Oct. 19. 2017

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017

Pushing ahead President Duane Nellis is inaugurated 10

Cover: Private businesses on the rise

12

Travel bans’ strain on students 20

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELIZABETH BACKO MANAGING EDITOR Kaitlin Coward DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Hayley Harding SENIOR EDITOR Marisa Fernandez

EDITORIAL

NEWS EDITORS Maddie Capron, Bailey Gallion SPORTS EDITOR Andrew Gillis CULTURE EDITORS Georgia Davis, Mae Yen Yap OPINION EDITOR Chuck Greenlee COPY CHIEF Alex McCann

ART

ART DIRECTORS Abby Gordon, Sarah Olivieri PHOTO EDITORS Meagan Hall, McKinley Law, Blake Nissen, Hannah Schroeder, Matt Starkey SPECIAL PROJECTS DESIGNER Abby Day

DIGITAL

DIGITAL PRODUCTION EDITOR Taylor Johnston SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Kate Ansel BLOGS EDITOR Alex Darus MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Andy Hamilton DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS Jonny Palermo

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

‘Post’ staffers get to know Athens while reporting

T

hough Athens has a small-town feel, it has a lot of stories to offer.

Every week, Post reporters and editors pitch dozens of stories per staff so we are able to populate thepostathens.com every day and print our weekly tabloid on Thursdays. Some stories are planned out months in advance, while some may develop in a single day.

As journalists, we have the obligation to go out and explore what Athens and Athens County have to offer.

That means going to Athens City Council meetings to hear about the bypass tunnel proposed for Richland Avenue and venturing into tattoo parlors to learn about policies against tattooing intoxicated people.

This week, senior writer Jeremy Hill explored the Athens economy — a story he has been reporting on for quite some time. He went to Global Cooling Inc. in The Plains and Third Sun Solar on West Union Street to learn more about local businesses and the employees who work there. The report details how employment in Athens goes beyond Ohio University and Court Street.

ELIZABETH BACKO / Recently, a Post staff member pitched a story about EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Halal food options in the area. Reporter Haley Richards found many students drive to Columbus to purchase halal-certified meat. She also spoke to a co-owner of Salaam, 21 W. Washington St., about the different options the eatery provides for students.

Reporters also strive to cover the annual events happening in town, such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, hosted by the Lost Flamingo Theatre Company. Each week in the tabloid, a culture staff member aggregates events taking during the weekend, which gives readers another chance to try something new.

Every day The Post publishes content, we strive to accurately depict what is happening in Athens and share that information with readers. The weekly tabloid gives us a chance to purposefully publish certain stories together to elaborate on certain problems or to highlight different themes.

This year, we already published an edition dedicated to OU President Duane Nellis and another about Homecoming festivities and traditions. Last year, we wrote about the elections, innovation in Athens and the opioid epidemic in southeast Ohio.

We want to continue telling the stories that matter to our audience, and we want to capture all the happenings in Athens. And as a reader and/or resident, it is just as important to get to know Athens, too.

Elizabeth Backo is a senior studying journalism and the editor-in-chief of The Post. Want to talk to her? Email her at eb823313@ohio.edu or send her a tweet @liz_backo.

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Cover photo by Patrick Connolly

Nearly half the reported cases of sexual misconduct at OU are found not to violate the code of conduct

GRAPHIC BY CLAIRE HANNA

More than 40 percent of sexual misconduct cases that come through Ohio University’s Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility are ultimately found not in violation of the university’s code of conduct, according to recent reports.

The numbers in the latest report correspond with referrals received by the office from August 2016 to August 2017. OU’s Board of Trustees is set to review the numbers at its meeting Thursday and Friday.

The overall number of cases of sexual misconduct investigated by Community Standards has decreased from 30 in the 2015-16 academic year to 24 in the 2016-17 academic year. The number for the 201617 academic year, however, has remained “consistent with the average,” according to the report. There was an increase in sexual exploitation, non-consensual sexual intercourse and stalking violations.

So far, 44 percent of cases submitted to the office for the 2016-17 academic year have been found not in violation of the university’s conduct code. Meanwhile, 28 percent of cases have been found in violation, and decisions are still pending for 23 percent of the cases. In 5 percent of cases, the respondent accepted responsibility.

Non-consensual sexual acts and non-consensual sexual intercourse were the most commonly investigated cases for both the 2016-17 and 2015-16 academic years.

Of the 15 cases of non-consensual sexual intercourse submitted to the office for the 2016-17 academic year, fewer than half have been found in violation. This year’s numbers are nearly identical to those re-

“

Every report is evaluated and followed up on with the survivor to discuss with them resources and options and to obtain additional information to assist ECRC in providing a prompt, fair and equitable response to address the reported sexual misconduct.

“

LAUREN FISHER ASST. NEWS EDITOR

- Carly Leatherwood, OU spokeswoman

leased last year. Both years’ numbers have been down from 2014-15, when 75 percent of non-consensual sexual intercourse cases were found not in violation.

OU defines consent as an informed, knowing and voluntary agreement to a sexual act. It must be clear and unambiguous for each participant, and consent to some sexual acts does not equal consent to other acts, according to a previous Post report.

When a sexual assault survivor approached Dean of Students Jenny HallJones at the showing of the Monument Quilt and asked about the investigation process, Hall-Jones told her that although close to a majority of cases are not in violation of the code of conduct, students have options for coming forward.

“Even if it’s just between you and that other person and you feel like it’s ‘he said, she said’ … depending on the evidence you do have, it could be enough for a finding,” Hall-Jones said. “So I don’t want you to think that you don’t have enough, just because 50 percent of the people weren’t found in violation. You could also say that 50 percent of people were found in violation.”

Not all reports of sexual misconduct submitted to the Office of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, or ECRC, result in investigations.

“Every report is evaluated and followed up on with the survivor to discuss with them resources and options and to obtain additional information to assist ECRC in providing a prompt, fair and equitable response to address the reported sexual misconduct,” OU Spokeswoman Carly Leatherwood said in an email in July. “However, not every report will result in an investigation.”

In some cases, Leatherwood explained, the facts and circumstances of a reported incident may not meet standards required for the incident to be considered a violation of university policy.

In an effort to prevent sexual misconduct on campus, incoming and first-year students are required to complete online courses “Not Anymore” and “Haven,” both of which aim to educate students about consent, sexual violence and bystander intervention.

Most recently, the university introduced “Bridges: Building a Supportive Community,” a new online education module for faculty and staff lauded by OU President Duane Nellis as “very timely.”

@LAUREN __FISHER LF966614@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 3

AMPLIFED OBSERVATIONS

Album of the year dialogue busted Time is running out.

With the majority of this year’s records already out, candidates for album of the year LUKE are narrowing in reFURMAN lease frequency. Masis a senior sive political, social studying and personal statejournalism ments by Fleet Foxes, at Ohio LCD Soundsystem, University.

The War on Drugs and Zola Jesus have so far bubbled on top of the title’s field, but a few releases changed the whole landscape late last week.

This past Friday marked the release date of two album of the year contenders and an excellent collaborative LP. Take a listen to these three albums from Friday, whether you’ve been anticipating the artist’s return or you’re listening for the first time. There’s enough food for thought here that no one will go hungry.

St. Vincent - Masseduction Annie Clark’s fifth studio album and first since 2014 finds the singer/guitarists exploring areas of vulnerability ob-

scured in her earlier work. Masseduction — that’s pronounced “mass seduction” and not “mass education” — delivers straightforward pop/rock songs divided into racy dance tracks like “Savior,” chaotic meditations like “Pills” and “Sugarboy” and, most importantly, melancholy admissions on songs like “New York,” “Dancing with a Ghost” and “Smoking Section.”

In the span of 41 fully-purposed minutes, Clark recreate the peaks and valleys of relationships and all the icky feelings that old ones leave behind. Plus, her Bowie-like fascination with an evolving persona supports the feeling that she’s telling us something we have yet to hear.

King Krule - The OOZ In 2015, Archy Marshall stepped away from his King Krule moniker — only one of many — to release a dark hip-hop album under his own name called A New Place 2 Drown. But since then, Marshall has returned to his roots of combining indie, punk and jazz music to follow up 2012’s 6 Feet Beneath the Moon with The OOZ, an hour-long dense recollection of struggle, seedy activity and alienation. The bleakness that defined the first two King Krule

releases does not take an absence here, with songs like “The Locomotive,” “Dum Surfer” and “Emergency Blimp” trudging along in pessimism and disciplined anger.

However, Marshall also incorporate his more sparse and relaxed songs to balance the heaviness with introspections.

“Lonely Blue,” “Czech One” and “La Lune” meander through jazz chords and internal monologues spoken out loud. A moody saxophone interweaves seamlessly with all the other instruments, making King Krule sound like a band over a solo project more than any prior release.

With the same emotional clairvoyance as Earl Sweatshirt or Radiohead, Marshall places his finger on the emotional pulse of the today’s milieu and offers a stark look at our fears, missteps and gritty nights of loneliness.

Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice Lotta Sea Lice might not make as many top 10 lists as the other high-profile albums released on Friday, but it does make for a fun time. With dueling lyrics and guitar riffs from two of rock’s most celebrated voices, Courtney Barnett and Kurt

Vile’s collaborative full-length never lets up during its brisk 44 minutes.

Along with standout original songs like “Over Everything,” “Fear is like a Forest” and “Continental Breakfast,” the two crank out some entertaining bluesy covers. Barnett covers Vile’s “Peeping Tomboy” — a personal favorite of mine — and Vile covers Barnett’s “Outta the Woodwork.” Together the two rockers end their LP with spirited a cover of Belly’s “Untogether,” a fitting end to this once-unlikely project.

Lotta Sea Lice beckons back to earlier country-rock albums like The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, but it still moves forward with its creators’ idiosyncratic styles. Kurt and Courtney breathe enough life into each verse about writing songs or figuring out existence to make this one a memorable addition to their respective catalogues.

Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Have you listened to these albums yet? Let Luke know by tweeting him @LukeFurmanLog or emailing him at lf491413@ohio.edu.

QUERY A QUEER

Don’t forget about your mental health Q: Oct. 10th was World Mental Health Day. Can you speak to the importance of mental health as an LGBTQIA+ person?

A: It is important to remember that one’s mental health is just as important as physical health.

We as a society put such a stigma on mental health and often try to deny the existence of mental illness and the struggles that come with them on a daily basis. Depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are the leading mood disorders for folks in the LGBTQIA+ community. Folks in the LGBTQIA+ community are three times more likely to live with these mental illnesses than their cis-gendered and heterosexual counterparts. Mental health is a result of both environment as well as neurological imbalances.

While some folks’ disorders are strictly chemical, being a queer person comes with its own set of struggles: coming out, accepting one’s gender and/or sexuality, the possibility of violence, being fired from one’s job, not being accepted by one’s family/peers.

All of this stress and fear can manifest itself in depression and anxiety that can lead to paranoia, impulsive decisions, violence on one’s self and others and, 4 / OCT. 19, 2017

potentially, suicide. Keeping this information in mind is important in relation to one’s identity and knowing it’s okay to not be okay and there are resources such as hotlines, support groups, websites counselors, and many more to help keep one safe and secure.

Mental health is important for everyone, not just folks in marginalized groups — be mindful to take care of yourself and your loved ones too.

is perfectly healthy and completely necessary to do what it takes to make sure you as an individual are getting the attention and care that you need. Being a human is hard and exhausting and rejuvenating oneself will help one’s mental health as well as one’s capacity to be a good friend to others — just make sure you are being a friend to yourself.

Self-care isn’t selfish — it's necessary.

Q: Following up with mental health, can you speak to self-care in regards to mental health?

A: Self-care is important to be able to take care of one’s self before things like self-harm or suicide surface out of control. Self-care can take many forms: reading, working out, sleeping, painting, singing, talking to a friend, writing in a journal. It looks different for each person.

While we all are fighting our own struggles every day whether they are external or internal, it is crucial to be able to recognize the validity of taking time to put oneself and one’s mental and emotional state as a priority.

Sometimes, folks will misinterpret taking time to oneself as being selfish or as a bad friend, but it

1-800-273-TALK (8255) (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) www.itgetsbetter.org

Cassidy Paul is the outreach coordinator for Ohio University’s LGBT Center.

ON A HIGH NOTE

Tom Petty’s death leaves a void in music If you live above ground, you have surely heard that Tom Petty, the legendary singer-songwriter, died on HALLE Oct. 2 after going into WEBER cardiac arrest at the age is a of 66. sophomore Last year was a studying journalism rough one for music with a focus lovers, with the death of in news and Prince and David Bowie, information but this news hit me 10 at Ohio times harder.

University.

Prince and Bowie were born to be stars, and they created so much incredible art unmatched by virtually anybody else, but Petty was one of the greatest songwriters ever to live. Being the lyrical nerd I am, my heart ached when my dad called me to give me the news.

My first thought was, “Damn, I’ll never get to see ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ live.”

Petty’s death immediately followed the end of his 40th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers. I had desperately wanted to see a show, but, being a broke college kid that split her summer between an unpaid internship and a minimum wage job, it just wasn’t in the cards.

My second thought was something to the effect of, “One of the few great songwriters left on earth is gone. Sure, we still have Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and the disbanded members of Fleetwood Mac, but that doesn’t make this loss any less devastating.”

Petty was special in many ways, but it was his storytelling that always stood out to me. He made ordinary things sound extraordinary.

There’s a reason that when you are listening to his greatest hits, every song is a classic. He knew who he was, he knew his audience and he knew how to write a hit.

Whether he was writing about love or lighting one up, there was an eloquence that was always evident in his work.

It was no accident that he got so far; Petty’s simplistic yet thought-provoking writing style earned him a name as one of the greats.

“She’s a good girl, loves her mama/ loves Jesus and America too/she’s a good girl, crazy ‘bout Elvis/loves horses, and her boyfriend too... And I’m a bad boy, ‘cause I don’t even miss her/ I’m a bad boy, for breaking her heart,” Petty sings in “Free Falling,” a track that would go on to become one of the most iconic songs of all time.

Now every time I hear “American Girl” or “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” there’s a melancholy tint to it.

Sixty-six is too young to die in the age of modern medicine.

Maybe Petty was ready to go; he lived a fuller life than most of us ever will. But selfishly, I can’t help but wish he were still here.

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only $300 each!

Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you miss Tom Petty? Let Halle know by tweeting at her @HalleWeber13.

Correction: An article from the Oct. 12 issue with the headline “Virtual Flight” incorrectly named the flight course.

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THEPOSTATHENS.COM for videos, podcasts, blogs and additional content THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 5

NEWS BRIEFS

Professors want academics to manage Sook Center; Richland Avenue bid accepted MADDIE CAPRON NEWS EDITOR

I

t’s week eight, which means students are officially more than halfway done with Fall Semester and making it through midterm weeks. It also is finally starting to feel like autumn outside. Here are some of the biggest headlines you may have missed from this week: PROFESSORS REQUEST SOOK CENTER BE MANAGED BY ACADEMICS At a Tuesday press conference, the Ohio University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors formally requested that the Sook Center — a planned advising center for student-athletes — not be under the control of the athletic department.

The chapter believes giving control of the

advising center to the athletic department raises “urgent concerns” about the integrity of OU’s academic mission, according to a news release.

“Let me tell you what this is not about.

First of all, this is not an academics versus athletics issue — this is an Ohio University issue,” David Ridpath, associate professor of sports administration and Kahandas Nandola professor of sports management, and a member of the association, said.

“This is in no way intended to impugn the integrity of anyone associated with academic support for the athletic department. … However, this is a needed move to protect the institutional integrity of Ohio University and governing an academic support function the way that other academic support entities are governed on this campus.”

FACULTY SENATE EVALUATING COURSE MODEL FOR ‘CULTURAL COMPETENCY’ At Monday night’s OU Faculty Senate meeting, interim Executive Vice President and Provost David Descutner said the university is working to evaluate a model for “cultural competency” courses.

Descutner, along with OU President Duane Nellis, said OU is working to prevent sexual misconduct. He also highlighted diversity and inclusion efforts, like the potential implementation of “cultural competency” courses.

“I think (cultural intelligence is) a much better way of describing the course as I imagined it,” Descutner said. “Of course, however it unfolds is in the hands of the faculty, but it really is about cultural intelligence. ... It’s about adaptability and it’s about being able to meet others with cultural sensitivity.”

CITY COUNCIL VOTED TO ACCEPT BID FOR PEDESTRIAN BYPASS After weeks of discussion, city council voted to accept a bid for the Richland Avenue pedestrian bypass project at its meeting Monday night.

The Richland Avenue Pedestrian Improvement Project will connect West Green to the area by Porter Hall. It is projected to cost $2.3 million, Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd Ward, said.

All members of council were in favor of the project except for Councilman Pat McGee, I-At Large. McGee said he would rather find an alternative method to increase safety in the Richland Avenue area.

@MADDIECAPRON MC055914@OHIO.EDU

POLICE BLOTTER

Drunken student tries to enter house he doesn’t live in; ‘no one’ calls 911 ELLEN WAGNER FOR THE POST

A

n Ohio University Police Officer observed a student “throwing his body” into the front door of a house on Mill Street on Saturday at about 1 a.m.

When the officer approached the student, he appeared to be intoxicated, according to an OUPD report. The student also did not live at the house he was trying to enter.

The student was arrested for disorderly conduct by public intoxication.

That incident was one of six alcohol-related citations OUPD officers issued over the weekend.

OUPD officers also issued five citations for possession of marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia.

6 / OCT. 19, 2017

DAZED AND CONFUSED On Saturday at about 3 a.m., OUPD officers responded to Bromley Hall, where a student “did not know her whereabouts.”

The officer observed that the student smelled like alcohol, according to an OUPD report. She was unable to tell the officer where she lived or how she had entered Bromley Hall.

The student was issued a citation for disorderly conduct by intoxication and taken to Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail.

FALLING IN THE STREETS At about 2 a.m. Friday, a student was observed “staggering” through an OU parking lot, then “(falling down) in the street.”

The officer spoke with the student and determined he was intoxicated. He had glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, according an OUPD report. He

was also “very lethargic with his movements.”

The student was transported to Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail to sober up.

NO ONE’S CALLING On Thursday, Athens County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an open-line 911 call coming from a trailer in Tomoko Trailer Park in The Plains.

Arriving on the scene, deputies observed that no one lived in the trailer, and it was unoccupied. The trailer also did not appear to have a phone line hooked up. The case was closed.

FAKE MONEY, REAL PROBLEMS On Saturday, the sheriff’s office responded to a report of a counterfeit $20 bill at the Chauncey Marathon gas station.

The cashier said a man pumped gas and

then tried to pay with a counterfeit bill. The man then “went back out to his truck and brought in a real twenty-dollar bill,” according to a sheriff’s office report.

The man had left when deputies arrived but had told the cashier he may have gotten the counterfeit bill from a local business.

UNKNOWN NEEDLES Deputies responded to a report of syringes being found in a person’s camper on West Bailey Road in Nelsonville on Saturday.

The syringes were found in a small backpack that did not belong to the owner of the camper, according to a sheriff’s office report.

The syringes were placed in a sharps container, and the bag was given back to the owner of the camper to be thrown away.

@EWAGNER19 EW047615@OHIO.EDU

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Rape reports to OUPD increased last academic year, down so far this year ELLEN WAGNER FOR THE POST

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

“

2014

We do know that sexual assaults are among the most underreported crimes, so we think this is an increase in reporting rather than an increase in occurrence.

“

R

eports of rape on Ohio University’s campus increased in 2016, but police say it might not mean incidents are increasing.

According to data from the university’s annual security report, reports increased 60 percent from 2015 to 2016. That increase in reports does not necessarily mean more rapes are happening on OU’s campus — it just means that more rapes are being reported to police.

“We do know that sexual assaults are among the most underreported crimes, so we think this is an increase in reporting rather than an increase in occurrence,” OUPD Chief Andrew Powers said in an email. “This is a trend we saw last year as well.”

OUPD fielded 32 rape reports in 2016, which is an increase from the 20 reports that occurred in 2015, according to OU’s annual security report.

The annual reports are based on the Jeanne Clery Act, which require colleges and universities to release statistics on crime and security policies.

The increase in reporting seems to be a national trend, Powers said. The numbers likely indicate a continuation in that trend.

So far this academic year, there has been one rape reported to OUPD. By this time last year, OUPD had received four reports of rape and seven total reports of sex-related crimes.

Powers said he did not know why there have been fewer reports so far this academic year.

The number of rape reports to the Athens Police Department have doubled over the past five years, according to APD’s 2016 annual report. APD Chief Tom Pyle said the department usually sees an increase in reports when school is in session and during busy weekends such as Homecoming, Halloween or fests.

“I can certainly see the trend,” Pyle said. “I don’t think there is enough data to presume any one cause.”

Pyle said the increase in reports could stem from several things. It could be due to more instances of sexual assault, more people willing to come forward than before, encouragement to come forward through

Rape reports 2014-2016

- Andrew Powers, OUPD chief

Title IX, or more education by the university and the Survivor Advocacy Program.

SAP is an OU program with a mission

2015 “to provide confidential support and advocacy services to student survivors of sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, and stalking,” SAP Director Kimberly Castor said in an email.

SAP is also working to increase student survivors’ access to support and resources with advocacy and empowerment.

There are variety of options available to students who do not want to file a rape report but still want to receive support.

“If someone does not wish to go through a legal investigation, they can still seek out confidential support services at SAP and/or CPS,” Castor said in an email. “They may also choose to go through the institutions Title IX process even if they do not wish to go through the legal reporting process.”

In order to keep faculty, staff and students informed, OUPD releases crime alerts to alert people on campus of crimes

2016 that could pose a threat.

OUPD Lt. Tim Ryan said in an email that OUPD follows the Clery Act for distributing timely notifications if there is an ongoing threat to the community. There is also a daily crime log with crimes from the past 60 days available to the general public in the department’s dispatch center in Scott Quad.

OUPD also does several forms of community outreach so people can interact with police officers and continue to build trust with them. Some events they sponsor include “Coffee with a Cop” and training sessions, such as Rape Aggression Defense classes.

“We hope that that our efforts are helping to allow more victims to feel comfortable reporting to us,” Powers said in an email.

@EWAGNER19 EW047615@OHIO.EDU

THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 9

‘The new world of Ohio University starts here’

Ohio University President Duane Nellis gets the official OU seal placed on him during his offical investiture in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday.

(BLAKE NISSEN / PHOTO EDITOR)

LAUREN FISHER ASST. NEWS EDITOR When Ohio University’s 13th president, Walter Gamertsfelder, delivered his inaugural address in 1944, the Athena yearbook noted there was “no flag waving, no battle cry in his speech.”

The tone of the inauguration of President Duane Nellis 73 years later was much different.

“In a world of social media, fake news and alternative facts, where more and more people are questioning the importance of a college degree, I feel called to defend higher education and its role in upholding our democracy,” Nellis said.

“When the history of this era is written, I think we will all be remembered by how we responded when our central mission … was dismissed as simply a waste of money.”

Although Nellis has been in office since June, Wednesday marked his official investiture — a ceremonial tradition in which the president receives the symbols of office and is welcomed by university faculty.

Kamlesh Lulla, a NASA chief scientist and a friend of Nellis’ for 35 years, delivered the keynote address. He praised Nellis for his accomplishments in research and leadership.

“You have, in Dr. Nellis, a leader who has not only scholarship experience, but experience in leadership and administration to lead this great institute to even higher achieve10 / OCT. 19, 2017

ments,” Lulla said. “Not only for this generation of learners, but also for future generations, who will shape the destiny of not only the great state of Ohio, but our nation.”

Nellis invoked the words of OU’s third president, Robert Wilson, in his own inaugural address, and said Wilson “understood well” the responsibility that rests on the president’s shoulders.

“In 1824, (Wilson) said that this job requires ‘extensive learning and daily watchfulness and it must unavoidably involve me in perplexing toil,’ ” Nellis said. “Having been a university president before, I know he is right. But rest assured — I am up for the daily perplexing toil.”

After OU Board of Trustees Chair Janetta King and Vice Chair David Scholl conferred Nellis with the medallion of office, President Emeritus Charles Ping presented him with the university’s charter.

“Holding this charter identifies you as the steward of a remarkable history and the architect of (the university’s) future.”

Ping, who was the university’s 18th president, said.

During his address, Nellis outlined four central priorities he plans to focus on during his time in office. He said he identified those priorities during conversations with students, faculty and staff.

In outlining his first priority for the university to become a “national leader” in diversity, Nellis announced plans to elevate the job of vice provost for diversity and inclusion, a po-

sition currently held by Jason Pina, who also serves as vice president for Student Affairs, to vice president for diversity and inclusion. The university will soon begin a nationwide search to find “the right person” to fill the position, Nellis said.

Nellis also announced plans to create a “difficult dialogues” series to address contemporary issues and establish a task force to begin developing a university-wide honors program to complement the Honors Tutorial College.

Prior to his appointment as OU’s president, Nellis served as president at Texas Tech University and the University of Idaho, as well as senior vice president and provost at Kansas State University. After announcing his resignation from the Texas Tech presidency, Nellis was selected as one of four finalists in the race to replace former OU President Roderick McDavis.

Now that Nellis and his wife, Ruthie, have settled into their new home in Athens, he expressed hopes to elevate the university’s status as a national research institution — hopes he plans to accomplish as a “visible leader,” both on campus and on a global scale.

“I can’t help but feel a sense of urgency,” Nellis said. “We have to get this right, no matter what the challenges we encounter. … We have an obligation to future generations. The new world of Ohio University starts here.”

@LAUREN_FISHER LF966614@OHIO.EDU

Students browse the textbooks in College Bookstore on Court Street. (LAUREN BACHO / FILE)

Bobcat Depot bookstores closing at regional campuses ASHTON NICHOLS FOR THE POST

T

his fall, the Lancaster, Southern, Eastern and Chillicothe Ohio University branches will close their Bobcat Depot bookstores.

OU Spokesman Dan Pittman said they are closing because of significant market changes and a challenging financial environment across OU. “Despite a number of restructurings at the regional campus venues, it was decided the best course of action is to close the regional bookstores,” Pittman said in an email. “Management is currently in the planning stages of the closure.”

Pittman said specific details and more information would be made available at each campus, and students who have rented textbooks at Bobcat Depot will have a place to return them.

John Anderson, adviser for the Alpha Phi Omega chapter at the Lancaster Campus, said he thinks the university is “turning its back on the students” at regional campuses by closing the bookstores.

“As you walk in the campus, the bookstore is right there, and the shelves were almost bare,” Anderson said. “I was talking to the employee, and they said they were closing the bookstore. She told me because budget cuts are requiring it. … I can’t imagine being on a college campus without having a bookstore.”

Anderson said he did not understand why regional students may need to drive to Athens to retrieve their books. Lancaster and Chillicothe are about an hour away from Athens, and OU Eastern and OU Southern are about two hours away.

“If it is part of the budget, if we have money to build a new South Green, tear down those buildings and build new dorms and rehab other campus buildings, then we certainly ought to be able to find funds to support the students that are on the regional campuses,” Anderson said.

“I’m passionate about keeping the bookstores open on campus.”

According to OU’s final spring enrollment headcount, 16,974 undergraduates were enrolled on the Athens Campus in 2016, and about 10,000 undergraduates en-

rolled on the regional campuses. More than 6,000 students are enrolled in eLearning.

Anderson said many eLearning students use the regional bookstores as resources for their classes.

“While eCampus students are not physically on a campus, they will use resources at regional campuses to pursue a course of study,” Anderson said. “This pursuit and resources would include use of a local campus bookstore.”

Crystal Savard, a sophomore studying nursing at the OU Southern Campus, began working at Bobcat Depot in August. Savard said she is losing her job at the bookstore but will be transferred to work somewhere else on campus. OU Southern’s Bobcat Depot will close Dec. 15.

“The students are upset because our bookstore not only carries the books, but also school supplies, snacks, drinks, clothing apparel, things of those sorts,” Savard said. “They feel like they’re losing the availability to have that place to come to real quick to get a notebook or get a pencil or to buy something that supports the school.”

Savard said she hopes OU will create

a store for apparel, school supplies or snacks and drinks.

“It would be nice if we could keep the stores open minus the books,” Savard said.

“I feel like (the) books are what was the financial burden on the school more so than anything else.”

There is one other bookstore at OU Southern, which is at a gas station across the street from Bobcat Depot. Savard said the prices there are more expensive.

“When it came down to not ordering online and wanting the physical book inhand right then and there, (students) came to us,” Savard said. “I love my job, and it sucks that I’ve only been here for a few months, and now it’s gone.”

The Chillicothe Bobcat Depot will close in November — the exact date is still to be determined as of press time. The Eastern Campus Bobcat Depot closed Oct. 4. and the Lancaster Campus Bobcat Depot will close Oct. 20 but will re-open for a two-day sale Nov. 13 and 14.

@ASHTONNICHOLS_ AN614816@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 11

Dan Fox, quality assurance test lead at Stirling Ultracold, opens the company’s largest model, the SU780XLE, on Sept. 29. (PATRICK CONNOLLY / FOR THE POST)

Building Athens Private businesses are working to fix the lack of jobs plaguing Athens County

I

n an unassuming beige building just outside The Plains, floor workers at Global Cooling Inc. craft small engines that will eventually power the compa-

ny’s marquee product: ultra-low temperature lab freezers.

On the outside, the freezers, known by the market as Stirling Ultracold, look just like household refrigerators. But open the door to one, and the difference becomes clear: A dense cloud of water vapor rolls out, a byproduct of the machine maintaining internal temperatures as low as minus 112 degrees.

In its current form, Global Cooling Inc. began as a startup in Athens in 2009. Now it’s bursting into the lab freezer market, selling to universities, companies and government agencies that use its products to store biological material.

JEREMY HILL | SENIOR WRITER

Its revenues are in the tens of millions of dollars annually, and it employs close to 100 people total, including more than 40 on its production floor in The Plains.

12 / OCT. 19, 2017

“

Getting companies that have grown here and have been funded here … getting them to stay is not hard, because we’re able to collaborate so well together and problem solve and find opportunities, whether those be space, or additional capital, or connections to legislators.

“

The company is a bright spot in Athens County’s economy, one dogged by a lack of private sector jobs and an overreliance on university work and low-paying retail jobs.

The county is a Historically Underutilized Business Zone — a federal distinction applied to regions with low wages, high unemployment or both. But in the background, efforts are underway to create more companies like Global Cooling.

“We are here very deliberately. It’s not an accident,” Global Cooling CEO Neill Lane said, explaining that some of the company’s earliest investors, so-called angels, invested in Global Cooling with creating jobs in Athens in mind.

“The most important thing we can do at Stirling Ultracold is succeed,” Lane said. “If we succeed, that’ll be the seed for the next thing. But we’ve got a lot of help.”

One of the company’s earliest backers was TechGrowth Ohio, an organization that funds and advises startup technology companies in southeast Ohio.

TechGrowth was one of three funds that invested a total of $5.5 million in Global Cooling a little more than a year ago, and the group estimates it has generated nearly $350 million in economic activity in southeast Ohio since 2007.

TechGrowth’s fingerprints are all over the balance sheets of budding enterprises in Athens. One such business is Third Sun Solar, a solar panel installation company headquartered at 762 W. Union St. Michelle and Geoff Greenfield founded Third Sun Solar in 2000 after finding there were no solar panel installers in the Athens area. Since then, the company has installed solar panels on homes and businesses across eight states and was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 fastest growing companies five years in a row.

Third Sun Solar employs about 45 people, a majority of whom are based in Athens. The company reported $5.5 million in revenue in 2012, according to Inc. And that revenue continues to grow — sales to residential customers are up more than 200 percent year-over-year, Geoff said.

Geoff said he plans to continue to grow the business in Athens. He’s optimistic about the economy here — about a future in which the mineral extraction and heavy manufacturing that once buoyed the region is replaced by a mix of niche businesses that sell their products across the country and bring that money home.

“I’m cautious about manufacturing anywhere in North America,” Geoff said.

“There’s still some places that have held onto it, but I’m not sure that’s the future, as everyone fights for it and gives tax breaks to companies. But I do see continued growth in small business in terms of small business folks that find a niche and get good at it.”

- Stacy Strauss, OU Innovation Center director

NURTURING INNOVATION Geoff credits some of Third Sun’s success to the nine years it spent operating out of the Ohio University Innovation Center, a university-affiliated business incubator located at 340 W. State St. in Athens.

The center provides office space and coaching to emerging businesses in southeast Ohio, and there’s a lot of overlap between the Innovation Center tenants and TechGrowth-supported businesses.

Since its founding in the early 1980s, the Innovation Center has spun out several of Athens County’s major private sector employers, Innovation Center Director Stacy Strauss said.

“There is a definitely a correlation between the Innovation Center’s work over the years and where Athens County residents are employed,” Strauss said.

Among those success stories is local biotech juggernaut Diagnostic Hybrids Inc. San Diego-based Quidel Corp. in 2010 bought Diagnostic Hybrids for $130 million. As of June 2016, Quidel employed 172 people in Athens, per data from the Athens County Economic Development Council, making it one of the largest employers in the county.

Other top employers that came through the Innovation Center include Ecolibrium Solar, which makes solar panel mounting racks, and Sunpower Inc., a maker of Stirling Engine products that employs more than 60 in Athens, per Athens County Economic Development Council data.

“Getting companies that have grown here and have been funded here … getting them to stay is not hard, because we’re able to collaborate so well together and problem solve and find opportunities, whether those

GRAPHIC BY ABBY DAY

be space, or additional capital, or connections to legislators,” Strauss said.

Still, a major gap exists between where most Athens County residents are able to find work and the number of well-paying jobs at companies like Global Cooling.

That problem is fleshed out in a report published in January by The Montrose Group, an economic development consultant. The report demonstrates Athens’ “dangerous overreliance on government and low wage retail, food service and accommodation jobs.”

The report shows government jobs — a majority of which are positions at OU — account for more than a third of the total number of jobs in Athens County, whereas employers in manufacturing and construction, like Global Cooling and Third Sun Solar, provide less than 10 percent of jobs in the county.

But the presence of a major university could draw in private employers, in part because of the presence of expert faculty, the report reads.

That’s a large part of what drove Liberty Mobility Now, a rural ride-sharing startup, to move its operations from Lincoln, Nebraska, to the Innovation Center in Athens in August.

“It was the university,” Liberty CEO Valerie Lefler said. “And just the overwhelming support of faculty who understood what we were trying to do and the importance of transportation, and the willingness to be innovative and think outside the box.”

Liberty is small — in September, the company gave 5,000 rides nation-

wide, Lefler said. Compare that to urban ride-sharing company Lyft, which gave nearly 14 million rides in July 2016. About eight people work at Liberty’s office in the Innovation Center and oversee operations in seven states. But it’s growing: The company plans to open a call center in nearby Marietta this spring, where it’ll hire up to 40 people, Lefler said. And the company wants to be operational across the country by 2020, according to its website.

The county will need to continue attracting growing businesses — ideally, ones with hiring needs greater than Liberty — if it wants to tackle its jobs problem.

The Montrose Group report says Athens County should aim to add 2,500 jobs and raise per capita income by 15 percent in the region in the next five years.

To achieve that, the report suggests developing the Athens County Fairgrounds, creating a “major mixed-use development” at The Ridges and establishing a technology accelerator. Accelerators and incubators — what the Innovation Center is — are similar, but accelerators are usually more structured and engage businesses for a shorter period.

Officials at the Athens County Economic Development Council, which is headquartered in the Innovation Center, did not return repeated requests for comment on the status of the implementation of the plan.

@JEREMYHTWEETS JH082913@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 13

University having ‘ongoing conversations’ about graduate student compensation A report found that Ohio University’s graduate student compensation is below average The Drugstore at OU is conveniently located on campus inside the lobby of the Hudson Health Center. We offer lower copays, automatic refills with text alerts, and the option to apply purchases to your Ohio University student account. We accept most insurances including CVS Caremark and TRICARE, and accept prescriptions from all physician offices.

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JULIA EVERTSY FOR THE POST

O

hio University graduate students are pushing for the university to almost double the amount of money they receive in stipends for their work.

The Ohio University Graduate Employee Organization issued a report last month comparing OU’s graduate student compensation, health insurance costs and other expenses with those of other universities throughout the country.

“In the past, Ohio University’s low assistantship stipends have been defended by the university with the claim that our tuition waivers are a part of our compensation,” the report stated. “However, our peer institutions provide tuition waivers while also offering much higher stipends than Ohio University.”

The minimum stipend for a graduate assistant at OU who works 15 to 20 hours a week is $7,200 per year, according to the report. The Graduate Employee Organization would like OU to increase that stipend to about $14,390 to match the average of the other universities mentioned in the report.

In addition to information about payments, the report also compares OU’s health insurance for graduate students with that of 10 different institutions of similar ranking and enrollment, showing that OU is behind all of them in subsidizing health care for graduate students.

“Ohio University currently subsidizes health insurance for students with graduate appointments by $40 per semester,” the report reads. “With the cost of the student health insurance plan in 20172018, this amounts to about two percent of the total cost.”

The cost of health insurance for graduate students is $1,976 for the 2017-18 academic year.

The University of South Carolina had the next lowest subsidy for graduate students of the institutions in the report, subsidizing 25 percent of health insurance. Seven institutions fully subsidized health insurance for graduate students.

The Graduate Employee Organization protested outside of Baker Center on Sept.

28 to voice their thoughts about the findings in the report.

The graduate students made four demands, including increasing health insurance benefits for graduate student employees, reducing the graduate student fee, providing parental leave and hiring a legal consultant for international students.

At a Graduate Student Senate meeting on Sept. 26, Vice President for Student Affairs Jason Pina told Graduate Employee Organization’s co-president, Elliot Long, that when he received the report, he printed out copies for the directors he works with to discuss it.

“I’ve worked at some of the schools that were studied in that report,” Pina said.

“I know the reality is true. I know what I paid my (teaching assistants). I’ve done student health insurance for my entire stay at Massachusetts.”

After Pina’s presentation, members of the organization spoke out about the treatment of OU graduate students.

Jason Crane, a doctoral student in communications, said he was “very, very pleased” when he received his acceptance letter to OU. He received a full-ride scholarship, but “in the fine print,” his letter said he would pay a $550 health fee per semester.

“Curious as to what fully funded truly meant, I did some extra exploration research and contacted some people,” Crane said. “I found out shortly thereafter that the health fee was not approximately $550, but it was double that.”

After reviewing the report, OU Spokesman Dan Pittman said the administration is committed to “having ongoing conversations” with graduate students and Graduate Student Senate.

“We are taking advantage of many different outlets to have these conversations so that we can ensure that all graduate students have a meaningful experience at OHIO,” Pittman said in email.

@JUIAPHANT JE827416@OHIO.EDU

A customer buys produce from Atrium Cafe in Grover Cemter. Student grown-produce can also be purchased in Jefferson Market. (KEVIN PAN / SLOT EDITOR)

OU’s green secret reveals itself on the shelves of Jeff Market BHARBI HAZARIKA FOR THE POST

C

ooped between stretches of plains and a high tunnel, a “secret” garden unfolds through a hobbit door.

Early in the morning, student farmers arrive at the garden and unclothe the crops they had wrapped in a protective covering the previous evening. As sunrays drown the enclosure, eyes adjust to the symmetry of the rows of plants that run around the garden leading to the cypress tree in the middle.

“It’s the best kept secret of Ohio University,” Theresa Moran, the director of the food studies theme, said about the gardens.

Jefferson Market on East Green is embellished with an assortment of nutritious produce, ranging from freshly picked strawberries to bunches of leafy spinach that cascade over the store’s mantels. Not many know, however, that it’s being sourced from

the university’s literal backyard, the Plant Biology Learning Gardens on West State Street behind the OU Innovation Center.

The produce is farmed there by student farmers under the direction of Arthur Trese, an associate professor of environmental and plant biology. The yield is then harvested by the students and is transported every Tuesday to Jefferson Market. Additionally, the students sell the produce at the Atrium Cafe at Grover Center every Wednesday and at the gardens every Friday.

The department of plant biology started the Plant Biology Learning Gardens and introduced student farming as part of the university offerings in 2014. Moran and her team have watered and fed the endeavor over the years, with plans to soon develop it into a fullfledged business to support the gardens.

The introduction of student farming, Moran said, was consequential because the students were already learning about how to grow food within the food studies theme. The manual labor of farming simply

gives students an opportunity to practice the acquired knowledge. Emphasis is put on the production of vegetables, which are much easier to cultivate and are the garden’s main source of income.

“Being interested in food in general and produce, it was an opportunity to do hands-on work that really can’t be accessed in a classroom,” Sam Fjelstul, a senior studying specialized studies with a concentration in plant biology, said.

Students are involved in the entire process of agriculture, which ranges from tilling and harvesting to selling the produce.

Most days, they are required to pull out weeds, till the land and sow the seeds. On the day of the sale, students come in early to reap the crops and wash them. The cleaned produce is then separated into buckets and cardboard boxes, and marked before they are loaded onto a truck and shipped to the various locations.

The fruits and vegetables produced at the gardens are seasonal. The prices vary at the different locations. For instance, at the Atri-

um Cafe and the gardens, some of the herbs such as parsley and cilantro is $1 per bunch, and vegetables like beets are $2 a pound.

The farming techniques practiced at the gardens are overwhelmingly organic, but the bulk of paperwork and finance related to the endeavor has prolonged the certification process. Jordan Francisco, a senior studying environmental and plant biology, emphasized that the students refrain from using synthetic materials in the production process. Instead, they rely on natural toxins to prevent pests to yield a prolific harvest.

The narrative of local production and consumption is being increasingly embraced by the student population. Kelsey Bryant, a graduate student studying environmental and plant biology, said students are keen to know where their food is coming from, and discovering fellow student farmers can inspire many to buy locally.

@BHARBI97 BH136715@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 15

ILLUSTRATION BY MARCUS PAVILONIS

JESS UMBARGER FOR THE POST Rose Rotunda drunkenly tattooed a plus sign on her finger one night to remind herself to stay positive.

Rotunda, a junior studying studio art, does not regret the stick and poke tattoo, but only wishes she did it better.

Despite some house parties taking tattooing into their own hands, both Thunder Bunny Tattoos, 26 W. Stimson Ave., and Decorative Injections, 44 N. Court St., have strict policies against tattooing intoxicated people.

“I personally think it is ethically and morally wrong to tattoo someone that’s drunk,” Aaron Creamer, a tattoo artist at Decorative Injections, said.

It is illegal to give people tattoos if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Even under the influence of alcohol or drugs, some people can be good actors, Creamer said. But after being a tattoo artist for 11 years, Creamer has a knack for knowing when people are drunk.

“I’ve gotten pretty familiar with telling when people are drunk,” Creamer said.

Alex Andrews, the owner of Thunder Bunny Tattoos, uses the paperwork clients fill out as a “first line of defense.”

“We don’t have a breathalyzer in the shop, so sometimes it’s hard to tell,” Andrews said. “We do our best guess.”

The paperwork clients fill out at Thunder Bunny Tattoos includes a sworn testimony that they are not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. If the client signs the paper but is drunk, Andrews reserves the right to “throw someone out.”

Along with the paperwork, Andrews has 16 / OCT. 19, 2017

a sign on his door that says the tattoo parlor has zero tolerance of tattooing intoxicated people. One reason is because if the tattoo looks messed up, the blame will be on the tattoo artist, Andrews said. Tattoos can easily be ruined if the person moves.

“You can’t tattoo a moving target,” Andrews said. “It just spells disaster.”

Instead of kicking them out of the store, Creamer has told people every artist is booked up for the day and to come back tomorrow if they are serious about getting a tattoo.

“It’s rare that drunk people come in wanting a tattoo,” Creamer said. “It happens mostly on big college weekends.”

Thunder Bunny Tattoos workers experience drunken people wanting tattoos almost once a week, despite being farther from the uptown bar scene.

Andrews also tries to reason with people about the disadvantages of a tattoo while intoxicated. He believes being intoxicated while getting a tattoo can affect the art of it.

“These are decisions that need to be made with a sound mind,” Andrews said.

With all five of her stick and poke tattoos, Rotunda has found significance in them despite not having a “real” reason to get them at first.

“I love the spontaneous element that comes with getting stick n pokes,” Rotunda said in an email. “We get this fear that in a few years we’ll hate the design ... but thinking about tattoos as physical reminders of milestones or memories in my life diminishes that fear.”

Tattoo artist Eric Pierce works on a piece at Decorative Injections on Oct. 12. (KELSEY BOEING / FOR THE POST)

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Restaurant Salaam, 21 W. Washington St., serves a number of halal-compliant dishes, including a Shwarma wrap, pictured to the left.

(BLAKE NISSEN / PHOTO EDITOR)

Halal options, noticeably scarce in Athens, expanded in OU alumna’s new cookbook HALEY RICHARDS FOR THE POST Hajir Ali is one of the many Ohio University students who periodically drive to Columbus just to get halal-certified meat.

Some students must regularly purchase and slaughter animals themselves to have a diet containing meat. Muslim students can purchase halal chicken at Walmart, but there are no markets to get any other type of certified meat in or around Athens.

Halal is a term meaning religiously acceptable according to Islamic doctrine and is typically used to refer to food, according to the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America. Products can be certified halal

by Islamic organizations for a price.

The specifications of a halal diet can make it difficult for Islamic people to find convenient places and things to eat, or to try new restaurants or recipes. In My Halal Kitchen: Global Recipes, Cooking Tips, and Lifestyle Inspiration, OU alumna Yvonne Maffei presents more than 100 halal recipes for anyone to try.

Maffei graduated from OU with degrees in Spanish and global studies — Latin American in 1997, then with a master’s degree in development studies in 2000.

She now runs a successful food blog by

the name of My Halal Kitchen where she aims to make the lives of her readers easier by presenting healthy, halal recipes anyone can make.

Maffei converted to Islam in 2001, after being exposed to the culture on a study abroad trip while attending OU. She grew up in Ohio in a Puerto Rican-Italian family, and tries to incorporate her family’s culinary culture into her halal diet.

In her blog, she mentions the difficulty of finding halal-certified options for some of her favorite dishes at restaurants, like beef tacos or veal stew, but she has now mastered recipes for them herself.

Halal-certified foods can still contain unhealthy and processed ingredients, and Maffei tries to incorporate healthy elements into her dishes, usually cooking from scratch.

The strictness of a halal diet can vary.

Mohamed Amira, a graduate student and coordinator for the linguistics department’s Arabic program, said his religion does not affect his diet “very much,” citing that some Islamic scholars have determined it is acceptable to eat meat other than pork, and some students follow those looser guidelines.

All on-campus eateries offer vegetarian and vegan options for meals, which Amira said he is comfortable eating. Ali, a

graduate student studying civil engineering, adheres to a stricter diet, eating only chicken, certified or not.

Ali said that the campus dining options offers “so many limited options,” and it had affected her overall diet.

Although some restaurants like KFC, Popeyes and Outback Steakhouse offer halal options in select areas with large Islamic populations, Athens does not have a large enough concentration of Muslims to receive these benefits.

Near campus, Salaam, 21 W. Washington St., offers halal options, but most restaurants are not so accommodating.

“We, of course, have lots of vegetarian and vegan dishes,” Hilarie Burhans, the co-owner and executive chef of Salaam, said. “We purchase halal lamb.”

Burhans explained that the restaurant purchases lamb from Australia and New Zealand, the largest exporters of lamb in the world because they are “a little more ethically responsible.” A majority of lamb is halal because a majority of lamb consumption is by Muslim communities.

“There are a lot of good things about halal slaughter,” Burhans said.

On-campus dining halls offer some halal options, but not everything in them falls under the label. Many people are unaware that products like jello or breakfast

cereals contain gelatin, which typically contains pork byproduct, rendering the item at hand haram, or forbidden in Islamic doctrine.

“Everything can contain these products,” Ali said.

The prevalence of gelatin and other byproducts can make it difficult to distinguish between food products unless they are specifically marked.

Maffei’s book will serve readers with inspiration for meals they may not have thought were possible with a halal diet, but it may soon be one of many cookbooks with halal recipes. It is likely that halal options will become more common in coming years, because the Muslim religion is the fastest growing in the world and is expected to comprise 26 percent of the global population by 2030, according to a report by Euromonitor International.

Now, though, halal options are not as plentiful or convenient as the options available to everyone else. Amira is one student who hopes for more halal options, and he said having various halal options “would attract a larger audience who are strict about their diets.”

@HRICHARDS1000 HR899116@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 17

FOOTBALL

PAPI WHITE RETURNS TO PRACTICE, WILL PLAY AGAINST KENT STATE AFTER MISSING THE PAST FOUR GAMES WITH A HAND INJURY, WHITE — PERHAPS THE BOBCATS’ TOP PLAYMAKER — WILL BE BACK ON THE FIELD AGAINST THE GOLDEN FLASHES ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON

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Ohio’s Papi White stares down a Hampton defender after a catch during the Bobcats’ game against Hampton on Sept. 2 at Peden Stadium. (CARL FONTICELLA / FILE)

JORDAN HORROBIN STAFF WRITER Ohio wide receiver Papi White looked like himself at practice Monday, hauling in a 40-yard go route down the left sideline from quarterback Nathan Rourke.

Upon closer examination at the end of practice, White, a redshirt junior who has not played since leaving Ohio’s Sept. 16 game against Kansas with a hand injury, sported a left hand enlarged by padding as evidence of what’s kept him off the field.

“This is an extra large (football glove),” White said, lifting his arm. He laughed as he added, “I wear mediums.”

Coach Frank Solich announced Monday that White would return this Saturday when Ohio hosts Kent State at 2 p.m.

White was the team’s receiver to watch entering this season, as the player with the most receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns among returning players.

But in Ohio’s third game of the year, he suffered a spiral fracture in his hand.

White was hit by a Kansas defender and, when he put his hand down to brace himself, he made a sudden twisting movement that caused the injury.

Without their top target, the Bobcats have sputtered to 184.6 passing yards per game, 10th in the Mid-American Conference. White said he’s enjoyed cheering his team on from the sideline, but he knows what he’s capable of when he’s back in the mix.

“I could bring a little more explosive plays and big plays,” he said.

Once his hard cast came off, White underwent a series of rehab activities to

test the strength of his hand, including dumbbell wrist curls, squeezing a stress ball and spreading his fingers through a jelly-like substance.

He looked as if he might return this past weekend at Bowling Green, where he took part in warm ups and donned his jersey and pads. He never played, however, and Solich said after the game that White had been a decoy to make Bowling Green “rethink some things.”

White has that kind of impact.

There will be nothing for the Golden Flashes to rethink this weekend — they will have to prepare for the Bobcats’ highest-scoring skill player from a year ago, who led the team with nine touchdowns.

White said he did not rush himself back to the lineup. But it would be understandable if he had.

The top of the Bobcat receiving depth chart has suffered, with Elijah Ball tearing his ACL in fall camp and leading receiver Brendan Cope (26 catches for 347 yards) battling a nagging turf toe injury that has kept him out of most practices recently.

Cope, in an effort to return to full health, will not play until he can return to practice, offensive coordinator Tim Albin said.

“Some guys are practicing that aren't 100 percent and they're making it to the games not 100 percent,” Solich said. “We're going to try and get some guys healthier, and getting Papi back will be a plus.”

@JORDANHORROBIN JH950614@OHIO.EDU

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LAUREN FISHER | ASST. NEWS EDITOR

E

ight coat-clad Iranian students, boots cracking against the salted pavement, stood outside Baker Center on a bitter January afternoon. They held up paper signs and were chained together at the wrists — symbolic, one said, of their inability to re-enter the U.S. “America is already great,” read one sign.

“I have not seen my family in three years,” read another.

The students — most, if not all of them, enrolled in graduate school — were protesting the first of three iterations of a travel ban signed into effect by President Donald Trump in January.

A few passersby offered cookies and cups of coffee. Some scribbled their own messages on notebooks and joined the demonstration.

One man driving by honked his horn, flashed a thumbs-up and shouted “Vote for

20 / OCT. 19, 2017

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SARAH OLIVIERI

Trump” at the demonstrators.

The January ban, which limited immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries, was met with disapproval by many OU students, culminating in a Baker Center demonstration during which 70 students were arrested for criminal trespassing.

Nine months, two more iterations of the travel ban and numerous legal battles later, the country’s political landscape has scarcely changed since the first executive order was signed.

For many of OU’s international students, such as Graduate Student senator Bahman Shahri, the restrictions have presented challenges beyond those they already faced.

“International students naturally face different kinds of challenges when they go to universities, from the national visas to having working limits. But this one is different,” Shahri said in a previous Post report. “There’s

this anxiety amongst them. Not just members coming from these eight countries, but other international students.”

Shahri isn’t alone in those challenges.

Dozens of international students are and have been affected by the travel ban since the beginning of the school year. A number of students were invited to share how impactful the ban has been on themselves, their friends and family, but all declined to be interviewed, citing concerns for their personal safety.

Trump’s election has corresponded with a “near historic” rise in anti-Muslim hate groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, with an increase of about 197 percent since 2015.

One student, who said he was previously “pretty active” in protesting the ban, declined an interview for personal safety reasons. The situation, he said, “just got worse.”

tocols. In some cases, the executive order referenced “significant terrorist” presences within countries under the restrictions.

According to OU’s Office of Institutional Research, as of 2016, there were 97 students who would be affected under the current travel restrictions. Of those, three were from Venezuela, two were from Somalia, 72 were from Iran, 16 were from Iraq and four were from Yemen. There were no students from Libya, Chad or Syria enrolled at OU during the 2016-17 academic year.

University Spokeswoman Carly Leatherwood said in an email that data for 2017 was not available.

On Oct. 9, the U.S. and Turkey mutually suspended all nonimmigrant visa services following the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul. As of Fall Semester 2016, 27 Turkish students attended OU. The saga began in January 2017, when Trump unveiled an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, blocking Syrian refugees indefinitely and suspending the entry of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days from the date the order was signed.

As thousands flooded airports across the country in protest of the ban in late January, then-OU President Roderick McDavis signed a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly through the American Council on Education, expressing concern with the executive order.

“

There’s this anxiety amongst them. Not just members coming from these eight countries, but other international students.

“

The most recent travel restrictions affected citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. In addition, some Venezuelan government officials and their families are barred from entering the country. The latest ban was scheduled to go into effect Wednesday.

Stipulations in the newest executive order are broad and largely vary by country.

For most countries affected, both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa holders will be barred from entry and re-entry into the U.S. Iranians will be barred from obtaining immigrant, tourism and business visas but will be eligible for student and cultural exchange visas if they undergo “advanced screening” and vetting requirements, according to the proclamation.

A statement issued by the White House outlines restrictions on several countries of the nearly 200 evaluated that were determined to be “deficient” in respect to their national security standards and pro-

- Bahman Shahri, Graduate Student senator

About a week after the original ban was announced, a district court in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order blocking the enforcement of significant parts of the order.

After a March legal battle, the original ban was revoked and replaced by a new executive order suspending the entry of citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. The order was less restrictive than the previous ban and did not apply to permanent residents or

those holding valid visas.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would allow a limited version of the most recent ban to take effect. Although the court was set to hear full arguments about the ban this month, the appeals ruling was thrown out, as the previous temporary order had since expired.

On Tuesday — just as the newest ban was to go into effect — a judge from the Federal District Court in Honolulu, issued a nationwide order temporarily blocking the president’s third order.

COUNTRIES AFFECTED BY THE TRAVEL BAN

As the newest executive order would affect about 100 of OU’s international students, Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones hopes to see a day in which all students are accepted, regardless of immigration status or home country.

“My hope for them moving forward is that they can go home and come back freely,” Hall-Jones said. “That would be my hope. That they are respected as guests of our country and as people who are studying here, and can go home when they want to go home and then come back and complete their studies.”

In the meantime, Hall-Jones said, International Student and Faculty Services has done “a great job” with one-on-one counseling and outreach to international students who may need “a little extra support.”

University senates and administrators have been floating the idea of hiring an attorney to represent international, immigrant and undocumented students, according to a previous Post report.

“Maybe not a full-time immigration attorney, because I think the stats are telling us we probably won’t need a full-time one,” Hall-Jones said. “But we definitely need to contract with an attorney on behalf of our students so (they) can, at least twice a month, have access to an immigration attorney. I hope that we’re able to do that.”

For Vice Provost for Global Affairs Lorna Jean Edmonds, international students are “ambassadors for the university,” sporting OU T-shirts and walking across the stage at commencement like every other student.

“I think we start to realize that we all, in many ways, are the same. Our worries are the same and our hope and dreams are the same, at the end of the day,” Edmonds said.

“I don't think it's about nation building anymore. I think those days are over. We only have one planet. We better make the most of it, and having international students allows us to do that.”

@LAUREN__FISHER LF966614@OHIO.EDU THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 21

the weekender ‘Rocky Horror’ to celebrate 16 years of performances BAYLEE DEMUTH FOR THE POST

IF YOU GO

A

WHAT: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

thens’ favorite Halloween tradition is back. In the wise words of Dr. FrankN-Furter, “Give yourself over to absolute pleasure,” and make your way out to Lost Flamingo Company’s annual rendition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Lost Flamingo Company will put on its 16th annual showing of the 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, at The Union Bar and Grill, 18 W. Union St. Mallory Dale, a sophomore studying communication, went to the show last year. The whole show was “really strange,” but she said she enjoyed every minute of it.

“Even though the film was made a really long time ago, it kind of started the hit on the topic of cross-dressing depicted through film, which is one of the main reasons why I really like it,” Dale said.

Dale also enjoys the music throughout the show.

“My favorite song by far is ‘Time Warp,’ ” Dale said.

“I’ve seen the movie so many times that I practically know the dance moves to the entire thing.”

Zach Delin, a junior studying linguistics and Japanese, will portray Brad Majors. Delin has been a part of Lost Flamingo Company for three years.

“It’s a pretty big honor, getting to play a lead role,” Delin said. “Even though getting to play Brad is really cool, I still try to be humble about it.”

22 / OCT. 19, 2017

WHEN: 9 p.m., Thursday to Saturday WHERE: The Union Bar and Grill, 18 W. Union St. ADMISSION: $5 for ages 21 and above, $7 if under 21

From left to right, Magenta (played by Jeralayne Ruiz), Dr. Frank-N-Furter (played by Logan Amon) and Columbia (played

by Katie Kirk), run through dress rehearsal for The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Rocky Horror will be at The Union Bar and Grill, 18 W. Union St., from Oct. 19-21. (CARL FONTICELLA / FOR THE POST)

Delin is excited for this year’s showing.

“I think the entire cast is wonderful and are truly talented individuals,” he said.

“I feel like we are all in tune with one another, so I have a good feeling it’s going to be a fun weekend.”

Scott Winland, a promoter for The Union, is also looking forward to the show.

“We are excited to have worked with (Lost Flamingo Company) each year to make this show a success,” Winland said in an email.

“Both the venue and the show embody that ‘island of misfit toys’ spirit. I think it’s a great fit.”

Winland said Lost Fla-

Senior Katie McMahon plays Janet, and junior Zach Delin plays Brad in Lost Flamingo Theatre Company’s production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (CARL FONTICELLA / FOR THE POST)

mingo Company does such a great job promoting the event that it seems like the crowds keep getting bigger and bigger each year.

With the popularity that The Rocky Horror Picture Show has in Athens, it is no doubt that director Darragh Liaskos, a junior studying media and social change, is excited for her debut as the new director.

“This is the first time in three years that the show has changed directors,” Liaskos said. “So it has definitely been a learning process for not only me, but also the cast to adjust to a new type of authority.”

There are many returning

cast members as well as new faces, the majority of them being freshman and sophomores, Liaskos said.

“The cast is really good this year,” she said. “It’s one of the best I’ve ever worked with.”

Alumni come from all over the state and country to see Lost Flamingo Company’s performance of the show, Liaskos said. It is a huge deal in Athens and everyone who has an appreciation for the show knows it.

There’s some pressure that comes along with reputation that the show has gained in Athens, but Liaskos is not worried because of how great the audience’s response is to the actors.

“It’s going to be a really fun show this year,” Liaskos said. “I already know that my voice will be gone from all of the screaming and singing by the end of the weekend.”

@BAYLEEDEMUTH BD575016@OHIO.EDU

WHAT’S GOING ON? MORRIS WEIN FOR THE POST Friday Halloween Night at 6 p.m. at the Ath-

ens Public Library, 30 Home St. This family-friendly event, held in the amphitheater behind the library, is free and open to the public. It will include spooky stories, ghostly games, cider and s’mores. It’s the perfect event for kids. Halloween costumes are highly encouraged.

Vulkan, Caution Step and TFU at 9 p.m. at the Smiling Skull Saloon, 108 W. Union St. This heavy rock concert may be just what some of these older folks need to get into the Halloween spirit. There are no mentions of a cover charge on any of the advertising for this event online, however, the Skull generally charges $5 to $10 at the door when bands are playing, so anyone planning to attend should bring some cash. ’90s Night with DJ Barticus at 10 p.m. at Jackie O’s Public House and BrewPub, 24 W. Union St. Jackie O’s is hosting one night of good, old-fashion ‘90s fun. With a variety of music and memories from the decade, DJ Barticus is bound to put on a show for those looking to relive their glory days.

Saturday Pumpkin Fest 2017 at 1 p.m. at the

Dairy Barn Arts Center, 8000 Dairy Lane. This is a family-friendly event, and it is open to anyone who feels like carving a pumpkin in celebration of Halloween. There will be horsedrawn wagon rides, art activities for

Lead bartender Joshua Novak fills a glass with beer at Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery on Nov. 28. (BLAKE NISSEN / FILE)

kids, face painting and more. Aside from people having to purchase their own pumpkins, which are sold at the entrance, all activities are free. People can bring their children or a date, or just come carve some pumpkins with friends.

LGBTQ Community Needs Assessment Public Forum at 1 p.m. at the

Athens Public Library, 30 Home St. Members of the LGBTQ community who want to be heard can come to this forum to express their voice.

Ohio vs. Kent State football at 2 p.m.

at Peden Stadium, 200 Richland Ave. People can cheer on the home team Saturday at one of the final home games of the season. The best band in the land, the Marching 110, will perform. Students get in free with their Ohio ID.

Sunday Little Fish Yoga at 11 a.m. at Little Fish Brewing Company, 8675 Armitage

Road. People can unwind from the week and prepare for the next at the weekly event hosted by Little Fish Brewing Company. The event is free, but donations are appreciated.

Fall Harvest Jubilee at 1 p.m. at Little

Fish Brewing Company, 8675 Armitage Road. The family-friendly event will include activities such as making corn husk dolls, an apple cider press, basket weaving and kettle corn over an open fire. There will also be musical performances by Bob Stewart and Friends. Little Fish is donating a dollar from each pint sold to Athens Area Mediation Services.

Drop Your Shorts at 7 p.m. at The Ath-

ena Cinema, 20 S. Court St. Come and support local filmmakers at this short film event hosted by Yang Miller. There is a lot of young talent here in Athens, so it is sure to be entertaining. Admission is $5.

mw774315@ohio.edu THEPOSTATHENS.COM / 23

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