The Miami Student | November 12, 2019

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

Volume 148 No. 11

Miami University — Oxford, Ohio

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Conservative billionaires fund democracy center RACHEL BERRY COSETTE GUNTER

THE MIAMI STUDENT Miami University will introduce the Menard Family Center for Democracy in spring 2020. The center is funded by the Charles Koch Foundation and the Menard Family, two conservative donors with a history of influence on college campuses across the country.

The Center for Democracy’s intended purpose is to bring people together, give them an immersive civic experience and then provide them with the tools to make change in their own community, said John Forren, chair of the Department of Justice and Community Studies and inaugural executive director of the center.

The Menard family and the Charles Koch Foundation provided $2.95 million in grants to fund the center. Representatives from both groups could not be reached for comment.

The Charles Koch Foundation has a history of involvement on college campuses, which often reflects their right-wing libertarian values. According to Time Magazine, past donations have allowed Koch to control curriculum and obtain personal information about students. According to The New Republic, few people hold more responsibility than Charles Koch and his brother, David, for the unfolding climate crisis.

The Washington Post reported that the Koch brothers made a multi-million dollar donation to Florida State University in 2007, stipulating that the university’s economics courses must reflect pro-business, anti-regulatory philosophies.

According to Opensecrets.org, the Menard family donated more than $100,000 to Republican candidates during the 2016 election.

The Center for Democracy will combine previously independent lectures, events and programs put on by both the Oxford and regional campuses. Oxford’s Harrison Hall

DESIGN EDITOR CONNOR WELLS

BRIAH LUMPKINS

ASST. NEWS EDITOR Tatum Moleski came back to school excited.

She was ready for all that her senior year had to offer. Soon, she would be applying for grants and working on getting her research published once again.

Like many other students, Moleski wanted to spend time with friends for her last Welcome Weekend as a Miami University student. She and her best friend at the time decided to go out the Saturday before classes began.

She danced at the Uptown bars and drank

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

with her friend. At one point in the night, she was greeted by another close friend of hers and his Chi Psi fraternity brothers.

She got separated from the friend she had originally gone out with. She didn’t think anything of it, though. These people were familiar to her.

“I didn’t see a reason to be worried because it was like, ‘I know these guys,’ I’ve known some of them for awhile,” Moleski said. “We’ve been to formal together and parties. I didn’t have a reason to be worried.”

As the night went on, she found herself at a hookah lounge with around 15 other men. One by one, the people that she knew left the lounge,

leaving her with two other men she didn’t know.

She recalls being asked by one of the men if she wanted to leave the lounge. She agreed, and he led her to his house. She fell asleep there but woke up the next morning knowing she had been sexually assaulted.

After the assault, she reached out to a friend and revealed what had happened to her, but was met with a negative response.

“When that’s the first time telling someone about something that happened, it really sets the stage for how you feel going forward,” Moleski said. “So being told, ‘Oh, I don’t want to hear CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Rick Ludwin, prominent Miami alum, dies at 71 KIRBY DAVIS COLUMNIST

Rick Ludwin, Miami alumnus and former NBC executive, died Sunday, Nov. 10, in Los Angeles.

He was 71.

Ludwin, who was raised in the Cleveland suburb Rocky River and graduated from Miami in 1970 with a degree in mass communication, visited Miami every year. He delivered lectures, spoke to media classes and discussed the entertainment industry with students.

After leaving Miami, where he hosted the talk show “Studio 14” for the school’s WPDT Channel 14, Ludwin worked at NBC for 30 years as an executive in charge of late night programming and specials. The Hollywood Reporter deemed him a champion of the 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld,” which may not have been greenlit without Ludwin’s influence.

“The entire NBC family is deeply saddened today by the news of Rick Ludwin’s passing,” George Cheeks, NBCUniversal Content Stu-

dios vice chairman, said Monday. “Rick left an indelible mark in his 30-plus years at the network, with a rich legacy that lives on to this day.”

Sarah Emery (Miami 2018) said the first time she met Ludwin in person, he was wear-

ing a Miami Department of Media, Journalism and Film polo.

“I remember thinking it was so surreal that someone who was so influential with shows like ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘SNL’ and celebrities like Conan O’Brien and Johnny Carson seemed

most proud of the fact that he was a Miami University graduate from northern Ohio,” Emery said. @kirbdavis daviskn3@miamioh.edu

RICK LUDWIN GRADUATED FROM MIAMI IN 1970 WITH A DEGREE IN MASS COMMUNICATION. CONTRIBUTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA, JOURNALISM AND FILM

This Issue NEWS

CULTURE

A day of firsts for for Miami first-gen students

We’ve got a PROFILE for EVERYONE. Pulley’s own milkshake man

SPORTS

OPINION

Champions again

*crickets*

Field hockey threepeats in MAC Tourney

page 7

page 4

page 11

ROES HE

MOVE U

R

EC

M

BOOTCAMP R O O D T U O SPO

R TS F

OR

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 10:00–11:00 | REC SPORTS FORUM Toy donations will be accepted for the Toys for Tots Marine based program.

MOVE stands for Miami & Oxford Value Exercise because we do!

This community event is free to everyone in Oxford and will feature all of our Heroes who do so much for the country and community!

MiamiOH.edu/FitWorkshops

They’re in Miami’s administration, apparently. page 12

This Week

2 FYI

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019 Named the Best College Newspaper (Non-daily) in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Things to do

SAMANTHA BRUNN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ceili Doyle Managing Editor

Ben Deeter Multimedia Editor

Connor Wells Design Editor

Maya Fenter Magazine Editor

Julia Arwine Rachel Berry Erin Glynn News Editors

Alyssa Melendez Web Designer Bea Newberry Business Manager

Chris Vinel Sports Editor Emily Dattilo Duard Headley Culture Editors

James Tobin Faculty Adviser Fred Reeder Business Adviser

Kate Rigazio Opinion Editor

Wed 11/13

John Kasich

Parish Auditorium – Hamilton Campus

Come listen to a lecture from former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

7:00 p.m.

WDJ Inc. - Bill Dedden Distributor

Jugal Jain Photo Editor

Aim Media Midwest Printer

Owen Berg Asst. Design Editor

Nina Franco Social Media Director Style Editor

Skyler Black Ophelia Rosales Klaire Vandegrift Designers

Bo Brueck Asst. Photo Editor

Derek Stamberger Video Producer

Sydney Hill Brianna Porter Copy Editors

Noah Bertrand Humor Editor

Briah Lumpkins Tim Carlin

Asst. News Editors

Will Gorman Asst. Culture Editor Entertainment Editor

Thurs 11/14

Listen to a comedy show from Chicago’s own Second City!

9:00 p.m.

Armstrong Pavilion

Kick off International Education Week by dancing the night away.

8:00 p.m.

miamistudent.net/advertise eic@miamistudent.net

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

Armstrong Pavilion

Thurs Global Dance Party 11/7

Advertising information: Send us a letter?

MAP Comedy Series: Second City

The Miami Student is committed to providing the Miami University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

Sat 11/16

Yule Ball

7:00 p.m.Come celebrate winter and Harry Potter with 11:30 p.m. the Department of Magical Appreciation.

Shriver Center Heritage Room

Miami, you’re on The Dink List.

BERRYRD@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

‘I AM SO ANGRY WITH THIS COMMUNITY’: Senior fed up with Miami’s lack of resources FROM FRONT

this,’ that really hurt.”

After receiving a negative reaction, she decided to hold everything in. She distracted herself by getting ahead on school work.

“I decided to bury it. I thought that’s what you should do,” Moleski said. “I thought, ‘Well this is my senior year, I don’t have time for this’ … And, for about two weeks, that worked. I got super far ahead in bio and physics because I just studied and studied.”

When the semester began, she started taking a class for her global health minor which focuses on the opioid epidemic.

In the class, she learned that women who end up using opioids have likely either been assaulted or abused as children.

The longer she sat in the class, the more the thing she tried to bury so deep began to eat at her.

She built up the courage and told her professor, Cameron Hay, what happened to her, even though she knew that her professor was obligated to report it.

She received an email from the Title IX office within 24 hours of the report, which was attached with a PDF file that outlined all her available options. She described the PDF as being full of jargon and fine print.

Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Student Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Gabrielle Dralle then reached out to Moleski and introduced herself via email. Moleski eventually met with Dralle in person where they discussed her three main options: not to report, to report through the university or to pursue action through the Oxford Police Department (OPD).

Initially, she chose not to report and placed her focus on getting help through counseling. At Miami, students who are the victims of sexual assault can seek counsuling through Student Counseling Services (SCS), Women Helping Women and the Psychology Clinic. Students also have the option of reaching out to practitioners in the city of Oxford as well.

Moleski was nervous about receiving counseling through SCS because of her bad experiences with the counseling center in the past, but was willing to give it a second chance. When seeking counseling from SCS, students have the option of working with Dralle to schedule an appointment or calling themselves.

SCS has about five slots set aside each day for emergency appointments, and if a student indicates they are in crisis, they have the opportunity to meet with someone the same day, Director of Student Counseling Services John Ward said. The slots can be increased past the standard five, depending on student need.

Moleski chose to reach out to SCS herself and recalls having to call multiple times to get started with the process. She said she was presented with a few options when trying to set up an appointment — all required that she be put on a waitlist.

Frustrated with not being able to receive immediate help, she told the SCS receptionist that her situation was an emergency and that she was working with Title

IX. She recalls being told by the receptionist that Title IX has no jurisdiction over SCS and that she couldn’t just be moved up the list because they say so.

“Me telling a faceless person over the phone that I was doing something with Title IX is basically revealing that I’ve been assaulted,” Moleski said. “I kind of blew up at that point. And I said ‘I was assaulted, and it’s taking for-fucking-ever to get any kind of resources.’”

Ward said SCS receptionists have been equipped with “long-standing guidelines” to interact with students who are working with Title IX and make sure they are given appointments in a timely manner.

After her phone call with SCS, Moleski then took her frustrations to social media, tweeting, “Really cool that after being assaulted it would take less time to learn how to drive, get my driver’s license, buy a gun, and shoot myself than it would to make an appt. at student counseling services!” while tagging the university and University President Greg Crawford.

Within minutes, The Division of Student Life reached out to Tatum via Twitter. Moleski was linked to resources and a counselor provided by the university.

Moleski, grateful for the resources, was again frustrated that these weren’t presented to her initially and that it took a tweet to allow her to have access to them.

“Why wasn’t this presented to me upfront?” Moleski asked. “For me, I’ve found that a lot of my life has been about being loud so that I can get that the things that I need. Being quiet is a privilege.”

Ward also said that SCS is working on adding to their staff, but he sees the importance of informing students of the potential wait times.

“I wouldn’t want to not mention to a student that we do have a delay for ongoing individual counseling,” Ward said. “A student goes through an initial consultation, meets with that counselor, then gets to the end of that session and finds out that there is a delay before they can get onto individual counseling. Because some students may say, ‘Well why didn’t you tell me that upfront? I could have gone somewhere else for service as opposed to spending time here.’”

Moleski has found speaking with Dralle, Hannah Kuethe and Mady DeVivo from Women Helping Women to be helpful.

She said she’s appreciated the authentic conversations she’s had with them.

Because she spoke openly about her assault, Moleski’s friends reached out to her and said they were going to seek help for themselves. On the particular day her friends went to reach out to the resources she suggested, Dralle, Kuethe and DeVivo were out of their office.

Moleski blames the university for the lack of resources. “[It’s] not because they’re bad at their jobs,” Moleski said. “That’s because Gabby, Hannah and Mady are all [individual] people. It’s a lot that we’re asking for a few people to be doing. And it’s very heavy work, too.”

Dralle acknowledges that she has a busy schedule, but makes time in her schedule to accommodate student needs.

“I do this work with a sense of urgency,” Dralle said.“I want to be able to give students support and the needs that they have answered. I do work in the evenings, I work through my lunch sometimes, but that’s just who I am.”

Moleski acknowledges that there are a large volume of sexual assaults that are not reported and thinks that if the majority of them were reported, the university wouldn’t be able to accomodate all of them.

“I don’t think this campus is really prepared for the sheer volume of how many assaults that there really are,” Moleski said. “Even if a quarter of the people that have been assaulted step forward and said ‘I want resources,’ I think [Miami] would be extremely overwhelmed.”

Since her assault, Moleski says her attacker has been kicked out of his fraternity but he hasn’t experienced an extreme interruption to his life.

“Besides being kicked out of the frat, my attacker has lived a very normal life,” Moleski said. “It’s just business as usual for him.”

She had her first hearing through the university on Thursday, Nov. 7. There, she provided clarifying details about her case but was not asked to recount anything traumatic. If there is enough evidence found, another hearing will be held to determine her attacker’s status at the university.

“I’m losing a semester of school. A suspension would be fair,” Moleski said. “If I had to miss out of school, [he] should, too.”

Moleski said that students should have a conversation and know the toll a sexual assault can have on a student afterward. “[I] did not know that I would go days without sleeping or days without eating,” Moleski said, “That I would have the kind of nightmares where I would wake up and shake. I didn’t know that I wouldn’t want my hair cut because I didn’t want anyone to touch me. It needs to be emphasized — all the ways it can screw up your life.”

Moleski will take a medical leave for the rest of the semester. Since her assault, she has missed academic opportunities such as the application date for her research grant and has had anxiety over potentially losing her scholarships (although she has since learned her scholarships are secure). She is frustrated because she feels the university put her academic future at risk and caused hardships in her personal life.

“I am so angry with this community.

For not only making me feel abandoned but punishing me for being outspoken about it.”

She said she hopes her message will get through to those in the administration to create avenues to get sexual assault survivors more immediate resources from the university.

“I feel like me being upset out in the open is important because this is real,” Moleski said. “It’s not something that you can ignore.” lumpkibm@miamioh.edu

NEWS 3 Conservative billionaires fund democracy center FROM FRONT

and Hamilton’s Phelps Hall will jointly house the center.

“What we’re hoping to accomplish through our programs is creating a larger space for students and community members to come and share ideas, build consensus and learn from each other,” Forren said. “This is essential in a democratic society.”

Bryan Marshall, chair of the Department of Political Science, said the center will have a director and associate director.

The grant also funds a faculty member who will teach courses and conduct research around the center’s values of democracy and civic engagement.

The idea for the center materialized in early 2018 when a group of faculty, led by Forren, introduced a proposal to expand civic engagement programming.

Randy Pratt, associate vice president of development, principal gifts and presidential priorities, said the Charles Koch Foundation heard about Forren’s work and reached out to inquire about funding it.

“It’s the role of advancement departments at universities to match grantors or donors with programs that match their interests, and that is why Miami began discussions with the Koch Foundation and Menard family regarding support for the Center for Democracy,” Pratt said.

Despite Koch’s past involvement on university campuses, Forren said he will not have a say in how the center is run.

“I want to be very clear they are not in any way influencing the program,” Forren said. “There is no ideological content to what we’re doing … We will adhere to the same status of academic freedom that Miami does.”

Some students are still concerned about the Charles Koch Foundation’s involvement at Miami.

“For the university to take these people as acting in good faith, I think requires them either lying about whether or not they believe them or just a massive amount of ignorance because I think the Koch brothers have proven throughout their entire lives to be very dangerous people,” said sophomore Alex Coiner, president of the Alexander Hamilton Society. “I think for the university to take them at face value saying they’re going to be nonpolitical is farcical.”

Kenny Hawkins, president of College Republicans, said while he supports civic engagement, he worries about the inclusivity of the center.

“We see politics motivated by money, and that can dissolve the equality of opportunity that we all fight for through our devotion to politics and civil service,” Hawkins said. “I don’t think there’s a question behind their motives as most of the people they fund are conservative, I just hope that they are inclusive in their decisions of those who they help and those who get involved.”

Additional reporting by news editor Erin Glynn. @racheldberry berryrd@mimaioh.edu @cosettegunter guntercr@miamioh.edu

Bracken, Ellerbe and Snavely take open City Council seats TIM CARLIN

ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jason Bracken, Glenn Ellerbe and Bill Snavely won the Oxford City Council election last Tuesday with 22.5 percent, 21 percent and 28.5 percent of the vote, respectively.

The three men were endorsed by the Butler County Progressive Political Action Committee and by the editorial staff of The Miami Student.

Bracken is a biologist and doctoral candidate at Miami University. He ran on a progressive platform and said he values placing Oxford’s most vulnerable citizens first. The three main points of Bracken’s platform were addressing homelessness, working on sustainability and creating affordable housing.

Ellerbe is a self-described “realist and centrist” who will serve his second term on Council. He said that when he makes decisions, his focus is on whether or not the decision will move Oxford forward, as well as on who on city staff will be doing the legwork.

Snavely is currently the chair of the Oxford Planning Commission and served 12 years on Council starting in the 1980s. He was mayor for six of those years. Snavely’s five main platform points were climate action, affordable housing, sensible housing, transportation reform and fiscal responsibility.

The new candidates will begin their terms at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting. @timcarlin_ carlintm@miamioh.edu BRACKEN, ELLERBE AND SNAVELY WILL BE SWORN INTO COUNCIL NEXT MONTH. THE REAL QUESTION: WHO WILL RUN FOR MAYOR? ASST. PHOTO EDITOR BO BRUECK

4 NEWS

BERRYRD@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

ASG pilots meal swipe donation program CAROLINE HAUBENSTRICKER STAFF WRITER

Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) is working with the Student Success Center (SSC) to facilitate a swipe donation pilot program for students to give their extra food swipes to students in need.

The swipe donation pilot program allows students who have extra swipes on their meal plan to donate them to the SSC the week before Thanksgiving. The SSC staff members will then donate the swipes to students who are food insecure and request help.

ASG members Effie Fraley, Shelby Frye and Ben Waugh started working on the program in early 2019. They read a statistic from the Miami Climate Survey that said a significant amount of Miami students have to worry about where their next meal will come from.

“After reading this survey, we wanted to start a program to help students at Miami,” Waugh said. “Other schools have programs like this, and we wanted to follow in their footsteps.”

Fyre said Thanksgiving week was chosen as the pilot week for the program because the majority of students will leave campus for Thanksgiving break and have extra swipes to donate.

The senators reached out to the assistant director of SSC, Cory Duchesneau, to help them initiate the program.

“We knew the center was there to help students,” Frye said. “We wanted to help students who struggle with food to have a painless process to ask for swipes.”

Frye understands that there is a stigma surrounding the socioeconomic status of students at Miami. There are students who are in need of help but are afraid to tell their friends or reach out for assistance.

“Twenty-five undergraduate students have come to us asking for food

ASG AND THE STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER ARE COLLABORATING ON A SWIPE DONATION PROGRAM TO HELP FOOD INSECURE STUDENTS DURING THE THANKSGIVING SEASON. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

specifically,” Duchesneau said. “But we estimate that there are a total of 50 because not everybody comes and asks.”

ASG will hold a table on the second floor of the Armstrong Student Center near Emporium from Nov. 18-22 where each student is able to donate up to seven swipes of their meal plan for students in need of food assistance.

ASG will be collecting swipes at the following times: • 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 18 • 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov.19 • 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Nov.

20 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 21 • 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 22 ASG will also have senators available in dining halls around campus during that week to take donations.

ASG senators will have tablets and ID readers to collect the donations.

With help from Brian Woodruff, the director of housing and operational services, and Angeline Smith, the administrator of campus cards, ASG created an event through MyCard to read students’ ID cards for them to donate meal swipes.

•

ASG elects five new senators DAN WOZNIAK STAFF WRITER

Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) filled five senate seats by on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

ASG held last week’s election because there were six open seats after the scheduled election that occured two weeks prior.

ASG elected Alex Coiner as the 3rd District on-campus senator, Emily McClary as the 4th District on-campus senator, and Cameron Bracely, Lena Giang and Iman Elayyadi as senators-at-large.

Senators-at-large are elected when no one runs for a particular seat, so ASG opens the position to the entire campus. Unlike their peers, these senators don’t serve a specific constituency.

Coiner and McClary were the only candidates who ran to represent their respective districts, but 10 students ran for the three senator-at-large positions.

Both Coiner, a sophomore diplomacy & global politics and public administration major, and McClary, a sophomore biology and political science major, campaigned on similar issues such as improving Miami’s mental health services and fighting racism.

Cameron Bracely, a sophomore public administration major, is a resident assistant (RA) in Emerson Hall and has been an alternate senator for the past year.

Bracely’s primary focus as a senator is to address issues surrounding diversity and inclusion at Miami by strengthening the outreach and marketing efforts of the Bridges Program and creating a Freedom Summer scholarship that will strengthen diversity and inclusion within the community.

“There are not enough people out in the field going to high schools talking about [the Bridges Program],” Bracely said. “[The university] didn’t even come to my school, and I found out about the program through a friend who had already applied.”

Giang, a first-year student from Vietnam majoring in psychology and minoring in global health, aims to improve Miami’s systems that assist victims of sexual assault.

“I was sexually assaulted when I was 13,”

Giang said. “More than just words of sympathy and all that, what we victims of sexual assault really want is to have some justice for ourselves.”

Elayyadi, a first-year diplomacy & global politics and French double major, strives to enhance the way minority students, particularly Muslim students, are represented, understood and treated.

Before elections, Academic Senator Sinait Sarfino unanimously passed a resolution to include Chinese holidays on Miami dining hall menus.

Sarfino described how she believes many Chinese students often feel lonely during traditional Chinese holidays such as the Lunar New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese National Day, and that it’s Miami’s responsibility to make all students feel included.

Senators Ryan Barr, Max Lutz and Austin Tyree failed to pass their bill to amend what they called a “bylaw paradox” in section 504 of the Oversight Committee’s recently drafted non-discrimination statement.

The redaction would have allowed members of the Oversight Committee to begin or become involved in investigations before participating in bias and ethics training.

Barr said that members of the Oversight Committee would be encouraged to take the necessary training as soon as possible and advocated for putting “good faith” in members of the committee, but the bill was voted against 35 to 4.

“Senator Barr called [his bill] a routine bylaw cleanup in his statement, and I would say this is anything but that,” Academic Senator Ben Waugh said. “The Oversight and Reform Committee worked very hard [during] the last year amending the oversight process, and they added this for a reason — to make sure committee members did not have bias when they went into an investigation.”

“We wouldn’t want an untrained barber working on our hair, and we wouldn’t want an untrained surgeon making cuts on our bodies,” Senator Vada Stephens said. “Training is very much necessary.” @dan_wozniak wozniad2@miamioh.edu

“When a student taps their ID card, they are consenting the program to take their extra meal swipes for the week,” Frye said.

If a student does not have their student ID card, they can donate swipes by entering in their unique ID. The swipes will then be distributed to students in need through SSC’s Miami Cares program.

The program helps students pay for housing, food, clothing or laptops.

SSC works with students individually to determine their exact needs.

Students who are in need of aid can go onto SSC’s website on the student

and family resources page, and press on the housing, food, apparel and laptops (Miami Cares) tab. On this page, students are able to complete a Miami Cares resources form, to indicate their level of need and provide their name and email. An SSC staff member will then be in contact with the student to assess their needs and make a plan.

SSC can help students who need help for as long as they need it: a week, a month, semester, year or their entire time at Miami. @haubenstrickerc haubence@miamioh.edu

Miami celebrates National First-Generation Student Day

ON NOV. 8, MIAMI CELEBRATED FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT DAY. THE MIAMI STUDENT ABBY BAMMERLIN

ABBY BAMMERLIN

THE MIAMI STUDENT There was an energy in the air, and Adrianna Patch could feel it. Miami University’s campus felt like another world, but one that would welcome its newcomers with open arms.

The scenery on campus took her breath away. There were bridges reminiscent of medieval times. Nature trails whose winding turns she could imagine navigating in times of stress.

Although it was only her first visit to Miami, she felt optimistic about what her future could be.

And when the bell tower rang out with music, Patch knew she was home.

Patch, now a junior computer and electrical engineering double major, is one of over 3,000 first-generation college students at Miami.

During the move-in process, Patch remembers being intimidated by her peers.

“I was definitely kind of culture-shocked,” Patch said. “I hadn’t really been around very educated or rich people before.”

Her parents were supportive of her choice to attend Miami, but she was still nervous about her academic performance and social life.

“I was really scared about making friends because I felt like everyone had such a different experience than me,” Patch said.

While she didn’t experience anyone outwardly treating her differently, Patch still felt internal confidence issues. However, after finding the Miami Firsts student organization, Patch felt more at home. This year, Patch has taken on the role of Miami Firsts’ president.

“This club is one of the biggest things that has made me feel a sense of community at Miami,” Patch said. “It’s easy to feel alienated when you are surrounded by people with drastically different backgrounds from your own.”

Craig Bennett, director of the Student Success Center, helped organize Miami’s First-Generation Student Day, a university-wide event celebrating first-generation students. The event was held on Nov. 8, National First-Generation Student Day. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” Ben-

nett said. “I think that happens a lot with firstgen students because they didn’t grow up in a house where people were talking about going to college.”

During the event, students were able to connect with Miami Firsts and Patch. “[The organization] allows other first-generation students to help support new first generation[s],” Bennett said.

The event took place across campus with many departments holding different events throughout the day. At the center of the celebration was a meet and greet in Armstrong Student Center. At the end of the day, students were also welcome to join University President Gregory Crawford and Renate Crawford at Lewis Place for a reception.

“My biggest hope is that, as the club awareness grows on campus, we can lower the stigma associated with coming from poverty or being first-gen and replace it with pride,” Patch said.

“I am hoping Miami Firsts will be able to empower other students like it’s done for me and, most importantly, make them know they are not alone.”

First-generation sophomore Nana Hemaa said she felt she had fewer challenges transitioning to Miami compared to some of her peers.

“From the jump, school was placed on a very high pedestal, so I knew I always had to work towards grades and academics,” Hemaa said.

Hemaa said she first struggled to find resources at Miami to help her, but after connecting with an advisor, her transition was smoother.

“What our focus was for Nov. 8 is to celebrate what they bring to our campus but also create an awareness on campus of the support that can be available,” Bennett said.

Patch said that first-generation students have a unique skill set that they can put to use at Miami. “[First-generation students] are just as capable as anyone else here,” Patch said. “Sometimes maybe [they’re] even more capable, because [they’ve] already had to go through so much struggling.” bammeraj@miamioh.edu

GLYNNEE@MIAMIOH.EDU

NEWS 5

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Institute for Learning in Retirement fosters a love of learning in local retirees

THE INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING IN RETIREMENT OFFERS A SECOND CHANCE AT LEARNING FOR OLDER STUDENTS. STAFF WRITER MADELINE PHABY

MADELINE PHABY STAFF WRITER

Groups of students make their way into Leonard Theatre in Peabody Hall, ready to sit through their weekly lecture. As they enter, they find their seats and chat among themselves to pass the time before the start of class.

This is a relatively common scene at Miami University, but these students are different than most. Many of them are white-haired, and they wear purple lanyards around their necks instead of

backpacks on their shoulders.

The Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) offers more than 70 classes each fall and spring in Oxford, Hamilton, Fairfield, Monroe and West Chester for older individuals — most of them retirees. Each semester is five weeks long, and the 2019 fall semester ended on Nov. 8.

The ILR was founded in 1997 and originally held 10 classes with 76 total students. Today, it holds 72 classes with 409 students. This past semester, it set a new enrollment record for the sev-

enth consecutive semester.

Judy Macke, the ILR program manager, said the increase in enrollment can be attributed to word-of-mouth, as the institute doesn’t advertise aside from publishing a catalog every semester.

“Two people tell two people who tell two people, and next thing you know, we’re breaking records every semester,” Macke said.

One of the 72 classes offered this fall was titled “The People’s Republic of China at 70,” held every Monday from

2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Leonard Theatre. Every week, a different instructor gave a lecture related to the topic.

On Nov. 4, the featured instructor was Yihong Pan, a professor emerita of history. Her lecture was titled “The Rise of China: What Does It Mean?”

Pan introduced herself to the class and was quick to explain that, though she grew up in the People’s Republic of China, she was not yet 70 years old.

The joke produced a ripple of laughter throughout the room.

Though ILR classes don’t give homework or have tests, many students diligently took notes during Pan’s lecture. One student sneakily checked his phone a couple times and another started to doze off halfway through.

Really, it didn’t look much different from any other lecture class at Miami.

Kathryn McGrew, professor emerita of gerontology, said that she was drawn to the ILR by a deep curiosity and love of learning that wasn’t as present during her undergraduate years.

“I wish I had the thirst and curiosity back then that I do now,” McGrew said.

“I can’t get enough information and understanding.”

Most of the students are retirees like McGrew, and about 75 percent of them have some tie to Miami. Similarly, many of the instructors are current and retired Miami faculty, as well as business leaders, alumni and other members of the community.

Some students, such as Jack Sommer, teach classes in addition to taking them. Sommer said that his motivation for taking and teaching classes is the same: passion for the subject matter.

“The people who speak are people

BCRTA plans a $9 million transit hub on Chestnut Street ALEX COX

THE MIAMI STUDENT Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) is working with Miami University and other partners to build a transit hub on Chestnut Street.

The proposed station would increase the efficiency of the BCRTA bus fleet and provide a link to regional buses, bike rentals and potentially an Amtrak train, said David Prytherch, an Oxford City Council member, Miami geography professor and previous member of Oxford’s Planning Commission.

This proposal is attempting to remedy some problems identified by BCRTA in 2013 when the company began servicing the Miami campus.

“There’s not good wayfinding for people who need to get around,” said BCRTA executive director Matthew Dutkevicz.

“There’s no signage; no bus station. It’s hard to figure out where to get on the bus and where to get off. There is no central location to catch a bike path, bike share, regional bus, and park and rides are spread out.”

Dutkevicz also said BCRTA doesn’t have any facilities in Oxford, so they have to bring vehicles to the main garage in Hamilton for repairs.

Prytherch, who is also an

BCRTA IS WORKING WITH MIAMI TO CREATE A TRANSIT HUB ON CHESTNUT STREET. CONTRIBUTED BY BCRTA

advisor for the Urban/Regional Planning Program, said an improved transit system would help Miami employees get to campus.

“For some time, we’ve recognized that Miami struggles to fill some of its hourly positions,” Prytherch said. “Yet, regionally, we have populations that would be very happy to have access to that kind of employment. But there’s really not the public transit to get them back and forth.”

This project, as the original proposal by BCRTA highlighted, could help increase employment and economic prosperity in the area.

BCRTA applied for several grants to make the station a reality. They received a $2.6 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in April 2018.

A $4.5 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration will potentially be approved

in December of this year, but the money will not be available for use until 2023.

These grants will be used for bus infrastructure and cannot be used to cover the operating expenses of BCRTA. Miami will also pay $1.6 million for the transit hub.

Currently, BCRTA is working on a land-use agreement with Miami for the property and hopes to break ground in 2021, Dutkevicz said.

Dutkevicz expressed an interest in sharing the facility not only with regional bus lines, such as Barons, but also with Talawanda School District to prevent repetitive infrastructure. Prytherch said the station could also help Oxford become more carbon-neutral.

“Part of the long-term vision is providing alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles,” he said.

“Really, the hope is in the future fewer students will feel the need to have a car in Oxford.”

Miami is also in preliminary talks with Amtrak, which operates the Cardinal Line on the tracks that pass adjacent to the site, and is looking to use the station as a train stop along the Cincinnati-Chicago corridor, Prytherch said. coxaj4@miamioh.edu

‘People think that it’s a weird thing to flex on’

What does it mean to be a public ivy?

SARA BEY

STAFF WRITER At Miami University, students see “Public Ivy” plastered around the campus — on water bottles, in the Shriver Center and even on posters in the bathroom.

High school students see the term in the red and white Miami brochures that flood their mailboxes during recruiting season.

“Public Ivy” might be oddly enticing — but what does it mean? Does the meaning change once students are enrolled?

“You either hear about a public university or a private university,” said junior tour guide Hailey Kingsbury. “They’re at two opposite ends of the spectrum, and [public ivy is] kind of like a middle ground between the two.”

The term came from a 1985 book by Richard Moll titled “The Public Ivies: A Guide to America’s Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities.”

In the book, Moll highlighted eight institutions across the United States that he felt embodied an Ivy League school academically and socially at a public school price.

In his research, Moll considered “exceptional quality,” “very selective admissions,” “a narrowed mission to develop the ‘whole person,’” “resources to match ideals with materials and manpower” plus “prestige.”

Based on that criteria and a week-long visit analyzing aspects such as professor interactions

and campus culture, Miami was one of the eight universities selected, along with the College of William & Mary, the University of California (Berkeley), the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, the University of Texas, the University of Vermont and the University of Virginia.

“Miami kind of owns the ‘public ivy’ term,” said Michele Sparks, vice president and chief marketing and communications officer. “We’ve leaned into it so hard, so it would be odd for another school [from the Moll ranking] to try and own it.”

Sparks said Miami began pushing the “public ivy” brand in the mid-2000s.

“It’s really the lead in all our marketing materials,” she said.

“I always like to say that it’s the front page of everything we’re doing.”

According to U.S. News National University Rankings, of the eight original public ivies, Miami ranks seventh, and UC Berkeley ranks first. Miami also ranks 91st for all public universities in the country.

“Some would say [public ivy] is an old ranking, and it’s putting us in the past,” Sparks said, “but I don’t think it does that. I think it showcases us as a contemporary institution in our marketing materials.”

Miami students are now used to seeing “public ivy” as the center of the university’s marketing.

“It seems weird at first, but there are no negative connotations to it,” Kingsbury said. “If

THE TERM “PUBLIC IVY” ORIGINATED IN 1985.

THE MIAMI STUDENT COLLEEN GRIMM

anything, it makes us stand out.”

First-year Mackenzie Lee agreed. “I don’t see how it could be a bad thing,” she said. “If it’s a private school education for a cheaper cost, it’s giving more students access to education.”

As a tour guide, Kingsbury said she doesn’t mention Miami being a “public ivy” in her spiel.

“It comes out more when you talk about what Miami provides.

It’s encapsulated in everything else that I talk about,” she said, referring to the networking, research and other opportunities she has taken advantage of on campus.

“There’s merit to [using public ivy] that can be backed up with research,” Sparks said.

First-years Inderjot Hothi and Julia Gurevitz said they appreci-

ate what the term means, but the marketing could be more clear.

“It’s nice that it’s a public ivy, but people think that it’s a weird thing to flex on,” Hothi said. “But without it, Miami’s still Miami.”

Hothi said that Miami could hone in on what exactly makes it a “public ivy” and why it’s a meaningful term.

“I think what Miami needs to advertise is the connection professors have with their students,” he said.

Gurevitz agreed.

“I think that’s way more important,” she said. “If anything’s going to attract me to a school, it’s definitely that … That’s worth way more to me than ‘public ivy.’” @sara_bey beysc@miamioh.edu

who really love to talk about [the subject matter], so that’s a good reason to take the classes,” Sommer said. “But it’s also fun to teach, because then you get to be part of a discussion on subject matters you really love.”

Macke said that, in addition to the genuine desire to learn, ILR classes differ from undergraduate classes because the students all bring their unique lived experiences to their classes.

“They’re coming back [to class] after they’ve had a lifetime of experiences,” Macke said. “The instructors often say that they feel like they learn more than they teach because the students have such a caliber of experiences that they’re bringing to share.”

For some students, these experiences consist of their careers and travels.

Others, such as Ned Toms, bring more intense experiences to their classes.

Toms started taking ILR classes about ten years ago, and he was drawn to the program by a class that was offered on grief. The class helped him process the death of his 31-year-old daughter in 2006, and he continued taking other classes to keep his mind sharp. “[The class] helped me cope with the pain of losing a child,” Toms wrote in a handwritten note to The Miami Student. “It keeps my brain oiled and challenges me to think.”

After Pan’s lecture, a few students stayed behind to ask her questions.

Most exited the theater, chatting and laughing with their friends along the way, much like any other group of Miami students phabymr@miamioh.edu

Dean of Students outlines ‘active threat’ disciplinary processes TIM CARLIN

ASST. NEWS EDITOR Last Thursday, The Miami Student broke the news that Nicholas Shaw, a first-year student, was previously expelled from Indiana University - Purdue University Indiana (IUPUI) and served a sixday jail sentence in relation to sexually assaulting a woman while he was a student at IUPUI. Later that night, Shaw left Miami University.

Miami was first publicly made aware of Shaw’s expulsion and conviction via Twitter on Sept. 5, over a month and a half ago.

Miami’s Office of Admission could not tell The Student when it became aware of Shaw’s expulsion and criminal history, due to federal privacy law.

The Student sat down with university Dean of Students Kimberly Moore who, although unable to speak specifically to Shaw’s case, laid out the university’s general procedures in this type of situation.

Moore said the department of University Communications and Marketing (UCM) monitors Miami’s social media accounts, and if a complaint were to come through social media, it would be seen by an employee in the department within 24 hours.

Once a report is discovered by a UCM employee, the Division of Student Life is then notified.

Moore said after her office is made aware of potential threats to student safety, she assesses the situation to determine if the student involved is an “active threat” to the Miami community. If she determines the student poses an active threat, Moore will move forward with an initial disciplinary hearing.

The student in question is then given a 24hour notice before the initial disciplinary hearing, which is referred to as a summary hearing.

After the hearing, Moore has 24 hours to decide if she will summarily suspend the student. If Moore decides to summarily suspend the student, the student’s case will be passed on to the Office of Community Standards (OCS) where it will begin the formal review process.

Summary suspensions can vary in magnitude depending on the severity of the threat presented by the student involved. Moore said punishments can range from being prohibited from using the recreation center or the dining halls to being removed from a residence hall.

If a student is removed from their residence hall because of a summary suspension, the university does not make housing accommodations for the displaced student throughout the disciplinary process.

Moore also explained that if a student who posed an “active threat” was removed from their dorm the resident director (RD) is not obligated to inform the hall’s residents that a student who lived there was summarily suspended.

But, if any students were to approach their RD or resident assistant (RA) with issues, both would be able to provide resources to the concerned student.

Everything is evaluated on a case-by-case basis though, Moore added.

Once OCS begins reviewing a case, the student involved is given five business days to prepare for a second hearing. According to the Student Code of Conduct, the OCS hearing can be either an Administrative Hearing or a Community Standards Board Hearing. An Administrative Hearing has one administrator presiding, and a Community Standards Board Hearing has a panel of faculty, staff and students presiding.

While the university is obligated to follow federal privacy laws, Moore expressed a desire to give students as much context to situations on campus as possible.

Additional reporting for this story was done by managing editor Ceili Doyle and editor-in-chief Samantha Brunn. @timcarlin_ carlintm@miamioh.edu

6 CULTURE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Chopping up the competition at Hillel’s culinary contest

AN EVENING OF FRIENDLY CULLINARY COMPETITION GAVE STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE ISRAELI CULTURE. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN.

LEXI WHITEHEAD

THE MIAMI STUDENT Nine tables heaped with cucumbers, peppers, onions, tomatoes, pitas, hummus and chickpeas filled the space in Armstrong Pavilion C, accented by a spread of Hershey’s chocolate bars, honey, sunflower butter and strawberry jam.

Teams received these ingredients to aid in their participation in Hillel’s Chopped Event, inspired by the hit TV show of the same name on the Food Network. On the show, four chefs compete against each other, making dishes that include mystery ingredients given to them right before the cooking begins.

Hillel’s twist: All the mystery ingredients had traditional or historical ties to Israel.

Hillel is an organization that creates a community for Jewish students on campus. It is made up of Jewish students who all have different ideas regarding Israel and Judaism.

Senior Maia Sepiashvili described it as a “family” or “home.”

Sepiashvili, who is an intern for Hillel, came up with the idea for the event. She loves “Chopped,” and, since she always learned about a new type of food from viewing the show, she thought it would be a good way to teach people about Israeli culture.

“We want people to learn about the different cultural aspects of Israel and put a positive image of Israel out there, and we’re doing that through food because everyone loves food,” she said.

Sepiashvili kicked off the event by encouraging attendees to split up into teams. They had to use the mystery ingredients in each round and were also able to use any of the other foods provided. Teams had a certain amount of time to work during each round.

She also introduced the judges: junior and Miami Hillel’s vice president Avi Dave, junior intern Hannah McCarren and sophomore in-

Colorful for a cause:

Theta hosts vibrant fundraiser ALY MCVAN

THE MIAMI STUDENT Although most Miamians were still snuggled in their beds early Sunday morning, members of the Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta) sorority were up and about, motivated by the beginning of the second annual Color Run. Theta members wanted to create a fun and festive atmosphere for the run, so they all wore matching shirts with colorful accessories and some girls sported multi-colored tutus.

Additionally, there were balloons and music and Oxford Donut Shoppe donated as much coffee and donuts as the girls needed.

The run began at 11 a.m. at the cross country course and there were 101 runners in attendance.

Theta hosted this event in honor of their national philanthropy, Butler County’s Court Appointed Special Applicants (CASA).

Amanda Nelson, the sorority’s philanthropy chair, said CASA “provides trained volunteers that help kids in the juvenile court system that were abused or neglected or abandoned.”

Participants in the Color Run intentionally wore white or light-colored clothing to the event. Throughout the run, volunteers bombarded them with colorful powder.

Caroline Atlas, a junior on Theta’s philanthropy committee, explained that as one runs through the course, “you’re this colorful mess.”

The clouds of color keep the runners enthusiastic and excited.

Atlas and her sister, Lindsey, were the lead organizers of the Color Run this year, but stressed Nelson’s involvement as well.

“It’s Amanda’s baby, pretty much,” Atlas said.

Last year, Theta achieved their goal of raising $5,000 for CASA. The previous year’s success encouraged the sorority to raise its objective to $8,000.

Before the race even began on Sunday, Nel-

son announced that Theta managed to surpass this goal, with over $9,200 raised this year.

The money was raised through ticket sales to the Color Run. Atlas said there was friendly competition within Theta to see who could sell the most tickets.

Olivia Roberston, president of the sorority, stressed that the Color Run is one of Theta’s biggest philanthropy events of the year.

“It obviously goes all back to the kids at CASA,” Roberston said. “So that’s super exciting and we all get to come together and support an amazing cause.”

To get people within the community involved, Theta posted comments about the run on Facebook, as well as announced it on its Snapchat and Instagram stories.

Atlas explained that, although it is a challenge to convince college students to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, she still believes a Color Run is the perfect event to host.

“We are very lucky that our sorority is very engaging in the community,” Atlas said. “I think our level of engagement will be reflected as this event grows, because as much as we engage, we want people to be engaged with us.”

It was also a family-friendly affair. Theta designed the Color Run to be two miles long.

It’s a shorter event than some races, so runners at all levels can feel comfortable participating.

Olivia Hajjar, a runner and a senior at Miami, explained she participated in the Color Run because wanted to support the cause and get a good workout in.

A lot of materials were reused from last year’s race, including some of the signs.

Atlas threw purple powder, so her sign read, “You’re doing grape, sweety.”

Overall, Theta thinks the Color Run was a success.

Will there be another one next year?

“Yes, I definitely think so,” Nelson said. mcvanam@miamioh.edu

RUNNERS CAME OUT FOR SOME GOOD, CLEAN FUN THAT HAPPENED TO INVOLVE GETTING COATED IN CRAZY COLORS. THE MIAMI STUDENT ALY MCVAN.

tern Natalie Walsh. Teams were judged on the taste and presentation of their dish as well as their creativity in incorporating the mystery ingredients.

Each of the six teams — made up of two to three people — claimed a table as their workspace and round one began. The two mystery ingredients were hummus and matbucha, which is a cooked mixture of tomatoes and bell peppers. Participants went to work gathering ingredients and planning with their other team members. They only had 10 minutes to make their dishes, so they had to work quickly.

For the first round, many teams made Israeli-inspired pizzas, with a pita acting as the dough, humus and matbucha acting as the sauce and a variety of veggie toppings.

Between rounds, the judges tasted everyone’s dishes while Sepiashvili explained to everyone the traditional significance of the mystery ingredients. People from different teams socialized, and they were also able to get their

HEADLEDD@MIAMIOH.EDU

own plates of food.

Unlike “Chopped,” the judges did not eliminate any teams, nor did they choose a winner for every round, because Hillel wanted to keep up the interaction and engagement from students.

For round two, the mystery ingredients included misir wot (spicy red lentils), schug (a spicy and herby green sauce) and potato salad.

It was also recommended, though not required, that teams use falafel in their dish.

This round, teams were allowed 15 minutes to make their dishes. After a request, the judges offered an extra five minutes for all teams if someone could answer an Israel-related trivia question correctly.

Teams took full advantage of their extra five minutes. Dishes made included “Israeli Big Macs,” “falafel burgers,” open-face sandwiches, a blend of ingredients on top of pita and greens and light finger food. Many teams got creative with their presentations in this round, making smiley faces or concentric designs on their plates.

In round three, Sepiashvili threw the teams a curveball. There would be no mystery ingredient but instead a theme for teams to base their dish on: Israeli salad. She challenged teams to keep in mind that salad can mean whatever you want it to mean and that Israel is a diverse country.

And teams did just that.

With their 10 minutes, they made dessert salads, vegetable mixtures and traditional Israeli salads.

When it finally came down to choosing the winners, the judges chose the team made up of juniors Emily Lightman and Jessica Enhelder alongside sophomore Keith Cottle. Their strategy consisted of focusing on presentation and mixing ingredients together rather than just placing them down on the plate.

“They consistently had good taste and presentation,” McCarren said. “They weren’t first for every round, but there wasn’t a round where they didn’t have good taste and presentation.”

Overall, the event was a big hit with everyone, especially for a first-time event. It attracted members of Hillel, Jewish students and others as well.

“It’s a good mix of education and having fun with your friends,” sophomore Kaitlyn Swearingen said.

Swearingen is not a member of Hillel, but came with her friend, Jessica Cantor, who is a member. The event was educational even for Cantor.

“I’ve never had half of the secret ingredients before, and I’ve been to Israel,” Cantor said.

Hillel plans to share a recipe book with everyone that attended so that they can easily make their own Israeli cuisine at home. Next semester, they are hosting IsraeliFest, a festival in Uptown Park that celebrates Israeli culture.

This year’s festival does not have a theme yet, but in the past themes have included Art & Culture in Israel, the 1970s and Diversity in Israel. whitehan@miamioh.edu

Flying … super strength ... and skating?

WHEN GOGGIN NEEDED THEM MOST, STUDENTS SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OFF THEIR SUPER SKATING SKILLS. THE MIAMI STUDENT KELSEY WARNING.

Superhero fans skate around the rink on Moonlight Superhero Skate Night IZZY OWEN

THE MIAMI STUDENT Super students took to the ice at Goggin Ice Center for the hero-themed Moonlight Skate event on Friday night. About 20 students came to the event and flew around the ice for two hours while listening to pop tunes.

Senior Bo Saburn, an event planning and marketing intern at Goggin, was there to greet people with a photo opportunity of a superhero themed backdrop that had words like “pow!” on it as they came in through the doors to the rink.

“It’s a nice change of pace for what a lot of students tend to do on a Friday night,” Saburn said. “I mean, skating is a lot of fun.”

The Goggin event planners, like Saburn, create a variety of different events to get students to come to Goggin and see what the facility has to offer. From Moonlight Skate to Public Skate, an event for students and residents of Oxford alike, Goggin wants to bring people in to try out the ice.

“You’re in college,” Saburn said. “[You] might as well experience what your college has to offer.”

Every Saturday, the ice rink is open for the weekly Moonlight Skate events. Sometimes, Goggin has themed Moonlight Skate nights like their superhero event. Last month, Goggin hosted a Halloween-themed Moonlight Skate event, which Saburn said drew in a bigger crowd than the superhero night. Even more popular than Halloween, Saburn said, is the Break the Tension event. Break the Tension happens every year before finals week to help students relieve stress.

Although finals are still a ways off, the super-

hero-themed Moonlight Skate still allowed the few students who attended a time to destress and have fun.

“It’s been a long week for me, personally,” said senior Mason Skaruppa. “I definitely wanted to come skate tonight.”

Other students came to the event to skate with their friends, to exercise or to practice their skating skills.

“I love skating around with my friends, just having fun,” said senior Christian White.

Exercising was also a common reason why many of the students attended.

“It’s good exercise, and I have fun doing it,” said sophomore Landon Halverson.

Although it was a themed event, many students did not dress up. But they did offer up their favorite superheroes and who they would have dressed as.

Skaruppa said he loves Iron Man, but he thought the costume would be too difficult to skate in, so he would have opted to skate dressed as Batman or Superman. White said that he would dress as Static Shock and Halverson said he’d be Spider-Man. Junior Richard Loges was dressed as The Flash. Loges sported The Flash’s mask while skating around with his girlfriend, Karissa Brunelle.

“I heard from a friend about the superhero skate event and me and my girlfriend love skating,” he said.

The next themed Moonlight Skate event is the Ugly Sweater skate event, which is on Friday, Dec. 6. The Break the Tension skate event will be on the following day, Saturday, Dec. 7. owenip@maimioh.edu

DATTILEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

CULTURE 7

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Rock steppin’ RedHawks swing through the semester LEANNE STAHULAK STAFF WRITER

Sneakered feet shuffle over the linoleum floor as partners grasp hands and face each other. A lively voice rings out from the giant speakers to the side of the gymnasium, telling people to “frame up!” As the 24 students shift into position, Glen Miller’s “In the Mood” fills Phillips 033 with bold brass horns and a steady, light drum beat in the background.

The dancers take off.

Students rock from side to side and back and forth, swinging each other under their arms and spinning in place. The voice coming from the speaker calls out different maneuvers: “Overhead slide!”

“Infinite pretzel!”

The students comply, stretching their arms up and sliding underneath until the partners grasp one another by their fingertips before pulling each other close once again.

Ten weeks ago, many of these students would not have known the difference between a rock step and a half box. But in KNH 110S/T: Social Dance, learning these basics and more is the first step toward becoming a more experienced dancer.

Under the tutelage of former professional dancer Michael Scoggins and his “squad” of TAs, students enrolled in Social Dance learn how to swing, waltz, salsa and meringue by the end of the semester. The 55 minute class is technically split into two sections for registration, men’s and women’s, but that’s just to make sure the numbers are even for partners.

No dancing background is necessary to take the class and, ultimately, Scoggins hopes that he can dispel the timeworn excuse most people give when asked whether they can dance.

“The purpose behind the course was to share dance and the joy of ballroom dancing and how easy it is,” Scoggins said. “Because most people get this stigma: ‘Oh, I can’t dance.’ And in actuality, if you can walk, you can dance. It’s just that they need to know the tricks and the secrets and the breakdowns. Once they begin to understand that, they begin to enjoy the dance.”

Students start off the semester learning how to swing dance, but after learning the basics and about five to seven maneuvers, Scoggins will quickly switch them over to the waltz. Then, during the waltz unit, he’ll have them brush up on their swing dancing and teach them a new maneuver so that their swing skills don’t get cold.

Scoggins continually comes back to dances throughout the semester, both to keep up skills in all four dances and so that students don’t get bored of a dance before he has a chance to teach them all of the moves.

“There’s always a little bit of a review at the beginning of class,” Scoggins said. “Last time we did waltz, but we’re just gonna review the swing for two songs here. Just gonna call the maneuvers, you guys execute, and then I’m gonna give you a song and you just play.”

Several students, like first-year marketing major Adrianna Parker, are happily surprised by the amount they’re learning.

“I love the course because I do my own dances, but I didn’t know that a waltz was so easy,” Parker said. “I didn’t know it was so easy to get in your

LEANNE STAHULAK STAFF WRITER

SOCIAL DANCE BRINGS STUDENTS TO THEIR FEET, ALLOWING THEM TO EXPRESS CREATIVITY WITH A PARTNER. STAFF WRITER LEANNE STAHULAK.

brain. I also knew about the salsa, but I didn’t know the different maneuvers, and we learned all about that.”

During their class last Tuesday, students learned how to do a rolling swing dip. The man first twirls his partner into the sweetheart position: right arm wrapped around her back with her arms crossed in front of her. Then he rolls his partner away from him before pulling her back in. The woman spins once, and on the second spin, hooks her arm behind her partner’s neck as he dips her.

After numerous attempts, several couples succeeded in doing the dip, so Scoggins moved on to showing them how to “enter” and “exit” the maneuver from a starting basic step. When Parker and her partner successfully completed the move all the way through, they broke into wide grins and congratulated each other.

Parker’s partner, senior sports leadership and management major Chase Munroe, is a former varsity player for the men’s ice hockey team. He and three other varsity hockey players took the

course to improve their dancing skills so they could use them in weddings and other social events. Munroe wanted to challenge himself and try something different.

“I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone.

And to be honest with you, it’s the most fun class I’ve been in this far at Miami,” Munroe said. “Scoggins and squad do a great job teaching the class the dances, getting everybody involved, and everyone’s having fun for a good 55 minutes.”

At the end of the semester, Scoggins hopes all of his students will feel comfortable stepping out on any dance floor.

“So many times you’ll go to a wedding or [social] event, and they’ll have a nice band or a DJ, and the dance floor is empty,” Scoggins said. “Nobody wants to get up there because they think they can’t dance. Well, there goes my students, getting out on the floor and having a great time. It’s all about fun and enjoyment of dance.” stahullc@miamioh.edu

PIPPIN! IS A COMING OF AGE STORY ABOUT A YOUNG PRINCE SEARCHING FOR MEANING, MAKING IT PERFECT FOR AN AUDIENCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS. THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN.

‘PIPPIN!’ SHOWCASES STAGE LEFT’S RANGE ERIN GLYNN

NEWS EDITOR Stage Left’s production of “Pippin!” was absolutely worth that exclamation point. Miami Univesrity’s only student-run musical theatre organization brought their characteristic enthusiasm to a performance equal parts amusing and disconcerting.

The musical is loosely set in Charlemagne’s France, though historical accuracy is not the point of “Pippin.” The story follows the young prince Pippin and his epic journey in search of fulfillment through war (represented by a stirring and well-choreographed dance battle), sex (an interpretive dance orgy) and a stint on a farm (a number involving feather boas and chicken beaks), all the while the Leading Player, who acts as a narrator of sorts, and her troupe urge him toward a dramatic finale.

The show was first conceived by Tony-nominated composer Stephen Schwartz in the 1970s as a student musical, and utilized the “Brechtian distancing effect,” an idea pioneered by the playwright Bertolt Brecht that uses fourth wall breaks to force audiences to consciously think about the decisions of the characters and confront their own joys and frustrations. The experimental aspects of the musical were on full display in Stage Left’s production as the actors blurred the line between performance and reality.

That experimental nature of the musical allows directors plenty of freedom in staging their

Charlie King: From encores to order-ups

own productions. The 2013 Broadway revival revitalized the material by turning the Leading Player and her troupe into a ringleader of circus performers. The East West Players production in Los Angeles featured a hip-hop and anime theme.

Micki Smolenski, a senior software engineering student and the director and choreographer of Stage Left’s production, went with a “burlesque/ cabaret” theme.

“I wanted to make it accessible to the stage, and circus just seemed a little too out there,” Smolenski said. “The cabaret or burlesque theme, I just felt it was the best because it could shine not only for our actors but for the space as well.”

“Pippin” as a show is intrinsically tied to the legacy of its first director and choreographer, Bob Fosse, who turned the show into “a hot and seriously cool seduction of an audience,” as Ben Brantley of The New York Times described it.

That’s a difficult atmosphere to replicate, but Stage Left’s ensemble brought a remarkable energy to the show, whether rolling on the stage as farm animals or somersaulting and cartwheeling their way through the Fosse-inspired choreography. The numbers the entire cast sang together were the best of the performance, particularly “Morning Glow” and “Finale.”

The cast also sprinkled some anachronistic jokes that were a huge hit with the modern audience. But the true crowd favorite was Ezra, a golden labrador and 4 Paws trainee who appeared to uproarious applause in the second act.

Madelyn Jett was enchanting and disturbing

as the Leading Player, who became increasingly unhinged as the show went on and was a delightful foil to Sean Montgomery’s earnest portrayal of Pippin.

“This was, by far, I think, the best show Stage Left has put on since I’ve been here,” Montgomery said after the show wrapped. “It was the most professional cast in a profound way. Everyone just came to do one thing and that was put on the show and I think everybody nailed it.”

The show was exceptionally well-cast. Senior theatre major Al Oliver III stole the show as Fastrada, as he served look after look and snuck conspiratorial winks to the audience. Emily Stowers in the role of Catherine had the pipes and the range, moving from power ballad to love song and screaming exposition with accordion accompaniment in between. At the end of “Kind of Woman,” Stowers sustained a note for so long it lasted through two rounds of applause.

Costuming for the show leaned heavily on mesh shirts and tap pants, which accentuated the cabaret theme, and there was some truly excellent prop work with a severed head.

The performance closed with Pippin and Catherine fleeing the theater and the Leading Player and her troupe creeping menacingly back onto the stage, reminding the audience that the show must go on, whether you want it to or not.

The milkshake machine roars as Charlie King swirls ice cream and chocolate sauce around a plastic cup. He’s wearing a red and white Cradle of Coaches baseball hat, thickframed chic rectangular black glasses and a red apron.

Topping off the frozen treat with a mountain of whipped cream, King inhales sharply and bellows, “CHOCOLATE milkshake for SARAH!” While King has only worked at Pulley Diner for a year, several students recognize him on sight. His contagious smile, outgoing personality and easy conversation with customers make him hard to forget.

But few students realize that this seemingly-permanent presence at Pulley didn’t always work in the food industry. In fact, at 12 years old, King dreamed of becoming a musician, traveling across the country and playing for audiences everywhere.

“That was my big dream: I was gonna go on the road and play music — and I did,” King said.

For 11 years, King played the drums and acted as the lead singer for various pop bands, cruising up and down the East Coast and through the Midwest on tour. They’d sometimes play six or seven nights a week, catering to the demands of their growing fanbase.

Even before King went on tour, he brought his drums with him when he signed up for the Navy right out of high school.

Along with three or four other musicians, King would play on the ship or in clubs around the towns they docked in.

“One of the most exciting places was what is now Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,” King said.

“We were on the ship and we had pulled into Guantánamo Bay, and we got to play at the officers club. Usually, you can’t go ashore, so that was pretty cool.”

While he may no longer play music on the road, today King has a group of guys who get together and jam with him. Considering they only play in King’s basement, he said they’re a certifiable “basement band.”

“I’ve gone full circle,” King said.

After retiring from the music business in 1985, King joined the staffing industry, working for Kelly Services and Kelly IT as a district manager. About 20 years later, one of King’s contacts in the staffing business called him up and told him about an opportunity to work in career services at Brown Mackie College in Cincinnati.

For the next five years, King worked oneon-one with students, helping them with resumes, internships and general career prep.

By the time Brown Mackie College closed down, King had spent years as the director of career services, overseeing a team of six other career counselors who advised different career programs.

Fifteen months ago, King came to Miami University looking for work.

He now had experience in higher education and a strong desire to work with students. But before applying to career services at Miami, King decided to get his foot in the door at the university through another job.

“Some people out there going, ‘Oh my god, it’s food service!’ I’m going, ‘Yeah, but it’s students!’” King said with a laugh.

“Actually, I love it. It’s the first time I’ve ever worked in food service, which is strange because most people, that’s where they start and get the opportunity to get some experience and then move on. Mine’s kind of the reverse; I retired from higher education then I came back here as a second career.”

King enjoys the fast pace, constant bustle and commotion at Pulley. But most of all, he treasures the relationships he’s built.

“I love working with the students. Sometimes we get crazy, there’ll be a long line, and I’ll yell out, ‘Hey, all my friends are here!

Let’s sing!’ So we’ll sing a song. Some crazy stuff,” King said. “That’s what I love; I love the interaction with the students and singing and music and all that kind of ties it all together.”

King knows he could just sit back and do his job, but that’s not how he operates.

When King goes to work, he goes in ready to make it a great day for him and everyone else around him.

“I’m just being myself, but I want them to feel good and get good service and want to come back,” King said. “It’s not just about getting the food, serving the food, getting the food, serving the food. It’s about connecting with some of the people, getting to know them — ‘Hey, Charlie, how you doing today?’ And that makes my day.” stahullc@miamioh.edu

“Some people are out there going, ‘Oh my god, it’s food service!’ I’m going, ‘Yeah, but it’s students!”

-Charlie King

@ee_glynn glynnee@miamioh.edu

DATTILEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

CULTURE 7

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Rock steppin’ RedHawks swing through the semester LEANNE STAHULAK STAFF WRITER

Sneakered feet shuffle over the linoleum floor as partners grasp hands and face each other. A lively voice rings out from the giant speakers to the side of the gymnasium, telling people to “frame up!” As the 24 students shift into position, Glen Miller’s “In the Mood” fills Phillips 033 with bold brass horns and a steady, light drum beat in the background.

The dancers take off.

Students rock from side to side and back and forth, swinging each other under their arms and spinning in place. The voice coming from the speaker calls out different maneuvers: “Overhead slide!”

“Infinite pretzel!”

The students comply, stretching their arms up and sliding underneath until the partners grasp one another by their fingertips before pulling each other close once again.

Ten weeks ago, many of these students would not have known the difference between a rock step and a half box. But in KNH 110S/T: Social Dance, learning these basics and more is the first step toward becoming a more experienced dancer.

Under the tutelage of former professional dancer Michael Scoggins and his “squad” of TAs, students enrolled in Social Dance learn how to swing, waltz, salsa and meringue by the end of the semester. The 55 minute class is technically split into two sections for registration, men’s and women’s, but that’s just to make sure the numbers are even for partners.

No dancing background is necessary to take the class and, ultimately, Scoggins hopes that he can dispel the timeworn excuse most people give when asked whether they can dance.

“The purpose behind the course was to share dance and the joy of ballroom dancing and how easy it is,” Scoggins said. “Because most people get this stigma: ‘Oh, I can’t dance.’ And in actuality, if you can walk, you can dance. It’s just that they need to know the tricks and the secrets and the breakdowns. Once they begin to understand that, they begin to enjoy the dance.”

Students start off the semester learning how to swing dance, but after learning the basics and about five to seven maneuvers, Scoggins will quickly switch them over to the waltz. Then, during the waltz unit, he’ll have them brush up on their swing dancing and teach them a new maneuver so that their swing skills don’t get cold.

Scoggins continually comes back to dances throughout the semester, both to keep up skills in all four dances and so that students don’t get bored of a dance before he has a chance to teach them all of the moves.

“There’s always a little bit of a review at the beginning of class,” Scoggins said. “Last time we did waltz, but we’re just gonna review the swing for two songs here. Just gonna call the maneuvers, you guys execute, and then I’m gonna give you a song and you just play.”

Several students, like first-year marketing major Adrianna Parker, are happily surprised by the amount they’re learning.

“I love the course because I do my own dances, but I didn’t know that a waltz was so easy,” Parker said. “I didn’t know it was so easy to get in your

LEANNE STAHULAK STAFF WRITER

SOCIAL DANCE BRINGS STUDENTS TO THEIR FEET, ALLOWING THEM TO EXPRESS CREATIVITY WITH A PARTNER. STAFF WRITER LEANNE STAHULAK.

brain. I also knew about the salsa, but I didn’t know the different maneuvers, and we learned all about that.”

During their class last Tuesday, students learned how to do a rolling swing dip. The man first twirls his partner into the sweetheart position: right arm wrapped around her back with her arms crossed in front of her. Then he rolls his partner away from him before pulling her back in. The woman spins once, and on the second spin, hooks her arm behind her partner’s neck as he dips her.

After numerous attempts, several couples succeeded in doing the dip, so Scoggins moved on to showing them how to “enter” and “exit” the maneuver from a starting basic step. When Parker and her partner successfully completed the move all the way through, they broke into wide grins and congratulated each other.

Parker’s partner, senior sports leadership and management major Chase Munroe, is a former varsity player for the men’s ice hockey team. He and three other varsity hockey players took the

course to improve their dancing skills so they could use them in weddings and other social events. Munroe wanted to challenge himself and try something different.

“I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone.

And to be honest with you, it’s the most fun class I’ve been in this far at Miami,” Munroe said. “Scoggins and squad do a great job teaching the class the dances, getting everybody involved, and everyone’s having fun for a good 55 minutes.”

At the end of the semester, Scoggins hopes all of his students will feel comfortable stepping out on any dance floor.

“So many times you’ll go to a wedding or [social] event, and they’ll have a nice band or a DJ, and the dance floor is empty,” Scoggins said. “Nobody wants to get up there because they think they can’t dance. Well, there goes my students, getting out on the floor and having a great time. It’s all about fun and enjoyment of dance.” stahullc@miamioh.edu

PIPPIN! IS A COMING OF AGE STORY ABOUT A YOUNG PRINCE SEARCHING FOR MEANING, MAKING IT PERFECT FOR AN AUDIENCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS. THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN.

‘PIPPIN!’ SHOWCASES STAGE LEFT’S RANGE ERIN GLYNN

NEWS EDITOR Stage Left’s production of “Pippin!” was absolutely worth that exclamation point. Miami Univesrity’s only student-run musical theatre organization brought their characteristic enthusiasm to a performance equal parts amusing and disconcerting.

The musical is loosely set in Charlemagne’s France, though historical accuracy is not the point of “Pippin.” The story follows the young prince Pippin and his epic journey in search of fulfillment through war (represented by a stirring and well-choreographed dance battle), sex (an interpretive dance orgy) and a stint on a farm (a number involving feather boas and chicken beaks), all the while the Leading Player, who acts as a narrator of sorts, and her troupe urge him toward a dramatic finale.

The show was first conceived by Tony-nominated composer Stephen Schwartz in the 1970s as a student musical, and utilized the “Brechtian distancing effect,” an idea pioneered by the playwright Bertolt Brecht that uses fourth wall breaks to force audiences to consciously think about the decisions of the characters and confront their own joys and frustrations. The experimental aspects of the musical were on full display in Stage Left’s production as the actors blurred the line between performance and reality.

That experimental nature of the musical allows directors plenty of freedom in staging their

Charlie King: From encores to order-ups

own productions. The 2013 Broadway revival revitalized the material by turning the Leading Player and her troupe into a ringleader of circus performers. The East West Players production in Los Angeles featured a hip-hop and anime theme.

Micki Smolenski, a senior software engineering student and the director and choreographer of Stage Left’s production, went with a “burlesque/ cabaret” theme.

“I wanted to make it accessible to the stage, and circus just seemed a little too out there,” Smolenski said. “The cabaret or burlesque theme, I just felt it was the best because it could shine not only for our actors but for the space as well.”

“Pippin” as a show is intrinsically tied to the legacy of its first director and choreographer, Bob Fosse, who turned the show into “a hot and seriously cool seduction of an audience,” as Ben Brantley of The New York Times described it.

That’s a difficult atmosphere to replicate, but Stage Left’s ensemble brought a remarkable energy to the show, whether rolling on the stage as farm animals or somersaulting and cartwheeling their way through the Fosse-inspired choreography. The numbers the entire cast sang together were the best of the performance, particularly “Morning Glow” and “Finale.”

The cast also sprinkled some anachronistic jokes that were a huge hit with the modern audience. But the true crowd favorite was Ezra, a golden labrador and 4 Paws trainee who appeared to uproarious applause in the second act.

Madelyn Jett was enchanting and disturbing

as the Leading Player, who became increasingly unhinged as the show went on and was a delightful foil to Sean Montgomery’s earnest portrayal of Pippin.

“This was, by far, I think, the best show Stage Left has put on since I’ve been here,” Montgomery said after the show wrapped. “It was the most professional cast in a profound way. Everyone just came to do one thing and that was put on the show and I think everybody nailed it.”

The show was exceptionally well-cast. Senior theatre major Al Oliver III stole the show as Fastrada, as he served look after look and snuck conspiratorial winks to the audience. Emily Stowers in the role of Catherine had the pipes and the range, moving from power ballad to love song and screaming exposition with accordion accompaniment in between. At the end of “Kind of Woman,” Stowers sustained a note for so long it lasted through two rounds of applause.

Costuming for the show leaned heavily on mesh shirts and tap pants, which accentuated the cabaret theme, and there was some truly excellent prop work with a severed head.

The performance closed with Pippin and Catherine fleeing the theater and the Leading Player and her troupe creeping menacingly back onto the stage, reminding the audience that the show must go on, whether you want it to or not.

The milkshake machine roars as Charlie King swirls ice cream and chocolate sauce around a plastic cup. He’s wearing a red and white Cradle of Coaches baseball hat, thickframed chic rectangular black glasses and a red apron.

Topping off the frozen treat with a mountain of whipped cream, King inhales sharply and bellows, “CHOCOLATE milkshake for SARAH!” While King has only worked at Pulley Diner for a year, several students recognize him on sight. His contagious smile, outgoing personality and easy conversation with customers make him hard to forget.

But few students realize that this seemingly-permanent presence at Pulley didn’t always work in the food industry. In fact, at 12 years old, King dreamed of becoming a musician, traveling across the country and playing for audiences everywhere.

“That was my big dream: I was gonna go on the road and play music — and I did,” King said.

For 11 years, King played the drums and acted as the lead singer for various pop bands, cruising up and down the East Coast and through the Midwest on tour. They’d sometimes play six or seven nights a week, catering to the demands of their growing fanbase.

Even before King went on tour, he brought his drums with him when he signed up for the Navy right out of high school.

Along with three or four other musicians, King would play on the ship or in clubs around the towns they docked in.

“One of the most exciting places was what is now Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,” King said.

“We were on the ship and we had pulled into Guantánamo Bay, and we got to play at the officers club. Usually, you can’t go ashore, so that was pretty cool.”

While he may no longer play music on the road, today King has a group of guys who get together and jam with him. Considering they only play in King’s basement, he said they’re a certifiable “basement band.”

“I’ve gone full circle,” King said.

After retiring from the music business in 1985, King joined the staffing industry, working for Kelly Services and Kelly IT as a district manager. About 20 years later, one of King’s contacts in the staffing business called him up and told him about an opportunity to work in career services at Brown Mackie College in Cincinnati.

For the next five years, King worked oneon-one with students, helping them with resumes, internships and general career prep.

By the time Brown Mackie College closed down, King had spent years as the director of career services, overseeing a team of six other career counselors who advised different career programs.

Fifteen months ago, King came to Miami University looking for work.

He now had experience in higher education and a strong desire to work with students. But before applying to career services at Miami, King decided to get his foot in the door at the university through another job.

“Some people out there going, ‘Oh my god, it’s food service!’ I’m going, ‘Yeah, but it’s students!’” King said with a laugh.

“Actually, I love it. It’s the first time I’ve ever worked in food service, which is strange because most people, that’s where they start and get the opportunity to get some experience and then move on. Mine’s kind of the reverse; I retired from higher education then I came back here as a second career.”

King enjoys the fast pace, constant bustle and commotion at Pulley. But most of all, he treasures the relationships he’s built.

“I love working with the students. Sometimes we get crazy, there’ll be a long line, and I’ll yell out, ‘Hey, all my friends are here!

Let’s sing!’ So we’ll sing a song. Some crazy stuff,” King said. “That’s what I love; I love the interaction with the students and singing and music and all that kind of ties it all together.”

King knows he could just sit back and do his job, but that’s not how he operates.

When King goes to work, he goes in ready to make it a great day for him and everyone else around him.

“I’m just being myself, but I want them to feel good and get good service and want to come back,” King said. “It’s not just about getting the food, serving the food, getting the food, serving the food. It’s about connecting with some of the people, getting to know them — ‘Hey, Charlie, how you doing today?’ And that makes my day.” stahullc@miamioh.edu

“Some people are out there going, ‘Oh my god, it’s food service!’ I’m going, ‘Yeah, but it’s students!”

-Charlie King

@ee_glynn glynnee@miamioh.edu

Entertainment

8 Katy Perry is 2019’s underdog

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Kanye ... we miss the old you

AIDEN COYNE

THE MIAMI STUDENT Knock knock.

Who’s there?

It’s Katy Perry — she wants to know if we’re still mad at her for cutting off all her hair and releasing “Witness.” Also, she brought three brand new singles.

The California Gurl took a short hiatus following the messy rollout of “Witness,” her fourth mainstream album in 2017. Lead single “Chained to the Rhythm” started the era off strong — debuting and simultaneously peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

From there, however, things only went downhill. Follow-up single “Bon Appétit” divided listeners with its clunky trap beat and controversial guest verse from Migos. Not even the Nicki Minaj-assisted “Swish Swish” could resuscitate her diminishing chart performance.

Despite the album launching at number one in the United States, partly due to concert ticket bundles, “Witness” failed to achieve substantial commercial viability. With two more singles getting desperately squeezed out — and subsequently ignored by the wider public — onlookers whispered to one another: “Is Katy Perry over?”

But as much as I want to scrutinize the “Witness” era, in the words of Perry herself, “that was then and this is now.”

This, of course, refers to the recent release of three standalone singles starting with the absolute banger “Never Really Over,” which arrived earlier this year on May 31. The Zedd-assisted EDM smash soared to number 15 on Billboard, her highest chart peak since “Chained to the Rhythm.”

This time around, Perry isn’t marketing herself as the woke-pop pioneer. Instead, she’s going back to what she does best: singing infectious hooks about romance and good times. The return to her roots is much better than awkwardly masquerading as the politically forward bastion of the pop industry while working with homophobic artists.

And speaking of awkward, Perry’s next single truly embodies the word.

“Small Talk,” which was released on Aug. 9, doesn’t offer anything too exciting. Still, it does a decent enough job reflecting on the emotional turbulence of navigating a former romantic involvement (“Isn’t it weird / that you’ve seen me naked?”). But the real shortcoming lies in the fact that it feels too much like a rejected “Witness” track – if you can even imagine such a thing.

Although “Small Talk” is not nearly as uncomfortable to listen to as some of “Witness’” most blundered moments, it falls victim to the same overthinking and emphasis on unsubstantial lyrics. It also misses the mark when it comes to crafting the sound of today’s modern pop music.

The unorthodox production eschews any identifiable genre and lacks many memorable moments.

The hands-down winner in this trio of singles is definitely “Harleys in Hawaii,” a sultry tropical escape co-produced by Charlie Puth. This song sets the perfect vibe for a hot and sexy summer, which is unfortunate since it only just came out last month – far too late to capitalize on 2019’s Hot Girl Summer.

Regardless, Perry achieves what may be her most effective songwriting and vocal performance to date.

Especially when compared to some of “Witness’” straight-up cringeworthy lyrical and conceptual fumbles, “Harleys in Hawaii” impressively sets a mood and sticks to it effortlessly.

The beat follows a seductive downtempo rhythm that forces you to sway and groove like a palm tree.

The repetition in the chorus mimics the ups and downs of zooming down a hilly road in a motorcycle.

For extra authenticity, the distinctive Harley-Davidson engine roar makes an appearance in the song’s bridge, proving some real attention-to-detail.

Unfortunately, Perry’s 2019 solo work still appears to be struggling to make a commercial impact. The pop juggernaut used to be unstoppable, with unprecedented triumph in topping the charts. And while she’s still the first and only female artist to secure five number one singles from the same album, her latest singles have yet to replicate her former success.

Will she be able to reclaim her spot at the top? So far, that’s proving to be a tall order.

As far as pop stars are concerned, it seems Katy Perry is the one that got away. @aidencoyne1224 coyneaj@miamioh.edu

GORMANWM@MIAMIOH.EDU

2019 MARKS THE 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF KANYE’S VMA INCIDENT, ONE OF HIS FIRST MAJOR PUBLIC BLUNDERS. ILLUSTRATOR MIN KIM

BRIAH LUMPKINS

ASST. NEWS EDITOR I hated rap as kid.

Yet, my entire family has always had a proverbial love for rap/hiphop music.

My mom had a deep love for Tupac. She remembers exactly where she was when she got the news he had been shot. My dad — a dedicated Biggie fan — was her direct rival. Lil Kim, Snoop and Jay-Z were also among the artists that would play throughout my house.

My music taste was solely limited to R&B and soul. At the time, I was dedicated to my faves: Lauryn Hill, Justin Timberlake and D’Angelo. The thought of cheating on them with another artist outside

v

of the genre was too much for my young self to handle.

For a while, there was no rap artist that could hold my interest.

Sure, I love the hip-hop classics “Big Poppa,” “No Diggity” and “Hypnotize” for example, but those are only singular songs. There was never an entire hip-hop album that held my interest from start to finish.

That is, until Kanye came around.

‘The College Dropout,” his first studio album, was like nothing I had ever heard before. The production reminded me of the R&B songs I had grown to love and his lyrics were a change in tune from the artists that came before him.

There was music, but with a message. Between songs, Kanye

would insert skits that would double as comedy, but also shared his feelings about the real benefits he thought college has to offer. Long story short — to him, there aren’t many.

Kanye thinks college is a scam.

Yeah, you may be smart as hell, but all college has to offer is a degree and a gateway to a job without much space for passion or creativity.

And also, you’ll be broke. He mentions that a lot too.

As a college sophomore, I can’t say I necessarily agree with his sentiment, but it was so different than the artist I had grown up listening to. And honestly, I was into it.

This album is the shit. Songs like “All Falls Down” and “Jesus Walks” became instant classics. Plus, the

man literally wrote and rapped “Through the Wire” with his mouth wired shut after being involved in a car accident. It was enough to keep me hooked for his next two albums.

I spent a portion of my life cheating on Justin Timberlake (and Justin, baby, I still love you) to memorize the lyrics to the ‘The College Dropout,” “Late Registration” and “Graduation” ensemble.

Although I see flaws in his rejection of college, this album changed the rap game entirely. No one was doing what Kanye was at the time.

He inspired a whole new generation of rap and music production. Kanye West was legendary.

In 2019? Eh, not so much. At all.

Kanye has been putting himself on Hollywood’s shit list for years, between interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs to recently proclaiming that 400 years of American slavery was a choice during a recent TMZ interview.

And, coinciding with his public downfall, there has also been a drop in the quality and sound of Kanye’s music. His lyrics have become dark and strayed away from the sound that made me fall in love with him in the first place.

Now, Kanye’s most recent production, “Jesus is King,” has an unrecognizable sound.

In the album, Kanye recounts his journey of finding Christ. He also discusses his struggle for acceptance among other Christians, like in the song “Hands On,” where he raps “... said I’m finna do a gospel album. / What have you been hearing from the Christians? / They’ll be the first one to judge me, make it feel like nobody loves me.”

I’m all about celebrities turning their lives around and am in no way shaming him for his spiritual journey... but this new music makes me wonder if Kayne is trying to glorify God or just himself?

This wouldn’t be the first time he’s declared himself a “God.” In a 2013 interview with Zane Lowe, Kanye explains his song “I Am A God” from the album ‘Yeezus’.

During the interview Kayne discusses the controversial song and explains that “When someone comes up and says ‘I am a God,’ everybody says, ‘Who does he think he is?’ I just told you who I was ... a God.” Kanye changed the game when he came out. He put so many chart-dominating artists like, Big Sean, Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar on the map. His impact is clearly widespread across hip-hop.

But he’s let it get to his head. He has strayed away from his humble roots and now only creates music that is self glorifying.

Kanye impact may be legendary, but he is no God. @briah_lumpkins lumpkibm@miamioh.edu

‘Big Mouth’ is back and even more awkward than before

MEGAN MISKE

THE MIAMI STUDENT Sexuality, child marriage, incest, cell phone addictions and Florida; these are regular things that middle schoolers go through, right? According to Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” it is. The animated comedy has never been afraid of crossing over the line and season three is direct proof of that.

Season three picks up where the previous season left off. Nick Birch (Nick Kroll) is trying to get used to Connie (Maya Rudolph) as his Hormone Monster; the monsters that persuade the kids to pursue their sexual arousals, Jay Bilzerian (Jason Mantzoukas) is questioning his sexuality and Andrew Glouberman (John Mulaney) is trying to grow back his hair while struggling with his unreciprocated feelings for Missy Foreman-Greenwald (Jenny Slate).

Some of the recurring characters

from previous seasons get bigger plot lines: Matthew (Andrew Rannells) gets his first boyfriend, Lola (Kroll) gets into a questionable relationship with the creepy counselor Mr. Lizer (Rob Huebel) and Duke Ellington (Jordan Peele) gets his own episode dedicated to his experience losing his virginity.

New characters are also introduced in season three, like the pansexual student Ali (Ali Wong), Nick’s new phone Cellsea (Chelsea Peretti) and Andrew’s cousin/lover Cherry (Julie Klausner).

The new season tries to fit a laundry list of social issues into only 10 episodes. Throughout the season, the show deals with toxic masculinity, LGBTQ+ issues, the #MeToo movement, white supremacy and prescription drug addiction.

The show knocked the toxic masculinity storyline out of the park with the episode “Girls Are Angry Too.” After Jay’s horny mind wanders during woodshop that results in a loss of Andrew’s finger, a very strict (and also very sexist) dress code gets put into place. The girls at Bridgeton create a “SlutWalk,” which creates a hostile argument. This hostile argument causes a frustrated Andrew to inadvertently join a white nationalist group.

The show also tried to tackle technology addiction, which is a fa-

miliar problem to today’s teenagers.

Cell phones are discussed heavily throughout the episodes “Cellsea” and “Obsessed.”

But not every episode hit the nail on the head.

A not-so familiar problem that teenagers face is introduced during the episodes “Florida” and “How To Have An Orgasm.” Andrew’s cousin, Cherry, is introduced and Andrew becomes attracted to her.

This cringeworthy incest storyline gets even weirder when Andrew decides to send his cousin a pantsless picture.

During the episode “Rankings,” we meet a new character, Ali. She is the new student that identifies as pansexual. While her identity inspires Jay to come out as bisexual (for the wrong reasons), her lengthy class introduction felt almost like preaching.

Her explanation of the differences between pansexuality and bisexuality has come under scrutiny for inadvertently pitting the LGBTQ+ community against each other while also unsuccessfully dumbing down a very complex topic using a metaphor about Mexican food. The co-creator of the show, Andrew Glouberman, has apologized and said this scene “missed the mark.”

Musically, “Big Mouth” was lacking this season, with the exception

of Maurice the Hormone Monster (Kroll)’s heavy metal performance of “Anything Goes In Florida.”

But the episode, “Disclosure the Movie: the Musical,” helped make up for the lack of musical numbers.

This episode was also the season’s best, plot-wise. The episode moves from the protests against the very inappropriate musical to Missy and Nick’s budding romance to Lizer gaslighting the very naive Lola.

There is also a hilarious subplot that tries to steer away from the other serious topics — the jobless and homeless Coach Steve (Kroll) gets a make over from the “Queer Eye” Fab Five. And, after Mr. Lizer gets fired for taking advantage of Lola, Coach Steve finally gets his job as a gym teacher back.

Season three of “Big Mouth” is obviously trying to keep up with “woke culture.” It is important to discuss, but it has steered away from the awkward experiences real teenagers go through during puberty.

This show should make us think and then laugh, but it felt like there was more thinking than laughing.

Netflix has renewed Big Mouth for three more seasons and also a spin-off show, “Human Resources.”

miskem@miamioh.edu

GORMANWM@MIAMIOH.EDU

9

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

#FREEBRITNEY

Double standards in the music industry

DAVID KWIATKOWSKI STAFF WRITER

It’s no secret that the music industry is notoriously sexist.

But when Kanye West’s new album “Jesus Is King” dropped — coinciding with the announcement West stopped taking his bipolar disorder medication during the album’s production — I couldn’t help but think about Britney Spears.

Granted, I think about Britney Spears nearly ev-

ery day, especially these days, because of everything she has been going through.

That’s because Spears has been in a conservatorship since 2008 after her very public breakdown.

A conservatorship is a legal hold which is put into place when someone is so mentally incapacitated, they cannot take care of their own medical or financial needs and someone is appointed to do so for the conservatee.

Her father, Jamie Spears is the sole conservator of her estate. This means legally, Spears cannot make purchases for herself, drive a car, vote or do anything a normal U.S. citizen can do without permission from her dad.

Earlier this year, she cancelled her second Las Vegas residency months before it was set to open, saying that it was due to her father’s sudden illness. Shortly after, it was revealed Spears had entered a mental health facility to cope with her father’s sickness.

But that wasn’t the full story.

Things started to take a turn when the podcast “Britney’s Gram” got a voicemail from a verified source, a paralegal who works in the law offices that handle Spears’ conservatorship. The voicemail revealed Spears had been in the mental health facility much longer than the public had known.

In reality, Spears’ residency in Vegas was cancelled because she had issues with her medication, and her father forced Spears into the facility against her will, according to the source.

Twelve years have passed since Spears’ breakdown, and while I do believe the court’s decision to grant her parents conservatorship was well-intentioned, she’s in a different place today.

Spears has released multiple albums and gone on multiple international tours since 2007, but she cannot shop at Target or leave the state of California without getting permission from her dad.

Either way you look at it, her management team comes out looking like the bad guy.

As the sole conservator of his daughter’s estate, Jamie is either forcing Britney to go out and work when she cannot mentally withstand it, or her team is using this conservatorship to keep her under their control while her father and team sit back and count their money.

And come to think of it, there is no reasonable explanation as to why the conservatorship has lasted this long.

Spears has been under media scrutiny since the moment people saw her belly button in the 1998 “...

Baby One More Time” music video.

There was a time when Spears could not go anywhere without paparazzi tracking her every move.

People threw her name through the dirt, accused her of being an unfit mother and not measuring up to the role model the public wanted her to be.

No one could possibly keep it all

together under that level of pressure. Plus, publicly discussing mental health with empathy was much more taboo 12 years ago.

Back in 2007, we all cheered and jeered as Spears fell from the pedestal society had put her on.

And she has been paying the ultimate price since then.

We didn’t take away Justin Bieber’s right to drive a car away from him after he cracked under societal pressure. Chris Brown still has control over his finances after pleading guilty to domestic violence. Kanye West can stop taking his medication, tweet that he’s running for president and throw his most ridiculous takes into the void without anyone calling into question whether or not he should be in charge of his estate.

Call Spears’ conservatorship what it is: sexism.

Women are punished and held to a higher standard when they make mistakes, while men can mess up as many times as they want to without being held accountable.

Spears’ conservatorship is under investigation after several incidents

in which the validity of its existence have been called into question.

Hopefully, Spears will have her well-deserved freedom and independence soon enough and stop being punished for mistakes that she was pushed to make by the pressures of society over a decade ago. #FreeBritney.

May all the women who are also held captive by the double standards of society be freed as well. Let us hope that one day celebrities are treated as people — not as public possessions of society. kwiatkdm@miamioh.edu

“Women are punished and held to a higher standard when they make mistakes while men can mess up as many times as they want without being held accountable.”

DESIGN EDITOR CONNOR WELLS

Five new songs you should Previewing ‘Pokémon listen to right now Sword and Shield’ from longtime fans MATTHEW RUBENSTEIN THE MIAMI STUDENT

WILL GORMAN

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Charly Bliss – “Threat” Brooklyn-based band Charly Bliss recently followed up their critically acclaimed LP “Young Enough” with “Supermoon,” a five-track EP bridging the gap between “Young Enough” and their 2017 album “Guppy.” Rounding out “Supermoon” is the succinctly-written, sweetly-sung “Threat,” a three-minute ode to instability in relationships. Lead singer Eva Hendricks sings precariously of how she “can forgive anything [and] it’s absolutely terrifying,” and with her brother, Miami University alum Sam Hendricks, on drums, the song maintains its sense of authority and power the whole way through.

Dua Lipa – “Don’t Start Now” After taking home the Grammy Award for Best New Artist earlier this year, Dua Lipa returns with the explosive disco-driven “Don’t Start Now,” an empowering anthem sure to soundtrack more than a handful of breakups. Ian Kirkpatrick, who produced Lipa’s 2017 smash hit “New Rules,” returns and proves to make a truly magical pairing with Lipa’s energetic vocals and biting lyrics. Case in point: If you want to hope that Lipa won’t come back with bangers this time around?

Don’t start now.

Lucy Dacus – “Fool’s Gold” Written moments after the conclusion of a New Year’s Eve party, “Fool’s Gold” finds critically acclaimed indie rocker Lucy Dacus ruminating on loss, change and conversation after the guests leave her home. A quieter track backed by guitar strums and poignant violins, “Fool’s Gold” opens Dacus’ “2019” EP, a collection of seven singles each commemorating a holiday. The song is lyrical sentimentality at a

CHARLY BLISS’ “THREAT” ROUNDS OUT A HANDFUL OF OUTTAKES FROM THEIR RECENT LP. CONTRIBUTED BY TWITTER @CHARLYBLISS

peak – Dacus sings of how “the knot in [her] gut is coming with” her into the new year while sipping champagne alone. Haven’t we all been there?

Tennis – “Runner” Calling it the most challenging song the band has ever written, Tennis – made up of husbandand-wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore – released “Runner” last week as the lead single for their upcoming fifth studio album “Swimmer.” Containing several religious allusions, “Runner” weaves a narrative together about emotional hunger and aspirations of escapism, with Moore’s vocals reaching career heights as she sings of “wandering the desert” with beads of sweat running down her neck. While the song’s meaning is unclear at times, the seamless production and talented vocal performance make it worth running toward.

San Fermin – “Run Away With Me” After the departure of lead singer Charlene Kaye this past April, Brooklyn-based indie rock collective San Fermin came back swinging with “The Cormorant I” – the first of two albums in “The Cormorant” series – and supported the record with a national tour. As a part of the live set’s encore, the band began covering Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Run Away With Me,” with new San Fermin vocalists Karlie Bruce and Claire Wellin harmonizing on a quieter folk-driven rendition of the 2015 pop hit.

Bruce and Wellin take Jepsen’s energizing track and run with it down more soothing roads, ultimately producing a track not too far removed from what one might hear at a local coffeehouse’s acoustic open mic night. What the track lacks in pep it makes up for in calming strings and sweetly-composed vocal arrangements, proving yet again that San Fermin has enough tricks up its sleeve to put on a whole indie circus.

gormanwm@miamioh.edu

“Pokémon Sword and Shield” are the latest upcoming installments in publisher Nintendo’s and developer Game Freak’s long-running “Pokémon” series. They will be the first main series entries on a home console, the Nintendo Switch. The games will take place in the Galar Region, a United Kingdom-inspired environment.

These games will mark the eighth generation of new Pokémon, some of which were revealed before the games’ release. These include Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble, the new starter Pokémon players can receive at the start of the games.

Pokémon from older generations such as Zigzagoon, Koffing and Ponyta will have new region-exclusive forms.

Lastly, the game’s main Legendary Pokémon (seen on the box art) are Zacian, a massive wolf-like Pokémon with a sword in its mouth, and Zamazenta, a wolf-like Pokémon with a shield on the front of its body.

A major new gameplay feature in Sword and Shield is “Dynamaxing,” where players can command their in-battle Pokémon to grow huge and allow it three turns to use powered-up versions of its attacks.

The games will also feature the “Wild Area,” a massive overworld connecting the game’s towns with wild Pokémon either lurking in grass or wandering around. The Wild Area will be home to new raid battles, where up to four players can work together to take down permanently-Dynamaxed Pokémon in the field.

It’s no secret that Pokémon remains a massive worldwide phenomenon and has been for the past 23 years. With the millions of video games sold, anime series, real life trading card games and merchandise, it’s more than likely people are aware of Pokémon.

Even on Miami’s campus, several clubs have some sort of affiliation with Pokémon: MU Anime, the Miami Electronic Gaming Association (MEGA) and especially the Department for the Knowledge and Improvement of Pokémon (MUDKIP), a club based around competitive Pokémon battling. Although “Pokémon” has built up a large fanbase over the years, one aspect of these upcoming games has created major rifts.

The game will only allow Pokémon that are in the game’s Regional Dex, rather than the full National Dex. This means a currently unknown portion of the 800+ Pokémon from previous installments cannot be in the game.

Simply put: Fans won’t be able to catch them all.

This decision shook the fanbase, and the video revealing the news has an 80 percent dislike ratio with 1,780,000+ views.

“I’m a longtime fan who’s enjoyed the constant support of the previous Pokémon and just feel sad to see a lot of them go,” senior and MEGA officer Nathan Oney said. “I have to kind of cross my fingers and hope it isn’t a terrible thing. I’m probably not gonna purchase the game because I don’t feel like that is the Pokémon values I’ve grown up with. It just … doesn’t feel whole, you know?”

Others have a more positive stance.

Senior Steven Kyle, a former officer for MEGA with a computer science major, is more accepting of the change in consideration of Pokémon’s casual demographic.

“What I’ve seen of ‘Sword and Shield’ looks fine so far. It’s gonna be what Pokémon’s always been,” Kyle said. “I like the fact that each Pokémon game now can be an individual experience.”

Kyle sees merit in the National Dex changes.

“You gotta think of this from the perspective of a new fan,” Kyle said.

“This is gonna be their first Pokémon game. They don’t want to have to go out and get all these old games. It’s gonna be a huge step up for the individuality of each Pokémon.”

Some are avoiding news on the game all together until they play it.

“I’ve been avoiding all information beyond the original trailers,” said Ryan Casey, a junior and secretary for MUDKIP. “I want to be more excited for it and I don’t want to know too much about it before it comes out.”

Casey is excited to experience everything he doesn’t know about the game during his playthrough. The National Dex cut is not a dealbreaker to him.

“Pokémon Sword and Shield” will be released this Friday, Nov. 15, for the Nintendo Switch. rubensms@miamioh.edu

“It’s gonna be a huge step up for the individuality of each Pokémon.”

-Steven Kyle

Sports

10

VINELCA@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

A father and son shared a sport. Now, they share a team.

EMILY DATTILO

CULTURE EDITOR When freshman forward Ryan Savage dresses for a hockey game, it’s left skate, right skate. Left knee pad, right knee pad.

On the bench, his helmet, jersey, shorts and socks form a wave of red.

Curly, dark brown hair pokes out under his helmet, his green eyes trained on the rink. When his skates touch the ice, Ryan joins a hockey family legacy that stretches back for generations.

His father, Brian Savage, played at Miami from 1990-1993 and went on to play for Team Canada, winning a silver medal in the 1994 Olympics.

Brian also spent 12 years in the NHL, and his uncle, Larry Hillman, won six Stanley Cup Championships.

During the 2005-2006 season, the last year of Brian’s career, his wife, Debbie, brought Ryan and his younger brother, Red, to every home game, “so they could try to remember dad playing in the NHL.” Brian retired from hockey when Ryan was six years old.

Born in Montreal, Ryan has always been around hockey. It’s taken his family everywhere — from Arizona to Pennsylvania to Austria to Michigan — and he says his favorite hockey players and teams have shifted depending on where he’s living.

For instance, during the summers, he works out with one of his favorite players, Nicholas Foligno, the captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Having moved so many places, Ryan calls “home” wherever his family is. Having a dad who played in the NHL instilled in him a sense of drive and determination.

“He’s taught me a lot,” Ryan said.

“He’s always told me to push hard, nothing’s gonna be given to me, and I have to work for everything just like he did.”

Ryan has played for several different teams, including the U.S. Youth Olympic Team when he was 15. He

MIAMI HOCKEY FRESHMAN RYAN SAVAGE COMES FROM A FAMILY OF MULTIPLE GENERATIONS OF NHL PLAYERS. HIS FATHER, BRIAN, ALSO SKATED FOR MIAMI. CONTRIBUTED BY BRIAN SAVAGE

ended up winning the gold medal in Lillehammer, Norway — coincidentally, the same city where his dad won an Olympic medal for Canada.

“He’s had quite the experience, and he has a gold medal. I have a silver medal, so he one-upped me,” Brian said.

Ryan started thinking about college when he was 14 or 15, and after he visited Miami a few times, he realized pretty quickly that he wanted to come here.

Given their history with Miami hockey, Ryan and his dad saw Family Weekend as a special time — a moment to look back at old times and to greet the next stage of this hockey legacy. (Brian’s middle son, Red, has

FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK

Miami isn’t doing the postseason math

committed to play for Miami in two years and his youngest son, Rory, plays pee-wee hockey).

“I’ve seen so many pictures of him [Brian] in the Miami jersey, and I’ve seen so many videos of him playing,” Ryan said. “To finally see me in a jersey, after waiting so long to actually put one on, and see my dad out there with me and my mom, it was a great feeling.”

Years ago, when Brian came to Miami, current head coach Chris Bergeron was a sophomore on the team and eventually team captain.

The pair were roommates and played on the same line for a while.

“First of all, he [Brian] is a much, much better player than I was,”

Bergeron said, laughing. “The things that come to mind are, ‘get Brian the puck, and then get out of the way.’ He was just an exceptional talent.”

Brian says that Bergeron is a big reason for his own hockey career, and he sees him as a strong role model for his son.

“If Ryan can mentor his characteristics, he’ll turn out a great man,” Brian said. “He’s [Bergeron] one of the most loyal friends that I have. Just his morals, his hard work, his intensity — and I know he wears Miami on his sleeve — and he’s gonna turn the program around.”

During practice, Bergeron moves across the ice in a fluid motion, a whistle around his neck as he shouts

CHRIS VINEL

The first-place Miami RedHawks had fun at Friday’s press conference.

Less than 36 hours after beating rival Ohio, 24-21, head coach Chuck Martin gave nothing but positive answers. His players, Jack Sorenson and Doug Costin, took turns as mock reporters from “The Miami Player” and “The Miami Athlete” while the other spoke at the podium.

Martin said he had received more congratulatory messages the day after the Battle of the Bricks victory than the total he got in the previous six years as Miami’s coach.

Sorenson asked Costin what animal the senior defensive lineman thought he played like.

“Tiger,” he answered.

Costin wanted to know what midweek MACtion games meant to the redshirt junior wideout.

“Man, MACtion is my whole life right now,” Sorenson replied.

But the joke-around atmosphere was brief for the RedHawks. They still have work to do.

“Just ’cause you did great last week, that doesn’t mean you’re going to do great this week,” Martin said.

Up one game in the division with three to play, Miami controls its own postseason destiny, but now isn’t the time to get lackadaisical. Sorenson said he and his teammates won’t allow themselves to calculate the number of wins needed to clinch the conference or speculate bowl destinations.

“I think we just don’t do the mental math,” Sorenson said. “None of us are good at math, so we’re not going to try.

We just take one game at a time.”

The next game is against the Bowling Green Falcons.

“They definitely have some NFL flavor to what they do on both sides of the ball,” Martin said after speaking highly of the Falcons’ coaching staff. “Structurally, they throw a ton at you on offense and defense.”

For only the fourth time this season, Miami will play at Yager Stadium.

The RedHawks play there the next two weeks before heading to Ball State for the regular-season finale.

“I’ve always loved the road, but that’s just because — I don’t know. I’ve got some issues, probably,” Martin said. “I like beating them with their fans there.”

Sorenson was much more excited about returning home after a few weeks away. But he’s not letting the comfort and winning haze set in. He was redshirting his first year in Oxford last time Miami played postseason football.

“It’s a one-game season,” Sorenson said. “We’re looking at Bowling Green as the biggest game of the year right now.”

The contest against the Falcons will kick off tomorrow at 8 p.m. The game can be watched on ESPNU. Injury updates Redshirt senior wide receiver Luke Mayock left Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury.

“Luke’s not doing too good,” Martin said. “Other than that, we came out of [the game] pretty good.”

Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Josh Maize missed the entire OU game after getting hurt at Kent State on Oct. 26.

Neither practiced Monday. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

dattilec@miamioh.edu

BADMINTON CLUB SERVES UP A SENSE OF HOME FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

MIAMI RIDES A THREE-GAME WIN STREAK INTO TOMORROW’S GAME AGAINST THE BOWLING GREEN FALCONS. THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN

SPORTS EDITOR

directions at the players, pushing them to their best.

Outside of practice, he talks with a palpable energy and contagious enthusiasm. When he speaks about Ryan, he smiles, explaining that the similarities between father and son have already unveiled themselves.

“The way he shoots the puck, and that’s strong praise because Brian shot it so well,” Bergeron said. “Ryan has a sneaky good shot, and he’s able to use it quite a bit, and he gets himself in position to use it quite a bit.”

Bergeron mentioned that Ryan’s beginning to show his dad’s competitive streak when pushed, and he says the similarities aren’t limited to the ice.

“Nevermind that he looks just like his dad,” Bergeron added. “It’s uncanny. He’s his father, for sure.”

During summer orientation, Brian showed Ryan around campus, took him to meet some Farmer School of Business professors that were here when he attended Miami and took him to lunch at Bagel & Deli, one of his favorite places Uptown.

The start of freshman year has been a busy one for Ryan. An undecided business major, he juggles the first-year-integrated-core classes and life as a Division I hockey player. His goal is to eventually play professional hockey for as long as he can.

He and the other first-years live together in the dorms and like to hang out, watch television and take trips to Chipotle.

Joining the Miami hockey team has given him a set of leaders, including senior captain Gordie Green, who’ve helped him and the other freshmen navigate their first semester.

“I just want to learn as much as I can, take it in,” Ryan said. “Obviously team success is the number one goal, but if personal success is there too, then I’m happy.”

THE BADMINTON CLUB HAS BECOME A HOME AWAY FROM HOME FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS. THE MIAMI STUDENT ZACH REICHMAN

RACHEL BERRY NEWS EDITOR

A thwaping sound fills the gym as racket after racket propels a small, white object over the net.

On the intermediate court at the far end of the room, the players move with speed and agility, their shoes squeaking against the floor as they race to hit hard-to-reach serves.

One player serves, gently hitting the shuttlecock, or birdie as it’s more commonly called, over the net. It soars through the air, and the girl on the other side jumps up to reach it, waiting for it to fall before hitting it over the net and out of reach of her opponents.

Many of these students attend practice almost daily, spending hours in the Phillips Hall gym

practicing badminton.

The badminton club’s practice times are open gyms, so members come whenever they can and play with whoever else is there.

The courts are split between beginner and intermediate levels.

They play doubles or singles, depending on how many people are there that evening.

Those in the badminton club mainly just compete against each other, but they have one or two out-of-town tournaments a year against the five or so universities in the state that have teams. Usually whichever of the intermediate-level players are free will attend the tournaments.

It’s not about winning or losing, though, said former president and senior Jianghao Liao.

“It’s about your interest, and it’s about the environment,” he said. “We all join together for badminton for fun.”

Usually around 20-30 people come to each practice, almost all of whom are international students.

Badminton is a popular sport in China. Liao said that while many

American children grow up playing football in their backyard or basketball in the driveway, badminton is usually the sport of choice for children in China.

It’s simple to learn and doesn’t require much equipment — just a net, rackets and a shuttlecock.

It can be set up anywhere and doesn’t require an official court.

Liao also said since there are more people in China, the middle and high school sports teams are more competitive, making casual play with friends or in a club more common.

The badminton club offers a place for these students to practice a sport that’s familiar in a place far from home.

“In classes, at the first place, it’s not really a comfortable zone for me, so after classes I can go to ... someplace around Chinese people,” said senior Samuel Wang, a member of the club. “It’s really helpful, so I don’t need to have mental issues like in someplace I don’t know very much.”

Many of these students have become close friends. Although the group is mainly made up of international students, two domestic students come regularly.

Senior Nico Erazo joined the team his sophomore year because he enjoyed playing badminton in P.E. class in high school.

“Sometimes it can feel like the Chinese students are kind of playing their own game, and I’m just kind of spectating, but I feel like being there for as long as I have and knowing everybody, there’s still a large degree of acceptance,” Erazo said. “We greet each other and laugh and have a good time.”

He encourages anyone interested to come try out the club.

“Don’t let a different group of people discourage you from — not even just the badminton club — any club,” Erazo said. “It was kind of intimidating to start with … It’s a group of people that, while they might not approach you to bring you into their fold, they’re still by and large welcoming … If you want to play, you’ll stick around, and if you stick around you’ll get to know everybody.” @racheldberry berryrd@miamioh.edu

VINELCA@MIAMIOH.EDU

SPORTS 11

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

DOMINANCE CONTINUES

FIELD HOCKEY WINS MAC, GOES TO NCAA TOURNAMENT

Hockey ’Hawks smashed, lose opening series to North Dakota

CHRIS VINEL

SPORTS EDITOR The Miami University RedHawks are field hockey Mid-American Conference Tournament Champions for the third year in a row.

They beat Kent State, 2-1, in Saturday’s MAC finale at the Miami Field Hockey Complex. After the Golden Flashes scored in the first, Miami made it dramatic, striking for two fourth-quarter goals to claim the victory.

Junior Leonor Berlie, who provided the go-ahead goal, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

After receiving automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament, the RedHawks head to Stanford tomorrow to take on the Cardinal.

The opening-round match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. @ChrisAVinel vinelca@miamioh.edu

SOPHOMORE FORWARD MONTE GRAHAM BATTLES FOR THE PUCK DURING A 4-4 TIE AGAINST NEW HAMPSHIRE ON OCT. 12 AT THE GOGGIN ICE CENTER. THE MIAMI STUDENT MACY WHITAKER

MIKE GUISTOLISE STAFF WRITER

“Always look on the bright side of life.”

Eric Idle’s famous lyrics are probably what most Miami University hockey fans are saying to themselves after watching the RedHawks this past weekend.

A dismal opening weekend to National Collegiate Hockey Conference play equated to being outscored 12-5 in two games with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks (7-1-1, 2-0-0 NCHC) and Miami’s senior goaltender being pulled for a second time this season.

As the jumble of hawk-named teams took the ice, a few key takeaways emerged: Sixty minutes The biggest issue that has come up time and again is the ability (or lack thereof) to play a complete hockey game, win or lose, start to finish.

It doesn’t help when the team can’t seem to get its footing in the early moments of the game. Whenever an opposing team has scored first this season, the RedHawks have either lost or tied.

Getting outshot implied more than just extra pressure on the goaltenders this past weekend. The ’Hawks continued to get barraged on the defensive end, giving up breakaways and relying on a goaltender to bail them out after miscommunications.

If Miami can’t figure out how to maintain steady play for an entire game, fans could be in for another rough season.

Miami’s power play: still M.I.A.

Time to finish strong

Fiftieth out of 58.

That’s where the RedHawk power play sits after nine games, converting on just four of 37 total attempts. For any non-math majors out there, that comes out to 10.8 percent.

Capitalization of an enemy’s mistakes once again slipped through the grasp of the RedHawks, as the team went one for nine last weekend.

It’s starting to look like the ineffective power play is seeping into five-on-five play and causing further offensive frustration.

Hopefully, there is an end in sight for this ineptitude, before the two-game skid Miami is on gets longer.

HOLY SMOKES! The end of the regular season for volleyball is right around the corner and the RedHawks are now in control of their destiny as the postseason inches ever closer.

The two remaining matches against Bowling Green and Western Michigan are sure to be nail-biters, as Miami will also have to keep its eye on the Chippewas of Central Michigan going down the stretch.

Central Michigan lost against Ohio on Saturday, meaning the RedHawks will need to take only one of the final two matches to finish on top of the MAC. After that, the real pressure will be on Miami entering the MAC tournament. When Nov. 21 rolls around, it only matters how you finish. As the saying goes, “preseason rankings won’t mean shit if you’re on the first bus ride home.”

The MACtion starts Thursday at Bowling Green. First tip is at 6 p.m.

Most people can’t relate to having an NHL player as a dad. Freshman forward Ryan Savage is trying to earn the respect of Miami fans like his father, Ryan, did in the early 1990s.

Savage 2.0 dropped two points (1 G, 1 A) in the Saturday match against North Dakota, taking one step closer to his dear old dad’s total of 109.

The Canadian freshman will have big shoes to fill if he is to match Brian Savage’s 109 points in 106 games, but one achievement is in sight: only three more goals to match his pop’s freshman year total and plenty of time (more than 25 games) to do it.

Savage and the rest of the team will look to regather themselves for a weekend series at the Goggin Ice Center against Minnesota Duluth. Puck drop Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

THE REDHAWKS HOLD A 5-1 IN-CONFERENCE RECORD AND A 13-7 OVERALL MARK AS THEY HEAD INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. CONTRIBUTED BY MIAMI ATHLETICS

Volleyball leads MAC, Powell continues comeback tour MIKE GUISTOLISE STAFF WRITER

The dust has now settled after another road weekend split for the volleyball RedHawks. The team had its revenge on one Mid-American Conference rival, Akron, and a painful loss against another, Buffalo.

Optimism is without bounds regarding the preseason MAC favorites, however. The RedHawks (16-9, 11-3 MAC) now have plenty of space between them and any other team in the East Division.

To compliment, Miami is now the sole possessor of first place in the conference, having one more win than Central Michigan.

Here are a few takeaways from a crucial weekend: It’s the Powell and Payne show!

It must be nice for head coach Carolyn Condit to consistently have a front line on the floor — all members of which top six feet.

What makes things better is that senior middle Margaret Payne and junior middle/right side Avarie Powell are both guaranteed double-digit kills on a nightly basis.

Payne continues to showcase herself as a star talent, posting her third season in a row with more

than 240 kills, averaging a career-best 2.71 kills per set. The only question now is, who has the best change of filling in on the front line when Payne eventually graduates after this season?

Powell in particular continues a stretch of dominance that most fans of the team couldn’t have seen coming. Her past knee issues continue to take a backseat, as she has played in all 25 matches this year, accounting for 205 kills, which is enough to rank third on the squad.

A familiar struggle Aside from snapping their nine-game winning streak, the loss against Buffalo (11-15, 7-7 MAC) gave an insight on the RedHawks, and it is something that has been an issue all season: falling behind early.

Miami has stumbled early in many of its matches and their record might not be as strong as it could be because of it. For anyone who has gone down to Millett to watch a match this year, this isn’t news.

Playing on the road can be tough for sure, but this problem has been apparent wherever the ’Hawks seem to go. Even against Akron (a match Miami won, mind you), it was the Zips (16-9, 9-5 MAC) that got out in front in the first, third and fourth sets.

That familiar struggle continued into Satur-

SCOREBOARD WEDNESDAY

FOOTBALL

SATURDAY

FIELD HOCKEY

Miami.......................................24 Ohio...........................................21 Kent State....................................1

FRIDAY

FIELD HOCKEY

Miami......................................... 2

HOCKEY

Appalachian State ��������������������0 Miami.........................................4 Miami......................................... 2 North Dakota............................. 5

HOCKEY

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Miami..........................................1 North Dakota............................. 7 Wright State............................. 88

VOLLEYBALL

Miami......................................... 3 Akron..........................................1

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Miami........................................81

VOLLEYBALL

Miami......................................... 2 Miami ...................................... 79 DePaul...................................... 98 Buffalo........................................ 3

day, with Buffalo taking the first point in four of the five sets played.

Everyone loves a comeback story, but having to force your way back into a competitive game isn’t a recipe for a championship.

guistom@miamioh.edu

Ryan Savage strikes again

guistom@miamioh.edu

’Hawks Talk “Man, MACtion is my whole life right now,” — Jack Sorenson when asked what midweek “MACtion” games mean to him by his teammate, Doug Costin

Opinion

12

RIGAZIKM@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

STAFF EDITORIAL

Miami’s silent, but we won’t be.

The following reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

Last Thursday, The Miami Student broke the story detailing how former Miami University first-year Nicholas Shaw was expelled for sexual assault by his former university, Indiana University - Purdue University Indiana (IUPUI). Shaw later plead guilty to criminal confinement in an Indiana court and served six days in jail in relation to the sexual assault.

Kaite Anderson, the woman Shaw assaulted, resorted to posting this information in the Miami University Class of 2023-Parents Facebook group last week, which is where we first learned about Shaw.

Anderson reached out to Miami University’s Office of Admission about Shaw back in early September. She also reached out to The Student around the same time, but we missed the tip. We sincerely regret not being able to hold Shaw accountable and to share Anderson’s story sooner.

But the day after we did share the story, Shaw was no longer a student at Miami.

Miami’s administration has yet to publicly comment on the fact that a convicted criminal was an enrolled student on this campus, claiming that their hands are tied by the Federal Education and Rights Privacy Act (FERPA).

We at The Student believe the administration’s refusal to comment at all is an example of Miami’s ‘sweep it under the rug’ mentality. We’re disappointed (and unsurprised) to see our university leaders choose silence over an explanation that would conform to the privacy constrictions FERPA

requires, while also providing context to the Miami community.

Shaw’s situation left the student body, and our reporters, with so many unanswered questions: How could the admissions office miss the fact that Shaw had a criminal record?

Why did it take so long for him to leave?

How will the university ensure that something like this won’t ever happen again?

Shaw came in as a first-year student despite being 20-years-old. This means that he either lied on his application about why he left IUPUI, he lied about what he’s been up

It’s time Miami be brave and confront the lack of transparency on this campus. to since graduating high school, or he told Miami he was expelled. Either way, there are holes in this story and the admissions office should have been the ones to see right through them.

While FERPA limits how specific Miami can be, the university can and absolutely should be more forthcoming about how cases like Shaw’s play out generally in our university’s admissions and disciplinary processes.

FERPA doesn’t mean the university can’t

A HOUSE DIVIDED CATHLEEN MCLAUGHLIN THE MIAMI STUDENT

It is said that there are three topics of conversation people should always avoid discussing: money, religion and, perhaps the most controversial of all, politics. And yet, those topics always seem to come up.

With Thanksgiving fast approaching and Election Day fresh on the minds of Americans, many families dread the political discussions and fights with extended family that come with the holidays.

I have seen my friends, extended family, teachers and even strangers openly debate each other on the state of the country. I hold no doubts about the potential negative strains political disagreement can have on a relationship.

I see this strain between two of the most influential people in my life — my parents.

Being a political science major, it’s hard not to discuss the material I’m learning in class with my parents. However, I always feel a sense of hesitancy before bringing up something I know will ignite a fiery debate.

acknowledge that this happened. It doesn’t make it impossible for Miami to apologize to the student body. It doesn’t make it illegal to offer widespread support to students who feel traumatized by this event.

The Student’s editor-in-chief Samantha Brunn and managing editor Ceili Doyle sat down with Miami’s Dean of Students Kimberly Moore in hopes of gaining some clarity on how the university handles situations like Shaw’s — detailed in a follow-up news story this week.

We were grateful for the context Moore was able to provide. It gave our staff some

When I’m at home, I’m used to a constant struggle for the remote every night as the channel flips between Fox News and MSNBC. It’s almost like my parents are living in two separate worlds.

Popular issues raised during the nightly news will lead to heated arguments between my mother and father at the dinner table.

While I occasionally chime in, I normally sit in silence and let the choice words fly.

A consensus is rarely reached. My parents separate themselves from each other to cool down.

Though my parents apologize to each other after explosive arguments, I can’t help but feel there is always a lingering tension. I am left dreading the next argument, wondering what the catalyst will be.

It is much harder for me to understand the current relationship between my parents now that I am away from home.

However, I don’t recognize the distance as a bad thing.

While I do experience homesickness, being a college student has allowed me to better re-

Geography Awareness Week Nov. 11-15

peace of mind to know how Miami is supposed to react in situations like this. But it’s incredibly disheartening that this information was not readily offered to students when the news about Shaw was made public.

Our reporting cannot be the only way in which this university is held accountable.

Maybe we feel so disenchanted with the whole university system because we report on it every day. But it’s easy to look around this campus and see all of the cracks in the facade that are just glossed over with a

flect on how my family’s situation compares to those around me. I have been able to explore my own political beliefs, away from the influence of my parents.

There is an accepted belief that children tend to inherit their political views directly from their parents, but developing one’s views is more complicated than just familial association and perceived politics.

According to research conducted by political scientists Christopher Ojeda and Peter K. Hatemi, adult children often misidentify the politics of their parents. On average, only two in three individuals surveyed could properly identify the political alignment of their parents.

But, if you live within a family that engages in political discussion more often, you’re more likely to make a correct assumption about the political leanings of a parent.

I am confident I know the party affiliations of my mother and father. I have been exposed to their views more times than I can count because of the political discussion that occurs in my house. They’ve also explicitly told me where their loyalties lie.

The study also reported that only when a child felt truly supported and connected to a parent did they have a higher chance of adopting their political beliefs.

A study conducted by Elias Dinas published in the British Journal Of Political Science, children are more likely to adopt their family’s political views when politics are important to their parents.

breezy “From Now On” or a photo op with The First Dog, Ivy. Loving and honoring one another starts with being honest about our failings, honest about what needs to be done and honest about what we want to see reflected on this campus. It can’t ever be carried out over phone calls filled with “no comments” and silence.

Anderson demonstrated bravery and genuine concern for Miami’s students, and she’s not even a student here. The absolute least Miami could do is acknowledge how badly they failed our community by admitting this person to campus and by failing to contextualize how a mistake like this could have been made.

It’s time Miami be brave and confront the lack of transparency on this campus.

Remaining silent does not mean that the issue disappears.

In fact, that silence only breeds confusion. If Miami shared as much information as FERPA allows, it would offer comfort to students, parents and community members.

Not providing that is an abject failure on the part of the administration.

President Crawford needs to publicly acknowledge and apologize for what happened on this campus. The administration and admissions office should apologize for the clear systems failure that allowed Shaw to be an admitted student.

We want Miami to stop using FERPA as an excuse. We want transparency. We want and we deserve so much more.

I identify more with the liberal beliefs of my mother than I do with my father’s conservative beliefs. This is not because my father supports me any less. I think it is because my mother is more involved in the political process than my father, who is typically much more private concerning voting and endorsement.

My mom actively pushed me to get involved in politics. She encouraged me to volunteer for a presidential campaign and protest at peaceful rallies like the 2017 Women’s March in Dayton.

These experiences have helped me to grow and shape who I am as a civically engaged individual.

Though it certainly isn’t pleasant to witness your parents disagree, I’m thankful that I grew up in a household that exposed me to differing viewpoints and debate. It’s helped me to understand the importance of examining all sides of an issue, as well as to develop my own beliefs and passion for the political process.

In order to maintain a civil discourse concerning politics in this country, it is important that we engage in debate and discussion. It can be difficult to listen to opinions that you disagree with, but it is even more difficult to pretend they don’t exist when those opinions are held by many in our country and influence the nation’s political landscape.

If I learned anything growing up, it’s that you don’t need to agree, but you do need to listen. mclaug24@miamioh.edu

“These experiences have helped me to grow and shape who I am as a civically engaged individual.”

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