ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 147 No. 19
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019
DAC marches for unity
MEISSNER TICKET APPEALS CAMPAIGN VIOLATION RACHEL BERRY
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
STUDENTS, OXFORD CITIZENS AND MEMBERS OF DAC WALK THROUGH CAMPUS AND UPTOWN FOR UNITY MARCH PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN
RACHEL BERRY
ASST. NEWS EDITOR A group of students and faculty marched Uptown on Saturday, March 2, carrying signs with messages of love, acceptance and diversity. Although the group was small, about 30 people, their voices carried and caused many to turn and look as they passed. Some cars blew their horns, to the excitement of the crowd. “Love not hate! Make Miami great,” the marchers shouted, their chants piercing through the silence of Miami University’s campus that afternoon. The unity march was sponsored by the Diversity Affairs Council (DAC) and served as the kickoff to Diversity Week: eight days
of programs dedicated to various aspects of diversity and inclusion, raising awareness for issues related to race, gender and disability. The annual march is not a form of protest, said DAC President Monica Venzke. Rather, it is meant to bring together people from all walks of life in a peaceful expression of unity. Although the goal was to create unity, many of the people in attendance were members of the same few student organizations. “There’s a lot of different organizations that represent specific identities, which is fantastic and they need that,” Venzke said. “But having an event where people can come and just meet people they normally wouldn’t have met in their daily lives makes people feel a little bit more at home here.” The afternoon’s events began in Arm-
strong Student Center (ASC), where students and faculty crafted signs before the march. Then Ron Blassingame, a Miami alum who works as one of Miami’s financial aid counselors, gave the keynote address. Blassingame described his experiences growing up African-American in the inner city of Cincinnati. Living in Oxford was his first time living in a mostly white environment. “I think just speaking for myself and for a lot of people that are a part of a marginalized group, oftentimes there’s some sort of shock coming to Oxford because you feel like you’re gonna do your time here alone,” Blassingame said. “Because there’s a lot of people that
The Gaby Meissner and Hunter Meacham Associated Student Government (ASG) student body president (SBP) campaign is appealing a second level-one violation they received for breaking campaign rules. This is their campaign’s second violation within a week. Meissner and Meacham were previously issued another level one violation for campaigning before the beginning of the campaign period. They were given a 24-hour suspension and were not allowed to engage in any campaign-related activities on Monday, Feb. 25. On Feb. 25, a student posted a campaign photo on their personal Instagram account and tagged Meissner and Meacham’s campaign account in the post, Speaker of Senate Cole Hankins said. Meissner argued that the student was not a member of her campaign staff. Hankins and the ASG Elections Committee disagreed. In the view of the committee, the student was a member of Meissner’s campaign staff, and therefore the post was a violation of the 24hour campaigning ban. Thus, Meissner and Meacham were given another level one violation. Hankins and Meissner refused to release the identity of the student who made the post. According to the SBP elections packet, “All candidates are responsible for the actions of their staff members … A staff member is defined as any person engaging in open campaigning on behalf of and with clear association to a candidate.” Meissner maintains that the student who made the post was not a part of her campaign, so she appealed the violation to Miami’s student court. “We respect the election committee and their decision,” Meissner said. “However, due to the unpredictable nature of social media, we believe there are certain things that are simply out of our control, and at the very least we think that this violation should be discussed further.” The second 24-hour ban will not be enforced until the case is decided. The trial is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, March 8. berryrd@miamioh.edu
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ARENA
HawkPAC selects Miami’s Mr. Nice Jewish Boy ERIN GLYNN
STAFF WRITER Six contestants danced and mingled their way through the Dolibois Room in Shriver Center Thursday night, all vying for the title of Nice Jewish Boy. Miami’s debut Nice Jewish Boy (NJB) Pageant is a fundraiser for HawkPAC, a political action committee under Students for Israel at Miami that works directly with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). “This year is really exciting because we have Miami’s biggest ever delegation going to the AIPAC conference in D.C.,” HawkPAC co-president junior Hannah Stein said. “There’s going to be 20 students going, so we thought we’d do something new for the fundraiser.” The idea for a NJB pageant was inspired by a successful similar pageant held at the University of Pittsburgh every year. Contestants performed a choreographed dance, demonstrated their talent and answered trivia questions about Israel in front of an audience of roughly 40 students and faculty members. Each contestant had a “pageant mom,” another HawkPAC student to egg them on and cheer for their NJB. “Finding a talent was the hardest part,” firstyear Max Nguyen, one of the contestants, said. “I originally tried bowling, which is surprisingly hard, so now I’m doing storytelling.” Energy in the room was high. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
This Issue
Style pages 8 & 9
FIRST-YEAR MAX NGUYEN ANSWERS AN ISRAEL-BASED TRIVIA QUESTION DURING THE NJB PAGEANT. ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK
STEM facilities in the works
Fungal Fascination
Miami plans to spend about $125 million on two new buildings.
Recent Miami grad grows and sells a multitude of marvelous mushrooms.
News » page 4
Culture » page 6
Men’s basketball vs. Kent State
Beyond the Testimony
The RedHawks send off three seniors in their final regular-season home game.
Our columnist reads between the lines of the Cohen hearing
Sports » page 11
Opinion » page 12