The Miami Student | November 20, 2018

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

Volume 147 No. 12

Miami University — Oxford, Ohio

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

CONTROVERSY OVER MACE BAN IN DORMS BRIAH LUMPKINS THE MIAMI STUDENT

RACHEL BERRY SAMANTHA BRUNN STAFF WRITER

Amid allegations of racist conduct by two student senators and an executive cabinet member, Miami’s Associated Student Government (ASG) held a 90-minute closed-door meeting Tuesday, Nov. 13, that appeared to violate Ohio’s open-meeting law.

The executive session was called to discuss a two-year-old Snapchat video that has plunged ASG into turmoil.

Two years ago, College of Education, Health and Society Academic Senator Conor Daly and Off-Campus Senator Connor Mallegg were filmed in a Snapchat video singing and dancing along to the song “Ultralight Beam” by Kanye West featuring Chance The Rapper. It is unclear whether they used the racial slur in the song’s lyrics — ASG’s own oversight committee cleared the students of wrongdoing, but other members of the body launched a petition to impeach the two senators.

On Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, Secretary for On-Campus Affairs Mike Meleka sent the two-year-old video from his Snapchat memories in a Snapchat group of current and former ASG members. Meleka had undergone surgery the previous day and was under the influence of heavy painkillers. He claims not to have watched the video before he sent it. * ** ASG violated Ohio law by closing the meeting to the public without providing an adequate reason. When The Miami Student’s reporter asked for the explicit purpose of calling the executive session, Speaker of Senate Cole Hankins refused to provide one.

“When Student Senate approves student organization funding allocations or our internal operating budget, we are required to act as a public body because, in those instances, we are allocating public money derived from student fees,” Hankins wrote in an email following the meeting last Tuesday. “Aside from those cases, we are not legally required to act as

a public body.”

The Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22 lists specific instances when a public body is allowed to call an executive session and bar reporters and other observers from the proceedings. The body must state which of the specified instances is the reason for calling the session.

ASG claims not to be a public body in most circumstances. However, the Ohio Revised Code defines a public body as “any board, commission, committee, council or similar decision-making body of a state agency, institution or authority.” Miami University is a state institution, held to these same standards. ASG is a public body at all times, according to the Student Press Law Center.

In a 2001 case, The Cincinnati Enquirer v.

City of Cincinnati, the Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that a body that makes decisions and gives recommendations to a public body must comply with the public meetings law.

Therefore, even if ASG’s decisions are not final, they are still bound under the same laws.

The Office of Residence Life (ORL) is enforcing a policy that requires resident assistants to write up their residents if they are caught with pepper spray in their dorms.

The policy is enforced through Miami University’s Student Code of Conduct Weapons section (107), which lists several prohibited weapons that apply to all students attending Miami University, even those who do not live on campus.

ORL considers pepper spray to be a weapon under the category of a “dangerous chemical.”

But the student code of conduct does not explicitly ban the use or possession of pepper spray in dorms or broadly on campus as a whole, Dean of Students Kimberly Moore said in an email to The Miami Student.

ORL officials said they work closely with the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) and Miami’s General Counsel’s office to make sure they are following university guidelines around what is permitted and prohibited in residential communities. However, MUPD Captain Ben Spilman claims that his department did not have a direct influence on ORL’s decision.

“The university’s policy against the student code of conduct does not prohibit pepper spray.

So, if you’ve read anything anywhere, it must be specifically in residence halls,” said Spilman.

“But it’s not because of any specific recommendation that the police department has made.”

With a total of 13 sexual assaults reported this semester, some students have taken an effort to protect themselves by carrying pepper spray.

Pepper spray has the ability to impair a perpetrator of sexual assault and potentially assist an individual in getting away from their attacker. It can cause temporary blindness and eye pain, burning in the throat, shortness of breath and the inability to speak.

The use of pepper spray in the case of evading sexual assault has been proven successful on campuses, such as Ohio University (OU), which had 12 reports of sexual assault within the first four weeks of their school year. On Sept. 18, while walking back to her dorm at night, a female student at OU was attacked by a stranger who attempted to sexually assault her.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

ARENA

Bowl game hangs in the balance for RedHawks BRADY PFISTER STAFF WRITER Simply put, the 2018 season is on the line tonight when the Ball State Cardinals arrive at Yager Stadium.

With a win, the RedHawks become bowl-eligible and stay alive in the Mid-American Conference East hunt, a situation that felt unrealistic three weeks ago following a shootout road loss to Buffalo.

Sitting at 3-6 after Buffalo, Miami had to beat an explosive Ohio offense and a staunch Northern Illinois. They did and allowed just 19.5 points a game in conference play to stay alive heading into Week 12.

Yet with one game left to play in 2018, the RedHawks remain very much alive despite injuries to preseason All-MAC selections including senior wide receiver James Gardner, senior linebacker Junior McMullen and others.

“You’re kind of the dumb kid that thinks he’s better than he is and is kind of pissed off that no one knows it,” Miami head coach Chuck Martin said of his team. “I’m as proud as any group I’ve coached.”

The final obstacle standing between the RedHawks and a 6-6 season is the 4-7 Ball State Cardinals. Though Miami is given an 82 percent chance to win tonight, the Ball State passing attack poses a threat to the depleted Miami defense.

The Cardinals lead the MAC with 2,796 total passing yards on the year behind the arm of junior quarterback Riley Neal.

The RedHawks have struggled against passheavy offenses this season, surrendering 40 or more points to both Western Michigan and Buffalo earlier in the season, though they have allowed an average of just 179 passing yards the past two weeks.

The already potent aerial attack of Ball State could be assisted by the injury of Miami’s redshirt senior linebacker Brad Koenig. Koenig has accumulated 90 total tackles in 2018 while forcing eight turnovers.

For Martin’s defense, injuries are hardly a new form of adversity this season.

After looking at his list of preseason top defensive performers, Martin said: “All my defensive guys that are on that [list] don’t play for me anymore.”

Despite uncertainty around Koenig’s status, Miami players swear to be laser-focused on the task at hand amidst accumulating aches and pains built-up throughout the season.

“I’m pretty beat up, but I love it,” senior defensive end Pasquale Calcagno said. “I love football.”

For seniors like Calcagno, today’s game will be extra special as he takes the Yager Stadium turf for the last time wearing a Miami uniform. As postseason hopes hang in the balance, the senior class will be reminded of just how far they have come since arriving in Oxford.

“We wanted to be the group of guys who changed the way football is viewed around here,” redshirt senior quarterback Gus Ragland said.

In Coach Martin’s inaugural season at the helm of the program, this senior class suffered through

THE REDHAWKS SQUARE UP WITH THEIR SEASON ON THE LINE. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

a 2-10 season before improving to just 3-9 in 2015.

The mindset surrounding Miami football shifted in 2016 when the RedHawks rattled off six consecutive wins to earn a bowl berth.

“Those kids have battled and fought,” Martin said. “Even though they have accomplished so much, they’ve gotten no credit for anything.”

Today, the painful seasons of MAC irrelevance will feel like a distant memory to these seniors as they fight one last time for the legacy of the 2018

team. No matter the outcome, this group believes they have left their mark on the program.

“If we go to a bowl, that’d be great,” Calcagno said. “If not, I had a great run of it with all my best friends.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Yager. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. pfistejb@miamioh.edu @brady_pfister

This Issue

‘Good Kids’

photos on page 6

Camp Kesem could come to MU

Music from the movies

Summer camp provides respite for kids whose parents have cancer.

MUSO performs selections from film history and alongside a student film.

News » page 4

Culture » page 6

Miami Volleyball drops the ball

California burning

Spirited Speedo squad leads chants and taunts at MAC volleyball tournament.

Our Californian writer points out President Trump’s false fire facts.

Sports » page 8

Opinion » page 10

This Week

2 FYI

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018 Named the Best College Newspaper (Non-daily) in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Things to do

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Audrey Davis Kirby Davis Alison Perelman Managing Editors Ben Smith Design Editor Samantha Brunn Ceili Doyle News Editors Emily Simanskis Sports Editor Madeline Mitchell Kate Rigazio Culture Editors Kelly Burns Ben Finfrock Opinion Editors

Emily Brustoski Video Editor Megan Zahneis Magazine Editor, Copy Chief Alyssa Melendez Web Designer Lindsay Cerio Business Manager James Tobin Faculty Adviser Fred Reeder Business Adviser

Avoid Food

Inhale Food

Your house Wednesday, 6:00 am - 11:00 p.m.

Your family makes the best food for Thanksgiving, and by golly, there will be plenty of it. Mounds of food! Your best bet is to avoid eating for the entirety of Wedensday, just to be safe. Don’t worry, you’ll get two days worth of food on Thursday!

Your house — at the table Thursday, 4:30-7:30 p.m.

So you followed our advice and went without eating yesterday. Fool. Don’t fret, your rumbling belly will soon by satisfied. Enjoy yourself at the Thankgiving feast by just opening your mouth and taking a deep breath!

Sleep off Food

Shop!

Your house — on the couch Thursday, 8 p.m - ?

You just took in the earth’s weight in carbs. Of course you’re going to take a nap.

Why wouldn’t you. And you deserve it. So just lie down on the couch in your grandparent’s basement and let your eyes close. That’s right... sleep.

Every damn store Friday, 2:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

What? Where are you? You are being pushed and shoved by people in a desperate bid to get that last shower sponge! It’s 3 pennies off! No time to figure out what store you awoke in after your sleep. Only time to seize upon those oh, so, precious deals! Go! Carpe diem! This is your moment!

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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.

CORRECTIONS POLICY

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NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Divisions plague ASG after racially insensitive video drops in a group chat

aware of the issue due to a message in their Slack group chat, most people were unaware the issue would be addressed at senate that night, two sources within ASG said.

According to ASG’s standing rules, a motion to enter an executive session “must include an explanation of why executive session is necessary.” However, before the motion to enter an executive session, ASG voted to suspend these standing rules.

In this instance, ASG improperly used Robert’s Rules of Order, regulations outlining parliamentary procedure, to avoid state law.

This suspension is allowed, according to ASG’s own rules, which state that the standing rules can be suspended with a two-thirds majority vote.

The senators voted to suspend the standing rules and then voted to enter an executive session that would allow the executive cabinet to stay in the room. The only person present that was excluded from this session was The Student’s reporter.

After entering the executive session, Speaker of Senate Cole Hankins relinquished his role so he could debate and comment on the issue. Andres, the Speaker Pro Tempore, took his place in officiating the meeting, said a source within the meeting.

Parliamentarian Max Mellott explained the contents of the video to the senators, detailing the oversight committee meeting and the eventual resignation of both of the senators involved.

Gale said his reason for bringing

FROM FRONT

After the video was posted, some members of the Snapchat group chat spoke up, saying the video was offensive. Meleka and Mallegg both apologized to the group chat. Daly was not originally included in the group, but he joined the Snapchat group to apologize and then later left the chat.

“Videos like that, that word, anything that causes damage to the community is just — it’s not acceptable,” said Scott Walter, assistant vice president (AVP) for student affairs and adviser to ASG’s Executive Cabinet. “It’s not acceptable regardless of the context, regardless of the content.”

Walter said he was not consulted as to whether the senators and cabinet member should resign when ASG considered its options in dealing with the situation.

Mallegg said he offered to speak with anyone in the group chat who was hurt by the contents of the video.

“I believe that the riffs [sic] in our community will only be repaired when we, as individuals, start having open, honest and intentional conversations with the goal of reaching mutual understanding,” Mallegg wrote in a statement to The Miami Student, “and I am more than willing to have these conversations with anybody who is willing.”

After Hankins and Courtney Rose, the Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion, saw the video, they encouraged Daly, Mallegg and Meleka to resign from their positions in ASG, said three members of ASG. One of the senators reached out to Eric Buller, director of the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute and ASG Senate advisor, for advice on how to proceed. Buller said he did not tell the senator what to do but instead advised that the senator consider whether he had uttered the racial slur and to do what he thought was right.

Daly, Mallegg and Meleka decided to follow the investigatory oversight process outlined in ASG’s bylaws.

On Friday, Oct. 12, Daly, Mallegg and Meleka were referred to the oversight committee by a member of ASG. Daly recused himself, as he was a member of the committee.

Tatum Andres, chair of the committee, stepped down due to a friendship with the senators, and Bradley Davis became acting chair, said a source present at the ASG meeting last Tuesday.

The oversight committee spent a week interviewing the three senators as well as others deemed relevant to the investigation because of their expressed views on diversity.

The committee used software to slow down the video and watch it dozens of times. The software allowed the committee to zoom in on each of the senators’ faces to determine if they had uttered the racial slur.

On Monday, Oct. 22, the committee released a report stating that Meleka did not violate the ASG bylaws – including Section 502, the nondiscrimination clause, and Section 211.A, stating that the Secretary for On-Campus Affairs should “take responsibility for all activities in the area of on campus life.” The committee found that Daly and Mallegg did not violate Section 502 or Section 107.D, which relates to how senators interact with their constituents.

According to the ASG bylaws, the oversight committee is not obligated to produce a report if they find no wrongdoing. Despite this, the committee decided to write one in this instance, in case the issue was debated further in the future, said a member of the oversight committee.

The committee wanted to make sure they could not be accused of clearing the senators of any charges due to friendships with either of them.

The oversight committee’s decision was directly in line with most of the testimony provided to the committee, as well as what the committee had observed from watching the video numerous times, according to

an ASG member. The committee’s decision was unanimous.

According to the oversight report, it was not clear whether either senator used a racial slur in the video, and the committee stated that Daly and Mallegg’s actions had not affected their ability to serve as senators. The report was sent to the entire senate body, buried on page 19 of a 21-page-long consent calendar.

“There is a process in place that is in the constitution and bylaws, and I think the committee did what it was supposed to do,” ASG Senate advisor Eric Buller said. “I thought they followed the process.”

Two ASG members said some senators disagreed with the committee’s ruling. They felt the issue was not whether Daly and Mallegg had used the racial slur. Rather, these senators argued, the creation of the video could make marginalized students feel unsafe and unable to trust the senators elected to represent them.

“The Oversight Committee has already determined that I have done nothing wrong,” Daly wrote in a statement to The Student. “No one should use the highly offensive language involved in this matter, and

“Videos like that, that word, anything that causes damage to the community is just — it’s not acceptable.”

- Scott Walter, AVP for Student Affairs I did not use it. Therefore, it is inappropriate for the student government or anyone else to ask for an apology for something that I did not do. Nevertheless, my heart goes out to anyone in the Miami community who [is] subjected to and offended by such language.”

As a result of this dispute, a group of senators began a petition to hold an impeachment trial for Daly and Mallegg. A number of the senators who created and signed the petition were the same people who testified before the oversight committee stating they did not believe the senators should be punished without absolute proof they had uttered a racial slur.

The group who wrote the petition first began collecting signatures on Monday, Nov. 12, after spending three weeks drafting the petition.

That same day, before there were enough signatures to present the petition to the senate, Daly and Mallegg resigned.

“Due to the increased time commitment needed to handle this prolonged situation, I realized I needed to resign in order to focus on my keeping my mental well-being and grades from further declining and jeopardizing my academic scholarship,” Mallegg wrote in a separate statement to The Student.

Student Body President Meaghan Murtagh said the executive cabinet called for Meleka’s resignation. On Monday, Nov. 19, Meleka sent in his resignation, which will not be effective until Dec. 4, to ensure the committees remain fully staffed.

“In regards to this video, I want to say that — regardless of my mental state at the time it was released — I am immensely sorry to anyone that was hurt by the interpreted content of this video,” Meleka said in a statement to The Student. “It was never my intention to cause a rift in the Miami community — I care for this university deeply and have only ever wanted to bring positive change. I feel that my ability to be effective in this role has diminished, and for this reason I am officially handing in my resignation as Secretary for On-Campus Affairs.”

At last Tuesday’s meeting, Off-Campus Senator James Gale made the motion to enter executive session “for the purpose of discussing internal matters of the Associated Student Government.” Although some senators had been made

up the issue was to make senate more transparent, said a source within the meeting. Gale claimed that rumors had been going around, but he wanted everyone to be aware of what was happening and to be open and honest with each other.

A heated debate ensued. Some senators argued that because the video was made two years ago, it was no longer relevant. These senators said the oversight committee had made their decision, and this should have been the end of the discussion, said someone present in the executive session.

Other senators agreed with those who wrote the petition, saying that Daly and Mallegg’s actions had harmed members of ASG and the wider Miami community and, therefore, they should be punished – even if it was not clear whether the senators had said the racial slur.

“Student Senate is disappointed and understands the pain and anger the actions of our former members [caused] for so many in our Miami community,” Hankins wrote in a statement to The Miami Student.

“These actions are indefensible and violate the diverse, inclusive values that I know Student Senate to represent.”

Some senators expressed their concern during the executive session that, if the video was leaked, it would reflect poorly on ASG. “It’s all of our asses on the line,” multiple senators kept repeating, according to a source present in the executive session.

The senators continued to debate the issue until every senator on the speaker’s list had a chance to give their opinion. When the executive session eventually ended, the senators immediately voted to table the rest of the agenda until the next meeting.

Murtaugh said the executive cabinet would release a statement on Monday; however, at press time, the statement had not been released. berryrd@miamioh.edu

3 NEWS CONTROVERSY OVER MACE BAN IN RESIDENCE HALLS FROM FRONT

The student used her pepper spray and was able to get away from the perpetrator.

At OU, students are permitted to carry pepper spray on campus, and is it not considered a deadly weapon, OU Police Department Lt. Tim Ryan said.

The University of Cincinnati (UC) also allows students to possess pepper spray, but encourages students to be well trained in its usage.

“I would say it’s a good thing that it’s allowed if a student wanted to carry it and it gave them peace of mind or made them feel safe,” UC Police Division of Community Engagement Officer Andrew Mueller said. “We also tell people the potential effects it could have on you…If someone wants to carry it I would say, ‘OK, that’s great.’ Spray it, see what it looks like and see how it sprays.”

Mueller also explained that pepper spray, when utilized, contaminates an entire area and can impair the user as well. He wants those who use it to be trained and aware of the impact pepper spray could have on themselves and their target.

Because students can be written up if caught with pepper spray in their residence halls at Miami, some students feel their right to defend themselves is being taken away from them.

Sophomore and creative writing major Paris Taylor is alarmed by the amount of sexual assaults being reported on campus and has taken precautions to protect herself ever since.

“I am constantly watching my back on campus, especially when I am by myself,” said Taylor. “Pepper spray is a form of self-defense, I wouldn’t just go around spraying it for no reason.”

On Miami’s campus, there are multiple student organizations committed to bystander education and sexual assault prevention.

Anondo Banerjee, co-adviser for MARS (Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault), says that in many cases of sexual assault, the perpetrator is someone the survivor knows, and in many cases, the survivor’s reaction is to physically freeze.

“A common refrain from sexual assault survivors is that they froze, and they know that if they had pepper spray, the shock from their trust being broken is such a visceral manner stopped them from possibly using those things,” said Banerjee. “Things like pepper spray or other stranger danger deterrents aren’t always helpful in those cases.”

After another rape was reported to the Oxford Police Department on Nov. 18, Taylor feels that now, more than ever, students should be granted the option of whether or not they want to carry pepper spray in residence halls.

“Pepper spray, in my experience, is a useful tool which is a way of protection without causing lethal harm,” said Taylor. “It’s a defense mechanism and I feel like a safety insurance is being taken away from me.” lumpkibm@miamioh.edu

Three fires reported in Anderson hall TIM CARLIN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Three arsons reportedly occurred between the days of Nov. 16 and Nov. 18 on the third floor of Anderson Hall. No injuries were reported and the Miami University Police Department is still investigating.

The first fire started around 7:15 p.m. on Friday. When the fire department arrived, remnants of burnt paper were discovered on the scene.

The second two fires were set in the early afternoon hours of Saturday, Nov. 17. All three fires were both started and put out anonymously, resulting in “minimal damage” to residence hall property, according to the safety bulletins.

The safety bulletins that were emailed to students provided no suspect description for any of the

incidents, but urged anyone with information to come forward.

Emily Henkes, a first-year special education major living in Anderson Hall, did not know of the arson incidents until they were reported to the student body via email.

“I was in the building on Saturday when both of them happened and I didn’t find out until the email that the whole campus got,” Henkes said. “If I’m in the building, I feel like I should know that there is a fire happening.”

Henkes also said that an MUPD officer, along with an Anderson Hall Resident Assistant, are doing hourly checks of the building.

Anderson Hall RA, McKenzie Pruitt, declined to comment on the situation. carlintm@miamioh.edu

S P A C E AVAILABLE

Additional reporting by Jack Evans.

miamistudent.net/joinus

Stay tuned for the launch of the Fall 2018 TMS Magazine issue in the first week of December! (we had to reschedule)

4 NEWS

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Camp Kesem chapter a possibility for MU HANNAH ANDERSEN THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University family science and social work professor Anne Roma is spearheading an initiative to bring one of nearly 105 chapters of Camp Kesem summer camp to Butler County by 2020.

Camp Kesem is a nationwide summer camp that supports children whose parents have cancer. The camp is operated by volunteer undergraduate students and is entirely free for the children who attend. The camp website boasts its status as the largest organization that caters toward this demographic.

Roma’s own children attended the University of Cincinnati (UC)’s Camp Kesem chapter in the summer of 2018 after her own cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

Roma said a friend recommended the camp for her two children. Both children, she said, came back from the week-long camp after having the time of their lives.

“It was like nothing that any of us had ever experienced,” she said. “I went in with these minimal expectations, but I ended up having them surpassed in every way.”

After her experience at UC, Roma said that she was inspired to bring Camp Kesem to the Miami community. She saw it as a great opportunity for college students and families affected by cancer alike.

But the process of bringing Camp Kesem to Butler County has been a long one.

Sophomore Devin Bussel, president of Miami University’s Camp Kesem organization, stated that there were several months of work that went into building the application.

“We had to get a bunch of different letters of support from local hospitals, [and] a letter of support from Miami,” Bussel said. “We had to get advisors for an advisory board, a list of 150 people who would be interested in the camp and 100 potential donors.”

While the application was filed with Camp Kesem last Friday, Nov. 16, there is still a long road ahead. The application will be voted on in January by anyone who is interested in attending a Camp Kesem near them. The five ap-

plications with the highest votes will be approved.

“We’re trying to get the word out for sure, because once we get our application in, it’s kind of a popularity contest to see who actually gets a chapter and who doesn’t,” Bussel said. “It’s really important that people know about it.’

If Miami’s chapter receives enough votes in January, Roma said, the organization would start to work on fundraising and goal-setting. The camp would be fully operational in the summer of 2020 after the fundraising process.

Currently, the organization is looking for more students to join its ranks. Roma said it is estimated to cost $1,000 to send one child to camp for five nights, and the undergraduate vol-

unteers are responsible for raising the amount needed to host each child.

“This is an opportunity to get involved,” Roma said.

Roma explained she has over 40 students interested in the camp so far, but she wants to expand beyond Miami’s College of Education, Health and Society.

“It’s a great opportunity to build your resume,” she said, “We want everybody – you don’t have to be someone who likes kids, you don’t have to be a camp counselor...you can help us in other ways.”

For more information on how to get involved, contact Roma (CampKesemMiamiU@gmail.com). andersh3@miamioh.edu

CAMPERS BOND OVER SHARED EXPERIENCES PHOTO FROM: CAMP KESEM INSTAGRAM

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Colleges all over the country are signing an agreement to focus on mitigating the effects of climate change, but Miami University has not yet taken this step.

Over 700 universities have signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), guaranting their campuses will reduce gas emissions and work to fight climate change. Associated Student Government Secretary for Sustainability and Infrastructure Molly O’Donnell, among others, is working to make Miami a part of this commitment.

The Department of Geography held a Climate Action Campus Town Hall for Geography Awareness Week. This presentation aimed to bring together Oxford residents and Miami students, faculty and staff to discuss the problem of climate on a local level and what can be done to help.

Graduate student Max Leveridge presented on the ACUPCC, which would involve forming a taskforce to examine the sustainability of practices at Miami and make a climate action plan. O’Donnell and Leveridge hope to work with administrators to eliminate the university’s carbon footprint by 2050.

Similarly, a team of graduate students is

leading a sustainability assessment of the City of Oxford. After their inventory is complete, they will work to implement steps to reduce carbon emissions and use resources in the best way possible.

In recent years, Miami has taken steps toward lessening the effects of climate change.

Miami’s Western Campus is powered by geothermal energy, and the university was able to eliminate coal as a fuel source.

The League of American Bicyclists also recently gave Miami a bronze medal for being a bicycle-friendly university, which has been part of an effort to discourage driving and the release of carbon emissions.

City councilman David Prytherch, also a geography professor and organizer of the town hall, hopes to engage in more conversations like this in the future and to provide more opportunities for Miami students, faculty and staff to collaborate with residents and officials of Oxford.

“I realize sometimes how little the two sides talk to each other, and we have two entities who are both thinking about the same thing simultaneously,” Prytherch said. “I would like to think that it would be better if we collaborated on stuff like this.”

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THE MIAMI STUDENT

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Steering committee prepares to dig in Academics, diversity, finance under review DAN WOZNIAK

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami’s Strategic Planning Steering Committee is working to finalize the subcommittees that will be tasked with improving six specific areas of university operations and life.

The foci of the subcommittees are academic excellence, research and scholarship success, transformative student experience, diversity, inclusion, and commanity, financial and resource sustainability and Miami as a national university.

The committee was appointed by Miami University President Greg Crawford earlier this semester.

Bob Applebaum, professor of sociology and gerontology, and Julia Guichard, professor of theatre, are the co-chairs of the steering committee. The subcommittees are each co-chaired by two of the twelve other committee members.

Applebaum has worked at Miami for 33 years. He was formerly a dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and served on the university’s budget RCM (Responsibility Center Management) committee.

“Our co-chair job is really to sort of help make sure all the subcommittees are focused in the same direction,” Applebaum said.

“What the president has asked us to do is to think about how do we best position Miami for a changing world.”

Applebaum and Guichard plan to work holistically to ensure everyone has the same goal in mind, but intend to eventually separate and each act as liaisons to three subcommittees. They believe that by the end of December, the subcommittees will be fully developed and ready to start devising a plan of action.

“I think I’m really good at balancing innovation and reality,”

NEWS 5

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

said Guichard. “The strategic planning process is really about vision.

It’s about structure. It’s about systems.”

The steering committee does not plan on directly resolving specific issues, such as high-risk alcohol use or the cost of higher education. However, it intends to gather information about issues that determine how the university community generally feels about these problems and then figure out what the university’s vision is moving forward.

Higher education costs have increased in recent years, and the steering committee plans to determine how to best position Miami in an evolving world.

David Ellis, the associate vice president for budgeting and analysis, and Stacey Lowery Bretz, a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, will co-chair the financial and resource sustainability subcommittee to ensure the university is financially secure.

Ellis will primarily oversee the university’s budget while Bretz will act as the chair for the University Senate’s fiscal priorities committee.

“The amount of revenues that came into the university from the State of Ohio were substantially higher if you look back at the 1970s or 1980s,” Ellis said.

In 1971, the average yearly four-year public college cost was $8,734. By 2016, that cost had increased to $20,967.

“Most other schools in Ohio are currently having some level of difficulty managing the new economic model that we’re all being confronted with,” Ellis said. “By and large, if you look at the University of Akron, Wright State, Bowling Green – even Ohio University – those institutions are struggling a bit this year in enrollments.”

Wright State University, in Dayton, has had to make more than $30.8 million in budget cuts and has laid off close to 60 of its workers at the end of last semester in order to remain open, according to reporting from the Dayton Daily News.

Revenue-enhancing strategies, such as attracting more out-ofstate and international students and increasing the size of the university, as well as budget cuts, have helped keep Miami out of any serious financial trouble, Ellis said.

The ratio of domestic non-resident students’ tuition and resident students’ tuition is about 2.8 to 1, and the ratio of international students’ tuition and resident students’ tuition is about 3 to 1, according to statistics on Miami’s website. The university’s budget office predicts that 43 percent of incoming students will come from outside of Ohio.

Through Miami’s marketing strategies and English language programs like ACE (American Culture and English), Miami tends to attract more out-of-state students that help increase the university’s total revenue.

“We had a very large class [last year], but with the level of financial aid that we gave out to that class, the revenue value is less than what we would otherwise have liked,” Ellis said. “Part of what we’re going to have to take on inside of the subcommittee that I’m working with is how do we begin dealing with those broader dynamics as an institution.”

The steering committee hopes to have a plan ready to present to the university’s Board of Trustees

by June 2019. wozniad@miamioh.edu

New VP of IT eager to start NINA DIECIDUE

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University announced on Oct. 26 that David Seidl would be the university’s new Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Vice President for Information Technology.

Seidl worked at Notre Dame University just shy of twelve years — first as an information security programmer and later as the senior director of campus technology. He also worked as an IT security and privacy analyst at Purdue University from 2003 to 2007.

Seidl was chosen over three other highly qualified candidates, Susan Scott, Mark MacNaughton and Victoria Farnsworth.

“The things I know I bring are a lot of experience in higher education, and over the past few years I have been heavily engaged in things Miami is strategically targeting,” he said. “That includes a lot of work around big data and how to do data analysis to make things better for universities.”

Seidl has worked in higher education for the majority of the last 23 years. At Notre Dame, he taught a course called Networking and Security. The course showed juniors and seniors in the Mendoza College of Business how to perform information security networking from a business perspective and how to hack into machines.

Seidl also expressed interest in eventually being a part of the education program at Miami.

“I would absolutely love to teach at Miami. Student interaction is the best way to connect,” he said. “If you can interact in that way, it is absolutely amazing.”

During open interviews, Miami wanted to know candidates’ thoughts on a range of topics, such as accessibility for the disabled in technology.

“Miami is taking big strides forward when it comes to accessibility.

There is a dedicated accessibility team, with five people working on accessibility every day,” he said.

“The big question for me will be asking them where they are at right now, and asking them how I can best help them fix the things we hear concerns most about from the community.”

Seidl believes one of the best attributes he brings to the table is his ability to build strong relationships with employees.

“When I come I want talk to every department, and get to know people and their perception of IT, and what they need from IT,” he said. “From there I can make recommendations and start initiatives.

I strongly believe if I walk in with a fixed idea of what would make Miami better, I would be making a mistake.”

DAVID SEIDL MIAMI UNIVERSITY

When asked what made him decide to come to Miami, Seidl mentioned a few reasons.

“Three things. First, I enjoyed everyone I met, and am excited to join the family. Love and Honor really spoke to me. Second, I believe this role will challenge me in new ways and be a way for me to learn,” he said. “And third, Miami has new initiatives coming down the pipeline that will be absolutely amazing to be a part of.”

Seidl will officially start on Dec. 3. diecdng@miamioh.edu

SUSPENDED SORORITY RETURNS TO CAMPUS JULIA ARWINE

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

The national sorority of Alpha Xi Delta is turning over a new leaf at Miami, re-establishing the university’s chapter after it was suspended eight years ago.

In May of 2010, members of Alpha Xi Delta’s Zeta Nu chapter attended a spring formal hosted by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. Soon afterward, the private event coordinator for the center at the time, Rhonda Miller, wrote a letter to Miami University detailing the intoxicated and disorderly conduct of the sorority members and their dates, which included vomiting, smoking and damage to museum property.

“Never again will the Freedom Center host Alpha Xi Delta Sorority for any event,” Miller wrote.

Miami suspended the chapter, which had until then existed since 1980, for two years, but 2012 came and went without any efforts to re-establish it. Alpha Xi Delta, a 125-year-old sorority with 130 chapters and over 175,000 initiates nationwide, is one of 12 Greek organizations currently listed on Miami’s website as an unrecognized organization.

Now, with all members involved with the incident gone from Miami and from the sorority, Alpha Xi Delta is ready to start again.

“All the women that were in the chapter are also moving forward and on to different chapters in their lives,” said Leah Becker, an educational leadership consultant for the national organization of Alpha Xi Delta. “Much like them, Greek life at Miami is also heading into a new chapter…We wanted to give the university and ourselves time to be able to come back in a really positive way.”

Becker and fellow educational leadership consultant Arlena Clayton, who have been working on behalf of Alpha Xi Delta in Oxford since last summer, said that they have not been hindered by any lingering bad reputation while doing research and recruitment work. After so much time, many do not even know about the 2010 incident.

“We haven’t run into it at all,” Becker said.

Alpha Xi Delta will participate only in the first round of recruitment in the spring, which is called Welcome Round. After regular rush is over, women who didn’t match with a sorority or withdrew from the process midway will then be the main subject of Alpha Xi Delta’s recruitment during February.

As a new chapter, they are looking for pledges of all year levels to be founding members and take on leadership roles.

“I didn’t want to be in a sorority [at first],” said Tayler Smith, a junior who attended one of Alpha Xi Delta’s information sessions last week, and who had never rushed before. “But then I thought maybe a new chapter would be a better fit for what I wanted out of a sorority.”

Clayton and Becker tabled in Armstrong over the past two weeks and will continue to do so in January as rush season approaches. They are confident that this time, the fate of the chapter will be different, especially since they will have more support from fraternity headquarters.

“We’re just really excited to create something totally different and new,” Clayton said.

The chapter will regain official recognition by the university and the Panhellenic Association once recruitment is completed in the spring. arwinejk@miamioh.edu

ALPHA XI DELTA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REGAIN STATUS AT MIAMI PHOTO FROM: ARLENA CLAYTON

6 CULTURE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

RIGAZIKM@MIAMIOH.EDU

A new musical brings mental health into the spotlight ANNIKA M. BALDWIN THE MIAMI STUDENT

Andrew Higgins and Colin Shimrock agree that “Hopeless Romantic” never feels hopeless, joking about the various obstacles in production.

Higgins, a fifth-year, and Shimrock, a senior, are co-collaborators on the musical.

Written by Higgins, “Hopeless Romantic” touches upon mental health, interpersonal violence and issues of identity. It tells the story of 20-year-old Henry, a boy battling schizophrenia, struggling to express this mental illness and trying to find an intimate partner who understands him.

He slowly begins to fall apart, listening to anyone he hears, and the line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred.

“What’s real at this point?” Shimrock proposes.

Higgins started composing “Hopeless Romantic” three years ago. The journey began with a couple of songs, made simply for a one-act or to be performed for musical recitals. About a year later, Higgins began writing the full script.

Dynamic and distinct characters surround Henry in his journey. There are three different love interests: Aniline, Cassi and Tracey — characters without mental illnesses experiencing someone with one. People can identify with and relate to the love interests and the antagonist, Owen, because of their emotions, realism and charisma.

Besides Henry’s voices, no character is objectively good or evil; the line is blurred, which is representative of real life.

“I’m combining my facets of musical theatre and psych,” said Higgins. “I wanted to write a musical that can accurately portray mental illness because I feel like musicals that claim to portray it do it in a superficial way.”

A character at the end of the play exclaims, “He had schizophrenia? He didn’t look crazy.” Higgins wanted a play that didn’t showcase mental illness as “being crazy.”

The inspiration for “Hopeless Romantic” came from situations that Higgins was either exposed to or experienced personally. He volunteered in different health institutions, listening to patients and trying to understand. He discovered that many hide their illness, wondering who will believe them, and incorporated this in Henry’s character.

Meanwhile, Shimrock took Higgins’ work and used his own vision, inspired by German expressionism, to represent schizophrenia in the context of reality. He developed visual representations

of internal concepts, such as thoughts, through lights, music and blocking, allowing Henry’s emotions to be visibly released.

Producing this show involved a great deal of trust. Higgins trusted Shimrock to interpret his work for the stage, and the directors put a lot of faith into their talented cast and crew.

“This,” Shimrock told the cast and crew, “is an opportunity to showcase your skills and do something you love—there’s no pay and no credits.”

This is the original cast for the performance; no one has ever come before them. Despite the responsibility and stressful schedules, everyone saw “Hopeless Romantic” as worth it, and this surely made all the difference.

For Higgins, having his hard work and dedication become a reality is “a surreal and humbling experience.”

“This is my baby in a lot of ways,” said Higgins.

“When the lead accepted his role, my head was actually in the curtain.”

“Hopeless Romantic” will be showing at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 2 p.m., at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1. and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2 in Wilks Theater in the Armstrong Student Center. baldwiam@miamioh.edu ACTORS DEAL WITH ISSUES OF MENTAL HEALTH IN NEW STUDENT-WRITTEN MUSICAL. GENEVIEVE DIETZ THE MIAMI STUDENT

MUSO concert to feature music from films and a film from students

Vietnam veteran wants to do away with Veterans Day Profile of an American veteran MEGAN BURTIS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

MIAMI’S SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WILL PLAY IN FRONT OF A MOVIE PROJECTOR IN A NON-TRADITIONAL ORCHESTRAL EXPERIENCE. CONTRIBUTED BY GRACE ROSUS

MAYA FENTER STAFF WRITER

According to senior Maureen Hickey, movie music gets a bad reputation among orchestra members.

“Really, it’s always the same thing — the brass get all the pretty things and the strings are just doing effects,” Hickey said.

Unsurprisingly, she was skeptical when she found out that Miami University Symphony Orchestra’s second concert of the 2018-19 season is titled “Music and Movies” and will focus solely on movie scores.

However, Hickey, MUSO’s concertmaster, has since grown fond of both the idea and the selections, which include music from movies such as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Princess Mononoke” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” and “Spellbound.”

She’s most excited for the piece from “Vertigo,” even though she hasn’t actually seen the film.

“The Hitchcock stuff is so, like, golden age of Hollywood lush,” Hickey said. “I feel like I’m in the movie. I feel like I should be Ingrid Bergman or something. It’s beautiful…I was really amazed, especially

by Hitchcock, because, I mean, he was obviously a brilliant director, but I think a lot of it is the music

that goes along with it…Without even having seen the film, I feel like I’m in it.”

Though she is also excited about the movie pieces coming to life, MUSO student manager and senior Grace Rosus is most enthusiastic about the implementation of the theremin, an electronic instrument that is controlled by the musician holding their hands over it and creating sound waves rather than physically holding the instrument.

Only a few members of MUSO had ever heard of it.

Rob Schwimmer, former co-director of the New York Theremin Society, will be joining MUSO for the concert as a guest theremin player.

“It’s really exciting getting to reach out to the professional music world and get someone to come join us,” Rosus said. “It’s also really fun because he’s like, ‘Oh, I want to work with the orchestra, I want to have a Q&A with them and have a conversation with them and teach them about the instrument.’ So that’s really exciting that not only is it a cool performance opportunity but this is an instrument that…I’ve never seen in person. ” The theremin will be featured in “Vocalise” by Yovcho Krushev, which MUSO will play as a live ac-

companiment to the screening of a film created by students in Miami’s Film Studies Program.

While Rosus is excited about bringing MUSO and Film Studies together, working with the film studies students has been a learning curve.

“It’s been tricky because we don’t know anything about this stuff, and they know just as little about us as we know about them,” Rosus said.

MUSO hopes to attract a broader audience with this concert’s iconic tunes and change the way people think about symphony orchestras.

“I think there’s a big stereotype that when you look at an orchestra, it’s all Beethoven and Tchaikovsky and music that’s a little bit more distanced from our current society,” Rosus said. “I think it’d be really great if the community could come and see that…behind every film, behind every soundtrack, behind every song, there’s a full-blown orchestra more times than not. So I hope the community takes away that it’s not one-dimensional. There’s so many different sides to classical music ensembles.”

“Music and Movies” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 28 in Hall Auditorium. Admission is free. fentermc@miamioh.edu

Veterans Day — or Armistice Day, as it was known when it was established — has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States since 1938. Just 30 years after the holiday’s inception, a young Rodney Coates voluntarily enlisted in the Army to serve in Vietnam.

In 1968, Coates was just 19 and at a place in life most Miami students would find familiar, except for one key difference: The country was at war and his friends were the ones fighting.

“I was confused about the war and not able to justify deferment while my peers were drafted,” Coates said of why he decided to leave college and enlist.

When he returned home from the war, there was no ticker-tape parade waiting for him.

“We actually had pig’s blood thrown on us,” Coates said. “It was 30 years before I publicly displayed veteran paraphernalia, but I don’t know if that was because of the treatment we got or PTSD.” Despite this less-than-heroworthy homecoming, Coates now understands where the critique was coming from.

“Some wars we value more than others,” Coates said. “The World Wars and Korea are almost sacred.

We still have ambiguity about Vietnam and some about Iraq and Iran.

There’s a difficulty distinguishing the soldier from policy. Since we can’t blame the politician, we blame the soldier.”

Today, Coates is a professor at Miami in the Department of Global and Intercultural Studies, where he teaches courses on black world studies, globalization and sociology. He is also a proud combat veteran.

“Of course I am. I wouldn’t be here without it,” he said.

As for Veterans Day, Coates said “it’s a melancholy day for multiple reasons.”

He’s never had a free meal offered to veterans as part of the holiday. He prefers general and long-standing discounts for veter-

ans, as they are “more meaningful.”

So how does Coates believe we should celebrate Veterans Day? He doesn’t think we should.

“Veterans should get something tangible as a consequence for their service, not just a special day,” Coates said. “If being a veteran was meaningful, it would happen every day. We wouldn’t reserve it for one day.”

Coates views the discussion of Veterans Day from the viewpoint of larger societal issues within the United States.

“Get rid of the all-volunteer military and go back to the draft,” Coates said. “If everyone had the chance to become a veteran, we would care more about the holiday and be less likely to support frivolous wars.”

Coates doesn’t want young people to serve so they can gain a perspective on struggle, but so that our society can understand the toll that gaining such a perspective has taken from those who have served and who will in the future.

“Seventy percent of our homeless population are veterans,” Coates said. “Mental problems tend to fall through the cracks, and PTSD is a real thing that we tend not to know how to deal with.”

On top of these issues, Coates acknowledges that all veterans have not been celebrated equally.

“Female veterans are almost invisible, and racialized veterans are just a step above,” he said. “The image of a white male is what we constantly lift up and there are always some marginalized.”

In general, Coates wishes we didn’t have to celebrate Veterans Day because he wishes we didn’t need veterans.

“We should eliminate the necessity for veterans and create a political structure and environment where war becomes the last alternative, not the first thing we think about,” said Coates.

Although this is easier said than done, Coates believes it to be worth the effort.

“Wars are quite regular and spectacular in our history,” said Coates. “We are always in combat preparation, which results in tremendous loss and devastation.

Surely we could use these resources in more meaningful and significant ways.” burtismg@miamioh.edu

MITCHE49@MIAMIOH.EDU

CULTURE 7

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

‘Good Kids’ and its chilling reality

The cast of “Good Kids” plays characters drawn from students involved in the real Steubenville, Ohio, rape case from 2012 The Miami Student Gion DeFrancesco

HANNAH STRAUB

THE MIAMI STUDENT

“This play is hard. This play is timely. This play is necessary.”

Torie Wiggins, director of “Good Kids,” wrote this in the show’s program, connecting the performance’s main issue of sexual assault to the problem on Miami’s campus today. “Good Kids” was the second main stage production of Miami’s theatre department season.

The play was written by Naomi Iizuka, and is based on the real story of a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio, who was raped at a party in 2012. Throughout the show, characters portray attitudes of the stigma associated with both the act of, and the accusations of sexual assault.

The play centers around the character of Chloe, played by junior theatre major Molly Boozel, and follows her through the events leading up to her being raped on the night of a high school party. She must piece together what happened from the accounts of others and video footage that was taken of her that night, as she cannot

remember.

Throughout the show, phrases like “things just got out of hand,” “I don’t remember” and “she was asking for it” are repeated as the show takes the audience through a whirlwind of scenes depicting the night’s events. The audience is left to piece together what happened on their own, as the scenes are not presented in chronological order.

The play featured realistic scene work and modern dialogue, and the cast and crew did an excellent job of re-enacting the stereotypes like mean girls and jocks. It also tackled other snares of high school life, like students using social media as a weapon, derogatory language to harm peers and downplaying dire circumstances.

This show did not shy away from anything with its use of harsh language and controversial name-calling. Words like “slut,” “whore” and “rapist,” as well as the depiction of violence, were necessary in exhibiting the severity of the accusations and reality of rape culture.

It was advertised that the material in the show may be triggering to some audience members,

Student artists compete for spots in Miami Art Museum’s 5th annual student exhibit MICHAEL SMITH

THE MIAMI STUDENT

The staff of Miami’s Art Museum recently finalized its selection of art pieces to be featured in the fifth annual Student Response Exhibition, set to open at the start of spring semester.

“We always feature two student-focused exhibits in the spring semester, one for the Student Response Exhibition and one for the Art History capstone,” said Jason Shaiman, curator of exhibitions. “Our third exhibit will be ‘40@40: Collections Highlights,’ alluding to our 40th anniversary of being open at Miami University.”

The anniversary exhibit will include painting, marble sculptures, textiles, photography and ceramics.

“Sometimes we starting planning our exhibits three or four years in advance,” Shaiman said.

“We determine rough parameters on the themes and start to delve into researching and actually curating the exhibit about a year before opening.”

The Student Response Exhibition, “Outside the Box,” will feature 30 pieces of artwork from 34 students across campus, including group works. A wide array of materials will be featured in the works, since students were able to create in whatever art form they desired.

“The exhibit will feature a bit of everything, from painting to mixed media, digital images, videos, graphics; there was even a poem that was submitted and accepted,” Shaiman said.

The call for entries was put out in the spring, about nine months before the selection process.

The theme for the exhibit is thinking outside of the box. Along with the artwork, applicants submitted a personal bio and an artist statement detailing their inspirations to create their works, references, how the work relates to the theme and how they see the world around them.

Students were able to submit up to three works relating to the theme, whether literal or metaphorical. A jury panel made up of art museum staff then voted on the pieces to be featured in

the exhibit based on the execution of the theme and creativity in the students’ works.

Out of 92 submissions, only 30 were selected to be a part of the exhibit.

“There were about 55 on my final list, and some great pieces that I advocated for that ultimately didn’t make it into the exhibit,” said Sherri Krazl, director of marketing and communications at the museum. “There were some great works that tied in the theme but also pulled in other topics like wildlife endangerment and homelessness.”

The call was open to students all across campus, regardless of their major or involvement in Miami’s art programs.

“Out of the 34 artists featured in the exhibition, there are 18 who are not art majors, but a few of those 18 have minors in the arts,” Shaiman said. “I love when students outside of the art department feel as though they have some sort of creativity that they want to share.”

Throughout the semester, museum goers will have the option to vote on their favorite works featured in the exhibit using kiosks in the gallery.

Cash awards will be presented to the three works that receive that most votes.

“With a student-focused exhibit, it will be nice for students to come support their friends’ accomplishments,” Krazl said. “So many people love to make and create artwork who aren’t majoring in it. It’s an outlet for them to communicate something that they’re passionate about.”

Along with the Student Response Exhibition, the Art History Capstone Exhibition, “Indigenous Peoples,” is a student-curated exhibit being featured in 2019. The exhibit highlights the arts and material culture of indigenous peoples within the Art Museum’s collections.

Student Response Exhibition (SRE): “Outside the Box” will be open from Jan. 29 through May 18. smithd21@miamioh.edu

and leaflets were provided in the program containing information on how to leave the theater should anyone need to. Though the material was intense and at times hard to watch, the content was highly relevant to the culture of collegiate society, especially surrounding the stigma of the word “rape.”

The cast did a wonderful job depicting difficult subjects like hookup culture, drinking to blackout and victim blaming. Junior theatre major Abby Chafe’s performance as Amber emphasized misconceptions about victims “asking for it” based on their reckless behavior or the way they dress.

The character of Landon, played by junior Austin Lamewona, used his phone to take videos of his friends “having fun” with Chloe. This act prompted the character of Skyler, played by junior Marjorie Trimble, to question why no one was doing anything about the situation. Skyler served as the voice of reason in the show.

The show’s most striking aspect came in the form of the character Dierdre, played by junior theatre major Melissa Rowan, who narrated the happenings in chilling and accusatory dialogue.

Dierdre is seen as a third-party opinion and carries the story along with the use of directorial language such as play, pause and rewind to allow for some sense of flow as the characters in the show seek an answer that is never given.

Dierdre capitalizes on the fact that some teenagers will say anything to undermine an uncomfortable situation and won’t speak out for what’s right in fear of the consequences.

The set was minimal and incorporated steel benches and risers with a singular projector screen in the background, and transitions rendered in a “filmic way,” according to set designer Gion DeFrancesco. Technical elements like sound and lighting effects portrayed a tape being played and paused periodically.

The play ends with the words, “This will be part of the story I tell,” emphasizing that this performance is less of a symbol of hope and light than a call for justice in the wake of the #MeToo movement for all involved. straubhk@miamioh.edu

AOPi and Miami A Cappella Groups Rock On To Benefit Arthritis ZOEY BECKER

THE MIAMI STUDENT

On a cold Wednesday night in November, Armstrong Student Center was bustling with girls wearing “Rock On Omicron” shirts and groups of singers in heels and jeans. Students only had to pay $5 for entry to Wilks Theater for a night of music and philanthropy.

Alpha Omicron Pi (AOPi) sorority hosted their fourth annual Rock On Omicron a cappella concert to benefit the Arthritis Foundation on Wednesday, Nov. 14. The event featured five Miami a cappella groups, a spunky MC and two personal stories from those impacted by arthritis.

Just Duet opened the show with three numbers, ranging from emotional ballads to upbeat pop songs, and set the tone for Open Fifth, Treblemakers, Soul2Soul and Mitsfitz to follow.

Each a capella group performed three numbers and filled the room with soulful singing and an energetic beatboxer.

The groups were varied — some featured only males, some only women — but every group filled the theater with vibrant music, and each song captivated the audience.

The event wasn’t just about singing. It was also about the Arthritis Foundation, which is the national philanthropy that AOPi members work with.

“All of the proceeds go to the Arthritis Foundation, but juvenile arthritis is really our big focus,” said Adrianne Miller, philanthropy chair for AOPi. “Every proceed for this event goes to the foundation. We don’t really pay for anything but the space.”

In between the musical performances, AOPi’s MC invited Katherine and Kimberly Herman to the stage. Katherine told the audience a moving story about how she was diagnosed with arthritis during her first year of college. Her symptoms

started slow, but by winter, they made her normal routine almost impossible.

“I woke up on Christmas morning and I couldn’t move my right arm,” said Katherine.

Kimberly, Katherine’s mother, grew up in Oxford and attended Miami. She was excited to be back at her alma mater to help share her daughter’s story, and even more excited that students in her hometown were helping others who suffer from the same condition.

The speeches were moving, and seeing Katherine discuss her struggles, the audience members who donated and members of AOPi got to see the difference they’re making by raising money for juvenile arthritis.

“My favorite part of doing this event and our other philanthropy events is seeing the difference we make,” said junior AOPi member Carly Leonard.

At the end of the event, AOPi leaders announced that they raised $1,800 in donations from the event.

“Every year we raise more money,” Miller said. “Last year we raised a little over a $1,000 and now we’re up to $1,800, which is great. It’s about the same event every year, but the awareness around campus helps grow our funds.”

Other events put on by AOPi for their philanthropy include Can You Kick It and Strike Out Arthritis, which are their spring kickball and baseball tournaments.

“Rock On Omicron is a fun evening for everyone, and a good way to showcase the groups on campus and kind of conjoin them with Greek life,” Miller said. “It’s always good when a Greek organization collaborates with other on-campus organizations.” beckerzf@miamioh.edu

Sports

8

SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

VOLLEYBALL’S POSTSEASON HOPES DASHED RedHawks lose emotional MAC Tournament final BENNETT WISE

THE MIAMI STUDENT

There is simply no other way to put it: “This has been one of the finest seasons I have been a part of,” head coach Carolyn Condit said in her 35th year at Miami. “We knew we had something special because of the depth we had, the level of athleticism and leadership.”

While the end result of back-to-back Mid-American Conference Tournament championships wasn’t achieved, hope surrounded the team as members consoled one another. Senior outside hitter Stela Kukoc gathered all the freshman after the match.

“A lot of people were not expecting us to be here,” Kukoc said. “Honestly, we knew we could do good things, but I don’t think we expected to be this good. There were times where we didn’t know if we were going to be able to make it to this championship game, but I’m so proud of this whole entire team.”

The RedHawks came a long way from the beginning of the season. Originally picked to finish fourth in the East in the MAC coaches’ preseason poll, the team led the conference the entire season.

Miami entered the MAC Tournament ranked second behind Bowling Green, who was ousted from the tournament by eventual champion Eastern Michigan.

Miami’s road to the final began Saturday in a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over No. 3 Ball State.

The key was outside hitter Sophie Riemersma’s 29 kills, 17 digs and six services aces, all career highs. She came within one kill of the Miami single-match record set by Wendy Tepe in 1985.

Down 0-2 heading into the third, the intensity changed on the Miami sideline. Leading 18-12, the RedHawks surrendered a 9-1 run which put Ball State up 19-20. Junior middle hitter Margaret Payne contributed four kills in six points which paved the way to a 25-23 set win for Miami.

In the fourth, the RedHawks did not give up the lead, but the Cardinals kept within four points the entire set. MAC Freshman of the Year Gaby Harper had seven kills while fellow freshman Riemersma added six en route to a 26-24 win.

Riemersma took control of the fifth in both attacking and serving, providing eight of the 15 set points. During a 9-0 run which put Miami up 14-4, she had three service aces. Harper stamped the comeback on a kill with an assist from freshman setter Louise Comerford.

“I thought Sophie was smart and played beyond her years,” Condit said. “I don’t think she was ever in this type of pressure before […] she handled it really well.”

Harper and Payne finished with 17 and 16 kills, respectively, while Comerford assisted on 30 points. Ball State’s junior Amber Seaman out-set her younger sister, Miami’s Morgan Seaman 49-36.

After the nail-biter Saturday, the VolleyHawks were loose for Championship Sunday, as they clapped into the locker room to Usher’s “Yeah!” after warm ups.

The team awaited No. 5 Eastern Michigan who was playing in its fourth match in as many days.

Gabby Harper (10), Morgan Seaman (12) and Sophie Riemersma (16) huddle with teammates amid an attempted comeback.

In the first set, the Miami defense held EMU’s outside hitter Jordan Smith to threeof-10 attacks and added two blocks in a 25-19 RedHawk win. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Wojick had back-to-back kills which added to a 6-0 run late in the set.

The Eagles bounced back by not giving up the lead in the second set, winning 25-21. Outside hitter Cassie Haut had six kills and two solo blocks in the effort.

EMU and Miami traded points back-andforth in the third until Riemersma contributed three consecutive kills to give the RedHawks a 17-13 lead. Two kills from Payne and an error

by Eagles’ middle blocker April Houston put Miami up two sets to one.

A spirited, Speedo squad of Miami men’s swimming and diving members led the crowd in chants and taunts towards EMU’s players.

But the jeers didn’t phase Eastern Michigan, as it faced a do-or-die situation. It dominated the third set 25-15. The Eagles defense had two blocks, five aces and held Riemersma and Payne to sub-.200 hitting percentages.

EMU led 8-2 early and, eventually, the difference was 21-10. Houston went 5-for-6 on kills, and Smith joined the barrage with three of her own.

Before the championship-deciding set, Miami sophomore libero Abigail Huser implored her team to fight through and claim the last set, something the RedHawks had accomplished five times throughout conference play.

The set came out even at two but broke open once a Smith kill found the middle of the RedHawks’ defense. Now electrified, the visiting Eagles’ crowd rocked Millett Hall and helped EMU gain a 9-3 lead. Another Smith kill forced Condit to use her final timeout as desperation set in.

A pair of Kukoc kills brought Miami within six, but a kill to the heart of the defense from

SOPHOMORE OUTSIDE HITTER SARAH WOJICK GOES FOR THE KILL IN THE FINALS AT MILLETT HALL ON SUNDAY. MACY WHITAKER THE MIAMI STUDENT

Haut brought the Mid-American Conference trophy to Ypsilanti for the first time in the program’s history.

Haut finished with 19 kills, five digs, three aces and the tournament MVP award. Smith added 16 kills and five digs.

For Miami, Payne and Riemersma ended with double-digit kills and earned First Team All-MAC Tournament Team honors.

While dissatisfied with the loss, the Miami roster stood and applauded as the champions’ names rang over the public address system.

“We haven’t lost too many times on our home court,” Condit said. “I expect them to be as visually upset as they are. This was the most emotional match of the year because of how it culminated and what we miss getting

with the NCAA Tournament bid.”

Yet, the year may not be over for Miami, who waits for Sunday to hear if they receive a bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). The tournament features 32 to 40 of the top teams that do not receive bids to the NCAA tournament.

“When you put a lot in, it’s painful to not get what you want,” Condit said. “They’ll be okay.

They’ll have another opportunity to play this year.”

The bids will be revealed late Sunday night, shortly after the NCAA Tournament bracket is released. @bmw32999 wisebm@miamioh.edu

Miami hockey splits again, stays .500 in conference play

EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR

Amidst a hot goaltender’s performance and a finally-successful power play, Miami hockey is still plagued by an inability to sweep National Collegiate Hockey Conference opponents. The RedHawks lost 2-1 on Friday to Colorado College, but battled back to win 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.

Junior goaltender Ryan Larkin stopped 63 of the 67 shots he faced against the Tigers (56-1, 1-5-0 NCHC), while also logging an assist on Friday night. Saturday night, Larkin shined and helped his team weather a 36-shot storm as the RedHawks only generated 26.

“Obviously, if your goaltender’s the best player on the ice, you’re going to have some success,” head coach Enrico Blasi said earlier this season.

Larkin’s performance led his team to a fourth straight week in the USCHO.com’s top-20 poll.

With the split, the RedHawks (9-5, 3-3 NCHC) are ranked 19th for the second time this season, and moved up from the 20th spot last week.

Freshman defenseman Derek Daschke’s goal and assist to Saturday’s game-winning goal earned him the NCHC Rookie of the Week award. From the blue line, Daschke ranks third on the RedHawks with 11 points (3g, 8a).

Senior forward Josh Melnick also finished

with a multi-point weekend (2a) and leads Miami with 13 points.

The trend of veteran leadership and successful newcomers continues for the RedHawks.

Freshman forward Monte Graham had two assists against CC, while Noah Jordan, another freshman forward, got his first collegiate point off an assist to the RedHawks’ first goal on Saturday.

Regardless of who finds the back of the net, the RedHawks are most successful when scoring first. Miami boasts a 8-1 record when beating its opponents to the scoreboard. The first goal was the difference this weekend, as senior defenseman River Rymsha opened scoring on Saturday en route to Miami’s victory.

The ’Hawks also proved adept at limiting opponents on the scoresheet, allowing an average of 1.86 goals for the season – good for fifth in the nation and a dramatic improvement from last year’s 3.46 GAA. Still, room for improvement remains as the RedHawks’ went 0-for-4 on the power play on Friday. It wasn’t until overtime on Saturday when Miami finally found success on the man-advantage, ultimately winning the game off sophomore forward Casey Gilling’s goal.

A 16.4 power play percentage is 41st in the country, though a 84.5 percent penalty kill percentage (17th) bodes slightly better for the RedHawks’ future.

And limiting Larkin’s workload, like Miami hockey did earlier in the season, will only help the program as it tries to get over .500 in conference play.

Miami hockey has yet to win a weekend against an NCHC opponent since January 2017. And its schedule doesn’t get any easier.

After a non-conference breather this weekend, the RedHawks are slated to play No. 1 St. Cloud State before the December holiday break.

The RedHawks will have to wait a weekend to attempt to remedy their NCHC woes, as they spend Thanksgiving weekend in Durham, N.H. to play the New Hampshire Wildcats (1-6-3, 1-3-2 Hockey East). Puck drop is at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday night. *Due to travel, the team could not be reached for comment. @emilysimanskis simansec@miamioh.edu

KARCH BACHMAN (TOP) AND ANDREW SINARD (BOTTOM) BATTLE AT BOTH ENDS OF THE ICE. CASEY B. GIBSON COLORADO COLLEGE ATHLETICS

SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

SPORTS 9

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Running back heads home for dinner CHRIS VINEL

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

While many students book flights home for Thanksgiving, Maurice Thomas plans to walk to his parents’ house on Thursday.

The redshirt junior running back for Miami University has spent the last 19 years in Oxford after moving from Columbus when he was three. He lives with three teammates in an off-campus house five minutes from his childhood home.

“Now, I’m hardly there,” the 22-year-old said of his family’s residence on Northridge Drive. “My parents hate it.”

His voice raises an octave to imitate his mom’s voice: “They’re like, ‘We want you to come home. You live five minutes away.’”

His mom, Michelle, offers a slight rebuttal.

“I see him quite a bit,” she said. “But, of course, any mom would love to have her child at home.”

Regardless of Michelle’s and her son’s differing opinions, Maurice has an opportunity most students don’t. He sees his family weekly.

Thirty-six percent of Miami’s student population comes from outside Ohio. Even for non-college students, 54 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles to visit friends and relatives this week.

Those students, who live hours from home, will escape dining halls and stuff their bellies with home-cooked meals.

Maurice ate his mom’s cooking last Sunday. She made his favorites: roast beef, potatoes, spinach, bread and pumpkin pie topped with a big glob of Cool Whip.

He returns home every Sunday to do his laundry and devour a good meal.

“That’s what I look forward to,” Michelle said.

Maurice hangs out with the same group of friends he’s had for more than a decade and serves as his teammates’ Oxford expert.

“They’re all like, ‘Where’s this at? Where’s that at?” he said. “I’m like, ‘It’s right there.’”

He roomed with his twin brother McKenzie in McFarland Hall during his freshman year. While some might not want to live with a sibling in college, Maurice didn’t mind. It felt normal for him.

“It wasn’t terrible,” he said. “We shared a room until we were eight or nine, so we were just like, ‘Ah, we have to go back to this?’”

While McKenzie no longer plays football or lives with Maurice, the brothers remain close.

But Maurice’s biggest perk of living here is his support system. Many college students phone their parents to talk after a rough day.

Maurice calls to let them know he’ll be home in five minutes.

His father, Randi, gives the football advice,

CHRIS VINEL

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

“MO” THOMAS IN HIS NATURAL HABITAT – CARRYING THE BALL UP THE FIELD FOR THE REDHAWKS. THIS TIME AGAINST OHIO UNIVERSITY. JUGAL JAIN PHOTO EDITOR

while Michelle says she’s always fixing Maurice’s phone or helping him with school.

She sends him daily motivational quotes on Twitter, and following every Sunday supper, the family sits down to watch an inspirational show. Last Sunday, they watched “Shut Up and Dribble.”

“Being a college athlete is hard,” Michelle said.

Maurice will be back in a RedHawk uniform next fall for his redshirt senior season.

Both he and his parents know his life might

lead him out of Oxford when his college football career ends.

“I’ve thought about it,” Michelle said. “It would initially make me sad, but as long as he’s living his dream and doing what he wants to do, I’m so happy.”

But Maurice isn’t worried about that today.

It’s Sunday, so he’s headed home for dinner. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

REDHAWKS ROLL,

STAY PERFECT THROUGH THREE GAMES BEN PANZECA STAFF WRITER

Miami (3-0) picked up two victories last week despite an unfortunate injury in last Tuesday’s win over Eastern Kentucky.

Standout senior forward Kendall McCoy, who was named to the All-Mid-American Conference East team in the preseason, suffered a left-ankle injury early in the second quarter against EKU. McCoy had six points from two three-pointers until she went down.

“Our big game plan was to get the ball inside,” head coach Megan Duffy said after the game. “But they were physical. I just thought there was a battle down low, and there wasn’t much fluidity because we were trying to get the ball inside. We just talked about, ‘let’s get paint touches,’ no matter what that means.”

Despite the physical matchup, the ’Hawks were able to pull away from the Colonels in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 18-4 and securing the 60-44 victory.

The Red & White looked to replicate the game plan against Detroit Mercy on Friday night, again without McCoy which led to career-high nights from two different players.

Junior forward Savannah Kluesner led all Miami players with 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting. She had shown flashes of dominance and an ability to score in the post, but her performance Friday proves she can lead

Men’s basketball drops two of three in the Bahamas

the RedHawks.

Junior forward Abbey Hoff, after being sidelined for the entirety of last season with an injury, dropped 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in just 20 minutes on the floor.

The game was tied at 12-12 with two minutes left in the first quarter, but the ’Hawks scored 19 unanswered points and established a lead the Titans wouldn’t recover from.

Still early in the season, Miami has shown its ability to dominate on both ends of the floor to blow games wide-open. It’s something Miami hopes to continue as it has aspirations to

return to the MAC tournament in Cleveland after losing 61-58 to Central Michigan in the semifinals.

Tonight, the RedHawks host High Point University for the annual Goals for Life game.

Millett Hall will be rocking, as Miami will welcome nearly 1,000 local middle school students. Tip-off is at noon. *Due to travel, the team could not be reached for comment. @BenPanzeca panzecbj@miamioh.edu

The men’s basketball RedHawks spent the weekend in the Bahamas but weren’t relaxing on the beach.

Instead, Miami faced three challenging teams and dropped two of its three games in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase to fall to 2-3 this season.

All three of the RedHawks’ opponents — North Dakota State, Montana and Pepperdine — scored 73 or more points. In 34 games last season, Miami allowed that many points just 13 times.

The tournament started out well for the ’Hawks, as they beat North Dakota State 89-78 on Friday to claim their only win of the weekend.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw the Bison take a 42-40 lead into halftime, the RedHawks exploded in the second.

North Dakota State kept it close for the first few minutes of the half, maintaining a 53-52 advantage five minutes in, but that would be its last lead.

Three three-pointers and an and-one layup put Miami ahead 66-54 halfway through the period.

A midrange jumper by sophomore guard Nike Sibande padded his team’s lead to a game-high 14 with seven and a half minutes remaining in the contest.

While the Bison clawed back to a six-point deficit with a 13-3 run that lasted several minutes, Miami held on and polished off a 89-78 with late free throws that ended North Dakota State’s chances.

Overall, the RedHawks shot 58 percent from the field and 44 percent from three.

They were led by sophomore forward Dalonte Brown, who set a new career-high with 25 points.

He also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, falling one board short of a double-double.

Sibande added 19 points, while senior guard Darrian Ringo dished out seven assists.

North Dakota State employed a balanced offensive attack with four double-digit scorers and another falling one point shy. Junior guard Vinnie Shahid led the way with 15 points.

The next two games were both heartbreaking losses for Miami fans.

On Saturday, the RedHawks held a 69-68 lead over the Montana Grizzlies — a 2018 NCAA Tournament team — with under two minutes to play.

The score stood still until Montana sophomore guard Ahmaad Rorie drilled a three to put his team ahead 71-69 with 13 seconds remaining.

The game was far from over.

Ringo dribbled the length of the court and converted a layup to knot the game at 71.

Six seconds left.

Freshman guard Sayeed Pridgett attempted to copy Ringo’s strategy but was fouled on the play.

One second left.

Pridgett went to the free-throw line with the game hanging in the balance and knocked down both free throws, allowing the Grizzlies to escape with a 73-71 victory.

Montana outshot the RedHawks 50 percent to 39.6 percent from the field.

Sibande’s 15 points paced Miami in scoring, while Brown corralled a team-high six rebounds.

Montana redshirt junior guard Kendal Manuel had a game-high 16 points.

Sunday afternoon’s third-place contest brought the same set of circumstances.

The RedHawks and the Pepperdine Waves battled for the game’s first 37 minutes before a free throw by redshirt sophomore guard Milos Jovic put Miami ahead with two and a half minutes left.

The Waves made two free throws on their next possession to retake the lead 78-77.

With two minutes left, the RedHawks responded.

Freshman guard Mekhi Lairy drained a three, giving Miami another advantage and continuing the trend of lead changes.

But unlike the RedHawks’ matchup against Montana on Saturday, this game didn’t come down to the final second. Pepperdine ended the contest on an 8-0 run to win 86-80.

Miami outrebounded the Waves 40-33 but lost the turnover margin 14-9.

The bright spots of Miami’s weekend, Sibande and Brown scored 17 and 16, respectively, and grabbed seven rebounds each.

Pepperdine sophomore guard Colbey Ross tallied a game-high 25 points and tied Ringo with a game-high five assists.

The RedHawks will look to rebound from their back-to-back losses when they host Army at Millett Hall on Saturday. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+. *Due to travel, the team could not be reached for comment. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

SENIOR FORWARD KRISTEN LEVERING DRIVES IN THE PAINT AGAINST DETROIT MERCY ON FRIDAY. RICKY LINDSAY DETROIT MERCY ATHLETICS

’Hawks Talk When asked what their press conference walk-out songs would be: “Probably ‘Rockstar’ by Nickelback. I’ve even got the hair for the song.”

– senior defensive send Pasquale Calcagno.

“Not Nickelback. I think ‘Africa’ by Toto,” – redshirt senior quarterback Gus Ragland

SCOREBOARD Here’s what you missed since last Tuesday…

WEDNESDAY

Football

Miami................................13 Northern Illinois...............7

Opinion

10

BURNSKL2@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018 STAFF EDITORIAL

Mace policy could leave students defenseless No one is worse off with another line of non-lethal defense.

The following reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

Walking home late at night through dark streets filled with bars and drunk people, it’s logical to want some kind of protection. It especially makes sense to want that protection on a college campus that has 13 reported sexual assaults this semester.

For a lot of people, mace is that protection.

Carrying mace, or pepper spray, makes sense for many Miamians. It is something small they can put in their pocket and pull out quickly if they need to defend themselves. For many, mace is “power in a can,” as one of our editors said during discussion.

The hope is that just the sight of it is enough to deter an assailant.

Miami’s Office of Residence Life (ORL) prohibits possessing mace and pepper spray in dorms. This is not a new rule, but there has been a good deal of miscommunication between different sectors of the university surrounding this issue.

MUPD and the Dean of Students have stated that mace and pepper spray are not banned campus-wide.

While mace is not explicitly outlawed in the weapons section of the Student Code of Conduct, ORL has interpreted the “dangerous chemical” provision to include mace and pepper spray. While the purpose of this ruling may be to prevent accidents and misuse of mace in residence halls, we believe this interpretation of policy is an overcorrection.

Banning mace is dangerous because it takes away a line of defense for students. Pepper spray is not lethal. An affected person will likely suffer a rash, irritation, probably some other minor injuries, but they are all temporary. The value in mace is the instantaneous impact. The intense cloud of burning that gives a potential victim time to run away from an attacker.

But the attacker will eventually recover. Their eyes might be red for a day or two, but most of the effects only last for 20 to 90 minutes.

Mace is not a “deadly weapon.”

And a small can of mace gives the wielder a sense of security and safety even when it isn’t in use.

A possible argument for enforcing this prohibition is that when someone is attacked by someone they know, they could be less likely to use pepper spray.

Frankly, that’s a terrible argument.

Taking away a defense against assault because it is unlikely to be used is like taking away flashlights because the lights rarely go out. No one is worse off with another line of non-lethal defense.

Having pepper spray when someone is attacked by a friend does not make their chances of freezing less. It does not make their chance of escaping that assault smaller.

Shock is inevitable in traumatic situations. No one expects to be assaulted. But maybe that shock will wear off after a moment and they will remember that they have a tool to defend themselves.

But if that defense is gone because they were afraid to be written up in their dorms, then the only thing that will remain after the initial shock will be panic, fear and helplessness.

Didn’t he know it was already on fire?

REBECCA WOLFF

THE MIAMI STUDENT

It smells like something’s burning. Is it my home state of California? Or is it Trump’s pants that are on fire?

Oh, that’s right — it’s both.

Two recent posts in President Trump’s Twitter feed left many Californians offended and confused.

The first tweet read: “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments! ... With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California. Get smart!”

Let’s point out the ways this is wrong — wrong factually and wrong morally.

These are not “forest fires.” That’s the first inaccuracy. Most of everything that has burned, and is currently burning, is brushlands, not forest. It’s an important distinction, since brushland works as a kindling to the fire, feeding the flames at a more rapid pace than forests could.

Even if we were talking about actual forests burning, Trump would still be wrong. Forty percent of all forest land in California is owned by families, Native American tribes and companies. State and local agencies only own three percent.

That leaves 57 percent of forest lands in California to be owned and managed by whom?

The federal government. So if Trump wants to blame fires on mismanagement of forests, he’d better look first at his own administration in the Department of Interior.

As for California’s management of brush fires (which is the actual problem we’re talking about here, Mr. President, not forest fires), the state has allocated $256 million this year alone toward lowering wildfire risk because, believe it or not, we consider it a priority to keep our homes and families safe.

When the fires were at their worst last week, Trump’s first instinct was to find an enemy to blame. Of course that enemy had to be the state that’s going up in flames. That not only

MiamiOH.edu/campus-store

wolffrg@miamioh.edu

If the university is so concerned with the safety of students around pepper spray, they should focus more on education and training in how to safely use it. Teach students that it sprays in a cloud and can affect them as well. Teach them how to hold it and point it where they want it. Teach them it expires.

MUPD lists warning about the risks of using pepper spray on their website, but those risks need to be broadly communicated to the Miami Community.

Taking away protections won’t make students safer, but teaching them to protect themselves will.

Hate is for ideas, not individuals

Trump ‘burns’ California

overlooks the sacrifice and suffering of firefighters, it also shows his failure to acknowledge — or simple ignorance — of how the fires have harmed millions of Californians, not just people living and fighting directly in the fires’ paths.

In October of 2017, my hometown of Petaluma, California, and its citizens were greatly affected by the fires. All the schools in my county were shut down for over a week due to low air quality. Many took the week off to volunteer at shelters all across town to help those whose homes were lost.

Air masks were mandatory, but even the medical-grade covers were not enough to stop the smoke from damaging people’s health.

Many, myself included, contracted throat infections and ailments of all kinds. I spent eight months of my senior year of high school going in and out of the emergency room, on and off all sorts of painkillers, steroids and antibiotics, as well as missing what added up to nearly two months of school. This cycle stopped only after I resorted to getting my tonsils removed a couple weeks before my senior prom.

This year has brought more of the same. In fact, 2018 has been one of the most destructive years for wildfires in the state’s history with over 7,000 fires burning over one and a half million acres of land. Homes have been destroyed from the north to the wsouth of the state. Everyone has faced the impacts, with the air quality reaching levels toxic enough to shut down schools in many areas once again.

Going after California is far from a foreign concept to the Trump administration, and neither is tweeting false facts. So are we really surprised by his actions? No. Furthermore, it’s not hard to believe that Trump is threatening to cut federal funding for wildfire aid.

With the Camp Fire still blazing through the north, and the Woolsey Fire doing the same in the South, a little sympathy shouldn’t be too difficult to contribute, even for somebody who has a personal vendetta against the entire state.

The bottom line is this: People are losing their homes, their lives, their families, their friends, their safety and their communities.

Firefighters are working tirelessly to contain the fires, and civilians are doing everything they can to recover. What we need now in California is support and aid. The last thing we need is criticism, and the rapid spread of false information.

This is not about politics. This is about people, and everything we can do in our power to help them.

ILLUSTRATION: CONNOR WELLS

ILLUSTRATION: CONNOR WELLS

EMILY DATTILO COLUMNIST

I hate being late. I hate the smell of rain. I hate bugs.

But I don’t hate people.

Honestly, nobody should. The overgeneralization of the word “hate” itself has trickled into every sector of life. People hate celebrities. People hate politicians. People hate a particular race or ethnic group.

It’s this mindset that breeds hateful activity and attacks, filling the newspaper headlines we see again and again. It isn’t a mystery as to why so many terrible things happen across the globe. People on both sides of any issue fuel themselves with a volatile passion that can result in tragedy.

When tragedy happens, boundaries break down and people cry together. It shouldn’t take a tragedy to get to that point, but unfortunately it happens all too often.

We’ve seen an individual kill innocent people at a synagogue because of their religion. We’ve seen hate on our own campus with individuals taking crosses out of the ground from an anti-abortion display and throwing them in the garbage. We also saw it last year with students using racial slurs in group chats.

I used to want to know where all this negativity came from, just to try and understand it. I thought after I understood it, somehow I’d try to stop it, try to help people see their similarities instead of focusing so much on their differences.

I’ve now realized that hate is not meant to be understood because it makes no sense.

We need to lock up hate and throw away the key, and luckily, some people are starting to do just that.

Meghan McCain recently illustrated this change of perspective a few weeks ago, talking about how she regrets her remarks a year ago saying on The View that she “hated Hillary Clinton.” McCain didn’t want to be part of the negative dialogue of people hating others because of their political affiliation. She said she thinks very deliberately about the words that come out of her mouth and that being hateful doesn’t amount to any good.

“I can’t give in to hate. It’s too great a burden to

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bear. I have to stick with love,” she said, paraphrasing Dr. King.

I hope people take a lesson from this and re-evaluate what comes out of their own mouths and fills their social media feeds. I don’t mean this in a patronizing, narrow-minded way. Everyone is, without a doubt, entitled to their own opinions and views. If we all agreed, our government would no longer be partisan and frankly, we’d be a few steps away from a utopia.

That’s clearly not in the cards.

But if we take a second to think about what hate means in the first place, perhaps we’d be a little more cautious to throw it into casual conversation.

Maybe we’d replace the word “hate” with “dislike.”

Unfortunately, disliking is sometimes misconstrued as hate, and it shouldn’t be. Disagreement is harmless and disliking things is part of life — it keeps things interesting to say the least. It isn’t aggressive and it isn’t hostile, but hate can be.

So let’s leave hate for things that merit it.

For instance, I hate running late because of everything that leads up to it: the anxiety and frustration of sitting in traffic or sleeping through my alarm; and the repercussions afterward: walking into a meeting when everyone is already seated and potentially missing valuable information.

I have every right to hate being late because it’s something that I am responsible for. I can choose to change my behavior, and magically, my problem is solved.

You can hate what someone does, or hate what they believe, but hating a person is a different matter entirely.

Each person comes from a different background and verbalizes different perspectives and views that they’ve chosen as part of their identity. It makes no sense to “hate” someone because of the color of their skin or the religion they practice. I want it to stop.

The media can make the world seem pretty dark sometimes, but I refuse to accept a hateful world.

The solution is simple: save hate for foods you detest and save the love for people.

The brussels sprouts can take it. People shouldn’t have to. dattilec@miamioh.edu

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