigator will propose it to the CAT, who will consider each student on a case-by-case basis.

“At the university, we want to make sure we don’t approach everything from the same kind of cookie-cutter standpoint that everybody needs the same kind of experi-

“We want to help meet the students where they are and to meet their needs to help each student be successful however he or she needs the help.”

- Jeffrey Wanko

ence,” Wanko said. “We want to help meet the students where they are and to meet their needs to help each student be successful however he or she needs the help.”

The identified person will reach out and ask the student to schedule a meeting, where they will try to find a solution and help the student.

Ted Peters, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Science and University Studies Advising Office, said this approach helps to find students who need assistance and might not have been otherwise identified by faculty or residential directors.

“I’ll use any tool you’ll give me if it helps improve student experience, if it helps support students,” Peters said. “I would much rather reach out to a student and have them come back and say ‘yeah, no, I’m fine’ … than for us to overlook it and have something serious happen.”

Bennett said 70 percent of the students identified by Civitas are not likely to persist to the next year.

This system was piloted beginning in fall 2018 with smaller groups of students. There is no data yet to show how effective the program has been so far.

It will be rolled out to a larger degree in fall 2019. berryrd@miamioh.edu

Twenty individuals openly carrying guns walked around Miami’s campus advocating for gun rights on Friday, May 3 According to Miami’s student code of conduct, weapons of any kind – including knives, pepper spray and firearms – are all strictly prohibited on campus without the permission of the Miami University Police Department (MUPD).

President Gregory Crawford sent out an email to Oxford students detailing the legality of the demonstration: “As a public institution, our campus is public property. Ohio law permits people to openly carry weapons on public property.”

Professors like Pepper Stetler, an associate art professor, sent out emails to students cancelling class in light of the open-carry walk.

“After much deliberation and receiving emails from many students, I’ve decided to cancel class today due to the open carry event that is scheduled. Students should not have to feel unsafe to come to class,” Stetler wrote. “I see my time with each of you … as extremely valuable … I do not want that time to be a cause of stress.”

Jeffry Smith, a concealed carry course instructor from Cincinnati, began organizing open-carry walks across college campuses in 2014, starting with the University of Cincinnati. He is an NRA member, but he does not set up these demonstrations on behalf of any gun advocacy organization.

Smith has done 11 open-carry walks at universities and other events such as Cincinnati and Columbus pride parades. He helped organize Kent State student and gun rights activist Kaitlin Bennett’s first open-carry event at the university.

“The purpose of these campus open-carry walks is to inform and engage college students and the public about the right to keep and bear arms, including discussing how those rights are diminished by various laws,” the organizers wrote on the event’s Facebook page.

The activists walked from the south campus garage through and around campus, stopping at Pearson Hall for a photo opportunity.

JEFFRY SMITH ADVOCATES FOR OPEN CARRY ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES. ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK

Throughout the event, there were various instances where students and Miami community members yelled either in support or opposition to the group as they passed.

Sophomore family science major Alexandria Fletcher spoke with Smith to voice opposition to the march.

Fletcher lead the opposition group that protested the walk. She was inspired by David Hogg and Alex Wind, two students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who survived a mass shooting in February 2018 and who became major anti-gun activists.

“I felt genuinely unsafe to be on campus after hearing there would be guns, and I just wanted to do something to show that the majority of students aren’t okay with this,” Fletcher said. “I know so many people that have had classes cancelled or are staying home because they don’t feel safe somewhere they call home.”

The goal of the walk was to bring attention to guns as a political issue, but for many students seeing all of the guns made it too intimidating to speak up.

“To the people that aren’t here or are staying home today, I’m sorry that your fear prevents you from participating — that your fears [you] base your decisions upon are not founded [on anything],” Smith said.

Kendall Arroyo, his wife and their threeyear-old son participated in the walk. Both adults carried firearms. The family lives in Columbus and has no affiliation with Miami.

Arroyo first got involved when he participated in the original walk at Miami in 2016 and has accompanied Smith during the majority of his on-campus walks.

“I just want to be able to protect my family,” Arroyo said. “I don’t like seeing these laws being put in place that restrict my right to bear arms.”

Connor Manley, a sophomore business economics major, passed by the group outside the Armstrong Student Center (ASC) and was disgusted.

“If the intention was to start a conversation, making the other side of that conversation afraid and uncomfortable isn’t the way to do it,” Manley said.

Caroline Delaney, a sophomore pre-med and kinesiology major, passed the group but was put off from interacting with them because they were carrying weapons.

“Having a gun on campus – just days after a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte – just feels like a big ‘fuck you’ to all the victims of mass shootings and school shootings specifically,” Delaney said.

MUPD supervised the event by following the group around campus but never had any reason to intervene. dernre@miamioh.edu @ryan__dern

“HAVING A GUN ON CAMPUS ... JUST FEELS LIKE A BIG ‘FUCK YOU.’ ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK

Miami students face white supremacy on campus RACHEL BERRY NEWS EDITOR

First-year media and culture and history major Kate deJesus was walking from her dorm on Western campus to class one morning when she passed a sign hanging on a lightpost. She remembers seeing it out of the corner of her eye but didn’t think anything of it at the time.

Later that day, she saw an article in The Miami Student that said signs promoting the white supremacy organization Patriot Front had been found on campus. deJesus then realized the sign she had seen on her walk to class was one of them.

“I was kind of shocked,” deJesus said. “I was taken back that I’d seen it and not realized … Honestly, it made me really angry. I immediately got really upset because I was just kind of in shock that that was right on campus in front of everybody.” deJesus called her parents and explained the situation. Her dad advised her not to take it down, so deJesus called the Miami University Police Department to report the sign.

When she walked back to her dorm a few hours later, the sign was gone.

This was the first time deJesus, the granddaughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, had seen a message like this — that felt personal — on campus.

“What made me feel threatened or unsettled was that it was something hateful and uninclusive on campus,” deJesus said. “It felt pretty attacking, and I thought it was wrong for other students to have to see that.” *** Patriot Front participated in the Unite the Right rally and terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and uses nationalistic imagery to promote a “pan-European,” or white, culture, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit legal organization that monitors hate groups and extremists.

Since Friday, April 5, at least 10 signs and stickers promoting Patriot Front have been found on Miami’s campus. Three of the signs identified by The Student in its April 10 report were found near Bachelor Hall, and the other was found on a bulletin board near King Library.

On April 29 and 30, The Student identified another sign near the Farmer School of Business. Additionally, five stickers were affixed to light posts across the middle of campus in academic quad and Bishop Woods. *** Miami sociology professor Michael Loadenthal, who studies radical political movements, received reports of these signs from various students.

Loadenthal said this is nothing new and that he has identified similar groups on Miami’s campus in the past three years. Most of what Patriot Front does is flyering and other forms of outreach — but they have the potential to be dangerous, he said.

“I feel it is meant to intimidate, and it’s meant to intimidate through a pretty specific strategy of letting people know that, although these individuals aren’t visible, they are present,” Loadenthal said. “Making people aware that this sort of group exists is part of the strategy of intimidation, as well as stirring up controversy for controversy’s sake.” *** The increasing number of these signs and stickers seen around campus has intimidated some Miami students.

“The anti-immigrant propaganda being spread by these posters and stickers around campus is absolutely unacceptable,” said Victoria Negrón, institutional ambassador for UNIDOS, a student organization dedicated to creating a more unified environment for Latino and Hispanic students.

“The rhetoric of ‘keeping America American’ and that the United States was a land ‘conquered not stolen’ are incredibly harmful and dangerous for members of Latinx, indigenous and other minority groups on campus.”

Other students condemned the messages but said they try not to let it hurt them.

The Student spoke with four Latinx students who said this rhetoric is so common in America that they are used to it and weren’t surprised by the Patriot Front signs. These students preferred to remain anonymous for protection from whomever has posted the signs.

Taylor Hurt, president of the Black Student Action Association, also said she wasn’t surprised by the messages, but they have caused her to be more cautious.

“Obviously we go to a PWI (predominately white institution), but seeing those things, it makes me aware and conscious of who I surround myself with,” Hurt said. “It also made me kind of wonder how the university would take action toward it.”

Junior political science major Adrian Radilla, the newly elected Associated Student Government (ASG) parliamentarian and president of College Democrats, has worked in ASG for the past three years to raise awareness to similar issues and pass legislation to stop discrimination.

Radilla said he has seen this type of thing before and that it was mainly first-years who were intimidated by the signs because they had not been faced with discrimination yet at Miami.

“Mostly I felt what was being targeted was justice in its totality — justice and equality,” Radilla said.

*** First-year art major Megan Sekulich, a member of the Myaamia tribe, was sitting in class with other Myaamia students when the professor put a photo of one of the Patriot Front signs on the projector screen.

As a part of the tribe, Sekulich is automatically placed in a class to learn about its history and language. The class, Myaamia Ecology and History II, teaches students about treaties and wars involving the Myaamia tribe and how the United States took its land.

“We were able to talk about [the sign] in specific terms because we’re talking about our tribe’s history and removal from our homeland, so I think it kind of gave me better perception of what I felt about it,” Sekulich said.

Sekulich said it felt more real and serious talking about the sign in class instead of with her friends, where she might have brushed it off and pretended it didn’t bother her or had not been able to fully process it with people who had similar backgrounds. *** First-year political science major Frida Rodriguez is the daughter of former illegal immigrants.

Her parents came to the United States from Mexico as teenagers to find a better life.

Her dad got a job picking fruit before he began working in construction. He took the jobs no one else wanted, working 50 to 60 hour weeks to provide for his family.

“My parents worked very hard to give me everything they could in life,” Rodriguez said. “When people try to stereotype us and generalize us as lazy, it personally hurts my feelings because they don’t understand not only what the dads have to go through, but the families, how they are affected too.”

Rodriguez said she didn’t personally see the Patriot Front signs but condemned the messages, which she says show a lack of knowledge about how hard it is to immigrate to the U.S. and that the majority of immigrants aren’t criminals. Rather, they escape from upheaval and just want a better life for their families in the U.S. “I don’t feel like there’s enough empathy,” Rodriguez said. “We want to make America great again, but to make America great again, we really have to accept that the world is changing and that you don’t have to be just white to be American. Personally, it kind of hurts my heart because I understand the struggle of what it’s like to be not American and stereotyped even at my own school.” berryrd@miamioh.edu

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

NEWS 5

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

Oxford’s Mayor Kate era nearing its end Rousmaniere reflects on her time in office TIM CARLIN

STAFF WRITER As I leave my stats class on a humid May afternoon, I feel the buzz of my phone from inside my back pocket. I unlock it to see an email from Oxford Mayor Kate Rousmaniere.

“Hi Tim — I might have forgotten to mention my greatest pride and joy — the city and university just won the Larry Abernathy Award from the International Town Gown Association for our proposal/plan/work for a healthy community,” Rousmaniere wrote. “Here’s the cool video and text we used for the proposal.”

I had just interviewed Mayor Kate, as she’s called by many citizens, the day before.

After talking for nearly 40 minutes, I thought I had all the information I needed for my story. But her email was icing on the cake – she always has a follow-up.

As mayor, she values going above and beyond to make others’ jobs easier.

In Oxford, you don’t run for mayor. You run for a seat on City Council and, once elected, council members decide who will be mayor.

Rousmaniere said she was clear with council members nine years ago that she wanted to be mayor while she campaigned for her city council seat.

Rousmaniere has been the mayor of Oxford since 2011. She has served two terms, and in November she will reach her term limit.

Rousmaniere moved to Oxford in August 1992 after earning her doctorate in the history of education from the Teachers College of Columbia University’s Graduate School for Education, Health & Psychology in May of that year.

It was a teaching job at Miami University that brought Rousmaniere to Oxford.

“Yeah, that was it. I got a job,” Rousmaniere

“SHE ... IS A PERFECT PATHWAY BETWEEN THE TWO ENTITIES ... AND THAT’S VERY IMPORTANT.” PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

said, laughing. “There weren’t that many places that were offering jobs then.”

Oxford quickly became home for Rousmaniere.

“Fourteen years ago, I married a local guy, and my grandkids go to school here, and my step-daughters live here; my whole family is here,” Rousmaniere said. “I figured I was gonna be here for a long time, but when I met him and then we got married I said, ‘Whoops, I guess I’m here for a really long time!’”

Before running for public office, Rousmaniere served as the chair of Miami University’s Department of Educational Leadership for nine years.

She still teaches in the department.

Miami makes wide-ranging changes to the Code of Student Conduct JULIA ARWINE NEWS EDITOR

On April 25, the Miami University Student Life Council approved changes to the Code of Student Conduct that will go into effect at the start of the 2019-20 academic year. These changes will affect what counts as prohibited conduct, punishments for certain violations and how disciplinary procedures are conducted.

Although the code of conduct is reviewed every year, said Dean of Students Kimberly Moore, often the changes made are minor adjustments to the formatting and/or language.

“Most of our changes were they way we present the information to students,” Moore said.

“We’re trying to be more clear.”

This year’s review includes some more substantive changes.

“Our code of conduct hadn’t been revamped in a very long time – I think, decades,” said Jayne Brownell, vice president for student affairs and chair of the Student Life Council.

Some of the minor changes made include that the list of violations is now in alphabetical order, and Greek life is included in the larger umbrella term of “student organizations.”

The following changes were made to the Prohibited Conduct Section: • Possession or use of a fake ID now counts as a violation of law, rather than as a dishonesty charge handled within the university.

• The list of Title IX charges of sexual misconduct, interpersonal violence and sexual harassment now includes definitions of what constitutes each of these offenses – including non-consensual sexual intercourse, non-consensual sexual contact, sexual exploitation, indecent exposure, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. Though all of these charges were included previously, they were not explicitly defined.

• The endangering health or safety charge is now separate from Title IX violations.

• “Damage and/or theft of property” and “trespass or unauthorized use of facilities” are now two separate charges.

• “Violation of university rules or law” has been separated into two charges: violation of law and violation of regulations for on-campus living. These two are also separate from “violation of sanctions” (which are disciplinary measures for previous violations) and “violation of university policy.”

• The weapons section now includes storage of a dangerous weapon, device or substance as prohibited activity, in addition to possession and use of a weapon, unless authorized

by Miami University Police Department (MUPD). The revisions clarify that mace and pepper spray are allowed for personal protection, but an added clause prohibits the “misuse of weapons, devices, mace or pepper spray in a manner that causes or threatens serious harm to the safety or security of others.”

• Additionally, the code now outlines an exception to the weapons section, that any student with a valid concealed handgun license may transport or store a firearm or ammunition, given that they are kept in the student’s vehicle and, while the student is not in the vehicle, that they are in a locked container. The vehicle must also be in a location it is permitted to be. This change is required by Ohio Revised Code Section 2923.1210.

• The wording in the section on hazing is now meant to be clearer and is based on the Ohio state code definition of hazing.

Along with these changes, the chapter on sanctions saw some revisions.

The sanctions chapter no longer includes no-contact/restraining orders in the list of disciplinary restrictions, which are sanctions that “may be imposed with or without suspension, revocation of recognition, or probation” of a student or student organization.

‘This is so embarrassing’ ASG suffers abysmal attendance this semester ERIN GLYNN

ASST. NEWS EDITOR Many Associated Student Government (ASG) senators failed to fulfill their duties to attend senate session, committee meetings and office hours this semester.

Attendance has declined as the semester progressed, bringing two senate sessions to a halt, casting doubt during senate leadership elections and leading to articles of impeachment in one case.

There are 45 senators total, though the number has fluctuated throughout the semester as senators resigned and elections were held. According to ASG’s bylaws, senate must have quorum to conduct business, meaning that at least 23 senators need to be present to pass legislation or hold elections. If a quorum check is requested by a senator and less than 23 senators are in attendance, ASG is forced to adjourn.

The most egregious example of this was the March 19 senate session, when only 21 senators were present. Because the legislation set to be

debated that evening was time-sensitive, senators called their friends and roommates and searched for students studying in Armstrong to round up enough alternates in order to avoid adjourning the meeting.

During the senate sessions on April 16 and 23, when elections for next year’s executive cabinet were held, attendance was also lacking.

An official quorum check was called once each meeting and during both sessions quorum was unofficially questioned multiple times.

By the end of the April 23 meeting, Speaker of Senate Cole Hankins encouraged senate not to call for an official check, for fear not enough senators would be present and ASG would be required to adjourn.

“I am extremely disappointed in the lack of attendance and, frankly, care, that many senators have displayed throughout this whole year,” Shelby Frye, an academic senator, said.

“To see senators leave Cabinet elections, which are incredibly important in shaping the work that ASG will do next year, is disheartening, to say the least. The student body deserves better than that.”

Though senate session began with more than enough senators each week, as it went on more and more senators would leave the chamber. At times, senators even posted on social media that they were out socializing in-

Rousmaniere said she wanted to take a break after her time as department chair, but Prue Dana, the mayor of Oxford from 2007 to 2009 and current city councilor, convinced her to run.

“The day after it was decided that I would no longer be department chair … the next day Prue Dana took me out to lunch and told me to run for city council,” Rousmaniere said.

Dana knew Rousmaniere could be the link between Miami and Oxford that would help the relationship flourish.

“She, by being part of the faculty, is a perfect pathway between the two entities … and that’s very important,” Dana said.

Rousmaniere was also inspired to run for of-

The code now also says that a student cannot attend classes or university-related activities while suspended or expelled, and that all educational sanctions (such as mandatory health and safety courses) must be completed by the end of the suspension period, or they will remain suspended.

The most significant change to the sanctions chapter is related to hazing violations. After a first offense, the minimum penalty must include at least two of the possible sanctions listed in the code of conduct. This is true in both the old and revised code. But, in the new code, one of those possibilities, suspension, has been changed from a minimum of one semester to a minimum of five years in cases of endangerment to a student’s health or safety.

In cases of a second hazing offense, the university will revoke the offending organization’s recognition on campus. Before the changes, organizations were removed for at least two semesters, but now the Office of Community Standards will determine how long an organization will remain off campus.

These hazing changes were made to reflect recommendations made in an “Honoring Fraternity” report conducted last fall by a fraternity revisioning committee.

Previously, suspensions of fraternities in serious cases of hazing generally lasted from three and a half to four years, Brownell said.

“We were typically looking to [suspend] until the current class graduated so that the fraternity had a good chance of starting over with a fresh culture,” Brownell said. “What we have seen in the past few years is that that’s not quite long enough because a lot of times activity continues on for a year or two after suspension.”

The revised code also includes restructuring the disciplinary hearing process for both suspendable and non-suspendable violations.

Brownell said that any violations that occur during the remainder of the current semester will be dealt with according to the unrevised code, even though the disciplinary process may take place next year, after the revised code has been put in place on July 1.

Ann James, Director of Community Standards, led the review of the code but was unavailable for comment. arwinejk@miamioh.edu

stead of going to senate session, according to Frye and other senators in the chamber.

“This is so embarrassing,” Student Body President Megan Murtagh said of the attendance at April 23’s meeting.

The April 23 quorum check, at ASG’s penultimate meeting, revealed the attendance issues to the Student Body President elect Jaylen Perkins and Vice President elect Dante Rossi, neither of whom had served in ASG before.

“Tonight was a little bit disappointing,” Rossi said to the senators. “I’m talking about holding your fellow senators accountable. I’m seeing Snapchat and Instagram stories, and they’re Uptown right now. Jaylen and I don’t even have voting rights, and we’ve been here for four hours.”

Executive cabinet is not required to be present during senate session as they have their own meetings. A few members made it a priority nonetheless.

Secretary for Communications and Media Relations Michael Zele attended every meeting, as did Secretary for On-Campus Affairs Effie Fraley. Secretary for Off-Campus Affairs Charles Kennick and Secretary for Infrastructure and Sustainability Molly O’Donnell also made frequent appearances, but these were the only members of the 13-person executive cabinet that attended and stayed throughout senate session with any regularity. glynnee@miamioh.edu

fice by her late father. She described him as “a politician who almost never won an election.” Rousmaniere’s father, a Democrat, would always run in predominantly-Republican districts.

Although he rarely won, Rousmaniere said her father “always had the good fight.”

“He never gave up,” she said.

Rousmaniere said her time in City Council has taught her that life as a public official isn’t always about having a solution.

“It’s important to listen to people,” Rousmaniere said. “When people have concerns or complaints, I used to think what they wanted was an answer … but I think one role of local government is to listen and recognize people’s concerns.”

Rousmaniere also highlighted how much public office can teach people about their community.

“We all live in communities, and we don’t really understand how they function until we get involved in local government,” she said.

Throughout her time as mayor, Rousmaniere said her attempts to prioritize health, such as initiatives like the Oxford Trails, are her proudest achievements.

“My general theme of new initiatives has been … encouraging healthy behaviors,” Rousmaniere said. “So, I think just sort of putting that theme at the front of city activities, I think that’s been my greatest success.”

Rousmaniere said that her greatest success may have also been her greatest failure.

By focusing on healthy initiatives, she said she may have alienated some constituents who care more about the regular city council responsibilities, such as fixing roads and approving construction plans.

When asked to summarize her experience on City Council in three words, Rousmaniere couldn’t distill it quite that easily.

“It’s been the best,” Rousmaniere said. “I’ve been president of two of my professional associations. I’ve been department chair. I was chair of university senate, and I’ve been mayor of the City of Oxford, and mayor has been the most rewarding, informative, fun, instructing [and] exciting of all of them.” carlintm@miamioh.edu

Armitage pleads guilty to sex crime

Former Miami professor faces up to 30 years in federal prison CÉILÍ DOYLE

MANAGING EDITOR Last week, former Miami University associate professor Kevin Armitage changed his “not guilty” plea to “guilty” five days before his trial was scheduled to begin. Armitage admitted that he tried to hire a 14-year-old sex trafficked girl named Crystal in exchange for $100 and a milkshake for the girl’s cousin — who turned out to be a federal agent posing as a pimp on a sex trafficking website.

By pleading guilty to the felonious count of “traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor,” Armitage faces up to 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, an additional $100 fee and at least five years of parole following his release, according to federal court documents.

Armitage was arrested nearly a year ago, in May 2018, after showing up to a restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, MO to meet Crystal’s pimp, who was actually special agent Jon Weishaar from the Office of the Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Armitage was indicted by the U.S. Western District Court in Kansas City a month later.

The plea agreement reveals that the former Western Program professor exchanged multiple messages with Weishaar on the website. The site allows registered members, such as Armitage, to make posts, comment on discussion threads and private message other users to exchange information about sexual encounters. Several of these posts include links to “well-known sex trafficking websites” with reviews of said encounters.

Wiesharr responded to Armitage’s post looking for a “young spinner” — derogatory slang for a petite, young woman who has sex with an older man — saying he could give Armitage a phone number for Crystal.

Armitage wrote to Weishaar in a private message that this “is what I live for. Id love the number and will treat her right THANKS! C. I visit KC — so this is great intel for me.”

Weishaar warned Armitage that Crystal was “super young,” but the former professor was undeterred. He messaged the girl, writing that he was “a nice guy,” and he hoped they could meet soon.

A day before they were scheduled to meet, Weishaar messaged Armitage that he should be prepared to “show her ur condoms, money, flash a smile, buy me milkshake and get fucked. Best day ever.”

“Sounds good. What flavor milkshake?” Armitage wrote back.

The next day, Wednesday, May 30, 2018, Armitage went to the restaurant. He spoke with a separate FBI undercover employee who was pretending to be Crystal’s cousin, and showed her the money and condom he had brought along. He “ordered a milkshake to go” and, after securing how long he could spend with Crystal and acknowledging he understood she was 14 years old, the FBI took Armitage into custody.

Armitage, who previously faced disciplinary action from Miami for bullying a student on a study abroad trip before he resigned, remains in the U.S. Marshal Service’s custody while he awaits his sentencing.

The Miami Student reached out to Armitage’s lawyer, Chris Angles, for comment, but he said he won’t “discuss pending litigation.”

Judge Brian Wimes will determine Armitage’s prison term at his sentencing hearing, set for 9 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15 in Courtroom 7D at the Charles Evans Whittaker U.S. Courthouse in Kansas City, MO. doyleca3@miamioh.edu @cadoyle_18

6 CULTURE

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

HEADLEDDMIAMIOH.EDU

Miami students find love in the past and the present LUCY GREANEY

THE MIAMI STUDENT It was a Friday night back in the late 1960s when Miami Mergers Marilyn Wickerham and Harry Kent Russell met in a bar Uptown.

Miami University is known for its high number of what they call Miami Mergers. Miami Mergers are couples that met and dated throughout their time at Miami University and are now married.

Marilyn and Harry were out for the weekly TGIF, where students would all crowd into the bars Uptown, much like they do today, and relax after a stressful week of school. TGIF was a weekly tradition for Miami students at this time.

Marilyn and her friends had made it to the bar and began conversing with the guys around them. Harry approached Marilyn and asked her to dance, and they instantly hit it off.

“We clicked instantly,” Marilyn said. “We watched the same TV shows, and we were from similar hometowns.”

After that night, they began to date, and their nights on the town included trips to the Follett’s bookstore where they would sit and talk while sipping on sodas together. They also went to the movies regularly.

The Miami Merger legend began between 1949-1965. They met on March 8, 1969, their junior year of college, and they dated until 1971.

Before leaving Miami, Marilyn said the couple kissed under the Upham arch – further solidifying their status as a Miami Merger.

They both graduated in 1970 and entered the workforce. After living apart for a year, they found that they could not live without each other.

“We got engaged on March 8, 1971 so that he could remember the day we met,” Marilyn said.

Although Marilyn and Harry found one another, discovering someone to date wasn’t always easy. There were no cell phones or dating sites back then, and sometimes students could get desperate. In an issue of The Miami Student from 1968, a boy posted an advertisement looking for a date for his formal. TMS reporter John Prickett did a follow up with him the next week, and found that the boy received 10 offers for dates to his formal.

Although this advertisement was only a onetime scenario, it goes to show how different dating and searching for “the one” was without technology. Today, all it takes is a swipe right on an app, and you could very well find the love of your life.

Through the use of the dating app Tinder, sophomore psychology major Sasha Gutierrez found her boyfriend, Kyle Ray, a Miami ‘18 graduate. The couple began dating on April 22

2018. They are grateful for the dating app that provided them with a successful relationship.

“I was scared that I wasn’t going to find someone that wanted something serious, since most people on Tinder just want to hook up,” Gutierrez said.

The couple planned to meet at Bell Tower dining hall a month before they began officially dating, and they found a spark after the first five minutes.

They began with the typical questions about their hometowns and their majors, but because Ray’s friend was sitting a few tables over, he told Gutierrez about all of the “crazy” things the friends had done together, and that’s what sparked Gutierrez’s interest.

Gutierrez and Ray’s relationship exemplifies how dating has changed since the time of Marilyn and Harry’s time at Miami. Marilyn has her own opinions about the new advances in social media and relationships.

Marilyn said that she would have a hard time trusting someone that she has only talked to behind a screen.

“I don’t know how they use a dating app now, they can just lie like crazy,” Marilyn said.

Marilyn is currently a professor for the College of Education, Health, and Society and is still married to Harry after 48 years. Sasha is still finishing her degree, but her and Kyle’s relationship is still going strong. greanelj@miamioh.edu

THE DATING LANDSCAPE HAS SHIFTED DRASTICALLY THROUGH THE YEARS, BUT MIAMIANS ARE STILL FINDING LOVE. CONTRIBUTED BY SASHA GUTIERREZ AND MARILYN AND HARRY RUSSELL

From the classroom to the Caribbean

Senior capstones across colleges

ness company) to create a campaign with graphics, strategy and social media to target a group of consumers within its customer base, and at the end of the semester, they presented to the client. After graduation, Julia is moving to Chicago to work at a construction and real estate company as the marketing coordinator.

College of Creative Arts

STUDENTS FIND WAYS TO EXPAND THEIR EDUCATIONAL EXERIENCE THROUGH CAPSTONE PROJECTS PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

EMILY DATTILO WILL GORMAN

THE MIAMI STUDENT As the semester draws to a close, glimpses of graduation are everywhere. Lines of girls in bright red caps and gowns smiling by the Sundial, traces of champagne and confetti scattered over the Seal and photographers capturing the bittersweet reality of these last couple weeks.

To graduate, each senior must complete a capstone, and according to the Miami website, “Each Capstone emphasizes sharing of ideas, synthesis, and critical, informed reflection as significant precursors to action, and each includes student initiative in defining and investigating problems or projects.”

Students have the ability to either take a capstone class within their major or design their own by uploading a proposal ticket including a statement of explanation, a DAR report and contact information for a faculty advisor.

Each college within the university hosts an array of capstone options, allowing students to be as innovative and creative as they choose.

College of Engineering and Computing The capstone for the College of Engineering

and Computing, “Senior Design” takes place over a full year, and students are grouped into teams of two to eight people. Senior biomedical engineering major Anne Poindexter worked with three other students to discover how a purple dye found in bacteria could be produced on a large scale and to then see if such a venture would be profitable.

“The challenge that comes with figuring things out without a clear syllabus, without a clear how-to, that was very difficult,” Anne said. “But you have to figure out like within this, not just like how to get a final product, but like how to find information that isn’t just given to you, and that’s a really valuable skill.”

Once the research was completed and analyzed, Anne and her group presented their poster at Senior Design Day, a showcase and competition for engineering projects. After graduation, Anne will attend University of Cincinnati for medical school.

Farmer School of Business The Farmer School of Business offers 11 different capstones, and senior marketing major Julia Waterbury chose one called “Highwire Brand Studio”, a cross-disciplinary course that’s required for graphic design majors and open to marketing majors.

Julia and her team got to work with a real client, The Clean Program (a health and well-

The College of Creative Arts has four different departments including architecture and interior design, art, music and theater. Senior Grace Rosus, a double major in music and arts management with a minor in marketing, worked with Todd Stewart, the head of the arts management department, to design her own capstone experience.

Grace has been house manager of the theatre department for three years and orchestra manager for the last year where she modernized the organizations by moving information online and gained experience in managing professional ensembles. For her capstone, she wanted to find a way to leave all she’d accomplished for her successor, as she’s moving to California after graduation and won’t be on campus to train someone new.

“I essentially made up my own degree plan, which I love that I was able to do here,” Grace said. “When I interview for jobs and internships, they always say you’re the only person we’ve had that has this degree plan and has this experience.”

College of Arts and Science The College of Arts and Science offers dozens of academic programs, representing nearly half of Miami’s student body with each of its 63 majors and 10 co-majors offering their own capstone experiences.

With two majors in the College of Arts and Science, senior Lindsey Green, double majoring in strategic communication and creative writing, found comfort in one of her capstones and found enlightenment in the absence of another.

“It was very, like, real life,” Lindsey said with regards to her “Issues in Creative Writing” capstone. “[We talked about] how to continue writing, even if it’s not your full time job.”

Lindsey’s capstone revolved around life after college, with discussions about getting published, getting an agent, applying for grants and residences and talking to authors whose works have been published through Miami University Press.

“A lot of us didn’t know if we wanted to continue writing. Some people were like, ‘do I even care?’” Lindsey said. “[Our professor] really opened up our minds.”

When it came to her other major, however, Lindsey couldn’t manage a spot in the usual strategic communication capstone, STC 459 – in order to fill the capstone requirement, she worked with her advisor to take a different class. “[STC 450], social activism through social media, is one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken at Miami,” Lindsey said. “The [usual STC] capstone is doing a PR plan, and I know now I don’t want to do PR, so that was helpful.”

Western Program Also under the CAS umbrella, students majoring in Miami’s Western Program for Individualized Studies spend their years in the program planning for and executing a definitive capstone project, with specific classes dedicated to developing research proposals and action plans.

Senior individualized studies major Arcadia Davies chose to focus her interdisciplinary education on ecology and the environment in multiple contexts, such as colonialism, modern climate change issues and how the media interacts with environmental issues.

Her self-designed capstone project began this past fall researching early colonialism in the Caribbean, culminating in January with a Western Program-assisted trip to the Bahamas, where she went on tours with both vacationers and locals to collect information related to her research.

“The Western capstone is so unique, it’s an experience you’re not gonna be able to find in other programs,” Davies said. “It can be really challenging, but what you gain from it is really unbelievable.”

Through interviews, writing, journaling and photography, Davies undertook extensive on-location research, including study of the roles of women, minorities and the impact of racism on the tourism industry.

“I got to combine [my interests] in several ways,” Davies said. “I got to do a lot of interviewing [and] learning how people interact with the place they’re from.”

Miami proudly touts the capstone experience as a pillar of the liberal arts education.

Capstone classes across all Miami colleges have offered seniors a variety of experiences to truly cap off their degrees.

Despite the variety among disciplines, each capstone provides exposure and valuable insight into the professional world as students prepare to cross the stage and begin the next chapter of their lives. dattilec@miamioh.edu gormanwm@miamioh.edu

DATTILEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

FROM TEACHING IN THAILAND TO TENDING TULIPS, ANDREW CLARK HAS ALWAYS AIMED TO HELP OTHERS. SABIK AKAND THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami groundskeeper gives students a place to call home DUARD HEADLEY CULTURE EDITOR

The frequent April showers that have sprinkled the grounds of Miami University’s campus time and again have finally brought along the cheerful colors of the May flowers that are on proud display. In front of Pearson Hall, tulips of red and yellow sway in the breeze, while pink petals drift gently down from the cherry trees outside of Armstrong. The trees and lawns of Miami grow a verdant green seemingly everywhere.

But this bright display of nature isn’t entirely natural.

Throughout the spring, dozens of individuals roam the campus, clipping down weeds and reigning in overzealous plants wherever they rear their heads: the groundskeepers of Miami University Physical Facilities.

Andrew Clark is one of many Miami groundskeepers. Along with his co-workers, he helps keep Miami’s campus looking beautiful year-round.

Andrew’s job includes trimming the grass so

Going out with a laugh Three comedic shows to wrap up the semester KELLY MCKEWIN,

THE MIAMI STUDENT Stand-up, improv, sketch comedy — you can catch it all this week when all three of Miami’s comedy performance clubs host their last shows of the semester.

Not Very Funny, the stand-up comedy club, performs its last show on Tuesday, May 7 at 8 p.m. Sketched Out and the Sketch Writing and Acting Group (SWAG) will host their last performances this weekend, with Sketched Out’s at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and SWAG’s at 9 p.m. on Friday, May 10.

Despite the close timing of the shows this week, each of the three groups will present different forms and varieties of comedy to their audiences.

Not Very Funny, despite their name, tries to generate laughs at its shows through stand-up comedy, in which individual members of the club

perform sets they’ve written before.

Junior Kristofer Gulvezan, the incoming president of the club, says it’s the individuality aspect of stand-up that makes it stand out from other comedy forms.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional or just starting out like us, almost every joke is based on ideas that have been talked about before,” Gulvezan said. “It’s how you put your perspective on it and get the audience to laugh that makes it unique.”

Though Not Very Funny members bounce ideas off one another at their practices, the final sets for each performer are ultimately up to that person. Because of this process and the different personalities of each performer, there is a mix of humor at each of the shows.

“We have members who make PC jokes and get a lot of laughs and others who make edgy jokes that people wouldn’t normally want to talk about, and they still get laughs,” Gulvezan said. “I

that it doesn’t spill over onto the sidewalks, pulling up weeds to ensure they don’t mar the pristine green fields and taking care of the flower beds when leaves or debris threaten to encroach upon them.

He’s worked for the university for a year and a half, and despite the sometimes arduous nature of the job, says that he’s happy to do what he does.

“It’s because I get to be outside,” he said. “No matter what other jobs I’ve done, I’ve always missed being outside. Here, I get to work outdoors and I get to learn about plants and be surrounded

think if you’re good at what you do, you can get people to laugh eventually.”

While individuality is important in stand-up, “group mind” is the key to successful improv performances, which is what the members of Sketched Out focus on.

Though all of the shows are made up on the spot, and there’s no set material to memorize or rehearse, the team still spends four hours a week in rehearsal. Senior Olivia Prosser, the president of Sketched Out, says that learning to trust the other members of the team and understand the way they think is important for when the group gets on stage in front of an audience.

“We practice improv techniques a lot, but every single time, once we get on that stage, I have no idea how the show is going to go,” Prosser said.

“We are as excited to see where the show is going to go as the audience is. We’re just watching with bated breath, which is unique to improv.”

Sketched Out is the longest-running and cleanest of the comedy groups in terms of the content they typically perform. By contrast, SWAG is Miami’s newest comedy-focused club, and the group often gravitates toward more risqué humor.

Despite having a similar name to Sketched Out, SWAG also focuses on an entirely different style of comedy. The group performs pre-written

CULTURE 7 by all these beautiful trees and things.”

Born and raised in Oxford, Andrew graduated from Miami in 2010, majoring in kinesiology and health. While at the university, he worked with the Grounds crew as a part-time employee. Taking care of the campus made him realize how much he enjoyed working with plants.

“I guess it was always something that I’d liked.

I loved being in the creeks and woods when I was a kid,” he said. “But working [at Miami] was the first time I knew it was something I really enjoyed.”

But his love for the outdoors isn’t Andrew’s only interest.

While studying at Miami, a music professor got him into blues music; his favorite artists are Leon Bridges and Gary Clark Jr. He watches Indycar racing with his dad and brother, rooting for Marco Andretti and, like any good Cincinnati-area resident, he’s a big Reds fan.

And, at least for a time, he was interested in traveling. After college, he left Oxford with a friend of his to teach English in Thailand.

“When we graduated, we had no idea what we were gonna do,” Andrew said. “He had the idea to teach English, and I just thought ‘Well, yeah, I’ll do that.’”

He stayed in Thailand for six years, enjoying the warm weather, excellent food and unique flora. In the midst of all these new experiences, he met his wife while she was working at a 7/11 in the town of Trat, where he was teaching at the time.

“Regardless of the language barrier, we were an instant match,” he said.

Even an ocean away, Andrew’s interest in working with plants persisted. He helped his father-in-law grow pineapples, all the while marveling at how things like water lilies and durians were so vastly different from the vegetation back home.

Three years ago, he and his wife decided to move back to Oxford. He got a job working for the university and quickly remembered why he liked the job so much in the first place. He said he hopes to be able to make students across campus, particularly those who aren’t from the area, feel more welcome.

“I know what it’s like to live somewhere unfamiliar,” Andrew said. “That’s why I try to talk to students, to make them feel more at home and welcomed. Doing the work that I do, I also hope to make the campus feel like a place they want to call home.”

Clark said that despite the manual labor-intensive work he does, it’s always worth it.

“I love working with the flowers. It’s a pride thing, where I can look at them and know I made them look as nice as possible,” he said. “And sometimes I’ll get a student come up to me and just say, like, ‘Thanks for doing this.’ That makes it worth it for me.” headledd@miamioh.edu

comedy sketches at its shows, akin to “Saturday Night Live,” though president and senior Frannie Comstock says their humor isn’t always similar.

“Sketch comedy is great because, for me, it’s kind of an underground form of comedy. I don’t think a lot of people are super into it, but it comes and goes in waves,” Comstock said. “We’re not super alternative, but I would call us a little more edgy than SNL; we have a different sensibility.”

As a relatively new organization, Comstock has found that it’s hard to engage people in the comedy scene at Miami.

“It’s been difficult on Miami’s campus to get people to engage with more alternative humor.

I think once people come to shows, they usually like it and come to more, but it’s just difficult to get people to come in the first place,” Comstock said. “People see the name of a comedy troupe they’re not familiar with and they’re like ‘Why would I come to this?’ which is fair when there’s so many orgs on campus putting on great events.”

In the final week of the semester, a variety of comedic flavors are on offer. Whether it’s through on-the-spot improv, structured standup or written and rehearsed sketches, the comedy groups of campus seek to send the school year off with a laugh. mckewikm@miamioh.edu

PRESERVATION THROUGH PRODUCTION MAYA FENTER

MAGAZINE EDITOR Junior communication design major Brea Frey was able to buy her first letterpress machine for a steal.

A print shop near her hometown of Lima, Ohio was bought over and in the process of moving to digital printing, they were auctioning off some of their old equipment.

Frey wasn’t planning to buy anything, but wanted to get a feel for what they had and how much things cost. A lot of the presses already had “sold” signs on them, anyway.

She was the youngest person at the sale, and the owner of the shop took notice of her.

He told her that the “sold” signs were there to deter scrappers, who would buy the equipment to resell for a profit. But, he would sell one of the presses to her for the sake of seeing the craft continue.

She left that day with her own press, which happened to be the one that the shop owner learned on and that had resided in his grandfather’s print shop.

Frey was first introduced to letterpress in the Letterpress for Designers course that is a requirement for all sophomore communication design majors at Miami.

“For a lot of people, it’s just a cool thing that they did once, and now they’re on to the digital world,” Frey said. “I kind of fell hard.”

Miami’s letterpress shop, coined the “Curmudgeon Press” after its founder and former Art Department Chair Tom Effler, was revitalized in 2011 by Erin Beckloff, an assistant professor in the Communication Design Department. Before that, room 215 in Hiestand Hall hadn’t been used for a few decades.

Miami’s letterpress shop helps keep antique craft alive

“I think it was just waiting through that period of transition to digital,” Beckloff said. “In the 80s, whenever the Macintosh came out, that was when design started to move to the digital space. But there were people who thought we should hold on to this stuff and, luckily, I was there at the right time when people are being drawn more to making things by hand.”

Today, faculty and students keep the shop class alive by what they call “preservation through production.”

“We’re taking this antique, obsolete medium, and we get to redefine what it means today,” said Brad Vetter, a visiting letterpress professor. “We no longer need letterpress to advertise or to sell things, so we get to change the context of it a bit, and it gets to live a little bit more in the fine art world, and we get to make something that is special and relevant today.”

The processes of letterpress and digital design while outwardly distinct, do share some similarities.

“Most if not all of these students are wellversed in all of the graphic design software,” Vetter said. “To go to the time before that, and learn how two typefaces work together and how each individual letter lives next to each other in this very tactile, tangible form, it’s only going to make them better designers and have a more discerned eye.”

Frey starts by sitting down with her sketchbook and drawing out her design. Oftentimes, this ideation process also involves going into the shop and pulling different type to see what she has to work with.

“One of the coolest things about [letterpress] is that I want to incorporate the history and the shop’s collection,” Brea said. “I want to be inspired

LETTERPRESS GIVES STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO MERGE PAST AND PRESENT TO PRODUCE ART. COLLEEN GRIMM THE MIAMI STUDENT

by the limitations that the shop has – I only have the type that’s available to me in there, and I have to work within the sizes that we have and all of those things.”

She finds that letterpress is a more intentional process than digital design. Everything you do has to have a purpose because you can’t change fonts, colors or sizes with the ease of a mouse click.

Lately, she’s worked on establishing her personal brand, which is based around affirmations and kind words in response to issues surrounding immigration and sexual assault.

“Love people who need loved” is one of the phrases that has stuck with her and that she’s

printed over and over again.

Frey recently got her vendor’s license and plans to sell her work at various venues, including the Oxford Farmers Market, Bend of the River Fest, Bluffton Festival and Over the Rhine’s Second Sunday.

She doesn’t know if printing will be a part of her full-time career. Regardless, she doesn’t plan to stop.

“I’m in this for the long haul, one way or another,” Frey said. “I’m so passionate about this, and I don’t see it ever not being a part of my life.” fentermc@miamioh.edu

STYLE

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MINTONA2@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

Throwback fashion Making old new again WILL GORMAN

OPINION EDITOR I was packing to return to Oxford from spring break last month when I stumbled upon, in my closet at home, something I’d once thought to have been a relic of the past.

It was a jacket I thought I’d never wear again. Just for kicks, I threw it into my suitcase and brought it back with me – and now, it’s something I wear most days per week in this ever-changing, feeble springtime weather.

When I was 14 years old, my dad and I visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a ski trip over a long weekend in February. Before we left, I wanted to pick up a nice, light piece of outerwear to flex on my eighth grade classmates when I got back to school.

It took a while of perusing the gift store at the base of the mountain we skied, but I finally settled on a grey, washed zip-up hoodie, complete with “Jackson Hole” in large, blocky font and a striking red cowboy silhouette, one that’s become symbolically synonymous with the state of Wyoming itself.

It was perfect, and I was elated – I couldn’t wait to wear it to school the following Monday.

Predictably, I stopped wearing it at all pretty much once it got too warm for jackets. Give or take a couple short-lived revivals, my once-treasured Jackson Hole hoodie was relegated to wardrobe obscurity for an indefinite amount of time.

But seven years later, finding it in my closet at home (and finding that it still fits!) not only has me feeling like I’m wearing something new again, it has me reflecting pretty positively on my relationship with fashion.

Fourteen year old Will’s favorite aspect of this hoodie was that it was for men, distinctly mentioned in the tag.

I was ecstatic – I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone at school asking me if my new hoodie were a piece of women’s clothing, a fear brought on mostly by the fact that it seemed like every guy my age was wearing Nike hoodies and Under Armour sweatshirts, not washed grey hoodies from gift shops.

I’d be masculine by default. I’d, by definition, be wearing men’s clothing that I really enjoyed – and as someone who was always more interested in how girls were dressing than how guys were, that’s really all I wanted out of my wardrobe in middle school.

Eventually, I let that fear of seeming too feminine stop me from wearing that hoodie, even after all the excitement that had surrounded that purchase.

But that was 2012. That was seven years ago. Now, fear doesn’t dictate what I wear, and while I’ve never been one to dress incredibly femme, the level of “masculine” aesthetic surrounding how any outfit looks isn’t a concern at all.

So as Ohio’s mercurial meteorology presses through another confusing springtime, I have absolutely no qualms about putting on my Jackson Hole hoodie to keep me warm in the morning.

And considering that the environmental impact of fashion is staggering – the industry itself produces 20 percent of the world’s water pollution, among other effects – I’m conceptually doing Earth a favor, right? It’s like I thrift shopped from myself.

It’s not really a fashion statement. It’s probably not trendy, either, but it’s mine, and I’m having a

MAGAZINE DESIGN EDITOR ALISSA MARTIN

great time telling people I’m 21 years old and wearing a jacket I bought at age 14.

And on top of everything, it represents my own growth. It represents the dream I had on that February day – I wanted to wear my new jacket everywhere! But I never did, because I was afraid it seemed

Instagram:

The Summer Edition

EMILY DATTILO

too girly.

It took a while to reach this stage of freely indicating to those around me that I’ve been to Jackson Hole, but now I do wear that jacket everywhere, and any potential gender connotations no longer relevant.

And if I can get this much amusement out of wearing a hoodie

I bought in the eighth grade? Imagine what kind of fashion revelations are eager to come out of my closet. gormanwm@miamioh.edu

UP celebrated 10th anniversary with final release party

CULTURE EDITOR Brilliant sunshine casts a vibrant glow on the sand. Waves the prettiest shade of blue glint in the background.

A tropical drink rimmed with salt and garnished with lemon rests under an umbrella.

Welcome to the “Instagram: The Summer Edition.”

This, in simplest terms, is a threemonth-long showcase of dream vacations with catchy captions and stunning destinations. Spring break elicits a preview of this photographic outpouring of paradise, and I’m definitely guilty of the cliche palm tree post.

I remember exactly how and when it happened. Relaxing on a luxurious beach chair in Hilton Head, South Carolina for spring break, a frothy piña colada in hand and sunglasses perched on my nose, I felt an inexplicable need to capture the moment. I’d stashed my phone in the car to eliminate the distraction of pinging text messages, but there was something about the scene before me that begged to be photographed. My car was only a few minutes away, so I grabbed my phone, snapped a few pictures and returned to my tropical beverage.

And a couple of days later, I posted one of those pictures on Instagram.

The beach vibe is tinged with a sense of peace, nostalgia and simplicity. Around the world, people flock to sandy shores, allowing the crashing waves to wash over thoughts of the daily monotony of work or school.

Snapping a picture seems to preserve a flicker of the beauty you cannot find back home, and in today’s world, a positive experience feels like it has to be shared. And sometimes, understandably so, this inundation of vacation posts can come across as bragging.

“Personal expectations that may lead to largely self-centered motivations include possibilities for gaining respect and recognition, increasing social ties, augmenting one’s self-esteem, enjoyment of online activity, and achieving enhanced cooperation in return,” two psychologist wrote in an article from Elsevier.

But as I’ve scrolled past smiling snapshots of the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Florida, it doesn’t feel like bragging to me, but rather, an element

EMMA NOLAN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

“SOME MOMENTS SHOULDN’T BE CAPTURED, BUT LIVED, AND THIS SUMMER I WANT TO LIVE.” CULTURE EDITOR EMILY DATTILO

of our generation’s social media trend: capturing and sharing every positive moment.

So, in a sentence, Instagram remains a haven of predictability.

As December peeks around the corner, holiday posts with snowy backgrounds, steaming cups of hot chocolate and comfortable sweaters arrive. Turning 20 means a birthday post with shiny silver balloons and a couple of candid poses just for fun. The last day of school cues the gathering of friends outside a shared dorm and a sentimental message like, “thanks for all the memories, I’ll miss you all.”

Once again, I can’t and won’t criticize these trends because I participate in them, and they’re also a fundamental part of our social media experience.

College students use Instagram to share our travels and accomplish-

ments, to support our friends in their endeavors and to stay connected.

And sometimes, if the inundation of tropical destination posts feels overwhelming, there’s nothing wrong with closing the app and continuing on with our own lives.

I’ll probably post a summer beach picture in October when I’m drowning in schoolwork and would give anything to be away from the windy cornfields of Ohio. But for now, June, July and August stretch invitingly ahead. We all have the option to put our phones down and see the sunshine, the mountains and the ocean through our own eyes instead of through a camera.

Some moments shouldn’t be captured but lived, and this summer I want to live. dattilec@miamioh.edu

On Friday, April 26, Miami University’s UP Magazine hosted its third release party of the year at Brick Street. This issue and release party was the third and final event of the magazine’s 2018-2019 school year.

This past weekend, UP celebrated its tenth year of publication at Miami. The issue’s theme was “Timeless,” looking to honor the anniversary of the magazine.

After hundreds of issues, the magazine proves to be a staple at Miami.

Every issue has a release party in order to gain awareness for the publication as well as student media as a whole. However, this release party was unique due to appearances from special guests who helped found the publication.

UP editor-in-chief and senior Haley Jena worked with her executive board to gather and invite a group of alumni back to Miami for the celebration.

“We invited anyone from last year’s EICs and publishers to the original founder, Kelly Feland Johnson,” Jena said.

At the event, UP presented Johnson with an award in her honor.

In order to make the release even more memorable Jena and UP publisher and senior Kev O’Hara decided that just a release party wasn’t enough.

Meeting with magazine advisors Fred Reeder and Annie Blair, the team had an idea to bring all of the media organizations together to spread awareness of Miami’s publications. After brainstorming, Reeder suggested the idea of a concert celebration.

After months of planning and pushing back the event because of rain, UP will host Final Fling, a media organization concert, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 2 in Oxford Memorial Park.

The concert will feature performances by Cincinnati bands Coastal Club and Blossom Hall.

“We reached out to RedHawk Radio over J-term to partner with us for this event,” Jena said. “By working with them, have booked two awesome bands from Cincinnati to come in. They are so fun and interesting and such a great way to gain attention for the different student organizations.”

The organization had success with their last release party and will begin their week of magazine distribution in the Farmer School of Busi-

“So much of our world has changed in the past ten years so I think it’s great we can take a minute to look back” -Haley Jena

ness, Armstrong and at the Phi Delta Theta gates.

Junior Bella Douglas will take over as editor-in-chief for the 20192020 school year. The incoming executive team is already making plans for the organization and its future.

“Everyone is really proud that we reached this big milestone. I think this shows the magazine can stand the test of time, and it’s an encouraging sign it will keep going for another ten years as well,” Jena said.

“So much in our world has changed in the past ten years so I think it’s great we can take a minute to look back and think how much we have changed and kept up. nolanek@miamioh.edu

MINTONA2@MIAMIOH.EDU

STYLE 9

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

SUMMER FASHION WHAT TO WEAR IN EVERY SITUATION YOU CAN’T ANTICIPATE NOAH BERTRAND MICHAEL SERIO

THE MIAMI STUDENT The following is a work of satire:

You would not believe how easy it is for just anyone to make a fashion guide. Seriously. Lucky for you, we are the leading faces in fashion awareness and we’re here to help shepherd you toward the best summer trends. So, let’s hop on this ship of couture together, because your captains are about to set sail toward this summer’s happening outfits.

When your Dad asks you to mow the lawn in your 20s

Mowing the lawn for your dad when you’re visiting your family can be a bore, but your outfit doesn’t have to be!

This outfit is easy to put together because it involves no pants. That’s right, all you have to wear below the waist is a cute pair of tighty-whiteys, preferably older ones that you only wear when you forget to do your

laundry for the third week straight.

The only top that can do that bottom justice is that old, baggy “Science bowl slutz” t-shirt that reminds you of the time when you got second place in a high school quiz competition.

With this combination, you will stun any 50-year-old neighbor watering their lawn.

When you get up and immediately drive to McDonalds

We’ve all been there. You wake up on a Saturday morning and you don’t really have to worry about anything until tomorrow, and all of your fruit is gone from a late-night citrus binge.

With no food in your apartment, and with your stomach aching from all those juices, you don’t have time to get dressed – but need some sweet, golden plastic ASAP. We’ve got you covered: Plaid sweatpants with holes in them from eighth grade Christmas, a hoodie from another university, and, sometimes, shoes. The ensemble is accessorized by a ring that you didn’t have on last

night and a neon orange wrist band that someone really tried to tear off.

This outfit can’t lose. The entire ensemble works even better when paired with our signature fragrance, “Sweat, with some leftover deodorant.” Now you know how to be dropdead gorgeous when you look like you’re about to drop dead.

We know what you are thinking: “This couldn’t possibly work, what if an animal was wearing blinders or had predator vision?” And to this, we say: “Clown shoes.” Clown shoes extend the effective kicking area of your foot by a magnitude of two, just enough to knock a wombat into next week.

What is the biggest danger when going on a jungle safari? Answer: the constant threat of attack from the wide range of murderous animals and heat stroke.

To combat this, we have just the outfit for you. How could a predator stay focused on slaying you when they are too mesmerized by your pink fur vest? These squiggly, 80s gauchos will make your tiny, stick legs blend right into the forest brush.

Imagine a portable strobe light, a cowboy hat and a light-up ring pop bouncing along the brush like a really bright gazelle. Magnificent and confusing to predators.

Nothing says “fun in the sun” more than singing an ancient ballad to old mariners while luring them to their deaths at sea, but most importantly, you need to match your fun with a chic summer style.

A matching seashell bra top with a seaweed base is perfect to first draw the attention of unsuspecting skippers roaming calm yet eerie waters. Green steel-reinforced nail polish is perfect for grabbing sailors and dragging them in when they tread too close to you, plus, they match any cute summer outfit for fun, flirty and bloodthirsty sea witches in their early twenties.

When you go on a jungle safari

When you are trying to lure sailors away to a watery grave

When you want to get in touch

with your “natural side”

Worm skirt. Plant fibers draped around your shoulders and legs with a band around your waist. Six worms placed wherever you’d like on the fibers. Do not fear, they provide almost no cover whatsoever.

The worms may touch, just know they can get testy.

A gram or so of dirt on your cheek and ankles, sprinkled by a distant relative. The word “s’up” is written in caked mud on your backside to make sure you’re approachable and relatable. Bits of moss are a must, the velvet of the plains. Garlic can be added for flavor, but must never touch the worms, lest they be released.

You will be irresistible, like Gaia herself, and will gain special access to the secret room in all Whole Foods. Worms are a conniving breed. This fit is perfect for laying in ditches, laying in pits and, of course, combat. seriomp@miamioh.edu bertrant@miamioh.edu

MUFD FASHION SHOW The Miami University Fashion and Design annual fashion show was on April 27 and showcased work from student designers and models. Students of all majors came together as the largest student organization on campus to produce one of the largest college fashion shows in the country and showed off a year’s worth of hard work.

Miami Metrics

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FORTUNP2@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

An attempt to infuse journalism with data PETER FORTUNATO DATA EDITOR

How does one become a data journalist?

I’m still unsure, for it still seems odd to call myself a journalist. Nevertheless, I find data to be a fascinating enrichment of storytelling.

Therefore, I’m here to convince the Miami community to see the importance of properly utilizing data in journalism.

What began as an attempt to establish a new student organization focusing on data journalism has instead led me to becoming the first-ever Data Editor at The Student. The staff and I are excited to announce the launch of a brand new section devoted entirely to data: Miami Metrics.

I have never written articles for any publication, and I still have so much to learn about journalism more broadly. In spite of my lack of experience, I’d argue that I already possess the genes needed to become a journalist.

My father won the New York State award for best high school publication when he was editor-in-chief of his high school’s newspaper.

While working for his alma mater, he convinced The Washington Post to profile his former professor, Jan Karski, a forgotten Polish

spy who witnessed Nazi concentration camp atrocities and tried to alert the Allies.

With my dad’s support, Karski’s story was published by The Post and The International-Herald Tribune, then a Paris-based English-language newspaper, and Karski soon received global recognition for his heroism.

By the time my father was 25, he became the editor-in-chief of a real estate magazine in Washington, D.C. I have yet to achieve anywhere near the accomplishments that my father has. However, I believe I can honor his memory by continuing his legacy of discovering innovative ways to tell stories.

So, why did I choose data as my medium?

Data itself is a form of communication, providing quantitative information that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Not only is its existence ubiquitous in the STEM fields, but it is also relevant in the humanities and social sciences.

Geometric proportions and light ratios are data observed in art, along with the fact that colors can be quantified by their associated wavelength. Maps are a form of geographic data.

Education and healthcare require the use of data and statistics to measure and improve performance. Economic data measures the health

of financial and reproductive health of communities. Sports and data are intertwined with one another.

Every academic discipline and profession records data of some type, so it is imperative to utilize statistical analyses, not only for research and development but also to enhance communication of information and ideas.

But not everyone who reads The Student is well-versed in the analytical methods used in statistics. My goal as Data Editor will be to explore the ways in which I can transform data from being a perplexing concept to a widely-used form of communicating information.

The key to understanding data better is in its visualization. Numbers and other quantifiable information must be visualized properly in order to maximize the effectiveness of communicating that information.

We must develop alternate ways to visualize and mentally absorb data. Stories have multiple perspectives; so does data.

Data is imprecise. Even the most meticulously collected data will still have a degree of uncertainty attached to it. Visualizations must communicate the idea that data isn’t always cut and dried.

As editor of Miami Metrics, I intend to focus on the collection, visualization and analyses of

data that describe Miami University and Oxford, Ohio. Future editions will include observational studies of data concerning various aspects of our community, from student demographics and dining halls to administration policy and our Uptown habits.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know the day of the week that Miami students are most likely to purchase a trashcan from Brick?

If I took zero credit hours, I would be able to conduct all of these studies by myself. Since that isn’t the case, I need motivated and innovative students to help me meet the demand that Miami Metrics creates.

Naturally, I’m in need of students majoring in statistics or related fields to help me conduct the studies and run analyses. But, I encourage anyone who is interested in data and storytelling to reach out to me. I especially want design students to help me with visualizations.

Data is the future of journalism. Miami Metrics has the opportunity to profoundly change the way we understand the value of data as a means of communication. As Data Editor, I hope to raise our expectations for how information is communicated to us. fortunp2@miamioh.edu

A response to Ohio’s recently passed ‘Heartbeat Bill.’

The following data was collected from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Abortion Surveillance Report for 2015.

Figure 1 According to the report, 14,971 abortions, or roughly 71.4 percent, were sought out by women younger than 30-years-old in Ohio. This is in line with nationwide data that show that over twothirds of abortions are sought out by teenage girls or women in their 20’s.

Figure 2 The data says that only about a fifth of abortions in Ohio were performed at or before the sixth week after conception. The “Human Rights Protection Act” bans all abortions in Ohio if a fetal heartbeat can be detected. According to the American Pregnancy Association, a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as 5.5 to 6.5 weeks after conception. Had the heartbeat bill been law in 2015, nearly 80 percent of abortions would have been considered illegal.

According to the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, the state is expected to see over 20,000 children in foster care by 2020.

While abortions and foster children aren’t necessarily related, the Heartbeat Bill does not help in the effort to limit the number of unwanted children that are cast off as wards of the state.

Georgia and Louisiana are about to pass similar laws. This is a coordinated effort by prolife politicians to legally challenge Roe v. Wade in the hopes of bringing the case before the conservative leaning Supreme Court. The judiciary is not responsible for crafting policy.

The House of Representatives contains 99 members, 27 of which are women, and two of those 27 women are under the age of 30. The Senate contains 32 members, eight of which are women, and only one woman is under the age of 30. Overall, the Ohio General Assembly has only three out of the 131 total members who represent the demographic most profoundly affected by the law they passed.

Jena Powell (R-District 80) is the only female, under-30 member of the Assembly to vote in favor of this bill.

FORTUNP2@MIAMIOH.EDU

DATA 11

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

Miami baseball beats NIU, as told by the data

PETER FORTUNATO DATA EDITOR

Baseball and data go hand in hand.

Statistics like batting average, slugging percentage and on base percentage (for batters) as well as earned run average (for pitchers) are inseparable from baseball player profiles. The process of understanding how that data is collected, meanwhile, is a far more complex undertaking.

The Student observed Miami’s baseball victory against Northern Illinois (NIU) on April 26 and recorded the scoresheet.

For those who don’t appreciate baseball the game appeared boring. And while it may have seemed like a complete blow-out, where not much happened — Miami beat NIU 12-0 — the data suggests otherwise.

Baseball scorekeeping is supposed to give the reader a comprehensive summary of the game. There’s a lot to unpack, but the beauty of baseball scorekeeping is that all of the data generated during the game is transcribed onto the scoresheet. The scorekeeper must ensure that every minute detail of the game is recorded.

Try to imagine the scoresheet as something similar to an Excel spreadsheet: the batting order is on the vertical axis, the innings are displayed on the horizontal axis and each “cell” represents a batter’s plate appearance.

The primary goal of every batter is to use any means necessary to legally touch each base in order, return to home plate and score a run. Part of the reason scorekeeping exists is to show each batter’s success, and more broadly, the team’s, through how many runs they score.

Scorekeepers are, in effect, documenting the journeys of each batter around the bases. A filled-in diamond indicates a successful trip around the bases, or, a scored run. If a batter fails to score, then the scorekeeper must show how far along the base-path the batter/runner advanced, either before he records an out or the defense records three.

After a quick glance at the scoresheets,

Miami was far more successful in scoring runs than NIU during this particular game; twelve runs to zero, in fact.

How exactly did Miami score all of those runs? Analyzing the bottom of the first inning when Miami scored two runs will provide us with a sample of the method of scorekeeping.

Leading off, the designated hitter, Christian Tejada, flied out to the center fielder. In scorekeeping, each fielder’s position is denoted by a number, as opposed to an abbreviation. This prevents confusion between recording hits (singles, doubles, and triples are written as 1B, 2B, and 3B, respectively) and the infield positions of first base, second base, and third base. And, since Tejada flied out to center field, the number “8” denotes that the center fielder caught the fly ball to record the first out of the inning (denoted by a circled “1”).

The second batter, Will Vogelgsang, hit a single. Initially, a line from home plate to first base and “1B” was recorded. The next batter, Landon Stephens, hit a double that allowed Vogelgsang to score. Accordingly, the diamond in Vogelgsang’s cell is filled in to show that he scored, and Landon received a run batted in (RBI) during the play.

The following batter, Jordan Stephens, hit a single and drove in Landon. Jordan received an RBI and Landon a filled-in diamond.

The final two batters of the inning failed to advance Jordan. Kyle Winkler flied out to center field, and Cal Elvers struck out looking, which is denoted by a backwards K. Had he struck out swinging, it would have been recorded as a frontward-facing K. To explain the rest of the game would require a couple thousand more words, so this sample will have to suffice. But the scoresheet helps provide a different perspective to a game enjoyed by millions of Americans.

Data might not be unique to baseball, but the sport definitely has unique data. fortunp2@miamioh.edu

What’s really killing us?

PETER FORTUNATO DATA EDITOR

The fear of death is an existential threat that most people can relate to. Countless hours have been spent parsing what that fear means and what we fear most, whether it be in film, in research, or in popular culture.

But are our worries misplaced?

Aaron Penne, a data scientist from Amazon, tweeted an animated graph that showed a disparity between the causes of death that worry us the most as opposed to what is actually killing us.

Penne used data collected by undergraduate researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). They were interested in looking at the disparity between deaths reported by the media and actual death statistics reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Journalism provides the public with accurate information about newsworthy events so that people are up-to-date with everything going on in their communities, government and society. But, there are times when the media affords a disproportionate amount of attention toward terrorism, homicides and suicides while overlooking more deadly health threats like heart disease.

For example, terrorist attacks and homicides significantly disrupt the social fabric of communities, but they only accounted for 0.0078 percent and 0.82 percent, respectively, of deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2016.

Over that same period, terrorism and homicides appeared in roughly 55 percent of death-related news coverage by The New York Times and The Guardian.

Heart disease and cancer, on the other hand, are responsible for almost 60 percent of deaths in the United States. And while The Times and Guardian spend nearly 20 percent of their death-related coverage on cancer the number who are worried is 16 percent higher, according to the UCSD study.

Heart disease is relegated to three and a half percent from both papers, but, in reality, it is responsible for the largest percentage of deaths in America — 33 percent.

These statistics provide a sample of how skewed media’s death-related coverage can be in comparison to the ways in which people actually die.

This data is not about how many people die from terrorism or from heart disease, rather the UCSD study says that “the general public sentiment is not well-calibrated with the ways that people actually die.”

Simply put: because the media devotes more coverage to abnormal deaths from terrorism, homicides and suicides, Americans believe that more people die from these causes than they actually do.

What is there to learn from a study like this?

Basically, it’s possible to have real data that disproportionately shows events that happen.

Distinguishing the difference lies in understanding the context of the data, above all else. fortunp2@miamioh.edu

Sports

12

VINELCA@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

Fueled by ‘A Warrior’s Call’ and hot coffee, Chris Bergeron knows what it takes EMILY SIMANSKIS

SPORTS EDITOR-AT-LARGE To Chris Bergeron, Miami University was first “Miami Ohio.” To Miami University, Chris Bergeron was first a hard-working, 18-year-old hockey player from Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada.

“I prided myself on scoring and stuff,” Bergeron said, then laughed. “But I don’t think I scored enough. What I always did was work hard.

That was what I always fell back on. That’s what I brought to the table. By no means was I a star.”

Now, with his collegiate hockey career 30 years behind him, Bergeron has become a hard-working coach tasked with revitalizing a struggling Miami hockey program.

“The Brotherhood” has recorded four straight sub-.500 seasons and endured a 15-game winless streak and nine-game losing streak last season.

But, “Berg” has been here before. *** Growing up throughout the province of Ontario, Bergeron started playing hockey when he was four years old, because it’s what most Canadian kids do.

Some Canadian kids get older and better, and Bergeron did, too.

He didn’t dream of becoming a professional National Hockey League player when he was younger, but he loved the game and played through the junior hockey ranks as he grew older.

Bergeron, a self-described “poor man’s offensive guy at best,” caught the eye of former Miami hockey assistant coach Mike Norton with his effort and an impressive year on the stats sheet.

After a visit to campus with his mom and dad, Bergeron stumbled into committing to Miami hockey. During a routine Monday-evening phone call, Norton handed the phone to then-head coach Bill Davidge who offered Bergeron a scholarship.

As far as Bergeron remembers, he excitedly committed over the phone.

“I don’t even know if I could even appreciate what that offer meant to me,” Bergeron said.

“Looking back, it meant everything. My life has turned out the way it has because of Miami University and college hockey.” *** Looking back, Bergeron knows how hard it is to play through a coaching change and a record-breaking terrible season.

Former head hockey coach George Gwozdecky took over for Davidge before Bergeron’s freshman season, and his sophomore season (1990-91) is the last time Miami hockey had been winless for more

TUESDAY

BASEBALL Miami ............................ 7 Xavier ........................... 4

SOFTBALL

GAME ONE (DH) Miami ............................ 5 Northern Kentucky ����� 1 GAME TWO (DH) Miami ............................ 3 Northern Kentucky ���� 2

AFTER NINE SEASONS AS BOWLING GREEN’S HEAD COACH, CHRIS BERGERON SIGNED ON AS MIAMI’S HEAD HOCKEY COACH ON APRIL 5.

IT’S HIS THIRD STINT AS A PLAYER OR COACH IN OXFORD. THE MIAMI STUDENT MATT HECKERT

tthan 15 games in a row.

Bergeron’s second season was Enrico Blasi’s first, as that losing season and the two following seasons brought the two Canadians together.

During Bergeron’s senior year and Blasi’s junior year, the RedHawks won their first Central Collegiate Hockey Association Championship in 1992-93.

Seven years later, Bergeron and Blasi reunited behind the bench to try for another conference championship. *** For seven years after, Bergeron bounced around the minor professional hockey leagues, a healthy college graduate who was unable to stop playing the game.

“I just,” Bergeron said and grasped for words.

“I loved hockey.”

His time in the minor leagues didn’t compare to his four years at Miami, and he missed the relationships with the people he had met.

While Bergeron played for the Cincinnati Cyclones, Miami hockey finished the 1998-99 season with an 11-20-5 record before Blasi was named head coach.

After Blasi accepted the job, in the summer of 1999, Bergeron remembers Blasi calling him: “The two assistants I have, I’m going to have for one more year, but I do want you to start thinking about this.”

“That’s what I did,” Bergeron said.

A year and some thinking later, Blasi called Bergeron back and asked Bergeron to be his assistant coach, “Hey, what about coming back and doing this together?”

“The rest is history,” Bergeron said. “I felt like it

was the next best thing to playing, because you get to come to the rink every day. But, other than that, I wasn’t sure what I was walking into.”

Bergeron brought an easy-going smile and comfort to Oxford and the 27-year-old Blasi, who had been the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I hockey history.

He didn’t bring any coaching experience.

“I was a player at heart,” Bergeron said. “I needed to be told, ‘You’re not a player anymore.’

First of all, I was never good enough as a player.

And, yes, I would jump in on the drills and get embarrassed,” Bergeron said and laughed. “I felt like I was still a player.”

Bergeron’s player-like mindset, though hard to shake early in his coaching career, drove him to form relationships with his players like the ones that had been meaningful to him at Miami – the relationships he missed when he was playing the game he loved. *** After Bergeron coached under Blasi for 10 years, he travelled 180 miles northeast to Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and accepted the head coaching position with the Falcons’ program.

“People can’t prepare you for that switch. They just can’t,” Bergeron said. “To me, it’s like being a dad. When people said, ‘This is what it’s going to be like being a dad,’ I’m not saying they were wrong, I’m just saying you don’t know until you go through it. It was the same thing.”

As both a father and newly-named head coach, Bergeron’s early years were hard. Bergeron’s BGSU team finished under .500 during his first three years before pulling the Falcons to an 18-156 record in 2013-14.

Luke Bolden makes his own legacy

FRIDAY

BASEBALL Miami ............................ 5 Ohio ............................... 1

SOFTBALL GAME ONE (DH) Akron ............................ 0 Miami ........................... 6 GAME TWO (DH) Akron ............................ 2 Miami ........................... 4

TENNIS Miami ........................... 0 No. 8 Vanderbilt .......... 4

SATURDAY

BASEBALL Miami ............................ 3 Ohio .............................. 4

SOFTBALL Akron ............................ 4 Miami ............................ 7

Focused on the details and the process, Bergeron most recently coached BGSU to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990. *** Bergeron fell in love with Miami 31 years ago.

“It was a no-brainer, it was more of a question of, ‘Do they want me to come?’ versus ‘Do I want to come?’” Bergeron said.

Thirty-one years later, the decision to leave Bowling Green and return to become head coach at his alma mater wasn’t a “no brainer,” but it was pretty close.

“The one place that would get my attention was the one place that called,” Bergeron said on April 9 at his introductory press conference.

In the familiar place, Bergeron finds the hockey program he’s coaching in a familiar state. He’s been here before as a player, an assistant and a head coach.

When asked about the turnaround he’s tasked with and his game plan, Bergeron plans to fuel himself with “A Warrior’s Call” by Volbeat, other heavy metal and preferably Tim Hortons coffee, though he’ll make do with any kind of hot coffee with milk.

And he remembers what his Miami strength and conditioning coach told him after the coaching change.

He told his Miami hockey players the same after he arrived on campus.

“Pick a side of the line, and, if you’re not with us, you’re against us, and we’ve got no time for you.” simansec@miamioh.edu @emilysimanskis

LUKE BOLDEN GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL A SEMESTER EARLY, JOINING THE REDHAWKS FOR SPRING PRACTICE. HE’LL PLAY LINEBACKER IN THE FALL. THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN

LUKAS NELSON

THE MIAMI STUDENT For Luke Bolden, football is a family affair.

Bolden, a 6’2”, 220-pound inside linebacker from Colerain, Ohio, grew up in a football family. His older brother, Kyle, is a sophomore linebacker at the University of Cincinnati. His cousin Dan, also a sophomore, is a linebacker at the University of Toledo. Another cousin, Joe, played at the University of Michigan and is now an assistant coach at the University of Southern California.

“I think family had everything to do with football, to be honest,” Luke said.

And then there’s his dad: legendary high school football coach Tom Bolden. Bolden coached for 12 years at Colerain High School, where he led his team to the playoffs 11 times, including a state finals appearance last sea-

son, in Luke’s senior year. The elder Bolden coached Kyle, Joe, Dan and Luke at Colerain.

“It was an amazing experience,” Luke said.

“He treats me just like any other player on his team, but he also holds me to a higher level, and he holds all of us to a higher level.”

Tom Bolden is friends with Miami head coach Chuck Martin, who has been Miami’s head football coach since 2014.

“My dad and Chuck knew each other before I was born [in 2001],” Bolden said.

But that only played a small part in luring Bolden to Miami.

“I love all the coaches here,” Luke said.

“My dad really liked it here, my family really liked it here, it just really felt like home as soon as I got here.”

Bolden, a two-star recruit according to 247Sports composite ratings, signed with Miami last December. He could still be a senior

in high school. However, he chose to enroll at Miami a semester early, becoming one of six early enrollees in the RedHawks’ recruiting class. Going from high school to college can be tough for anyone, let alone someone coming in the middle of the year. And then, of course, there’s the jump from high school football to college football.

“It was a little shaky at first,” Bolden said.

“I didn’t know that much, but I had some players on the team to take me under the wing. Coaches have really helped me through all of this, so yeah.”

That was just spring practice. The regular season starts August 31, when Miami travels to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes.

However, the real fun for Bolden and the rest of the RedHawks will be September 14.

The RedHawks will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats in the 124th battle for the victory bell. For the Boldens, the game will bring the whole family together, with Luke playing for the RedHawks and his older brother, Kyle, playing for the Bearcats.

“I don’t know [how it’ll feel],” Luke said.

“I mean, the last time me and my brother played, we were playing together. It’s gonna be different.”

Bolden suggested that his parents may need to stand on opposite sides of the field.

“Or get split jerseys,” Bolden said, laughing, “that says ‘Bolden’ on the back.”

Even though the two likely won’t be on the field together, because they both play defense, “I’m just gonna try to get after him as much as I can,” Luke said.

With an older brother and two older cousins who are either former or current Division I football players, as well as having a successful high school coach as a dad, some people might feel the need to step out of their family’s shadow and form their own identity. But Bolden doesn’t think like that.

“Oh no, not at all,” Luke said. “I don’t feel that in any way. I don’t feel like I have to make my own name or whatever. My cousins, my brothers, they’re great players. I don’t feel overshadowed by it at all. I just go out here and play football and do what I do.” nelso156@miamioh.edu @LukasTheDream

VINELCA@MIAMIOH.EDU

SPORTS 13

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

TWO SPORTS, ONE REDHAWK

The journey that still guides Alexx Zielinski BENNETT WISE STAFF WRITER

“Min familj är min styrka.”

Alexx Zielinski decided to ink, “My family is my strength,” on his forearm shortly after committing to play for his second college athletic team.

His family, of Swedish descent, helped him through what he considered to be the greatest challenge he’s faced in his 22 years.

A three-sport athlete in high school, Zielinski had double the opportunities as any other high school athlete to play at the Division I level. At 6’5” and 230 pounds, the offers came to Zielinski in football and baseball, but not basketball, which he stopped playing after his sophomore year. “[Football and baseball] were the two sports I absolutely loved growing up,” Zielinski said. “I thought I could see myself going to the next level in either of those. I didn’t want to specialize or focus on one, so I felt the need to do both.”

Sticking with both sports helped etch what would be an incredible journey through two Division I college sports programs at Miami University.

The foundation on two playing fields Zielinski grew up 20 miles north of Ann Arbor, Mich., in Brighton, where he attended Brighton High School.

His father, Steve, works as a sales manager for his own company, while his mother, Laurie, is a teacher at a local school. It was Steve who instilled the love for sports in Alexx at a young age.

He wasn’t the first Division I athlete in the family, though. Steve played football at Columbia University, his uncle played tight end at Harvard University and his grandfather played basketball at Boston College. “[My dad] never really pressured me into anything specific,” Zielinski said. “But ever since I started walking, he would throw a small, stuffed baseball or football in my crib.”

Baseball was Zielinski’s primary passion, as college coaches lined up for the chance to see a large, left-handed pitcher. Zielinski was the picture-perfect frame for a top level pitcher, especially one that could throw an 87 mileper-hour fastball as a sophomore.

The offers came rolling in for Zielinski, who held a .78 earned run average his senior year, giving up only six earned runs in 54 innings pitched, while walking six and striking out 61.

Eastern Michigan University, Furman University, The United States Air Force Academy, University of Toledo, Western Michigan University and Danny Hayden at Miami University all offered Zielinski spots on their teams.

It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that Zielinski truly started the process of joining a college program. He started lifting and grew into his then-lanky body.

“I was really skinny, about 6’5” and 190 pounds,” Zielinski said. “After my sophomore year was when I really started lifting.”

But, the recruitment process for baseball begins in the first two years of high school, while football doesn’t pick up until a player’s junior and senior years.

To make things difficult – a good difficult, Zielinski says – he had a

ALEXX ZIELINSKI HAS SUCCESSSFULLY TRANSITIONED FROM THE GRIDIRON TO THE BASEBALL DIAMOND, PITCHING IN TWO GAMES FOR MIAMI THIS SEASON. CONTRIBUTED BY ALEXX ZIELINSKI

breakout junior year in football, gaining some attention from Mid-American Conference schools.

“At that time, I was just going to go with whatever was working at that point,” Zielinski said. “So, I went to football camps while also playing baseball, since those offers were still on the table.”

Zielinski joined a 7 versus 7 football league, in which some of the top players in Michigan compete in, the summer before his senior year. With no pads, players are able to show off their athletic abilities in front of college coaches and recruiters. The experience allowed schools to get Zielinski on their radar, and he would then receive invitations to college football camps.

“For me and football, it was, ‘Whatever happens, happens,’” Zielinski said.

“My first scholarship offer for football was that June from Central Michigan University for football. That’s when it switched, and I knew I wanted to put all my eggs into the football basket.”

From throwing heat to catching bullet passes The odds worked in Zielinski’s favor. College football teams offer 85 full athletic scholarships, while baseball offers only 11.7 to be divided amongst the entire 35-man roster.

Zielinski’s offer from Central Michigan was a full athletic scholarship, and with the school located just an hour and a half away from his family, the decision became a no-brainer. He verbally committed in mid-August.

He continued to excel in his senior year as a tight end, and it was smooth sailing to Mount Pleasant until the tides changed on Jan. 22, 2015.

Dan Enos, the former head coach at Central Michigan, left to take an offensive coordinator job at the University of

Arkansas, altering Zielinski’s plans.

The same week, he received more offers: one from the University at Buffalo, Ohio University, Eastern Michigan and another from Chuck Martin at Miami University.

With uncertainty looming from Central Michigan, Zielinski became frustrated, tweeting two days before the Feb., 4 signing day deadline, “Very disappointed that there’s no news or head coach at this point … signing day is Wednesday!!”

Then, on signing day, he decommitted from CMU and decided to don the Red and White of the RedHawks.

“Alexx was interesting,” Martin said. “We stayed with him and came in there late and scooped him up. Those kids that can combine and be good in multiple sports is a huge appeal.”

Before coming to campus in the fall of 2015, Zielinski had been to Oxford multiple times for baseball camps and an official visit.

“We missed out on him,” Miami head baseball coach Danny Hayden said. “But one thing we thought about was that at least he didn’t go and be good for somebody else in the MAC. Plus, he wasn’t even playing the same sport, so that was the other silver lining to it.”

Zielinski didn’t play in his first year at Miami, as both he and the coaching staff agreed it would be better to take a redshirt year. He was toward the bottom of the depth chart, with guys like Nate Becker and Ryan Smith ahead of him in the pecking order. Smith went on to play in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers for one year, while Becker signed a free agent deal with the Detroit Lions on Apr. 27.

Zielinski saw little action in his football career, appearing in 13 games in three years. He only recorded two

catches (both during his sophomore year) for 18 yards. One of the catches was a 12-yard gain against Iowa, while the other was for six yards in the St. Petersburg Bowl against Mississippi State. Those would be the only statistics Zielinski accrued in his time on the gridiron.

The offseason came around, and Zielinski’s view of football changed.

“I was worried about my health,” Zielinski said. “I’ve had plenty of concussions in my day, and me and my position coach weren’t getting along too well. Those were probably the two biggest reasons.”

But, there was another thought lingering. The one thought that hangs over any decision: the “what if?”

Zielinski met with Chuck Martin at the end of the season to discuss his future with the team.

“I told him how I felt,” Zielinski said. “No bad blood, no negative vibes.

I told him that I thought my time here was done and wanted to find myself and focus on myself to figure out what I wanted to do.”

Martin didn’t fight Zielinski’s decision “I think in the back of his head he thought, ‘I’m in the middle of the pack as a football player, I’m not in the front, I’m not in the back,’” Martin said. “We always liked Alexx and are supportive of all our athletes. If you want to play, then play. If not, we support that too.”

To the diamond and beyond Zielinski hadn’t picked up a baseball in three and a half years when he walked into head coach Danny Hayden’s office in April 2018.

The former tight end wanted to make the return to the diamond.

The road wouldn’t be that easy, however, as Zielinski had to work his way onto Hayden’s roster. First, he had

to get back into baseball shape, which requires a different kind of lifting and stretching than football.

“We liked him in high school, but thought it would be challenging for him when you’re away from a sport for that long,” Hayden said. “There were some definite questions on if he’d be able to handle it, if he’d have enough flexibility to throw like he used to, but definitely some excitement. He’s a 6-foot-5-inch left-handed pitcher who comes into your office and unexpectedly says he wants to give it a go.”

Hayden also wouldn’t help him out immediately, saying Zielinski had to work out and throw by himself before having a midsummer tryout in front of Hayden and the pitching coach at the time, Matt Davis. From there, Hayden would evaluate and see if Zielinski could make the 35-man team.

“When I first saw him throw,” Hayden said, “I thought it would be a longshot for him to be able to make the team. I thought it looked he hadn’t picked up a baseball in a long time, and it was very rusty.”

But, it wasn’t just Zielinski’s on-field play that Hayden was worried about.

“The first thing I did when he left that meeting was call Coach Martin and see what kind of kid he was for the football program,” Hayden said. “We didn’t get that far in the recruiting process, so I didn’t know much about him. I wanted to make sure what kind of character the kid had, and I couldn’t have gotten more green lights from Chuck [Martin] on his character and what he was about.”

Davis’ replacement, pitching coach Matt Passauer, inherited Zielinski and didn’t know too much about him before the season started this past February.

That changed quickly.

“He’s just always smiling,” Passauer said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alexx Zielinski when he’s not in a good mood. He’s just a good personality to be around.”

Zielinski passed both of Hayden’s tests, and joined the team in August 2018. He knew some of his teammates from classes and from being a student-athlete at Miami.

“I didn’t know how they would perceive me, so it was nerve-racking,” Zielinski said. “I never knew if they were saying, ‘Oh, what is this kid doing here?

Is he just doing this for fun, or does he mean it?’ I had to prove myself from day one that I belonged with them.”

While he has only made two appearances out of the bullpen his only season in a baseball uniform and final season in any RedHawks uniform, he has still put up good numbers. In two innings of work, Zielinski has faced nine batters and has a 0.00 ERA, giving up one hit with one strikeout and one walk.

Change is a part of life Not only did Zielinski’s life change throughout this process, his family was there to consult and support him the entire way.

“They never wanted to pressure me,” Zielinski said. “They said that they would support me no matter what and want what’s best for me.”

They helped guide him through each decision, but they ultimately knew it was his choice to make.

“As long as I set my mind to something, I really want to see it through. It sounds cliche, but it’s true,” Zielinski said. “One of the things I’m thinking about is, if I’m in the future and I’m 40 years old, would I rather have gone all out for baseball, or just be content with where I was? But, I knew four year-old me would tell me to go for it.” wisebm@miamioh.edu @bennettmwise

’Hawks Talk Too many roommates? The Courtyards of Miami might be just what you are looking for. Located on East Central Ave., between Campus and South Main St., very close to the REC. We offer neat and clean housing at affordable prices....

2 bedroom shared by just 2 students $2700. (person) per semester. (includes Heat and water). 1 bedroom apartment with a study for 1 person $3900. All residents enjoy free off street parking, on site laundry, and yard space. On site office, flexible hours, and excellent upkeep, make the Courtyards a place worth looking at. Stop by, contact Carolyn at 513-659-5671 or Home - The Courtyards of Miami for more info. http://www.thecourtyardsofmiami.com.

“I thought it was kind of funny, just in the regard that like, a guy almost gets pegged with a foul ball, and then you hear ‘hot soup’ in the distance.”

-Senior reliever Cole Gnetz, on his “hot soup” catchphrase

Opinion

14

GORMANWM@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019 STAFF EDITORIAL

We don’t have confidence in Miami’s provost search The following reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board As Miami embarks on its search for a provost, the news that David Rosowsky, one of the candidates, received a vote of no confidence from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) faculty at the University of Vermont in April is troublesome.

Rosowsky resigned from his position at Vermont (UVM) at the end of April. It’s unclear whether his move was out of courtesy to the university’s new president as they build their leadership team or whether he did so due to the backlash he received for his budgetary practices. Either way, Miami is considering him for its own provost position.

One thing is clear, though. Either Miami failed to vet this candidate properly, or the Miami administration found his controversial budgetary plan to be attractive.

In a choice between the two, we hope it’s the former.

At UVM, Rosowsky instituted an “incentives-based budgetary model.” Under this model, a program that brings in hordes of students — think Farmer School of Business — gets the lion’s share of the money. If you draw only a few students — think department of Classics — you’re at risk of being axed.

For a university that defines itself as committed to undergraduate teaching and that has, by many measures, actually done a relatively good job of sustaining smaller programs, it simply doesn’t make sense that Miami would be so careless as to consider a candidate like Rosowsky.

Let’s be clear: Rosowsky’s budget plan at UVM was draconian. As some posters put up around UVM’s campus depicting Rosowsky in a crown put it, he’d “rather increase tuition, layoff professors and increase class sizes instead of decreasing administrative spending by 3 percent.”

When he was called out by UVM students, Rosowsky

It’s a bad look that Miami let this guy get to the final round ...

It’s an even worse look that maybe Miami actually wants candidates with these values. made it clear he doesn’t feel beholden to the students he represents. He tweeted another image of himself in a crown, joking that, “Hey, it’s a look.”

It’s a bad look that Miami let this guy get to the final rounds of the provost search. It’s a bad look that Miami could be careless enough not to rule him out of the running, and it’s an even worse look that maybe Miami actually wants candidates with these values.

But our staff couldn’t get an answer from the university.

Good Morning Miami: A year in review

EMILY DATTILO

CULTURE EDITOR Last semester, I lived a double life.

In one, I attended classes and clubs at Miami. In the other, I filled out transfer applications and visited other college campuses over the weekends.

Each day, I woke up wondering how to make such an important decision, and I lived in irrepressible fear of making the wrong one. I desperately wanted someone to just make this decision for me, so that I could sleep at night.

Throughout the process, I largely kept any thoughts of transferring a complete secret. Carrying this weight all alone felt like the strong choice – but it only made me feel weaker. Writing this Good Morning Miami

I’m happy again.

And really, that’s all I was looking for last semester. column provided a sense of stability while I considered transferring schools last fall and, for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

I only confided in a couple of my close friends and professors, despite the significance of this important decision. So, instead of talking about filling out Common Apps, I chatted with friends about literally anything else. We traded gossip about sorority socials, movies, memes and vines.

But, most importantly, if someone asked how I was doing, the answer was always “fine.” No question about it. I was fine, life was good. Sure, it was stressful – but that was all.

(I later used GMM to write about that experience — insisting I was fine when I was not — and my column was directed at myself as much as it was at other people.)

One rainy afternoon in October, sitting across the table from one of my best friends in King Café, a new email flashed into my

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inbox: I’d been accepted to the University of Michigan for the spring semester.

I was numb for a few seconds, unwilling to believe such a prestigious university wanted me.

But the problem was that I wasn’t all that interested in Michigan.

Michigan is a sports powerhouse and an academic machine, producing well-rounded graduates by the thousands. But, to me, those credentials always rang hollow when I compared the benefits with a disconcerting possibility: being cast aside as just a number, without any individualized attention.

I had no interest in being a number.

I don’t remember the exact day that I decided to stay at Miami, but I remember the feeling perfectly: I was free, confident and finally at peace.

I finally talked to a few of the friends I hadn’t confided in and, slowly, life began sliding back into place. Feeling excluded from Greek life had been a problem I’d contemplated for months, so this semester, I rushed and joined a sorority, and found the sense of community I’d been missing.

I no longer had to consider taking down the string of white lights in my room, the collection of brightly-decorated quotes off the wall or the navy blue monogram hanging above my bed.

Life isn’t perfect now, by any means, but I’m happy again. And really, that’s all I was looking for last semester. Happiness and a sense of peace.

Finding ways to be happy at Miami began and ended with finding and maintaining confidence. Confidence in myself, my abilities, my intelligence, my personality and my decisions.

It’s been a privilege to write this column for two semesters, and I look forward to continuing in the fall. There are many people I need to thank – people who’ve inspired, encouraged and motivated me.

Thanks to Anna for strawberry acais and just listening, to both Kyles for reminding me that good guys exist, to Julianna for being my unofficial editor, to Will for the truth, to Bo for letting me write a photo caption that one time, to Zoey for joining the Culture team, to Duard for alliterations and jelly beans, to Kate for her positivity across the pond, to Megan for being my first editor, to Julia, Erin and Rachel for telling me to write news (and maybe someday I will!), to Ben for Ariana Grande, to Kirby for being my second mom, to Ceili for advice and to Samantha for being able to laugh and lead at the same time.

And a very special thanks to all the seniors on the TMS staff for your hard work and dedication to this paper. You’ll be incredibly missed. (The list could go on, but I don’t want Connor and the design team to yell at me for going over my word count.)

And so, until August, goodnight Miami. dattilec@miamioh.edu

We asked for comment, and were told by director of university news and communications Claire Wagner, “All I can say is that this is a not a topic that I am able to comment on.”

We looked to our university for answers and came up empty.

Miami has already begun to trend toward funding big dollar programs in the name of increasing enrollments. The increases to STEM fields are just the start. Bringing a candidate like Rosowsky to campus seems like a natural progression, and we at The Student just hope students and faculty are going to give a damn about it.

Students can’t be expected to go to every meeting, every hearing, every forum to try to get a grasp for how their university is supposed to work for them. That’s why we do it.

This is our job.

It’s our job to let you all know that when Miami keeps these types of things low profile, they’re anything but. The provost search has a direct impact on education at Miami.

Simply filling out an online form with feedback on the candidates seems far too understated when this person will wield so much institutional power.

So, we have a few questions for Miami: Was Rosowsky vetted? Did the Miami search committee know the CAS faculty at UVM agreed they had no confidence in his leadership?

If the answers are yes, then we can only assume Miami found Rosowsky’s budgetary vision attractive.

Like we said, it’s a bad look either way.

I’m having a hard time accepting that Coco Chanel was a Nazi. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t one.

KIRBY DAVIS COLUMNIST

In third grade, I had to pick a famous person and give an in-costume presentation on their life. My mom suggested Coco Chanel, and I liked the idea of being glamorous and French, so she strung some fake pearls around my neck, dressed me in all black and I delivered a PG retelling of the iconic fashion designer’s R-rated life.

I became fascinated with her, and with fashion in general. I drew Chanel logos all over my notebooks. I got Chanel perfume as a bat mitzvah gift and nearly cried. My friend Max told me it smelled “grandma-ish,” but I didn’t care. I felt untouchably sophisticated when I wore it.

In high school, I no longer wanted to be a fashion designer, but I still thought of Chanel as the epitome of all things classic and glamorous.

At least, I did, until 10th grade – when I learned that she’d been a raging anti-Semite and I, a Jew, had obsessed over her for much of my life.

And, as I would later learn, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who died in 1971, wasn’t your average Jew-hater.

During World War II, she had an affair with Hans Günther von Dincklage, who was recruited by the Nazis’ propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, to spread the party’s rhetoric in France (among other things).

According to Hal Vaughan’s book, “Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War,” Chanel helped the Nazis herself, and narrowly escaped answering to her crimes at a post-war trial.

Realizing Chanel hated Jews was devastating for me because it was the first time I learned someone I admired, or had heard of at all, was anti-Semitic. Even though I’d later learn that lots of people felt similarly, it hit me the hardest.

I happened to grow up not only Jewish, but in the eastern Cleveland suburbs, which are disproportionately Jewish. I’m also an intern for the Cleveland Jewish News which, contrary to many of my school friends’ beliefs, is a real thing.

I knew anti-Semitism existed, but having grown up with mostly Jewish friends in a mostly Jewish area, I didn’t realize how pervasive it still is in today’s society until I got to

Miami.

I haven’t experienced any malicious anti-Semitism at school, just ignorance — like when people in my first-year dorm asked me to speak Hebrew, then told me it sounded Satanic, or when my friend asked a guy Uptown which Greek letter his Star of David necklace was.

I don’t blame my friends for knowing little, if anything, about Judaism. If I hadn’t grown up how I did, I probably wouldn’t either. But following the shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that killed 11 people last fall and the recent shooting in Poway, Calif. that killed one, I think it’s more important than ever that, if people don’t know anything about anti-Semitism or the Holocaust, they inform themselves.

The United States’ commemoration for the Holocaust was established in 1979. It lasts from the Sunday before Yom HaShoah, Israel’s day of remembrance, to the Sunday after (so, this week).

I’m offering a brief history lesson, for anyone who’s still reading: Adolf Hitler took control of Germany in 1933. Eight years earlier, he’d published “Mein Kampf,” a memoir of sorts that named the Jewish people as the biggest threat to Aryan (blond-haired, blue-eyed, non-Jewish) Germans.

After imposing repressive laws on them and forcing them into squalid ghettos, Hitler considered shipping Europe’s Jews off to Madagascar. But in 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, Adolf Eichmann, who had already been transporting Jews out of Germany, proposed the “Final Solution” to expunging Europe of its Jewish population.

From 1942 to 1944, Jews were transported, via packed trains, to concentration camps.

Six of them — Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau — were death camps, where Jews were slaughtered in gas chambers upon arrival.

The Nazis killed six million Jewish people, and five million non-Jewish people.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the following week, shouldn’t just be for recognizing those who died in the genocide. It should remind us that, indisputably, the Holocaust happened.

It’s difficult to comprehend, whether you’re Jewish or not. The way I’ve tried to wrap my mind around it is to consume as many (historically accurate) books and movies about what transpired during the Holocaust and those who perpetrated the genocide as possible. I very seriously recommend “War and Remembrance” by Herman Wouk, the ninth episode of HBO’s “Band of Brothers” and the film “Operation Finale.” I do not recommend “Sophie’s Choice.”

It’s difficult to comprehend that the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jewish people less than 80 years ago. But again, it happened, and we owe it to those who lost their lives to remember that, learn about that or, at the very least, realize that, if we haven’t already.

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