ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2018
Volume 146 No. 21
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
STUDENT ORG FUNDING REQUESTS HALVED STUDENT ORGS
JACK EVANS
MANAGING EDITOR
Student organizations are frustrated, confused and hurting for cash after Student Affairs and Associated Student Government (ASG) announced sweeping funding cuts last week — the largest in memory. “Definitely stressed, very frustrated, without a doubt,” said Marco Colant, the treasurer of Stage Left, a student theatre group. Stage Left requested $4,250 from ASG’s March funding cycle — the fifth and final funding opportunity of the academic year. They have been slated to receive only $2,125 — barely enough to cover the baseline $2,000 needed to rent light and sound equipment for their long-planned April production of the musical “First Date.” At the beginning of the year, ASG works with Student Affairs to set a total dollar amount for student organization funding. Individual organizations then petition ASG for funds. The success of this system relies on two assumptions: More requests are filed in the fall semester than in the spring, and requests are usually front-loaded at the beginning of each semester. Over the past few years, Student Affairs has frequently made small cuts when requests fall slightly outside of its expectations. In the past, emergency funding could sometimes be scrounged up, and cuts usually settled between 10 and 20 percent. Student organization leaders have come to expect those small reductions and plan for them in their own budgeting. “They are usually 15 percent, which is fair,” Colant said. “You know, money is money. It’s not unlimited.”
Students throw colored powder around on Central Quad to celebrate Holi, the hindu festival of spring. Matt Heckert The Miami Student
Despite suspensions, GBD likely not affected GREEK LIFE
CÉILÍ DOYLE
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Despite the uncertainty that has plagued Miami’s Greek community for the last three and a half weeks, it appears this year’s Green Beer Day will play out as usual, Greek members say. “It’s interesting because I don’t think Green Beer Day will be affected a whole ton,” IFC fraternity member and junior Michael Serio said. “It’ll be a lot less organized, definitely because every year there’s this list that goes out for all of the official fraternity parties that are happening.” For the last 65 years, Miami students have been celebrating Green Beer Day (GBD), an all-day drinking affair the
Thursday before spring break, which starts around 1 a.m. and lasts roughly until 5 p.m. the following afternoon. While there will not be as many official parties scheduled due to outstanding fraternity suspensions, word of mouth travels fast, Serio said. This past week, Alpha Sigma Phi (Alpha Sig) and Sigma Pi were cleared from their social suspensions, Interfraternity Council (IFC) president Stephen Golonka said. They join 12 fraternities which were already removed from suspension: Beta Theta Pi (Beta), Alpha Chi Rho, Delta Tau Delta (Delt), Delta Sigma Phi (Delta Sig), Chi Psi, Delta Chi, Sigma Phi Epsilon (Sig Ep), Delta Upsilon (DU), Alpha Epsilon Pi, Lambda Chi Alpha (Lambda Chi), Sigma Alpha Mu (Sammy) and Pi Kappa Phi (Pi Kapp).
IFC has removed 14 fraternities from social suspension Sophomore sorority member Sara Foley said she is not surprised that the majority of the organizations initially suspended have been reinstated, and doesn’t believe it will change much of how GBD is celebrated. “IFC released a list of the organizations that are recognized on campus and our Standards Chair lets us know a few others you’re supposed to stay away from in our eyes, when it comes to GBD,” Foley said. “Everyone’s careful on this day because they know how much pressure, not just Greek life, but Miami is also under.” IFC announced a sweeping social susCONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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Ella Cope: Nothing to lose, everything to gain
More than just clowning around
Talawanda student turns tragedy into action
THEATRE
MADELINE MITCHELL THE MIAMI STUDENT
It’s 10 a.m. on a Saturday and I am bear crawling in a circle around an acting studio with my favorite professor, 12 other students and a certified clown. I remind myself that my tuition dollars are going toward this. In actuality, I’m questioning my sanity as the clown tells me the name of his “horse body” and begins slapping awake various body parts: arms, belly, chest, legs. Involuntarily, I start to do the same. In all transparency, this is not the first time I’ve found myself in the midst of a six-hour stint of structured game playing on a Saturday morning or, really, any day of the week. This is the life of an acting student. Our clowning workshop facilitator, Jerome Yorke, has an MFA in ensemble-based physical theatre and currently teaches at the University of Dayton. Jerome the Clown’s job is to play games with us in hopes of coaxing out an actor’s inner clown. Instead of a briefcase with file folders, he brings a tote bag filled with juggling balls, jump rope and a red nose to work. I am a cast member in Moliere’s farse “Tartuffe,” the next mainstage production from Miami’s Department of Theatre. Moliere is known for writing plays with high physical comedy CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
SOPHOMORE ELLA COPE PLANNED A WALKOUT AT TALAWANDA HIGH SCHOOL. JUGAL JAIN PHOTO EDITOR PROFILE
AUDREY DAVIS NEWS EDITOR
Ella Cope is many things — a golfer, an actress, a singer and a sophomore at Talawanda High School. She’s also a seasoned activist. As a child, Cope hopped around the continental U.S. and Canada with her parents. “I was kinda raised with theatre people,” Cope said. Her dad, Noah, is a musician and her
NEWS P.3
FOOD page 8
TORN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS “Unless I have a job, I can’t stay in the country. I have to leave.”
mom, Robin, is an artist and a saleswoman. “I was raised on a Broadway road show. My dad was the double-bass player for the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ national tour. From five weeks old to eight years old, I moved every month to a different city.” There was a month in Seattle, a month in San Diego, then a month in Tulsa and a month in Dallas and so on, for much of her early childhood. While in elementary school, her family decided to settle down in Oxford to help out her grandfather.
Cope was no stranger to Oxford, though. She had gone to preschool here during a layoff of the tour and had stayed in touch with some friends. As she grew up, Cope was pulled into a life of activism. “In eighth grade, I did my Girl Scout Silver Award about raising awareness for the disappearing population of bees,” Cope said. “People remember that and will be like ‘Oh, you’re the bee girl!’ And yes, I am the bee girl. I am very proud to be the bee girl.” Today, the 16-year-old is co-president of Talawanda’s diversity club and in the midst of organizing a student walkout on March 14 in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14. “I’m kind of the ‘putter-together,’ if you will,” Cope said. “I put together a team of about 25 organizers, and I tried to get a very diverse range, so people I’m not necessarily in the same friend group with and people from all different grades, all different sports and activities.” Beginning at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, students will gather outside for 17 minutes, to represent the 17 students who lost their lives last month, in accordance with the national walkout by Women’s March Youth EMPOWER. During the walkout, Cope and a few other students will be reading the names of the victims and their ages. “I’m trying, within my speech, to give a personal connection to the people affected by this...It’s much easier to connect with someone if it’s like, ‘Oh, they’re a
CULTURE P.6
EDITORIAL P. 12
LILLY & ME: DEALING WITH RESTLESSNESS
HAVE YOU VOTED YET?
What to do when endless toys just aren’t enough.
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We sat down with this year’s Student Body President candidates.
SPORTS P.16
BASKETBALL FALLS SHORT IN CLEVELAND But a pair of tough losses won’t diminish their strong season.