The Oakland Post 4.10.2024

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SOPHIA

Birthday Bash Moravian and The Doozers performed at WXOU’s 57th annual Birthday Bash on April 4, 2024.

PHOTO BY KATIE REID

Nelson gives Varner Vitality Lecture

ANGELINA TOMA Campus Reporter

Oakland University welcomed CNN legal and political analyst, award-winning author and speaker Sophia A. Nelson during the week of April 1 for a series of discussions.

Nelson offered lectures on growth and experience in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

Her week-long residency began with the “Varner Vitality Lecture” on April 1 at 11:30 a.m. in the Oakland Center’s Founders Ballrooms. She explained the need for DEI and provided a book signing at the end.

The lecture started with the United States motto, introducing the difficulties faced by DEI in America and expressing the idea of the nation now divided.

“E pluribus unum — out of many, one,” Nelson said. “Fast forward to where we find ourselves right now in 2024.”

“Let’s consider state legislatures banning books or women from reproductive healthcare,” Nelson added. “Our college campuses — many of them have become battlegrounds of anger and violent protests versus a place of civil debate, and for some, they see freedom being taken away.”

The new set of values and beliefs are silenced by wokeness and guides the audience to understand its impacts.

“They see the rise of DEI as a threat to wellestablished Americans, contrary to the way things used to be and the way they should be,” Nelson said. “They feel entitled to take freedom from others while at the same time demanding that individual liberties and personal freedoms never be taken from them.”

Nelson emphasized the importance of the new generation not engaging in hate speech. She said that redefining freedom is a way for American liberty to promote genuine inclusion for all.

“If we can talk, listen and see humanity in one another, I believe that we can heal this country for the next generation,” Nelson said.

These statements are voiced by universities today, making it a priority to protect speech instead of turned violence.

“We cannot use the liberal means to protect our liberal democracy,” Nelson said. “Tolerance and respect for different viewpoints do not mean agreement.”

Nelson focused on the conflict in the Gaza Strip and sexist or colorist remarks made towards women and women of color concerning DEI. Safeguarding academic freedom is paramount in upholding the fundamental principles of democracy, she said.

“We must all engage and adapt to protect our freedoms and viewpoint diversity at all costs

because they are the fundamental backbone of who we are,” Nelson said.

She explained how everyone wants their identities, including gender or race, to be paramount or superior. Equating emotional discomfort with physical pain has challenged the public square debate, she said.

“If I’m wrong, educate me, don’t belittle me,” Nelson said. “We must unequivocally embrace DEI and work to reform it along the way.”

Nelson noted that the past is prolonged, and situations will repeat themselves unless interrupted.

“University leaders and courts must clearly define what their colleges and universities can and cannot do relative to freedom of speech on campus,” Nelson said.

These interrupted beliefs are based on emotional strides and not through guided conversations.

“I believe we should require constitutionally sound free speech and DEI training,” Nelson said. “We should engage all of our students in emotional intelligence training as well as conflict resolution.”

The event highlighted the need for change by educators guiding the way.

“I am speaking to you as a black woman who has lived all of this. I understand the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion,” Nelson said. “E pluribus unum, out of many, one — that is the only way forward to safeguarding and ensuring the longevity of this great republic.”

For more information about the lectures, visit the OU Events Calendar.

Sophia Nelson and OU PCT program host discussion on healthcare for high school students

ANGELINA TOMA

Campus Reporter

Oakland University’s Patient Care Technician program (PCT) and Pontiac High School collaborated with awardwinning inspirational speaker Sophia A. Nelson to host the “Meaningful Discussions about the Path to Success” event on April 3 in the OC’s Founders Ballroom.

The PCT program is a pre-college opportunity for high school students in Pontiac school districts interested in pursuing a career in the healthcare field. Students attend lectures on OU’s campus while being financially supported.

The event started with breakfast and a guest panel for the students.

College and career coordinators Shana Jackson and Teresa Rodges, founder of the PCT program and senior director of pre-college programs at OU, advised in coordinating the event.

“The purpose of PCT is [to provide] a pathway for students to go further and get a degree in the medical field,” Jackson said.

Jackson emphasized the constant help provided to their students in addition to gaining experience in the college atmosphere.

“I’ve helped with the tours and college experiences for the students,” Rodges added.

The classroom lectures guide the students to understand what it is like to be on campus.

The program allows for a completed certification in becoming a nursing assistant, addressed by high school seniors enrolled in PCT, including Cory Thomas, Jazmin

Bermudez-Alvarado and Noelia Luna.

“The program gives you an experience of the college workload so you can become a CNA and get a chance to enter the workforce out of high school,” Thomas said.

“Oakland University has been there to support us and provide opportunities for those who come from underrepresented backgrounds,” BermudezAlvarado said.

Luna echoed these sentiments regarding diversity in the medical field.“It gives minorities the opportunity to explore our options. It wasn’t one I thought I’d have, so it’s great for anyone,” Luna said.

The event included a short experiment and a series of guest speakers ranging from doctors to educators at OU.

Nelson provided insight and motivation to the students by enchaining their cultural backgrounds to succeed in

the healthcare field.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re the first. It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” Nelson said. “Exposure is important, and we are all living proof that you can do anything you want to do.”

Despite the financial burdens of attending college, Nelson discussed the need to do so.

“There are ways to get this done, there are kinds of resources to get to where you want to be,” Nelson said. “You have to trust your voice and follow through with it.”

“We want to encourage you to pursue careers in health care. We don’t have a lot of communities of color in these roles and that’s what we’re exposing,” Nelson said.

She emphasized the importance of considering the differing factors in the college process that should be handled with intelligence.

“For us to move forward as a nation, we need to get better at learning emotional intelligence and conflict resolutions,” Nelson said. “Your generation is facing a unique challenge when it comes to mental health and wellness of emotional connectivity.”

Students were advised to become more involved within a community and prioritize the internet less when adapting to life.

“Successful people are good with other people,” Nelson said. Find your passion and ask yourself what you are passionate about.”

The event ended with the following questions and statements the rest of the panel made.

For more information about the PCT program, visit its website.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW SAMPLE PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO COURTESY OF ESSENCE

Professionals talk about diversity and inclusion in healthcare

ADRIAN JIMENEZ MORALES Campus Reporter

Sophia A. Nelson and a panel of half a dozen healthcare and education professionals held the “How Do We Care for Our Health and Wellness in a Changing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Environment?” event at Oakland University.

On April 6 in the Oakland Center’s Founder’s Ballroom A, Tonya Bailey, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Community Engagement at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB), moderated an all-female panel discussion on inequities, leadership and wellness.

Bailey started the conversation by defining diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to later ask panel members about the strategies and challenges developed when approaching them.

“Oftentimes, we just say DEI like they’re triplets, and they’re not,” Dr. Bailey said. “Diversity has its own distinct definition — it is always asking who’s in the room. Equity is always asking who’s trying to get in the room, but have invisible barriers that allow them not to be. Then, inclusion is asking if everybody is in the room and given an equal share to engage.”

Oakland University (OU) President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, a pediatric endocrinologist, talked about her experience encountering mentors to overcome inequities.

“It’s not just about pay or pay inequities it’s about advisors, leaders, and supporters,” Pescovitz said. “It is about trying to find people who will support

you and will encourage you to pursue your path.”

Mary Lewis, CEO of Gary Burnstein Community Health Clinic, further developed the idea of pay inequity to advocate for better conditions.

“Pay inequity is very important, especially for women, more specifically women of color,” Lewis said. “People will try to define who you are and tell you what you are worth. It is your responsibility to remind them that your worth isn’t dependent upon what they say about you.”

Vonda Douglas-Nikitin, Associate Professor of Pathology and Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion at OUWB, explained how she fosters inclusivity and mentorship.

“When interviewing students, I spend the last half, maybe three-quarters, talking about what it means to be a black woman in this space,” DouglasNikitin said. “What they are going to enjoy, what they’re going to come up against, the resilience they have to have, so they believe in themselves and are able to have those conversations. It makes a big difference.”

Jennifer Edwards-Johnson, Interim Associate Dean of Community Academic Programs and Community Assistant Dean, highlighted the importance of the discussion and efforts to enhance DEI in healthcare.

“We’ve seen the data that suggests that increased representation presents better outcomes,” Edwards-Johnson said. “We understand that if people don’t have healthcare providers that look like them, trust is broken. We know that when we have providers that look like us, we have the opportunity for better outcomes.”

Sophia A. Nelson moderated the last half of the

conversation, and more speakers were invited to participate in person and via Zoom.

Markey W. Pierre, Vice Chancellor of External Affairs and Chief of Staff at Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Shreveport explained her efforts to foster and enhance DEI at LSU.

“What we are trying to do is create an opportunity to address some of the health and equity [situations] that are in our community by creating a pool of students that are willing to go into these professions, will go out into those communities and can be trusted voices because they look like them,” Dr. Pierre said.

Nelson ended the event by applauding the DEI efforts nationally and at OU. Nelson encouraged all attendees to advance the DEI efforts communally.

“We need to have that cross-talk, we need to share, to be talking with the other groups as well,” Nelson said. “All of these women here are an example of that and make an impact and a difference because of their life experiences and what they’ve seen and where they come from.”

Nelson concludes OU visit with Student Leader Lunch-n-Learn Roundtable

CHLOE KUKUK Campus Editor

Award-winning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) thought leader, CNN political analyst and author Sophia Nelson closed out her week-long visit to Oakland University’s campus with a discussion with student leaders.

The “Unification Day of Student Leadership Lunch-n-Learn Roundtable Talks” was hosted on April 5 in O’Dowd Hall room 204. All OU and Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB) community members were welcome.

“We thought ending her residency here would be great with a very intimate roundtable discussion and opportunity for our student leaders… to just have some time to dialogue,” Tonya Bailey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies and Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion and Community Engagement at OUWB, said.

Nelson discussed solutions to social issues, strategies for promoting DEI and global education and how to support one another through unity and inclusivity with the diverse room of attendees.

“Whatever your thoughts are on diversity, equity and inclusion, I think we can all agree that the world we live in is diverse. In 2030, America will be a majority-minority country. And that’s why we got this going on. There’s a lot of tension. There’s a lot of fear,” Nelson said. “You’re young, and

you have everything ahead of you, and I want to encourage you to remember rooms like this and to remember your peers and your colleagues and listen, ask questions, and learn things about one another. Encourage one another.”

Nelson also emphasized the importance of taking care of each other by taking care of oneself first. She highlighted self-care practices such as interpersonal in-person connections rather than online connections, creating healthy habits with sleep and nutrition while young, and embracing one’s identity.

“Somewhere along the way, we kind of stopped talking and engaging and putting an emphasis on the value of that family time and that connectivity, and some of you have been through all kinds of things that you don’t even talk about,” she said. “Your generation deals with more social anxiety, ADHD, depression, loneliness, isolation and suicide at levels we have never seen in the history of this republic, and they trace all of that back to the isolation of the devices.”

“Be authentically you. Know your value. Whoever you are, whatever you look like, whoever you love, whoever you worship — be bold and brave about that, not disrespectful to anybody else,” she added.

Additionally, Nelson encouraged students to consistently ask themselves, “What do I want?” “What do I need?” and “How am I feeling?” to improve their physical and mental states.

“Every time you get on an airplane, the airline stewardess says to you, ‘Put your mask on first,’” she said. “You’ve got to secure you first, because

once you’re breathing, then you can make sure everybody else is breathing.”

Leaders from various organizations attended to learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I’m very passionate about diversity, inclusion and human rights, and I felt like this [event] would be a great place to meet people and to learn some more useful things,” Mathew Seidel, president of OU’s chapter of the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, said. “I liked what she mentioned about phone usage.”

Meredith Parks, a recent OU graduate and representative of Meadow Brook Hall, expressed a similar sentiment.

“I work a lot with our student TSAs, and I wanted to [come] here and just listen and learn to see how we can increase wellness and diversity over at Meadow Brook,” Parks said. “I really like the check-in questions because I think those are good on a personal level. Everyone should do that.”

Nelson praised the diversity efforts and leadership on OU’s campus.

“I get to go to a lot of universities… I’ve never been to a school, and I mean this sincerely, where I’ve been in rooms like this consistently,” she said. “They’ve been diverse, truly, and that is a hallmark and testament to the leadership at this school.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MSNBC

The Dean of Students office: Supporting students throughout thei r time at OU

PAYTON BUCKI

Content Editor

Many Oakland University students have a common misconception that the Dean of Students office is akin to a high school principal’s office –one only goes there when they are in trouble. This line of thinking is faulty, the Dean of Students office is much more than a disciplinary office. The Dean of Students office provides a wide range of support services to OU students.

Staff at the Dean of Students office serve as advocates for students. Four ways the Dean of Students office provides support is through the Student Emergency Relief Fund, the medical withdrawal process, student bereavement policies and hospitalized student notifications.

“The [Dean of Students] office is the place to go when you need help,” Michael Wadsworth, the Dean of Students and Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Diversity said in an email communication with The Oakland Post. “We are here to help and we are connected with all areas of campus so that we can get students to the right place for the assistance they need.”

Student Emergency Relief Fund

The Student Emergency Relief Fund provides a source of financial assistance for OU students experiencing financial hardship due to an emergency or unforeseen situation. Students interested in applying for relief funds must first meet with a member of the Student Financial Services team.

If a student is deemed eligible for emergency funding, they may apply for assistance through

the Dean of Students office. Students may be awarded up to $500 of emergency relief funding per calendar year.

Medical Withdrawal Process

Sometimes, students find themselves unable to complete the semester due to a medical issue. Students experiencing personal health difficulties may reach out to the Dean of Students office to discuss the possibility of a medical withdrawal.

The medical withdrawal process provides students the opportunity to withdraw from classes even after the withdrawal deadline has passed. This process is designed to make it easier for students to return to

their post-secondary studies if they choose to do so.

Student Bereavement Policies

Students sometimes miss school due to a death in the family. The Dean of Students office supports students experiencing grief and loss through the university’s bereavement leave policy. Once a student is deemed qualified to be excused for bereavement, the Dean of Students office is able to notify the student’s professors.

Red Douglas, a doctoral student at OU, is currently researching student bereavement policies at post-secondary institutions. Douglas found that OU was one of 44 universities nationally that have student bereavement policies.

Hospitalized Student Notifications

In cases where students find themselves hospitalized, the Dean of Students office can be a crucial support. In these situations, the Dean of Students office can assist students with notifying their professors of the hospitalization.

Although the Dean of Students office cannot require professors to do anything in these situations, the hospitalized student notifications are helpful in legitimizing the medical issues that students may experience throughout their college careers.

To learn more about OU’s Dean of Students office and the resources it offers to students, please visit the office’s webpage. To directly contact the Dean of Students office, one may send an email to deanofstudents@oakland.edu or they may call the office using the number (248) 370-3352.

PHOTO BY DEAN OF STUDENTS MICHAEL WADSWORTH.

Oakland University’s Spring Career Celebration

GRACIE MURRAY Features Reporter

On April 4, 2024, the Spring Career Celebration event was held in the Oakland Center’s Habitat, helping students explore career opportunities.

The event was put on by the Career and Life Design Center, with a total of 17 employers, mainly from automotive, business and marketing careers, attending the event. Yejie Lee, a Career and Life Design coach, helped prepare the event. Lee primarily works with the College of Arts and Sciences.

There was an opportunity to do professional headshots for LinkedIn profiles to help stand out as a professional to employers.

“Help contacting employers to invite them to this event was my primary responsibility, but also help students get prepared for this event, coaching them on elevator pitches, getting their resumes ready,” Lee said. “So some of them have been invited in person because we already have a connection with them and some of them have been invited via email.”

The Career and Life Design Center made events like this to get their students to reach out and build face-to-face relationships with other employers and get some experience meeting professionals.

“To just really help students find internships and jobs for the summer but then also help build

connections and help employers build networks with OU,” Lee said.

Not only does the Career and Life Design Center hold career fairs and celebrations, but they also have multiple opportunities to help students use the tools and resources around them.

Other opportunities include meeting with a coach to help explore options and get an idea of the life one wants, applying for on-campus jobs and internships, attending career and life workshops and dropping in on the Career studio.

The Career and Life Design Center continues to give Oakland University students opportunities to build their environment and portfolio. Every semester, the center has at least 1-2 different career fairs to let students know that they are able to make connections without being on their own after they graduate.

Each season, they have a fall career fair, a winter career fair and a spring career celebration. Each career fair is different, some fairs may focus more on education and sciences, some on business and marketing and some on arts and engineering.

A good way to stay up to date with the Career Services Center is to look at Handshake. They post future events and give notifications and emails to give students a heads-up. They also help prepare by doing workshops to help students have a proper elevator pitch, solid resume and a good professional picture.

For any students who couldn’t attend the Spring Career Celebration, they can email the Career and Life Design Center at careers@oakland.edu or visit the Career and Life Design Center in the North Foundation Hall in Room 103.

Additionally, for students in need of help with building their resume and finding jobs or internships to help their careers, drop-in Career Studio hours are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Timothy Donahue: A journey to teaching at OU

DAYSHAWN FIELDS

Features Reporter

Several factors draw potential faculty to Oakland University. For Associate Professor of English, Timothy Donahue, it was always his outstanding students. What led him here is an academic and professional journey that’s a staunch representation of patience and self-discovery.

Donahue’s journey to professorship started in Chicago, in a homeless shelter. It was here, after receiving a bachelor’s in English from Xavier University, that Donahue found himself questioning his true calling.

“I had this moment where I was like, ‘Do I want to go get a master’s degree in social work?’ or ‘Do I want to go get a master’s in English,’” Donahue said. “I did the work that I was doing. You know,

people need housing.”

Donahue found fulfillment in working at the homeless shelter teaching underprivileged individuals.

“We’d sit down and read newspaper articles, I also checked out all the GED textbooks from my college’s library and brought them down there,” Donahue said. “I just had this moment where I was like ‘I could see myself doing this.’”

Donahue returned to higher education, this time earning a master’s degree in humanities from the University of Chicago. This return to Chicago led to his next job, which Donahue attributes to luck.

“I got really lucky,” Donahue said. “I got a job teaching in the City Colleges of Chicago, which is like the community college system of Chicago.”

The college he’d be assigned to was Harold Washington College, in the heart of downtown. The job came with teaching English composition and developmental classes, which were designed to help students reach college-level proficiency.

“I liked it because people [would] come out of class and be like ‘Okay, I used what we did in English 100 to write a resume and I’ve got a job,’” Donahue said. “I was like ‘That’s a win.’”

It was after Donahue’s tenure as a community college professor that he chose to pursue a doctorate, landing him in New York for the next chapter of his life.

“I read a book by Anna Brickhouse [Transamerican

Literary Relations and the Nineteenth-Century Public Sphere], and I thought that is kind of like the research that I [currently] do, and I remember reading it and thinking ‘I have to know how to do this,’ so I applied to the Ph.D programs,” Donahue said. “I went to grad school in New York, and it took a long time.”

Once Donahue’s doctorate was completed, he found himself at OU. He looks to stay for much longer, in part due to his students and the general student body.

“[With] Oakland students, they’re bright people, and they’ve got a lot of stuff going on, they’re a bit more worldly and experienced,” Donahue said. “People have smart things to say and that’s an exciting thing to do.”

Donahue’s dedication to contributing to a healthy democracy is what drives him to come to work every day. It was the case at Harold Washington and remains so at OU.

“This is how you build a democracy,” Donahue said. “You read hard things, you think hard about them together, you talk to people, you reflect on history.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF OAKLAND UNIVERSITY

PHOTO COURTESY OF OAKLAND UNIVERITY

Traces of OUTV left at Oakland University

DAYSHAWN FIELDS

Features Reporter

OUTV, a cable television show produced by students and staff alike at Oakland University, may have dissolved at the dawn of COVID-19, but its alumni are still striving in the industry they broke into while at OU.

The list of successful OUTV alumni includes Charlie Tinker of NewsNet and a litany of others. Although none may have gone “Hollywood,” as Horatiu Zglimbea puts it, the influence of OUTV is still felt on airwaves throughout Michigan.

Zglimbea is the video production coordinator within OU’s Video Services, the same department that produced OUTV for over 20 years. Today, it is tasked with producing videos for clients, which consists mostly of university groups and admin.

“It’s always a grind,” Zglimbea said. “You get done with one project, there’s always another project. Since COVID, everyone wants video now.”

The videos seen on any OU site or around campus are done by the Video Services department. However, the essence of OUTV is still found in some of the department’s other work.

“We try to cover the local events with our two student

[positions],” Zglimbea said. “It’s usually bigger events like SPB, and they’ll cover them b-roll-wise, and maybe do interviews.”

This mic-in-hand coverage is reminiscent of OUTV but is presented in a different format. It ultimately amounts to social media features that would be posted to platforms like Instagram or TikTok.

Video Services has also established a podcast studio, which can be booked for various rates, and is also reminiscent of the department’s time with OUTV.

“There’s a different way in which we have kind of evolved it, and it’s not so much OUTV, but it’s more do-it-yourself,” Zglimbea said. “That’s kind of where we can have that same [idea]. It’s not a place where we create content and put it on the web, but allow people to use that space and create their own content.”

Creating this space allows student programming to

be produced for more modern suites, with the advent of social media and platforms such as YouTube. OUTV, being a public, education and government access (P.E.G.) channel exclusively broadcasted on Comcast, saw diminishing viewership and market share.

“It’s hard when you’re competing with Netflix and other services, everyone’s streaming now,” Zglimbea said. “No one’s really watching you.”

Although Zglimbea does not see a channel such as OUTV happening again soon, several changes would need to occur for a possible reboot to obtain success.

“It would have to be in line with things like your streaming [services],” Zglimbea said. “It would have to be all-out. It’s hard to retain that viewership, especially when you’re making stuff that is specifically about OU and what’s going on on campus.”

Despite the departure from OUTV, the spirit of the channel lives on through Video Service’s efforts at student involvement and its newly-added podcast studio.

For more information on OU’s Video Services department, please visit the OU webpage to learn about the opportunities and services they provide.

PHOTO COURTESY OF OAKLAND UNIVERSITY

OU’s Academic Success Center: Confidence for exams

GRACIE MURRAY Features Reporter

Oakland University’s Academic Success Center (ASC) hosted an event on April 2, 2024, about upcoming exams, the common issues when taking exams and how to avoid those issues.

The Academic Success Center is a place at OU where students can get the academic help that they need. Whether it be tutoring, support groups, workshops or easy-access resources for instruction, it is a safe place to learn how to be a better academic student.

Michelle Applebee, an assistant director for residential academic support, hosted the event for the ASC.

Many students in the workshop had very different classes they had to prepare for, including classes ranging from psychology to general chemistry, to journalism.

Despite the different subjects these students had, this workshop covered ways to study and be confident in the exam being taken, no matter what subject it could be.

In the workshop, Applebee’s main idea was to go over the common issues when taking an exam and some solutions to help overcome the common issues.

“As you can see, 45% of college students experience more than average stress during exams, 33%

experience average stress and 12.7% are saying they have tremendous stress,” Applebee said.

It is very common for college students to feel very overwhelmed when it comes to exams.

“Also knowing you are going to go in and do your best and that’s all we can expect,” Applebee said.

Some common problems with taking exams are test anxiety and time management with preparing for the test.

“There are people with test anxiety,” Applebee said. “One of the things is you can always go to counseling in the counseling center. They work a lot with severe test anxiety. Nobody teaches us how to study in high school, we learn our own.”

One of the best ways to evaluate time management is to constantly check back on your schedule by using

a planner or sticky notes. Google Calendar is also a good resource to time everything out when studying for exams.

“All of us are also going to have subjects that don’t come easy to us. Maybe it’s kind of our first time really being exposed to it [said subject] or a different area of a subject,” Applebee said. “Time management can help with that.”

People who struggle the most in a specific subject tend to focus more on that subject so that they can do well when taking the exams. Connecting with someone on campus who is good at a subject that one is not strong at is a huge help. Tutoring at the ASC could help the chances of students succeeding.

For more information on the Academic Success Center, please visit their office in Wilson Hall suite 1100, or contact them at asc@oakland.edu

PHOTO COURTESY OF OAKLAND UNIVERSITY

On Tuesday, April 2, Josh Peck of “Drake & Josh” fame visited Oakland University to discuss his rise to stardom in a Q&A hosted by the Student Life Lecture Board (SLLB). Attended by almost 600 students, Peck talked about his time on Nickelodeon

Peck stated that he grew up financially insecure with a single mother in Manhattan, New York. While Peck’s mother worked to keep her family afloat, Peck watched TV, which he says raised

“Many days and nights were spent with me and the TV, and my best friends who were, you know, ‘Billy Madison’ and ‘Ace Ventura’ and ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’” Peck said. “These were the people who raised me. I loved sitcoms... shows like ‘Step by Step’ and ‘Family Matters’ and ‘Full House,’ I just loved

“I always say about going to work as an actor, like, becoming an actor was like me going to work for the hospital that cured my disease,” Peck added. “TV saved me. I loved it. It was my escape and so, as far back as I can remember, I just thought, ‘I would love

Peck first began his venture into acting by participating in school plays. He then started pursuing stand-up comedy at 10,

“I would go home and my mom would be like, ‘If you don’t take a nap, I’m not letting you go to the Comedy Cellar at midnight tonight.’ I don’t know too many 10-year-olds who are hearing that,” Peck said. “They would sneak me in through the backdoor so that they wouldn’t lose their liquor license and I would do five

Peck’s first film role was in the Nickelodeon movie “Snow Day,” released in 2000. Peck stated he told Nickelodeon’s president at the time, Albie Hecht, that he would love to do a show, and nine months later, Hecht gave Peck his big break in the form of “The

After “The Amanda Show” ended in 2002, Peck starred alongside fellow Amanda Show costar Drake Bell in the TV series “Drake & Josh.” Peck went from admiring nuclear families like the Banks and Tanners to portraying one himself. “Drake & Josh” also featured Jonathan Goldstein as Peck’s father, Nancy Sullivan as Peck’s stepmother and Miranda Cosgrove as Peck’s stepsister. Peck said he appreciated being a part of something people

“I think it’s a specific honor and privilege when people invite you into their homes and [they] get to enjoy something with

After “Drake & Josh” ended in 2007, Peck pursued various voice acting projects in movies like “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Aliens in the Attic.” In 2012, Peck starred alongside Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson in the remake of the 1984 film “Red Dawn,” which was filmed in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

Peck has many fond memories of filming “Red Dawn.” He specifically enjoyed working with Hemsworth, citing how he would refer to Peck and the other younger actors on set as his “cubs.”

“We’d be resting in the middle of the day and he’d [Hemsworth] be like, ‘Oy, tired cubs.’ Or, we’d be in the lunch line and he’d be like, ‘Oy, hungry little cubs.’” Peck said. “[Hemsworth is] just the loveliest, like, it’s not fair cause he’s so handsome and he’s so nice.”

After “Red Dawn,” Peck pursued other projects such as “Grandfathered,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Turner & Hooch” and most recently, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”

Peck thought his audition for “Oppenheimer” would be a fun exercise to perfect his craft. However, when Peck was officially cast as Kenneth Bainbridge, he gained and relished the opportunity to work alongside a director as esteemed as Nolan.

“It was an honor to learn from him [Nolan],” Peck said. “I’m glad I made the couple minutes I did in the movie, but even if I didn’t, just getting to be there and watch him for two months was worth it.”

When he’s not acting, Peck hosts a podcast with influencer Ben Soffer called “Good Guys.” He also released a memoir in 2022 detailing his rise to fame called “Happy People Are Annoying.”

Peck’s next project is a movie titled “Summer Camp,” which is expected to come out later this year. Peck will star alongside Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodward in a story about a summer camp reunion.

Speaking to an audience of students, Peck, with an impressive list of accomplishments and experience behind him, shared some advice for those seeking it in closing.

“You guys are going to this wonderful university, and you’re gonna have all of these skills and all this education under your belt and all this experience and I would imagine, or if it were me, I would really want to get out there and put my stamp on life and the world,” Peck said. “What I would tell you is that everything’s going to work out, it just won’t be on your timetable. I once heard a quote, it was, ‘Ask the universe for a good life just try not to be too specific.’ I would say, run full-force at your life, and as long as you continue to grow, you’re not hurting anyone in the process, and each time you’re getting a little bit better, you’re probably doing the right thing.”

STORY BY AUTUMN OKUSZKA DESIGN BY MEGAN JUDY, BARRET SCHETTLER, & ZACHARY OBERDIER

PHOTO BY CARLEE MORGAN

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Meet Moravian: A local band looking to make it big

CHELSEA BOSSERT Arts Reporter

Alex Christ is a very charismatic lead vocalist, to say the least.

Dancing, singing, sweating, screaming, shouting and, frankly, doing way too much on stage. His ferocity and stage presence mixed with the solid instrumentation of the local indie band, Moravian, might make him a household name in the near future.

On Thursday, April 4 in the Oakland Center Habitat, the winner of Oakland University’s Student Program Board’s Battle of the Bands, Moravian, took center stage and opened up for WXOU’s 57th annual Birthday Bash.

The band — consisting of college students from OU, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University — occupied the seemingly small platform set up by WXOU and SPB staff to try and contain both Moravian’s and the opening act, The Doozers’s, excitement.

Christ even jumped off stage and ran through the crowd during one of the songs in their set, the energy that night was simply immaculate. He fed off the crowd and vice versa — he is everything you should have in a lead vocalist.

You take a look at Moravian, though, and wonder: Why do they only have 2,162 monthly listeners on Spotify?

The beginning.

Coby Valead, the bassist of Moravian, is the loudest person in the room.

He nonchalantly tries to explain his conspiracies

to me while the others are egging him on. Valead then starts to talk about what makes a band local — how and when do they eventually escape their scene and become “popular.”

Valead, a Western Michigan University student, and I share remarks about Kalamazoo — my former place of residence — which include the restaurants we frequented, street names and landmarks.

Valead, along with the rest of the band are all dressed in white shirts with suits or black overcoats. On the surface, professional and practical.

Tomi Baumeister, one of the guitarists for Moravian, adds that he could potentially be related to a serial killer. The others chuckle, but you can tell in his calmness that he is serious and the mood thickens.

This turns into a conversation about each member of the band’s musical starts.

Christ’s musical journey began with him learning trumpet — he adds that he did not know how he got into band, he just got there. In his last semester of high school, he joined the choir and got his singing career started there.

“If you were to just do what I do in the street, people would think that you’re on some serious drugs and since I’m on stage, people want to see any captivating performance alongside the music — just to express myself in the most outlandish but authentic to myself way. That’s what I like to do,” Christ said.

Rico Velaz met Blake Potvin and Baumeister in middle school, and during COVID-19 they all started to experiment with instruments like guitar, drums and bass.

Christ and Valead came into the mix later on. Christ met Baumeister in church, Valead met Baumeister in high school and when they wanted to form a band, they all found each other in the summer of 2022.

They did not even start with covers, Moravian formed as a band and went right into making original songs.

“One day Alex was just writing lyrics and was like, ‘Sex with you is like cocaine,’ and we all just thought it was a joke,” Valead said.

Sparks went off and the band ended up recording their first single, “Cocaine,” around the fall of 2022.

But they were not satisfied, and tensions ran high until they eventually came to a head one day.

(Continue reading on our website)

Taylor Swift releases her ‘5 Stages of Heartbreak’ playlists

OLIVIA CHIAPPELLI Arts Editor

In anticipation of her upcoming album “The Tortured Poets Department” which comes out on April 19, Taylor Swift released five curated playlists on Apple Music representing each of the five stages of grief.

The twist? Each playlist consists exclusively of Swift’s catalog, making the move a reflection on or a reframing of — her most recent love story that ended in heartbreak.

This was world-shattering for Swifties — including myself — because it kind of disrupts every bit of Swift lore that was assumed to be canon, while also being genius promo.

Each playlist was also introduced with a voice note by Swift entitled “A Message From Taylor,” which only sent me deeper down the rabbit hole.

Baby, let the games begin!

1. I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life Songs

The first stage covered is denial, with Swift opening the playlist by saying, “This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion. Results may vary.”

The playlist then goes directly into the song “Lavender Haze” off “Midnights,” which contains the lyrics “All they keep asking me/Is if I’m gonna be your bride” and “No, deal the 1950s shit they want from me.”

These lyrics feel especially illuminating after Swift released the “Midnights” vault track “You’re Losing Me” shortly after her breakup with exboyfriend Joe Alwyn.

“And I wouldn’t marry me either/A pathological people-pleaser/Who only wanted you to see her,” Swift sings on “You’re Losing Me.”

“Lover” is also on this playlist — I’ll let you put those pieces together.

2. You Don’t Get to Tell Me About Sad Songs

“These songs all have one thing in common, I wrote them while feeling anger. Over the years, I’ve learned that anger can manifest itself in a lot of different ways, but the healthiest way it manifests itself in my life is when I can write a song about it and then oftentimes that helps me get past it,” Swift said while introducing the anger stage.

I have always thought “folklore” and “evermore” were a little more autobiographical than Swift has let on, and “exile (feat. Bon Iver),” “illicit affairs,” “mad woman” and “tolerate it” being included on this playlist makes a lot of sense in hindsight.

3. Am I Allowed to Cry? Songs

“This playlist takes you through the songs that I’ve written when I was in the bargaining stage,” Swift explained. “Times when you’re trying to make deals with yourself or someone that you care about. You’re trying to make things better. You’re oftentimes feeling really desperate because oftentimes we have a sort of gut intuition that tells us things are not going to go the way that we hope.”

“Peace” is featured on this playlist, which makes the lyrics “Give you my wild, give you a child” very

sad now.

This playlist also contains so many “Lover” songs, which also makes me feel vindicated for my “Taylor Swift songs about J*e that are filled with anxiety” list on my phone.

4. Old Habits Die Screaming Songs

This playlist sees Swift diving into the “feelings of depression that often lace their way” through her songs.

Featured songs include “my tears ricochet,” “epiphany,” “hoax,” “champagne problems” and “right where you left me.”

“You’re Losing Me” also finds its home on this playlist — featuring the lyrics, “How can you say that you love someone you can’t tell is dying?”

5. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart Songs

Swift describes the last playlist as “where we finally find acceptance and can start moving forward from loss or heartbreak,” and includes songs like “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “closure.”

“These songs represent making room for more good in your life. Making that choice because a lot of the time when we lose things, we gain things too,” Swift explained.

Swift said it best on this playlist, “Long story short, it was the wrong guy.”

PHOTO BY KATIE REID

8 upcoming movies to look out for in 2024

MOE DEL ROSARIO Arts Reporter

Late last year, I made a compiled list of films that were announced to be released in 2024 entitled, “The most anticipated films of 2024.” But since then, new films have been announced to come out this year. Here is an updated list of some of the most anticipated upcoming releases.

1. “Civil War”

A24’s upcoming film “Civil War” tackles the idea of the United States being separated into five different factions, each representing different ideals.

“A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach D.C. before rebel factions descend upon the White House,” reads the IMDb synopsis.

Some of the cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Cailee Spaeny and Nick Offerman.

The film will be released on April 12.

2. “Challengers”

“Challengers” first made waves in the film community for its outstanding cast, which includes Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, as well as for its initial trailer.

The film centers around three professional tennis players with complicated pasts who entangle themselves in a love triangle.

“Challengers” will be released on April 26.

3. “I Saw the TV Glow”

This film — starring Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine — made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

“I Saw the TV Glow” is a horror film about a mysterious late-night TV show, which sees the characters soon find themselves losing track of reality.

The film will be released on May 3.

4. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”

The reboot film series of the original “Planet of the Apes” will be releasing a fourth movie.

Set many years after 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” will focus on the relationship between the apes and humans, and how their interactions in the future will be.

The film will be released on May 8.

5. “Back to Black”

Despite the current controversy surrounding the casting of Amy Winehouse and the director, Sam Taylor-Johnson, “Back to Black” is highly anticipated as fans of Winehouse wonder if the rest of the film will be as bad as it is believed to be.

The film follows Winehouse’s tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, which led her to write her hit album, “Back to Black.”

“Back to Black” will be released on May 17.

6. “Inside Out 2”

Following the success of the first movie, “Inside Out 2” follows Riley’s life as she begins to enter her teenage years.

The film introduces new emotions such as Anxiety,

Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment.

Some new additions to the cast include Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Paul Walter Hauser.

“Inside Out 2” will be released on June 14.

7. “Deadpool & Wolverine”

“Deadpool & Wolverine” follows the reunion of the beloved characters Deadpool, Wade Wilson and Wolverine, Logan — and also the reunion of real-life best friends Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

The two have to team up to stop a mysterious new villain, with the movie being rumored to bring in characters from different Marvel universes.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” will be released on July 26.

8. “Joker: Folie à Deux”

After the success of the 2019 film, “Joker,” this sequel introduces Harley Quinn, played by Lady Gaga.

In a complete 180 from the original film, “Joker: Folie à Deux” was announced to be a musical — with Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role.

The film will be released on Oct. 4.

‘Only God Was Above Us:’ A new beginning for Vampire Weekend

CHELSEA BOSSERT Arts Reporter

Vampire Weekend is a band that is always changing. From their debut record in 2008, to “Contra” in 2010 and the wonderful “Modern Vampires of the City” in 2013, this band has always been keeping listeners on their toes.

Killer choruses mixed with lackadaisical vocal performances have always resulted in a missed potential with each release — something was just not right on each album. Not bad but not amazing either.

Something always had to have gone wrong.

The low-key yet bombastic follow-up to 2019’s “Father of the Bride” is here. So how good is it really?

“Only God Was Above Us” starts off with “Ice Cream Piano,” which for an opening track, is disappointing. It is pretty standard fare for Vampire Weekend — blistering drums, strings, plucky guitar and a soaring chorus — however, the progression in the track is predictable and lackluster compared to the rest of the project.

The filtered and nostalgic mixing on the record is one of my favorite things about it — it is super prevalent on tracks like “Connect,” “The Surfer” and “Mary Boone.” There is a pastiche style that reminds me of 70s symphonic-prog or 90s brit-pop that Vampire Weekend is attempting to go for.

Let’s talk about “Connect” for a second. Like “Ice Cream Piano,” it has those classic Vampire Weekend elements, but it executes them perfectly.

The drums are present yet not overwhelming, the vocals are trance-like and the piano is constantly changing and morphing. The track’s lyrics tackle modern spirituality through drug use.

“The memories don’t fade/Surprisin’ fate for days/ You elegantly wasted/Before you lost your spark/ Took acid in the park/We’re livin’ in a basement,” lead vocalist Ezra Koenig sings in “Connect.”

“Mary Boone” is another one of my favorites, it houses incredible choral vocals as well as reverbsoaked lead vocals by Koenig. The track might be the most “low-key” on the record.

A repeating, unassuming bridge and pre-chorus lead Koenig’s vocals to explode in the following choruses

and verses — along with the choral section.

“Oh, my love, was it all in vain?/We always wanted money, now the money’s not the same/In a quiet moment at the theater, I could feel your pain/Deep inside the city, your memory remains,” Koenig sings on the pre-chorus.

Some might call it pseudo-philosophy — all of this existential quasi-religious fanaticism — but I would like to call it the enlightenment you get right before your middle age. That is the idea that despite all of the world’s struggles, everything is going to be okay if we not only believe in ourselves but in each other.

This all comes to a head in the final track, “Hope.” Koenig appeals to the listeners and asks them to “let go” of everything. This fits as a final track in an album about the faults of materialism through our own god complexes.

The repetition of this “letting go” theme on the final track paints an optimistic picture and potentially a brighter future for Vampire Weekend — a band that has seemed to have always been on the wrong side of the critical lens.

But with this record, I can definitely see they have gotten their strength back.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

PHOTO OF PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GUARDIAN

‘Found Heaven:’ Conan Gray delivers 80s pop album

MOE DEL ROSARIO Arts Reporter

Fans of Conan Gray greatly anticipated his brand new album “Found Heaven” since he announced it back in January — myself included.

Gray first emerged on YouTube when he was 15, and soon released an EP titled “Sunset Season.” The singer gained popularity with his debut album “Kid Krow,” which became one of the biggest solo pop albums of 2020.

Since then, Gray has released a sophomore album, “Superache,” and has gained 26.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Although his first two albums delve into heartbreak, “Found Heaven” is the first album where Gray was in a relationship and the album follows his first eventual breakup.

“With ‘Superache,’ I got used to reminiscing and making up stories, whereas this album was a lot more present. I’m just singing about exactly what was happening at the moment or what had happened this year,” Gray said in an interview with Rolling Stone.

“Found Heaven” is the first and titular song on the album. It’s the beginning of the relationship where Gray is comparing his newfound relationship to heaven. It’s sweet and upbeat with hopes that this relationship will last.

Following that, “Never Ending Song” continues the upbeat synth-pop and celebrates a relationship that doesn’t seem to die. The song was released prior to the album as a teaser.

The upbeat but heartbreaking theme continues with “Fainted Love,” which details all of the lies Gray’s past love interest caused him, but still insists the fainted love his ex gave him was enough.

Both “Lonely Dancers” and “Alley Rose” were released before the album as teasers. “Lonely Dancers” is one of my favorites from the album and serves as a post-breakup rebound for the night as both parties yearn for their past relationship.

“Alley Rose” is another personal favorite as it is such a heartbreaking song where Gray hopes to find the part of his ex-lover that made him believe that love could be more than heartbreak.

While “The Final Fight” could be about the final conversation between Gray and his ex-lover, fans also theorize that it could potentially be about him coming out to his family.

Most of Gray’s songs on this album are about another person hurting him, but in “Miss You” he details how he pulled away after someone confessed their love for him.

In what is perhaps one of his more political songs, Gray details class status in “Bourgeoisieses.” The song details being in a lower class and wanting the

experience of people in the middle class.

“I wanted to make a song that was jokingly saying I want to be part of the bourgeoisie, but not knowing anything about that so that’s why it’s misspelled. It’s a song poking fun at rich people and how ridiculous rich people can be and how ridiculous that world is and how futile and useless of a show of luxury it all is,” Gray said in an interview with Rolling Stone.

“Forever With Me” is another song that looks back at the relationship that once was, but ended for the better.

Inspired by Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” “Eye of the Night” takes on a similar feel with references to previous songs and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The TellTale Heart.”

“Boys & Girls” discusses falling for someone because of their attractiveness. Along with that, it also details how embarrassing it is that others have crushes on them too.

“Killing Me” and “Winner” were also both released as teasers, and both heartbreaking songs wrap up the album. While “Killing Me” is the end of a romantic relationship, “Winner” details the end of a familial relationship.

This album feels completely distant from his first two albums, but still maintains Gray’s beautiful lyricism. I’m a sucker for 80s synth-pop too, so this album felt like it was made for me.

Do

Garcia-Brumer slate takes it all: OUSC election

MALLORY WALIGORA Political Editor

Oakland University Student Congress (OUSC), announced its election results for the upcoming academic year. The presidential election was fierce and rigorous, with the Kobus slate facing head-to-head with the Garcia-Brumer slate for the presidential spot.

Before the polls closed, Garcia-Brumer received several endorsements from student organizations and students. In fact, Mr. Oakland, Trey Townsend, showed his support for the slate on their official Instagram page.

“I endorse the Garcia-Brumer slate for student congress,” Townsend said.

The Garcia-Brumer slate officially won the presidential election.

The elected president is Jimena Garcia, a political science major going into her third year at OU. She is a first-generation Latina student passionate about creating an inclusive and diverse campus community. Having worked with OUSC in the past, she has a firm grip on the structure and format of the group.

Her past accomplishments include detailing meeting minutes for OUSC, expanding the OUSC archives, assisting with stocking menstrual products across campus and much more.

The elected vice-president is Marion Brumer, a political science major excited to begin her new position. She is particularly interested in advocacy work for policy change.

Some of her accomplishments with OUC include writing legislation to institutionalize the Affordable Course Material Initiative (ACMI), writing legislation to require a semester line item for food pantry donations and helping coordinate neurodiversity celebration week.

“I look forward to having the opportunity to get to know the OU student body more in-depth. We have such amazing diversity in our student body which means that there are a diverse array of struggles our student body faces,” Brumer said.

The elected speaker of the legislature is Marcus Johnson, a political science major entering his senior year at OU. Currently, he serves as the legislative majority leader, giving him a strong background in creating OUSC initiatives. Johnson has also filled in for the speaker in the past.

Johnson’s past accomplishments with OUSC include cosponsoring legislation supporting the women’s resource center, writing student legislation addressing student concerns about the ID card policy change in housing and recruiting and helping onboard new legislators.

In addition to the presidential election, legislators were elected to OUSC. The list of legislators includes Katelyn Butler, Jeffery Childs, Allions Drzewiecki, Cameron Fosnaugh, Joesephie Hendriks, Ethan Lehman-Pace, Lance Markowitz, Daniela Meson De La Fuente, Victoria Ouding, Noah Sabaj, Mathew Seidel, DJ Williams, J Cooper Smith, Mackenize Smith, Rose Smith, Alex Verzillo, Ben Wolf and Tyler Wykhuis.

Sabaj is a newcomer to OUSC. He is excited to have

been elected as a legislator for the upcoming year.

“I always wanted to learn how the Student Congress does their work,” Sabaj said. “And I’ve always been really interested in legislating too. It’s always been the kind of group work that I’ve enjoyed the most.”

Legislators are the backbone of OUSC and they commonly serve as unsung heroes on campus. Legislators help run and plan OUSC events and serve as liaisons between students and OUSC executives.

OUSC has an exciting year ahead and the OU community is excited to see what projects the organization will accomplish in the future. For more information, follow OUSC on Instagram @ ouscofficial. Additionally, students can check out their Grizzorgs page.

Democratic tyrants: Legal cases and decisions against Biden and Trump

NICHOLAS KABLAK Political Reporter

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump accuse one another of anti-democratic actions and paint a picture of doomsday where the other candidate will be the end of the republic. Serious accusations ought to be considered, here are the most serious accusations and findings, against both presidential candidates.

The Biden administration faced an injunction in which a district court banned the administration from meeting with social media companies to pressure the companies to suppress alternative views. The Biden administration was found to have committed these actions by the same court which was upheld by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Former President Trump, on the other hand, faces a number of charges. Notably, he faces an indictment accusing him of conspiring to obstruct official proceedings, violating voting rights and defrauding the United States. Additionally, Trump is charged with attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, although no court date has yet occurred or been set.

The Biden administration was accused by Missouri and Louisiana and some social media users that they had violated the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, by coercing social media platforms into censoring selected content.

The courts found that Biden’s administration engaged in multiple instances of pressuring social media companies to moderate and censor posts that

challenged the administration on a wide variety of issues — from the Hunter Biden laptop story to the administration’s COVID-19 policy.

Social media platforms relinquished these pressures even when the post did not break the platform’s community guidelines.

“Facebook recognized that a popular video did not qualify for removal under its policies but promised that it was being ‘labeled’ and ‘demoted’ anyway after the officials flagged it,” the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals filing said.

The interference of a federal administration in the activities of social media platforms to de-platform, demote or remove opinions it found reprehensible is largely unprecedented.

The courts found the Biden administration to be in breach of the First Amendment. This led to the injunction that banned multiple executive agencies and bodies from corresponding with social media companies relating to censorship.

“The present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history,” U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty said in his 155-page opinion.

Rhetoric about an attack on the nation is applied to former President Trump. Trump faces many charges — the most important one for democracy is the election interference indictment. The indictment brings four accusations against the former president concerning an overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.

While these charges have not been decided in court, any one of them could show that former President Trump’s character is anti-democratic. In the indictment,

the U.S. charges Trump as having conspired to defraud the nation, impede congressional proceedings and violate the right to vote.

“The Defendant [Trump] also pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results,” the indictment reads.

The indictment claims that Trump did in fact know that what he was perpetuating was false and was doing so with disregard for democracy. This would make Trump’s actions a direct attack on a foundational pillar of democracy — the voting process and the presidential election.

The indictment elaborates on the allegation that Trump was lying by going through several instances of this occurring.

“On January 6th the defendant publicly repeated the knowingly false claim that 36,000 non-citizens had voted in Arizona,” the indictment reads.

The court proceedings hinge on the intent of Trump’s actions. If the charges are true, then the case could be made that Trump acted in a way intensely hostile to democracy.

The argument over the threat posed by the presidential candidates should either of them become president is one of genuine importance. If one can determine a president to be counter to democracy, then the choice of who to vote for would become obvious.

The question of who is more dangerous, or who is more undemocratic, is up to individual decision.

“We have strong institutions in our country… That are bulwarks against a tyrant,” presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. said in an interview with NewsNation.

PHOTO COURTESY OF OF THE GARCIA-BRUMER SLATE

OU Student Congress bill to help fund Club Sports gets tabled

NOAH FRANCIS Features Editor

For many of the organizations at Oakland University to function properly, funding will always be an essential factor, and the Student Activity Fee (SAF) is OU’s main way of funding all student organizations.

The SAF funds come from each student’s tuition, as a small sliver is taken from each student, and then divided between OU’s bigger organizations such as the Oakland University Student Congress (OUSC), The Oakland Post, WXOU, the Student Program Board (SPB), Student Video Productions, Club Sports, the Student Life Lecture Board and the Student Activity Funding Board (SAFB).

On Friday, March 29, the OUSC attempted to pass a bill allowing OU Club Sports a much-needed three percent increase to their share of the SAF funds by taking a percentage from SAFB and SPB in the process. Although SAFB was on board with the plan, Matthew Murray, the president of SPB, feels that their percentage would be better utilized at SPB.

“We are by far the most efficient with our money in terms of the number of students that we serve,” Murray said. “It’s our responsibility to plan events on campus, and so we use that money to do just that. That one percent, I argue, has more value in the long run for more students than it would at Club

Sports. It’s about the impact that we can have on the most students, so I see more value there.”

Murryum Farooqi, the president of OUSC, is disappointed with SPB, believing the organization caused damage through the disagreement of the terms of the bill.

“They [SPB] claim that they also care about club sports, but then, when they have the opportunity to do something about it, they’re turning it around,” Farooqi said. “It’s just very slanted and it’s really hurting Student Activities Funding Board and Club Sports.”

While it is simple to blame the organization that isn’t budging, Kara Delventhal, the programming assistant for the OU Recreation and Well Being Center, helps oversee the 25 club sports and feels it is important not to point fingers.

“I completely understand why he did not give up a percentage,” Delventhal said. “I do not want any fingers pointed at SPB because their entire reason was that there are certain spending habits of other organizations that did have a higher percentage than us, so he was not willing to give up a percentage that he knew was going directly towards students when they [the other organizations] were spending that money in a way that was not going towards the entire student body.”

The decision made at the OUSC meeting was all or nothing, meaning either they would agree to give Club Sports the full three percent, or no change at all for the coming semester. Unfortunately, the bill

was tabled and Club Sports did not receive any increase for the following year.

“I’m disappointed that it didn’t pass because it could have helped out club sports in the long run, and immediately to get that extra two percent,” Murray said. “Now we have to go back and deal with it again [next year].”

Rise of empires: France and Russia in West Africa amid the Ukraine war

NICHOLAS KABLAK Political Reporter

The string of recent military coups in West Africa over the last few years has caused the region to become engrossed in competition between France and Russia. The two European powers’ struggle in the region adds crucial context to current events in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

France historically owned the majority of the territory in West Africa as colonies, having officially decolonized the region starting in 1959. However, the decolonization process was complicated. The presence of French domination in the region has continued into the modern era.

The French have maintained very strong economic, diplomatic and military ties with the governments of West Africa.

“France has always been at the side of Africa whenever its stability has been jeopardized,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

France has kept thousands of troops stationed in West Africa to fulfill a multitude of roles, notably counter-terror operations. It has also instituted a number of economic ties, most notably pegging the CFA Franc, the currency used in many West African nations, to its own currency.

These economic ties in the region have enabled France to access African markets in ways no other nation can. The French military presence has helped

ensure that pro-French governments stay in power and allows France to maintain global prestige as a power broker.

However, in recent years, a string of military coups have taken place in Francophone nations leading, in many cases, to the removal of French military forces and pro-French governments. However, the regimes still need military backing for a guarantee of power— with the French gone they turn to the Russians.

The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group with direct ties to the Kremlin, already has a reported presence in the Central African Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso. The Wagner Group has help requested by Niger. All these nations have recently had military coups, and have removed the presence of French troops from their respective countries.

But what does Russia have to gain from these arrangements? The answer is gold.

According to The Blood Gold Report, Wagner Group has earned Russia 2.5 billion dollars in African gold. Wagner Group has been able to get mining rights and agreements from these new African governments in return for keeping the regimes in power.

The French have noticed these changes in West Africa as a trend and a pull away from Paris and toward Moscow.

“In the Central African Republic, or elsewhere, to see that the Russian project on the way there, when

France is pushed aside, is a predatory project,” Macron said.

These comments are made in light of supposed human rights violations committed by the Wagner Group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied the idea of Russia purposefully engaging in Africa, highlighting the independent nature of the Wagner Group and the African governments.

“We’re not inciting anyone there, we’re not setting anyone up against France,” Putin said.

Despite this, the economic efforts of the Wagner Group have been good for Russia, considering the war in Ukraine and the sanctions that the West has levied against Russia. These events in Africa reveal the complexities of the geopolitical circumstances in relation to the Ukraine war.

Macron has recently refused to rule out the possibility of French boots in Ukraine. A decision that some relate to the realities that are developing in Africa, and the growing negative realities in Ukraine. In their bid against Russia, France has made blatant efforts to curb Russian expansion and power. Is Paris concerned with the actions of Moscow and the Wagner group, or are they trying to settle a score with Russia?

Oakland softball dominates in series over Youngstown State

KURT SZYMANSKI Sports Reporter

From Friday, April 5, until Saturday, April 6, the Oakland University softball team defeated the Youngstown State University (YSU) Penguins twice in a three-game series.

This marks the Golden Grizzlies’ third consecutive conference series win, following two series wins on the road against the Northern Kentucky Norse and the Cleveland State Vikings.

Additionally, OU snapped YSU’s nine-game conference win streak. Notably, before the series started, the Penguins remained undefeated in conference play.

Game 1: Oakland 5, Youngstown State 4

The Golden Grizzlies won the first game of the series in a nail-biter.

Allisa DiPrima and Brooklyn Plitz led OU from the batter’s box with two hits apiece. DiPrima also led OU in RBIs with two.

Sydney Campbell took the mound for the Golden Grizzlies and never left, earning her seventh win of the season. Campbell let up ten hits through all seven innings and tallied five strikeouts.

YSU got on the scoreboard first in the top of the first after an OU error sent Sara Fessler to home plate, giving the Penguins a 1-0 lead by the end of the inning.

OU responded with two points of their own in the second inning, using just two hits. With runners on first and third, the Golden Grizzlies scored off of an error, and Reese Ruhlman sent Jenna Johnston home with a groundout, putting OU ahead 2-1.

Despite the Golden Grizzlies’ lead, the Penguins

slowly took control of the game through multiple innings. YSU earned runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, taking back the lead from OU 4-2.

However, the Golden Grizzlies brought the game back in the bottom of the seventh inning. Following three straight walks and loading the bases for OU, DiPrima brought two runners home on a single, tying the game up 4-4. On the following at-bat, Plitz singled, loading the bases again for the Golden Grizzlies.

With the game on the line, Maci Brown hit the walkoff single, advancing Johnston to home plate and giving the Golden Grizzlies their first win of the series.

Game 2: Youngstown State 3, Oakland 1

The Penguins made their presence known in the second game of the series.

Ruhlman led all Golden Grizzly hitters in the second match with two hits, finding the softball on all her atbats. As for RBIs, Taylor Carraway led the team, batting in the only run for OU.

From the mound, Alyssa Balcom pitched the first four innings for the Golden Grizzlies, letting up nine hits while striking out four batters. Mary Newton came in for Balcom in the fifth inning and gave up a hit while tallying two strikeouts.

Both the Golden Grizzlies and the Penguins remained quiet until the fourth inning. YSU scored its first run of the match after Jillian Jakse doubled to left field. OU responded in the bottom of the fourth after a chain of three straight hits sent Ruhlman to score off Carraway’s bat.

In the following inning, the Penguins capitalized on their success in the previous inning. Autumn Behlke was walked after loading the bases without any outs, extending the YSU lead to 2-1.

On the next at-bat, Hailey Niederkohr singled up the middle, bringing home Conchetta Rinaldi to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

Although the Golden Grizzlies escaped a scary situation, giving up two runs in the process, OU could not translate any success on offense to the scoreboard, losing the second game to YSU 3-1.

Game 3: Oakland 3, Youngstown State 0

In the final game of the series, it was all OU all game long.

Once again, Plitz led all OU hitters with two hits on three at-bats. Additionally, Carraway drove in the most runs for the Golden Grizzlies with two RBIs.

Campbell took the mound for the second time in this series, allowing just three hits and striking out two batters on her way to her eighth win of the season. Remarkably, this is the third game this season that Campbell has left the opposing team scoreless.

The Golden Grizzlies got things going early in the first inning. After Plitz made it to first, Jen Krizka and Ruhlman were hit by the pitch, loading the bases for OU. Carraway brought Plitz and Krizka home later in the inning, moving the needle in OU’s favor 2-0 by the end of the first.

With YSU unable to make any noise on offense all game, Krizka doubled to center field in the fifth inning. The hit advanced Plitz home to give OU a 3-0 lead that the Penguins could not reach, marking another series win for the Golden Grizzlies.

Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will hit the road to battle against the Green Bay Phoenix in a three-game series, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13, and ending on Sunday, April 14.

Oakland at Milwaukee baseball series recap

EVAN BLANCHARD Sports Reporter

Oakland baseball went on the road for the weekend to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and took on the Panthers in a three-game series. The Grizzlies entered the series 12-16 on the season, with Milwaukee being 4-21. Let’s take a look at this Horizon League matchup.

April 5: Oakland 3, Milwaukee 1

In the first game of the series, Hunter Pidek pitched an absolutely excellent game. He completely shut down this Panthers lineup. Pidek dealt to the tune of six shutout innings with five strikeouts, giving up five hits and two walks.

This gem of a start came after Pidek earned his second Under Armour Player of the Week award for the Horizon League. With Pidek on the mound and pitching at his best, the Oakland bats were able to get enough runs together to topple the Panthers.

The game was tied heading into the top of the fifth inning. Catcher Brandon Heidal led off the inning with a double down the left-field line. First baseman Carter Hain was hit by a pitch and took first. Both runners advanced on a bunt attempt by second baseman Drew Gaskins.

Center fielder Sam Griffith hit a fly out to center field that brought Heidal home on a tag up to make it a 1-0 ball game. Milwaukee pitcher Luke Hansel struggled greatly with his control in the inning. Hain took third off a wild pitch, followed by a walk from left fielder Reggie Bussey, a steal from Bussey to second, and finally another hit by pitch for right fielder Trent Rice. The bases were loaded, with third baseman Brandon

Nigh coming up to bat.

No, he didn’t hit a bases-clearing double or a home run, but he did his job. Luke Hansel from Milwaukee would throw two wild pitches that passed the Milwaukee catcher. Hain and Bussey would both steal home, making it a 3-1 ball game. Nigh would go on to walk before designated hitter Lucas Day hit a flyout to end the inning.

Brandon Decker had a great outing in long relief, going three innings with only a run allowed with three hits and two punchouts.

April 6th, Game 1: Oakland 6, Milwaukee 5

The Grizzlies started the game with a run from first baseman Lucas Day on a sacrifice fly that drove in right fielder Trent Rice. From there on, it was all Milwaukee.

The Panthers stacked up runs across the next six innings, eventually building a 5-1 lead by the seventh. Starting pitcher Shane McAlinden had a rough day, going 6.1 innings with nine hits and five runs.

In the eighth inning, the Grizzlies were able to get to Milwaukee pitcher Logan Snow. Snow issued three walks, three hits and four runs in his 2.2 innings of relief. This erratic play from Snow led to a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch for center fielder Gavin Arseneau, scoring outfielder John Lauinger to make it a 2-5 ball game.

Finally, Reggie Bussey made it a tie game with a triple to left field. The hit brought home Arseneau, Ben Clark and Carter Hain. Snow’s day was done after Bussey’s hit, and the ninth inning began with a 5-5 tie.

In the top of the inning, Milwaukee reliever Tyler Deleskiewicz hit the first batter he faced, followed by a Lucas Day single and a sacrifice bunt by Lauinger that brought runners to third and second base. Deleskiwicz

would hit another Grizzly before finally issuing a basesloaded walk, making it a 6-5 game. Reliever Brandon Decker closed the game out for Oakland, earning his third save of the season.

April 6th, Game 2: Oakland 7, Milwaukee 3

Senior Brandon Decker took the mound for the second game of the doubleheader. He had a great start before allowing a double in the fourth inning, which brought in two runs for the Panthers. It would be the only damage he allowed in his five innings of work, giving up just three hits and two runs with no walks.

Oakland responded in the fifth inning with a Lauinger single that drove in Rice, followed by third baseman Brandon Nigh’s double down the left-field line. The game stood at 2-2 in the sixth inning.

Milwaukee reliever Logan Dobberstein lost control in the inning, walking three batters and hitting two. This sporadic play benefited Oakland to the tune of two runs on bases-loaded walks from Rice and pinch hitter Ian Cleary. Bussey hit a fielder’s choice to second base, scoring one more run courtesy of second baseman Erik Larsen.

In the seventh, designated hitter Ben Clark put the finishing touchdowns on the Oakland sweep, hitting a triple that brought home Heidal and Lauinger. The Grizzlies would go on to win 7-3 after allowing a run in the eighth.

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South Carolina downs Caitlin Clark, Iowa in national championship

SUMMER WEATHERS

Sports Reporter

The undefeated Gamecocks won the National Championship over the Iowa Hawkeyes, 87-75.

This was an electrifying game between two powerhouse teams. It was a strong start from Iowa, credited to Caitlin Clark, who had 18 points in the first quarter and set a new standard for scoring in an NCAA Championship game that helped give the Hawkeyes a 27-20 score advantage to end the opening quarter.

In response, there was a combination of clutch threes from the Gamecocks’ Tessa Johnson and dominance in the paint from Kamilla Cordoso that fueled South Carolina’s comeback. The game had already seen five ties and three lead changes throughout, but the Gamecocks were up 49-46, which set the stage for a must-see second half.

The third quarter witnessed a continued scoring surge from South Carolina, going on a 9-0 run that was sparked by Chloe Kitts. Iowa went 5-of-17 shooting in the third quarter but managed to claw their way back to contention in the fourth quarter.

Sydney’s Affolter’s and-one play cut Iowa’s deficit to 80-75 with just over four minutes remaining, but from that point on, the Hawkeyes did not score, and the Gamecocks sensed that they were about to be crowned as National Champions as they dribbled their final possession out.

South Carolina truly is a team that has shown

Brock’s

that they have a lot of players who are capable of stepping up and making a huge impact on the game. Johnson, who is only a freshman, especially played a part in their victory on the grand stage and led all scorers with 19 points.

Te-Hina Paopao had 14, and Kitts recorded a double-double with 11 points that went along with 10 rebounds. Defensively, Raven Johnson, who was tasked with guarding Caitlin Clark, successfully held her down in crucial moments of the game.

As for Kamilla Cordoso, in her last game before heading to the next level and playing in the WNBA, she finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds and was named the Most Outstanding Player.

The Gamecocks have achieved an undefeated season, which was a result of their relentless determination and collective efforts, and won it all under the guidance of head coach Dawn Staley, whose resume continues to rack up.

This year’s victory secures her place among the elite few as the fifth coach to win three or more national championships. She is in company with Geno Auriemma, Pat Summitt, Kim Mulkey and Tara VanDerveer.

“I’m super proud of where I work. I’m super proud of our fans — it’s awesome. It’s awesome, it’s unbelievable,” Staley said.

Staley also acknowledged Caitlin Clark after her remarkable 30-point showing.

“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport. She carried a heavy load for our sport, and it just is not going to stop here on a collegiate tour, but when she is the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, she is going to lift that league up as well, so Caitlin Clark, if you’re out there, you are one of the GOATs of our game, and we appreciate you.”

The excitement of the women’s NCAA lived up to the hype and was yet again another incredible year of college basketball. Now, the spotlight shifts to the highly anticipated WNBA Draft, which is scheduled to take place on April 15 and will be live on ESPN.

Thoughts: Caitlin Clark changed women’s basketball, and she’s not done yet

BROCK HEILIG Sports Editor

Six months ago, how many women’s college basketball players could you have named?

Five? Maybe just two or three? Or was it only one?

Caitlin Clark was already a national celebrity by the beginning of the 2023-24 college basketball season, and if there was any women’s player that the average American would have been able to name six months ago it would have been her.

The Iowa senior’s exciting style of play transcends all previous realms of college basketball, and although her quest for a national championship came up just one game short for the second consecutive season, her impact on women’s basketball will be monumental.

This season, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history. Not just women’s college basketball, but all of college basketball, men’s or women’s. She also racked up numerous other accolades and accomplishments, but listing all of them would be nearly impossible.

Friday night’s game between No. 1 seed Iowa and No. 3 seed UConn featured some of the best TV ratings in ESPN’s history. Clark battled it out with fellow star Paige Bueckers, and the game lived up to every bit of the hype it was getting.

And heading into Sunday afternoon’s national championship game between the Hawkeyes and undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, the anticipation was once again off the charts.

Could Clark lead Iowa to victory over the unbeaten Gamecocks?

Or would South Carolina complete the perfect season?

It turned out to be the latter, but Clark didn’t disappoint. She posted 18 points in the first quarter and finished with 30 in the loss.

Her college career is now officially over, as Clark will head to the WNBA, completing a decision she announced months ago. The women’s game will undoubtedly miss Clark and her incredible talent, but it’s hard not to look back at everything she did to grow the women’s game.

Women’s college basketball used to be an afterthought. It was second fiddle — if that — to the men’s game.

In recent years, dominating the headlines were Zion Williamson of Duke, Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin and Kevin Durant of Texas, to name a few.

But this year, things changed.

Clark won over the hearts of college basketball fans, and she paved the way for other players — Bueckers, Kamilla Cardoso, Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith and so many others — to be seen.

She’ll head off to the WNBA, and while college basketball will be left looking for another star to rise up and fill Clark’s shoes — if that’s even possible — college basketball’s all-time leading scorer will head off to the WNBA and will likely have the same effect on that league as she did on college basketball.

Clark will almost certainly be selected with the

No. 1 overall pick in next week’s WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever, and her conquest of the world’s best women’s basketball league will soon begin. If her reign atop the WNBA is anywhere near as successful as her dominance in college, Clark will take the WNBA to new heights and will yet again pave the way for the younger generation coming behind her.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AXIOS

Six Golden Grizzlies enter transfer portal

KURT SZYMANSKI Sports Reporter

Following the Oakland University men’s basketball team’s conclusion to one of its most successful seasons in program history, many players have chosen to enter the transfer portal.

At the time of this writing, six players from the Golden Grizzlies roster have entered their names into the transfer portal. Below is a list of those players and their notable performances this past season for OU.

Trey Townsend | F | 17.3 PTS, 8.1 REB, 3.1 AST

Trey Townsend, crowned the Horizon League player of the year, started every game last season and led the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played.

Townsend delivered plenty of standout performances for OU this season, including his performance against the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin.

Townsend’s display in the Horizon League Championship lifted the Golden Grizzlies to their first NCAA Division I men’s tournament bid since 2011.

In the championship game, Townsend scored a careerhigh 38 points. Furthermore, he recorded 11 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal. Remarkably, he never checked out of the game for OU.

Tone Hunter | G | 1.8 PTS, 0.4 REB, 0.1 AST

After transferring from Long Beach State University ahead of the season, Tone Hunter appeared in the most games (30) without starting a single game for OU.

The defensive maestro had a remarkable showing

in a Cayman Islands Classic matchup versus Marshall University. In 15 minutes, Hunter recorded three points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Michael Rogers | G | 1.5 PTS, 0.4 REB, 0.1 AST

Following two seasons at Phoenix College, Michael Rogers transferred to OU this season and appeared in eight games off the bench for the Golden Grizzlies.

Rogers’ most notable game came against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons around the start of conference play for the Golden Grizzlies. In that game, Rogers tallied four points and an assist in the last six minutes of the game.

Osei Price | G | 1.3 PTS, 0.7 REB, 0.2 AST

Apart from Townsend, Osei Price is the sole player on this list to have cracked the starting lineup at least once for the Golden Grizzlies this previous season.

In Price’s first start last season against the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguars, he scored 14 points, five rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes.

Aundre Polk | F | 0.6 PTS, 0.7 REB, 0 AST

After transferring to OU from Garden City Community College, Polk appeared in 10 games for the Golden Grizzlies.

Polk’s most notable game this season came against the Bowling Green Falcons in OU’s regular-season home opener, where Polk had two points, a rebound and a block in three minutes of playing time.

Evan Solomon | G | 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST Originally a walk-on during the 2022-23 season,

Solomon was redshirted his first season for the Golden Grizzlies.

During the last season, Solomon only appeared in three games early on. Throughout those three games, Solomon only had five minutes of playing time, the lowest of any player on the roster.

Looking Ahead

Although entering the transfer portal does not necessarily mean the definitive end for these players at OU, it’s unlikely that any players on this list will return to suit up in black and gold.

According to NCAA data, in 2023, just 6% of men’s basketball players withdrew their names from the portal to return to their team.

Additionally, considering that three of the Golden Grizzlies, Blake Lampman, Rocket Watts, and Jack Gohlke, have reached the end of their eligibility to play, the Golden Grizzlies will have nearly an entirely different roster heading into next season.

If all six players find new teams to play for the following season, just six of the 15 members of the team that won OU’s first Horizon League tournament championship and OU’s first Round of 64 game in program history will be on the roster ahead of the 2024-25 season.