ESTABLISHED 1826 – OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
The Miami Student TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 Volume 144 №35
Students, admin discuss ODA’s future
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
MIAMISTUDENT.NET
Miami archives move to King Trustees unanimously approve Crawford HISTORY
LAURA FITZGERALD SENIOR STAFF WRITER
DIVERSITY
ANGELA HATCHER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Monday night in the Armstrong Student Center Office of Diversity Affairs (ODA), Scott Walter, assistant vice president of student affairs, and Jane Brownell, vice president of student affairs, moderated a forum with students to discuss the changes that will occur at the ODA for the coming 2016-2017 academic year. Among the most important changes discussed at the open forum is the new structure of the ODA, which will combine three different centers — The Women’s Center, the current ODA and LGBTQ Center — in an attempt to promote intersectionality and increased interaction among diverse students on campus. Both Walter and Brownell emphasized that, despite merging the three centers, no funding will be cut and no jobs will be lost in the transition. Rather than having these individual centers remain ODA »PAGE 5
Scrapbooks, presidential memos, class pictures and fraternity paraphernalia sit nestled in boxes in the University Archives at Withrow Court. Tucked between the shelves are artifacts like shriveled track shoes, a cannonball and even the door from the murder in Reid Hall 304, faded handprints still staining the old wood. With the demolition of Withrow scheduled, the Miami University Archives are moving to the third floor of King Library alongside the Havighurst Special Collections. It will take about three weeks to a month to move all the artifacts and documents, University Archivist and Associate Librarian Jacqueline Johnson said. Documents will start to be moved on March 27 and will go to about April 27. The third floor is currently being renovated to accommodate the archives. Johnson says she is excited for the move because it may increase the visibility of the archives and make it more accessible for the community. “It makes us more available to people. People come
JEFF SABO MU MAREKTING
Gregory Crawford (pictured with wife Renate) was confirmed as Miami’s 22nd president on Friday. PRESIDENT
EMILY TATE
MANAGING EDITOR
REIS THEBAULT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
BETH PFOHL THE MIAMI STUDENT
The University Archives are currently in the process of moving from their home in Withrow Court to King Library. in, the archives are right there,” Johnson said. “People can find us easier.” The archives contain three collections of documents and artifacts to each of the three universities throughout Miami’s history: Miami Uni-
AUDREY DAVIS
THE MIAMI STUDENT
JOEY HART
THE MIAMI STUDENT
DMITRIY KIZHIKIN THE MIAMI STUDENT
ALISON PERELMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Friday, 9:55 a.m. — Joey Almost every table is occupied with students enjoying breakfast, but the only sound in Pulley Diner is a sizzling from the kitchen. The air is thick with an aroma of pancakes and burnt bacon. Behind the counter, a middle-aged woman gives orders and fills cups. “Who do I owe milk to again?” she barks at her patrons. A student at the bar raises his hand and looks away from his phone for a split-second to take his glass. He is served and returns to iMessage accordingly. Every person eating alone seems to have their attention totally occupied by a cell phone or laptop screen. Two boys go over homework nearby. In a booth next to my table, three girls gossip and giggle as their buzzers go off to alert them that their food is ready. They always have breakfast together after
their Friday morning class. Friday, 10:51 a.m. — Joey The hiss of hamburgers on the griddle is still the only sound in Pulley. A boy and a girl sitting at the counter talk as they eat their breakfast. “I made out with her,” the girl says as the boy shows her a picture of another girl. “This kid was like betting us we wouldn’t make out, so I was like ‘Okay.’ This toast is unreal.” Friday, 12:55 p.m. — Alison “Order up, please,” the woman in the kitchen says as she moves plates closer to edge of the metal counter. Multiple grease-stained to-go boxes wait to be picked up. A constant sizzling noise comes from the grill. Four buzzers vibrate and blink red on the counter next to forgotten receipts. The lunch rush is over. An older gentleman wipes tables and sweeps the floor. Another worker yawns and mindlessly puts on a new pair of gloves. It’s lunch time, but there are a lot of breakfast orders and confusion over an omelet. PULLEY »PAGE 3
ARCHIVES »PAGE 9
CRAWFORD »PAGE 5
Miami remembers Nellie Craig
Writers spend 24 hours in Pulley Diner STUDENT LIFE
versity, Western College for Women and Oxford Seminary. There are about 3,800 boxes of documents in the archives, Johnson said. Johnson said undergradu-
On Friday, Miami University’s Board of Trustees confirmed Gregory P. Crawford as the university’s new president, ending a six-month secret search and a week of open forums and closed door meetings that saw the sole finalist interact with the community for the first time. Crawford is coming off a seven-year stint at Notre Dame, where, since July 2015, he has served as the university’s vice president and associate provost. “Beyond his impressive academic record and administrative experience, Dr. Crawford brings with him
exceptional vision, energy and enthusiasm, which we welcome,” said David Budig, chair of both the Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee. “It’ll be extremely important in his role as president.” Crawford’s wife, Renate, is, like him, a professor of physics at Notre Dame and will join him with their two daughters in Lewis Place next fall. As former colleagues praised Crawford’s high energy and innovative leadership style, many Miami faculty condemned the search process that culminated in his hiring. “We’re grateful for the hard work of the search committee because I know
HISTORY
TESS SOHNGEN
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
When Nellie Craig became the first African-American woman to enroll at Miami in 1903, she broke down barriers and made university history. Craig paved the way for other women of color, but, even today, the university is characterized by its lack of racial diversity. Nellie Craig, early 1900s Nellie Craig became the first full-time African-American to graduate from Miami’s College of Education, then the Ohio State Normal College in Oxford, during a time when segregation was still implemented in the Oxford community. Craig grew up in Oxford in a family of six, and her grandfather served in the Civil War. Her mother had given birth to nine children, but only four survived, including Nellie and her sister Elizabeth, a published and accredited poet. In Elizabeth’s poetry book, “Mother’s Training,” she describes their mother as an optimistic, pious and ambitious woman who inspired Elizabeth to be a devout Christian and write poetry. Their mother’s influence on Nellie’s
CONTRIBUTED BY MIAMI UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Nellie Craig paved the way for today’s black students when she was the first AfricanAmerican woman to enroll at Miami in the early 1900s. college and career accomplishments are unknown, but when Miami University first opened enrollment to colored students in the early 1900s, Nellie was one of the first to attend. Attending a mixed school in Oxford was still a tense and contested change. Black and white students had been attending separate schools located only half a mile apart until a new, larger school building opened in 1887. When the Oxford School Board denied admission to all students, a local black parent filed and won a lawsuit in the Butler County Circuit Court, which the school board appealed. The desegregation decision was soon
upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court, integrating the system in 1887, but backlash from the white community persisted for a brief time. Craig broke down another racial barrier by becoming the first African-American to student-teach in the Oxford public school system to mixed race classrooms, whereas most African-American student teachers were assigned to predominantly black school systems. She taught elementary students in nearby Indiana until she married James Walter and moved to Cleveland in 1911. 2016 “She paved the way for us here at Miami,” said Whit-
ney Felder, the president of Miami’s Black Student Action Association (BSAA), the largest minority organization on campus. The BSAA named its office space in Armstrong after Nellie. Although African-American enrollment at Miami increased prior to World War II, Miami policy prohibited African-Americans from living on campus at that time, except male athletes. The Oxford campus was first integrated in 1945, when Myldred Boston and Arie Parks were assigned to a basement room between the smoking room and the furNELLIE CRAIG »PAGE 5
NEWS p. 2
NEWS p. 3
CULTURE p. 4
OPINION p. 6
SPORTS p. 10
STUDENT SPEAKS TO BOARD ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT
SIGNED, SEALED AND NOT DELIVERED
COSTUMES PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN NEW SHOW
EDITORS DISCUSS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
REDHAWKS SPLIT WEEKEND SERIES WITH WMU
Student asks Board of Trustees for more funding to combat sexual assault.
The campus package center gets complaints about missing care packages.
The Department of Theatre’s production of “Pride & Prejudice” opens Wednesday.
Editorial Board evaluates Miami’s Black History Month programming.
Lewis scores two goals in Friday win, ‘Hawks remain fourth in NCHC.