10
Yesterday, university president David Hodge announced that Phyl- lis Callahan has been named provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. Callahan is currently the dean of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences. She will assume her new position Feb. 1, 2015. Hodge lauded Callahan for her work at Miami thus far. “She brings a great sense of vi- sion, a collaborative spirit, and an ability to accomplish the ambitious goals laid out in Miami 2020,” he said. Callahan, who has worked at Miami for 26 years, beat out two other candidates, all of who partic- ipated in open forums on campus last month. “I believe my experience and accomplishments in administra- tive positions, as well as my con- tributions as an effective teacher, strong mentor and researcher make me highly qualified for my position,” Callahan said in her resume. As CAS dean, Callahan over- sees 26 departments and a $70 million budget. She has worked in zool- ogy and women gender studies and, in 2002, she was named a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Educator. Hodge said he is eager to begin working with her. “I look forward with great an- ticipation to working with Dr. Callahan in her new role,” he said. REBECCA HUFF FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT The Regional Task Force sub- mitted its proposal to President David Hodge Friday, Nov. 21, re- garding their recommendations for the differentiation of Miami Uni- versity’s Oxford campus and its regionals campuses. The future of the regionals has been the source of controversy and question since the issue was present- ed to the Board of Trustees Sept. 19, before the task force was named. Although the task force includes faculty and students from both the Hamilton and Middletown cam- puses, many Miamians from the regional campus community feared their voices would not be represented in the final decision. “I think that our opinions, at this point, don’t matter,” Miami-Hamil- ton junior Kym Oatis said. “I think, at the end of the day, they are going to do what they want to do, regardless if tens of thousands of us step up.” To express their concern about the regional campus differentiation, the Miami Middletown and Hamilton Diversity Councils drafted a petition to Hodge, the trustees and the Re- gional Task Force. The petition has over 30 pages of signatures to-date. In its 12 pages, the petition refutes the university’s point that brand dif- ferentiation must occur to help raise enrollment in the regionals. “College enrollments and gradu- ation rates naturally fluctuate with current economic and social condi- tions,” the petition says. “Hamilton’s stated increase in enrollment of 0.1 percent and Middletown’s decrease of 7.8 percent does not make Mi- ami’s regional campuses any worse off than other Ohio schools.” The petition also explains the re- gional faculty and students’ frustra- tions with the regionals’ separation. “Miami culture has demonstrated little concern for local diversity and no concern for socioeconomic diver- sity,” it says. “Instead, support for an emerging monoculture that is elitist and divisive seems to have devel- oped on the Oxford campus.” The petition also warns the univer- sity to tread carefully when differen- tiating the campuses. “Perceived discrimination is re- sulting in bad press and could put Miami at risk for class action dis- crimination law suits.” Some regional students have also begun to question their worth to the university. “I’d rather take my money and the value I bring to this university to other institutions, such as Cincinnati Sate or The University of Cincinnati or another neighboring institution that appreciates me,” senior Paul Jewett said. For many in the regional commu- nity, the task force’s proposal con- firmed their worst fears. The recommendations were based on findings from the 11 different university models the task force ana- lyzed over the last few months. Nine of the 11 campuses they eval- uated were not separately accredited, but on its diplomas, all models bear the name of the university and speci- fy the campus branch attended. For instance, under those models, a regional campus graduate’s diplo- ma would say “Miami University” at the top but would say “awarded at Hamilton” (or Middletown) further down. However, this does not mean the regional campuses would be separately accredited. “[We] recommend against sepa- rate accreditation for the regional campuses at this time,” task force members said in the proposal. The task force also said they un- derstand that changing the diploma is controversial, and thus, could not come to an agreement on how it might affect Miami regional gradu- ates in the future. Due to limited available data, the task force said they can’t guar- antee this will solve problems like retention, graduation rates and financial sustainability. They do, however, recommend the regionals be granted freedom to create their own degrees and offer ones similar to those available at the Oxford campus. In this case, the regionals could create their own courses, which would count the same as correspond- ing Oxford courses. They would be equal, and therefore, transferrable. The example the task force used is ENG 111r for regional campuses and ENG 111 for the Oxford campus. The task force said they realize the possibility of a perceived academic weakness associated with the region- al campuses. However, they believe the potential long-term benefits will prove worthwhile. With this free- dom, the regionals would be able to create their own individualized Mi- ami Plan courses based on the needs of the regionally located students. Relocating to the Oxford campus will remain an option for regional students, but the path will be more clearly defined to prevent students from “swirling” (when a full-time re- gional student takes Oxford classes). In the future, the number of Oxford classes regional students can take LIBBY MUELLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER For all full-time Oxford stu- dents, Miami University requires health insurance coverage. Be- cause students can either be cov- ered by their family plan or by the student health insurance offered by Miami, many may not know how to find an insurance plan after college. If students are covered by a family plan, they must complete a waiver before the last Friday of August of the current school year. Miami offers insurance through American International Group (AIG). If a student opts for cov- erage by Miami, they simply pay the extra health insurance charges added to their bursar bill. About 10 percent of Miami students elect this option for healthcare. The deductible for the stu- dent health plan, or amount of money an insurance holder must pay before the company will pay for medical services, is $200 per year. The average deductible for in- dividual health insurance plans in 2013 for people ages 18-24 was $3,258 per year according to the 2013 eHealth Insurance Cost and Benefits report, over 15 times the deductible Miami students pay for student coverage. However, an individual health insurance plan may offer more benefits not covered by the Miami insurance policy, such as dental coverage. The student insurance plan Mi- ami offers covers all essential health benefits outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including hospitaliza- tions, surgery, emergency care, prescriptions, maternity and new- born care, laboratory services and chronic disease management ser- vices among others. The student policy will pay for 80 percent of eligible expenses. Senior Connor Dickey said he elected for coverage under Mi- ami’s student policy. “I use the Miami healthcare plan because my parents’ health- care policy got messed up and they didn’t have insurance for a while,” Dickey said. “I Googled healthcare plans and how to pick your healthcare and from what I found out, the one that Miami was offering wasn’t that bad so I opted into it.” According to Dickey, he rarely incurs medical expenses, so he was not sure how Miami’s de- ductible compared to other health insurance policies. “I’m getting charged a flat rate, but I didn’t really look into what [different] deductibles would be because I rarely go to the doctor,” Dickey said. Dickey said he hopes to do freelance work after college, so finding a health insurance policy he can afford might be difficult. “Hopefully, I’ll get a job with a benefits package, although I want to do freelance stuff so I wouldn’t really be offered a ben- efits package,” Dickey said. “So, I don’t know. Ideally, I’ll prob- ably find the cheapest possible option. I have done some of the research, so I’ll look back to that. It wouldn’t be about finding it, it would be about affording it.” Senior Caroline Leeker waived the Miami student health insur- ance plan. She is covered instead under her family’s policy. How- ever, she said after college, she does not know how to choose the best healthcare plan for her. “I’m on my parents’ health- care coverage,” Leeker said. “I denied the Miami one. After col- lege, I’ll probably go to my own because it’s part of the benefits package for the job offer I’m planning on accepting. My big- gest concern is expenses because I know you can choose from a variety of plans and I don’t know what will be best or what’s most cost-effective.” In order to ultimately select her health insurance policy, Leeker said she plans to use a variety of sources. “I’ll probably read about them, HEALTH »PAGE 5 REGIONAL »PAGE 5 Hamilton, Middletown Diversity Councils draft petition, refute MU divide Health plans ensure student security MU names provost HEALTH ADMINISTRATION SEE LETTER TO THE EDITOR PAGE 7 SNOWY SIDEWALK SAFETY REVIEWING THE “THEORY OF EVERYTHING” FADING FANDOM WOMEN’S BASKETBALL In 2007, The Miami Student reported that Transportation Services announced its plan to begin requiring student IDs upon boarding the Door-to-Door van. The policy change went into place in an attempt to ensure rider and driver safety. TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY UNIVERSITY CULTURE COMMUNITY OPINION SPORTS »PAGE 4 »PAGE 6 »PAGE 10 »PAGE 3 »PAGE 2 Task force fuels campus controversy ADMINISTRATION The Miami Student Established 1826 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014 WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NET MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO VOLUME 142 NO. 25 PHYLLIS CALLAHAN EMILY SABANEGH THE MIAMI STUDENT SKATING BY Sarah Watt twirls her daughter, Megan (6) on the ice in Goggin during the Free Skate event last weekend. VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, CONTACT THE EDITOR TO SPEAK ANONYMOUSLY [email protected] INSECTS TOPPLE TREES

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Page 1: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

Yesterday, university president David Hodge announced that Phyl-lis Callahan has been named provost

and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Callahan is currently the dean of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences. She will assume her new position Feb. 1, 2015.

Hodge lauded Callahan for her work at Miami thus far.

“She brings a great sense of vi-sion, a collaborative spirit, and an ability to accomplish the ambitious goals laid out in Miami 2020,” he said.

Callahan, who has worked at Miami for 26 years, beat out two other candidates, all of who partic-ipated in open forums on campus last month.

“I believe my experience and accomplishments in administra-tive positions, as well as my con-tributions as an effective teacher, strong mentor and researcher make me highly qualified for my position,” Callahan said in her resume.

As CAS dean, Callahan over-sees 26 departments and a $70 million budget.

She has worked in zool-ogy and women gender studies and, in 2002, she was named a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Educator.

Hodge said he is eager to begin working with her.

“I look forward with great an-ticipation to working with Dr. Callahan in her new role,” he said.

REBECCA HUFFFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Regional Task Force sub-mitted its proposal to President David Hodge Friday, Nov. 21, re-garding their recommendations for the differentiation of Miami Uni-versity’s Oxford campus and its regionals campuses.

The future of the regionals has been the source of controversy and question since the issue was present-ed to the Board of Trustees Sept. 19, before the task force was named.

Although the task force includes faculty and students from both the Hamilton and Middletown cam-puses, many Miamians from the regional campus community feared their voices would not be represented in the final decision.

“I think that our opinions, at this point, don’t matter,” Miami-Hamil-ton junior Kym Oatis said. “I think, at the end of the day, they are going to do what they want to do, regardless if tens of thousands of us step up.”

To express their concern about the regional campus differentiation, the Miami Middletown and Hamilton Diversity Councils drafted a petition to Hodge, the trustees and the Re-gional Task Force. The petition has over 30 pages of signatures to-date.

In its 12 pages, the petition refutes

the university’s point that brand dif-ferentiation must occur to help raise enrollment in the regionals.

“College enrollments and gradu-ation rates naturally fluctuate with current economic and social condi-tions,” the petition says. “Hamilton’s stated increase in enrollment of 0.1 percent and Middletown’s decrease of 7.8 percent does not make Mi-ami’s regional campuses any worse off than other Ohio schools.”

The petition also explains the re-gional faculty and students’ frustra-tions with the regionals’ separation.

“Miami culture has demonstrated little concern for local diversity and no concern for socioeconomic diver-sity,” it says. “Instead, support for an emerging monoculture that is elitist and divisive seems to have devel-oped on the Oxford campus.”

The petition also warns the univer-sity to tread carefully when differen-tiating the campuses.

“Perceived discrimination is re-sulting in bad press and could put Miami at risk for class action dis-crimination law suits.”

Some regional students have also begun to question their worth to the university.

“I’d rather take my money and the value I bring to this university to other institutions, such as Cincinnati Sate or The University of Cincinnati or another neighboring institution that appreciates me,” senior Paul

Jewett said.For many in the regional commu-

nity, the task force’s proposal con-firmed their worst fears.

The recommendations were based on findings from the 11 different university models the task force ana-lyzed over the last few months.

Nine of the 11 campuses they eval-uated were not separately accredited, but on its diplomas, all models bear the name of the university and speci-fy the campus branch attended.

For instance, under those models, a regional campus graduate’s diplo-ma would say “Miami University” at the top but would say “awarded at Hamilton” (or Middletown) further down.

However, this does not mean the regional campuses would be separately accredited.

“[We] recommend against sepa-rate accreditation for the regional campuses at this time,” task force members said in the proposal.

The task force also said they un-derstand that changing the diploma is controversial, and thus, could not come to an agreement on how it might affect Miami regional gradu-ates in the future.

Due to limited available data, the task force said they can’t guar-antee this will solve problems like retention, graduation rates and financial sustainability.

They do, however, recommend the regionals be granted freedom to create their own degrees and offer ones similar to those available at the Oxford campus.

In this case, the regionals could create their own courses, which would count the same as correspond-ing Oxford courses. They would be equal, and therefore, transferrable. The example the task force used is ENG 111r for regional campuses and ENG 111 for the Oxford campus.

The task force said they realize the possibility of a perceived academic weakness associated with the region-al campuses. However, they believe the potential long-term benefits will prove worthwhile. With this free-dom, the regionals would be able to create their own individualized Mi-ami Plan courses based on the needs of the regionally located students.

Relocating to the Oxford campus will remain an option for regional students, but the path will be more clearly defined to prevent students from “swirling” (when a full-time re-gional student takes Oxford classes). In the future, the number of Oxford classes regional students can take

LIBBY MUELLERSENIOR STAFF WRITER

For all full-time Oxford stu-dents, Miami University requires health insurance coverage. Be-cause students can either be cov-ered by their family plan or by the student health insurance offered by Miami, many may not know how to find an insurance plan after college.

If students are covered by a family plan, they must complete a waiver before the last Friday of August of the current school year. Miami offers insurance through American International Group (AIG). If a student opts for cov-erage by Miami, they simply pay the extra health insurance charges added to their bursar bill. About 10 percent of Miami students elect this option for healthcare.

The deductible for the stu-dent health plan, or amount of money an insurance holder must pay before the company will pay for medical services, is $200 per year.

The average deductible for in-dividual health insurance plans in 2013 for people ages 18-24 was $3,258 per year according to the 2013 eHealth Insurance Cost and Benefits report, over 15 times the deductible Miami students pay for student coverage. However,

an individual health insurance plan may offer more benefits not covered by the Miami insurance policy, such as dental coverage. The student insurance plan Mi-ami offers covers all essential health benefits outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including hospitaliza-tions, surgery, emergency care, prescriptions, maternity and new-born care, laboratory services and chronic disease management ser-vices among others. The student policy will pay for 80 percent of eligible expenses.

Senior Connor Dickey said he elected for coverage under Mi-ami’s student policy.

“I use the Miami healthcare plan because my parents’ health-care policy got messed up and they didn’t have insurance for a while,” Dickey said. “I Googled healthcare plans and how to pick your healthcare and from what I found out, the one that Miami was offering wasn’t that bad so I opted into it.”

According to Dickey, he rarely incurs medical expenses, so he was not sure how Miami’s de-ductible compared to other health insurance policies.

“I’m getting charged a flat rate, but I didn’t really look into what [different] deductibles would be because I rarely go to the doctor,” Dickey said.

Dickey said he hopes to do

freelance work after college, so finding a health insurance policy he can afford might be difficult.

“Hopefully, I’ll get a job with a benefits package, although I want to do freelance stuff so I wouldn’t really be offered a ben-efits package,” Dickey said. “So, I don’t know. Ideally, I’ll prob-ably find the cheapest possible option. I have done some of the research, so I’ll look back to that. It wouldn’t be about finding it, it would be about affording it.”

Senior Caroline Leeker waived the Miami student health insur-ance plan. She is covered instead under her family’s policy. How-ever, she said after college, she does not know how to choose the best healthcare plan for her.

“I’m on my parents’ health-care coverage,” Leeker said. “I denied the Miami one. After col-lege, I’ll probably go to my own because it’s part of the benefits package for the job offer I’m planning on accepting. My big-gest concern is expenses because I know you can choose from a variety of plans and I don’t know what will be best or what’s most cost-effective.”

In order to ultimately select her health insurance policy, Leeker said she plans to use a variety of sources.

“I’ll probably read about them,

HEALTH »PAGE 5

REGIONAL »PAGE 5

Hamilton, Middletown Diversity Councils draft petition, refute MU divide

Health plans ensure student security

MU names provost

HEALTH

ADMINISTRATIONSEE LETTER TO THE

EDITOR PAGE 7

SNOWY SIDEWALK

SAFETY

REVIEWING THE “THEORY OF

EVERYTHING”FADING

FANDOMWOMEN’S

BASKETBALL

In 2007, The Miami Student reported that Transportation Services announced its plan to begin requiring student IDs upon boarding the Door-to-Door van. The policy change went into place in an attempt to ensure rider and driver safety.

TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY

UNIVERSITY CULTURECOMMUNITY OPINION SPORTS

»PAGE 4 »PAGE 6 »PAGE 10»PAGE 3»PAGE 2

Task force fuels campus controversy ADMINISTRATION

The Miami StudentEstablished 1826

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NET MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIOVOLUME 142 NO. 25

PHYLLIS CALLAHAN

EMILY SABANEGH THE MIAMI STUDENT

SKATING BY Sarah Watt twirls her daughter, Megan (6) on the ice in Goggin during the Free Skate event last weekend.

VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, CONTACT

THE EDITOR TO SPEAK ANONYMOUSLY

[email protected]

INSECTS TOPPLE TREES

Page 2: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

KELLIE COPPOLAFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

That second hot dog you might turn down at a Miami Univer-sity sporting event may soon feed a hungry member of the Oxford community.

Miami University sophomore Lauren Gottschalk is starting a pro-gram that will take leftover hot food from the concession stands after Miami University sporting events and transport it to a local organiza-tion that will serve the food to mem-bers of the community.

The psychology major from Day-ton, Ohio, has worked for Carillon Catering since the beginning of this semester. She said the amount of discarded food at the end of catering events bothered her.

“I thought it was ridiculous,” she said. “Every time I’m at work I am constantly reminded that perfectly good food is being thrown away.”

She came up with a project pro-posal that would provide an alterna-tive use for leftover food while ben-efitting the community.

According to the United States Census Bureau, 48.5 percent of Oxford’s residents between 2008 and 2012 were below the poverty level. Gottschalk thinks her project can make a difference. She hopes to gain support and turn her initiative into a student organization.

Gottschalk proposed this plan to Jon Brubacher, Director of Pro-curement and Purchasing, Nancy Heidtman, senior director of Din-ing and Culinary Support Services and Eric Yung, director of Catering

and Special Services. They agreed to lend support as long as Gott-schalk takes care of the planning and maintaining.

Gottschalk faces several obsta-cles in making her project a reality. Yung noted that Gottschalk’s proj-ect is unique because she’s donating hot, perishable items.

But many details need to be worked out. Brubacher said that because the food is perishable, Mi-ami University Dining Services are liable. Gottschalk must think about how to transport hot, precooked food from the concession stand to the receiving venue to ensure prop-er sanitation and handling, as well as efficiency.

Brubacher said this means Gott-schalk also has to find packaging that will keep the food at an appro-priate temperature. Additionally, Brubacher said, she has to find a well-equipped receiving venue that can store, keep and serve the food.

Gottschalk contracted Oxford Bible Fellowship, a church located at 800 South Maple Ave. Accord-ing to Yvonne Van Bibber, director of connections at Oxford Bible Fel-lowship, the group agreed to accept and serve the food donations.

They are waiting for more infor-mation from Gottschalk such as the amount of leftover food that will be donated and how often. This pres-ents another issue.

“Our goal is zero [leftovers],” Brubacher said. “But we know in reality that won’t happen.”

According to the inventory record from the Aug. 30 Miami University football game, there were 58 hot dogs and 94 soft pretzels leftover at the end of the game.

Yung said it is difficult to pre-dict the amount of leftover food because it depends on factors like the popularity of the event. He en-couraged Gottschalk to test her plan during the three most popular sports seasons: football, hockey and basketball.

Gottschalk said she hopes to set up a Food Recovery Network chap-ter on Miami campus to assist with her project. Food Recovery Net-work works to fight waste by redis-tributing leftover food from campus dining establishments.

The Food Recovery Network provides consultation and resources for motivated individuals that open up chapters. Sara Glassman, the di-rector of new member support and communications, said that to open up a chapter, a student must sign an agreement and report to a new chapter coordinator.

“I feel like Miami is a bubble and Oxford just surrounds it,” Gott-schalk said.

She said she hopes her chapter will be successful: word will spread and students will get involved in her project and reach out to the commu-nity in need.

Those involved seem optimis-tic about the future of Gottschalk’s project. Brubacher said many students in the past have tried to do what she is doing, but aban-doned the project due to lack of time and planning.

“She seems to be the most prom-ising of the students we’ve worked with,” Brubacher said.

Gottschalk hopes to have a trial run by the end of this semester, and to troubleshoot and expand the proj-ect in the semesters to come.

OLIVIA BRAUDESENIOR STAFF WRITER

They came in droves, burrowed in the wood of ships from the south of Asia. Smaller than a penny and the color of a precious gemstone, they killed tens of millions of ash trees across the Midwestern United States. By the time Miami Univer-sity learned of the problem on cam-pus, it was too late; the invasion of the emerald ash borer beetles has resulted in one of the worst tree devastations in campus history.

“Nothing has been as bad as the emerald ash,” Dan Garber, a horti-culturist at Miami, said.

“No, nothing,” his co-worker, Vinny Cirrito, a landscape architect, repeated shaking his head.

The emerald ash borer is a non-native species, first discovered in the United States in Detroit, Michi-gan in 2002, according to American Forests magazine. The beetle lays its eggs under the bark of ash trees, and when the larvae hatch, they chew through the bark and eat the outer ring of sapwood used to trans-port water from the root of the tree to the canopy, Garber explained. Once the transport of nutrients from the roots is stopped, the tree dies and needs to be cut down quickly for safety reasons.

“When the ash tree dies, it becomes brittle and so falls over very quickly. That’s a problem,” John Keegan, the manager of the

greenhouse and an instructor, said. The university is concerned

about student safety, which is a major factor for the removal of any trees on campus, Garber said. Other reasons include the natural death of the tree and whether it had been in-fested by an invasive species.

“We’re not just going around cutting good, live trees,” Garber said.

The case of Shideler Hall is an excpetion, where renovations have caused the removal of a number of viable trees, upsetting students and faculty alike.

“The loss of the trees around Shideler is deplorable,” Amelie Da-vis, a professor in the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, said. “While some were diseased, others were, I think, irreplaceable.”

Cirrito said the decision to cut down the trees was not an easy one; it was taken to the administrative level before the conclusion was reached. But, he said, the university plans on replanting in the area once the construction is finished.

As for the 2,000 ash trees on Miami’s campus, the emerald ash borer will continue to destroy them and not much can be done to prevent their removal.

“This will basically take away all the ash trees,” Keegan said.

He said he estimates the uni-versity has already removed a considerable amount of ash trees, which, Keegan said, make up ap-proximately 10 percent of the trees on campus.

“I would not be surprised if we’ve lost 100 because every week it would be, ‘Oh we’re cutting here, oh we’re cutting there,’” Keegan said. He pointed out the ash tree in front of the CAB building, as well as one by Cook Field, that were recently removed.

The emerald ash borer is dif-ficult to eradicate because none of the ash trees in the United States are resistant to it, and it has the ability to attack the trees while they are still young, even before they make seed, Keegan said.

“Had they caught it early

enough, possibly they could have fought it, but because it is small and it does fly fairly well, it would have been difficult to stop,” Keegan said.

Currently, Cirrito said, 23 ash trees, including one in front of Roudebush Hall and Kumler Cha-pel, are being treated with TREE-age, an insecticide injected at the base of the tree. The treatment is expensive — ranging from $100 to $200 per tree, Keegan said — but Cirrito said he hopes to use it on more ash trees in the next few years.

No one can know how many ash trees will need to be cut down,

but neither Cirrito nor Garber de-nies the loss will be significant. The university is mitigating the situation by planting a variety of tree species so if another invasive insect attacks a particular type of tree, only that tree will be lost.

“We are doing a pretty aggres-sive tree planting program to try to reforest the campus,” Garber said.

This is a good thing, accord-ing to Keegan, because the trees add to the overall attractiveness of the university.

ASH BORER »PAGE 5

East Quad construction renovates dining, res halls

Axing the ash: Invasive insect plagues MU

ANGELO GELFUSO THE MIAMI STUDENT

SKATE AND SHAKE The Miami synchronized skating team, the defending national champions, performed last Friday, Nov. 21, at Goggin Ice Center.

2 UNIVERSITY [email protected], DECEMBER 2, 2014

GREENHAWKS

SERVICE

An ash tree outside of Kumler Chapel on Western Campus is being protected by TREE-age, an insecticide that protects the tree from the emerald ash borer.

CONTRIBUTED BY DAN GARBER

Miami sophomore seeks to feed Oxford with campus leftovers

JEFFREY SADOWNICKFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami is getting yet another face-

lift. Miami is in the process of a $93 million renovation of the buildings in the East Quad, including Dorsey, Dennison, Collins, Symmes and McBride halls. The dorms will have new common areas and their heating and cooling systems will be upgrad-ed. Miami is also constructing Gar-den Commons, a new dining facility at Symmes hall.

The renovation began in May and is expected to be finished July 2015.

Miami is renovating the halls because they are long overdue for an upgrade, said Cody Powell, associ-ate vice president of facilities plan-ning and operations.

“These buildings are now 50 to 60 years old, and it’s a huge part of our campus,” Powell said. “While they’re reasonably well maintained and fairly nice … they’re just not there.”

Many of the buildings had not been renovated since their original construction.

“They were becoming outdat-ed,” Robert Bell, project manager of the renovations, said.

Miami has a “Housing Master Plan” that outlines the renovation of every residence hall and construc-tion of new residence halls over the next 20 years. The renovation of East Quad is just another step in this process.

“We had not done a good job of renovating these buildings as we go,” Powell said, “And we had to

develop a plan of how we’d ac-complish this before these buildings completely deteriorated or got to the point where people just don’t want to stay in them.”

The renovations to East Quad in-clude new fire suppression systems, improved accessibility for students with disabilities, refurbished bath-rooms and modern plumbing as well as electrical, heating and air conditioning systems.

“All spaces will receive new fin-ishes, and some spaces will be re-configured to increase the overall amount of common space and dis-tribute common living and studying spaces throughout the buildings,” Bell said.

The buildings will be set up to use geothermal energy in the future. Geothermal energy is currently in use at Western Commons residence halls on Western Campus.

Fisher Drive, which cuts through East Quad, will be per-manently closed and converted into green space.

The Garden Commons dining hall is intended to be a more convenient dining location for students living in East Quad. It will be located be-hind the Farmer School of Business (FSB), so students can get a quick meal before class. The new dining hall is expected to alleviate some of the overcrowding at the Dividends dining facility in FSB.

Previously, the nearest dining hall for students in East quad was Er-ickson Dining Hall, located behind Dennison, opposite the academic buildings. This location made Er-ickson inconvenient for on-the-go dining. Erickson Dining Hall will be converted into a residence hall.

CONSTRUCTION

Page 3: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

MEGAN MOONEYFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

For Oxford residents and stu-dents living off campus, there are extra considerations to be taken as the temperatures drop and the snow falls during the winter.

Most students are unaware of a certain law that requires the prop-erty owner, or renter, be respon-sible for shoveling the sidewalks adjacent to their property.

“By local ordinance, property owners are responsible for clean-ing up any debris on the sidewalks near their property,” Assistant City Manager Kim Newton said.

This includes snow.According to the City of Ox-

ford website, if a person were to slip and fall on an icy sidewalk, the law holds the owner, not the city, responsible.

Junior Laura Ferguson found herself victim to icy pavement last January.

“Last semester I slipped and sprained my ankle pretty badly,” she said. “I had no idea about the law at the time, but I think it is something that students should be more informed about.”

Ferguson was walking out-side on snowy pavement when she slipped in front of a house on Collins Street. No charges

were pressed against the owner of the home.

As for the city, they are only technically responsible for keep-ing the sidewalks Uptown and the municipal parks clear. For students living on campus, Mi-ami University’s physical facili-ties take care of clearing away the snow so students are able make it to class on time.

Junior Maddie Slattery lives off campus and has been aware of the law for some time.

“I did know this was a law,” Slattery said. “I saw it on the news a year ago. But, it kind of makes sense because you’re going to be doing your driveway anyway and it’s not very practical for the city to be doing sidewalks.”

Other students feel similarly.According to junior Ian Young,

the responsibility placed on stu-dents living in off-campus homes to keep their sidewalks clear is not surprising. His hometown has similar policies.

However, Young expressed his uneasiness for his responsibil-ity for students injured outside of his home.

“As for accidents being the re-sponsibility of the owner,” Young said. “I’m not wholly convinced that someone injuring themselves on a city-installed pathway should be the responsibility of the owner of the adjacent home.”

NICK RAMSEY FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

Graeter’s Ice Cream is a favor-ite local treat for many Columbus and Cincinnati natives and the popular chain may soon be open-ing a store in Oxford.

The Cincinnati-based Ice Cream Company, known for its unique small batch French pot process, has been eyeing Oxford.

“We are actively working on a sight Uptown but we do not have a signed lease yet,” Richard Graeter, President and CEO of Graeter’s said.

According to Graeter, the store will be similar to the Graeter’s

that opened in October near Xavi-er University, and the Over-The-Rhine location in Cincinnati.

“It will be an ice cream store with some candy, but no bakery,” Graeter.said. “If all goes well, we should be open by spring.”

The exact location of the new store is still uncertain.

“Now, they’ve got to find a location,” Alan Kyger, the city’s economic development director, said. “Whether that interest cul-minates into an actual store, we will see.”

According to Kyger, two po-tential locations for this new store are available.

The vacant property right next door to Kona Bistro is currently not being used, along with the

former Quiznos location.According to Kyger, Graeter’s

and Dewey’s Pizza were both of-fered locations in Bishop Square, the redevelopment of the old Wal-Mart, but Dewey’s was not interested in Oxford. Graeter’s declined this location too, hoping for an Uptown location, which will allow them more business from students.

Graeter’s will be competing with Orange Leaf, United Dairy Farmers and Spring Street Treats, but Kyger believes these busi-nesses are much different from Graeter’s and should not fear any harsh competition from the new ice cream spot.

Starting a business in Oxford is a daunting task, even for a

large company. “A lot of large companies are

intimidated by the business cycle in Oxford,” Kyger said.

Since Oxford is a college town, the vast majority of customers for many Oxford businesses are gone four months of the year. Busi-ness owners count down the days for students to return to campus and jump start their business each year.

Miami first year, Patrick Scho-eppner said he welcomes the pos-sibility of a new addition Uptown.

“If my friends and I were to go get ice cream, we would go to Graeter’s,” he said, “I think it would be a lot of hype from Cin-cinnatians, but might have a hard time in the winter.”

Frozen sidewalks pose problems for students

Graeter’s considers Oxford location

COMMUNITY [email protected] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

POLICE BEATPizza pirates

Hotjeep

Stolen windmill

On Saturday evening, OPD responded to a report from two students stating that their pizza had been stolen. The victims said they had purchased a $6 pizza from Will’s Pizza and were walking home with it, and when they arrived at the steps of their house, two other, unknown males ran up to them and pushed them over. The assailants then stole the pizza, ran to a waiting vehicle, and jumped in the back seat as the vehicle sped off. The victims were able to get a de-scription of the vehicle and its li-cense plate number. The car was shortly located near the Oxford Township Police Department, and the suspects complied fully with the officer. The victims de-clined to press felony charges for theft, since the pizza was, after all, only $6. Both thieves were cited for theft and released.

On Friday evening, an offi-cer responded to a report of two subjects smoking marijuana in-side of a parked red Jeep. As the officer approached the vehicle, the two males exited and began to walk away before being de-tained by the officer. The officer noticed a strong odor of burnt marijuana and asked for ID. One of the subjects stated that his ID was in the vehicle, which the of-ficer located, along with a pipe. The subjects were cited with Drug Abuse and Drug Parapher-nalia and released to one of the subjects’ fathers.

On Sunday morning, a female resident of Oxford called the police to report that her 6-foot metal windmill lawn decoration had been stolen. The police did not notice any other disturbance at her residence, but she stated that her neighbors had a party the night before, and she thought one of their guests had taken it. The investigation remains open.

IN OTHER NEWSOXFORD NATIONALCINCINNATI INTERNATIONAL

Iraq’s army weakened from within by ‘ghost’ soldiers

In its fight against ISIS, over 50,000 corrupt Iraqi soldiers failed to report for duty.–CNN

FBI warns military of ISIS threat

A warning was issued Sunday stating that ISIS is calling for attacks against the U.S. military.–CNN

Ohio rep Peter Beck resigns from the House

The Mason republican currently faces 69 felony charges for fraud. His resignation was effective Sunday.–The Enquirer

Man hospitalized after crashing truck into tree

A 28-year-old man was injured after he drove his truck into a tree on Wednesday night.–Journal-News

SAMMIE MILLERCOMMUNITY EDITOR

With a slew of break-ins this fall, many students leaving for winter break are taking extra pre-cautions to ensure their houses and belongings are safe while they are away.

“Over holiday breaks, there are very few people remaining in the mile square of Oxford, which is normally occupied by students,” Sarah Rodbro, owner of Red Brick Property Management said. “During this time period, criminals will take this opportu-nity to come into town to burglar-ize properties.”

According to Rodbro, it is critical for students to take an active role in protecting their property and belongings. She encourages students to lock all doors and windows — espe-cially those on the first floor — before leaving town.

“This seems so common sense,” Oxford Police Depart-ment Sargent John Varley said. “But so many students acciden-tally forget.”

Some students are unaware that there is an optional vacant house check available to students leaving town for extended peri-ods of time. The service is free to any student who fills out the required form, often supplied by their realtor.

“The Oxford police depart-ment will check your property to verify that it is safe while it is vacant,” Rodbro said. “This is strongly recommended.”

In addition, Red Brick sug-gests leaving at least one inside light on, keeping one car parked in the driveway, and temporarily stopping any mail or newspaper services to avoid looking like a target for potential burglars.

“We tell students to cover up any flat screen TV’s or other valuables left in the home with a blanket,” Rodbro said. “That way, they cannot be seen through the windows.”

Local realtors also advise stu-dents to protect their homes in other ways before leaving for break. It is suggested that stu-dents leave their heating on during their time away from

Oxford to avoid any damages to the home.

“Ideally, we suggest that stu-dents leave their heating on at sixty degrees while they are gone,” Tom Schmates, of Schmates Home Rentals said.

The heat should protect vacant homes from experiencing any inconvenient damages, such as pipes bursting.

According to Rodbro, many students turn the heating off com-pletely to avoid a higher utility bill, but this is very dangerous.

“Disregarding this could po-tentially lead to damage to the pipes and costly structural damage to your residence,” Rodbro said.

Many realtors suggest students that get their houses cleaned pro-fessionally before leaving town for the semester.

“For students who do not feel like cleaning their homes during finals, we recommend they call a professional ser-vice,” Schmates said. “I recom-mend Serious Susan’s Maid and Cleaning Service because of her reasonable pricing.”

The service offers deep clean-ing for kitchen and bathrooms along with post-party cleaning. Schmates Rentals often recom-mends to parents to purchase a cleaning service instead of a tra-ditional care package during the holiday season.

Rodbro also suggests a profes-sional service to their renters.

“If students are interested in house cleaning before they de-part or even after they leave, we highly recommend contact-ing Sunshine Cleaning,” Rod-bro said. “Judy Koch is bond-ed and insured and has taken care of many students’ needs in the past.”

Beat the break-ins: a how-to for the holidays

Students advised to protect their homes

[OPD] will check your property to verify that it is safe while it is vacant.”

SARAH RODBRORED BRICK OWNER

HOUSING

SAFETY

BUSINESS

STORY ID

EA?

news@

miam

istudent.net

EMILY CALLAHAN THE MIAMI STUDENT

I GOT IT FROM MY MAMAS Miami sophomore Miranda Stowe buys treats from Just Like Mamas vendor.

Page 4: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

DRAKE LONGFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

Brussels may be known as the capital of the European Union and NATO, but Miami University stu-dents will have the opportunity to see it in a different light this Janu-ary. Comics and Culture in Brussels is a study abroad program that fo-cuses on the rich history of Belgian graphic novels.

Located south of the Netherlands, north of France and west of Germa-ny and Luxembourg, Belgium is the home of comics “The Adventures of Tintin” and “The Smurfs,” both of which are relevant today. The effects of these comics have permeated not only Belgian society, but also that of Western Europe itself, and the two courses offered by the study abroad program aim to teach how that came to be. The first is the similarly titled Comics and Culture in Belgium.

“Comics and Culture in Belgium is a look at Belgian culture through comics,” Mark McKinney, the Mi-ami professor leading the trip, said. “Belgian comics are an important cultural phenomenon there, and an important industry.”

Along with the Comic Book Route, a trail showcasing over fifty murals celebrating comics and their creators, Brussels boasts the

Belgian Comic Strip Center and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Students will get the chance to see these cultural touchstones during the program abroad.

The other course offered, the Eu-ropean Graphic Novel, will look outside Belgium for the traits and cultural impact of the genre.

“French and Belgian comics have been ways of exchanging between the two cultures, between the two societies, for as long as they’ve ex-isted,” McKinney said.

The class will primarily focus on the effects of Belgian comics on France and vice versa, but more Eu-ropean countries will be examined.

“Depending in part on the inter-ests of the students, we can include comics by British authors, comics by Swiss authors, Spanish, Portu-guese, etcetera,” McKinney said. “There’s quite a range of books we can have.”

France and Luxembourg, the lat-ter of which hosts a more popular study abroad destination for Miami students, directly neighbor Belgium. Nonetheless, the comics program in Brussels is one McKinney argues as an alternative.

“I think part of what I’m up against is that Brussels is far less well known than Paris for example, or Barcelona, or other places which are lovely to visit, too, but I think Brussels is a city worth getting to

know,” McKinney said. He stresses Brussel’s beauty, cul-

tural significance and the ease with which a student can visit other popu-lar European cities in their free time.

A senior student committed to the program, Travis Peraza, offered his perspective on why the program was so appealing.

“I’ve never been outside of North America, so I started looking into winter programs, as I didn’t want to go for a semester my senior year,” Peraza said. “Looking at the structure of the class and how we can actually learn about a country’s cultures through comics is really eye opening.”

Peraza said he wants take advan-tage of the museum trips and have the opportunity to learn through a different medium than most people would.

The takeaway from the trip, McK-inney said, will be a greater under-standing of how comics are not just a product of a culture, but create it.

“Comics are at the intersection [of high and low art.]” McKinney said. “We’re seeing them more and more in museums, art galleries, and at the same time they’re a medium that is read by children. I hope [stu-dents] have an encounter with a dif-ferent culture. A culture they may not know anything about, but helps them learn more about themselves, as well as about other cultures.”

BRITTON PERELMANSTAFF WRITER

As any good storyteller knows, sometimes the best stories come, not from a writer’s imagina-tion, but from real life. “The Theory of Everything” is one of those stories.

“The Theory of Everything,” directed by James Marsh, is the true story of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Red-mayne) and his first wife, Jane (Felicity Jones), whose memoir was the inspiration for the film. It begins with their first meeting, shows the pair falling in love, and the slow decline as Stephen realizes something is very, very wrong. After he is diagnosed with a motor-neuron disease and given two years to live, the couple gets married and Stephen continues to work on his Ph.D. The film fol-lows their life together, a course of over thirty years.

At its core, “The Theory of Ev-erything” is a love story. It isn’t about Hawking’s theories or the science he studies, it’s about the incredible story of his relation-ship with his wife, Jane, as they fight his disease and build a life together against impossible odds. And, while this may be a nega-tive aspect for others, I love that the movie doesn’t try to be some-thing it’s not. We don’t need to understand physics to be able to understand the bond shared between Stephen and Jane. The science is not left out, because it couldn’t be a movie about Ste-phen Hawking without it, but it doesn’t take center stage, the emotion does.

Eddie Redmayne and Felic-ity Jones are the backbone of the film. Their connection is so tangible, so real, it’s almost as if they’re having conversations solely with their eyes. Both are perfection in their respective roles; every scene is handled with such care, each movement and spoken word expertly acted. Jones, in a role supposedly writ-ten with her in mind, is spectacu-lar. While Stephen deteriorates physically, Jane deals with the growing pressure that his illness puts on her and Jones handles the emotional deterioration Jane

went through with such grace. But nothing can compare to

Eddie Redmayne’s performance. Honestly, if his performance goes unrecognized at the Academy Awards in February, then I clear-ly know nothing about acting. Redmayne shows the collapse of Stephen’s body so accurately it seems impossible. He apparently charted the course of Stephen’s disease over time for his own personal reference and practiced facial expressions in the mirror for hours at a time. Even when most of Stephen’s body move-ment is gone, Redmayne is able to convey emotion through a single twitch of his eye or mouth.

Accompanying the actors is breathtaking cinematography that does two very important things. First, through close ups we are able to track the failure of Stephen’s body parts. We see when his fingers begin to tremble, when his foot starts to go limp, and how his handwrit-ing wobbles. And second, home-movie-like footage summarizes parts of Stephen and Jane’s life together in a way that feels in-credibly authentic. We see their wedding, a day at the beach with their children, a gondola ride in the river in grainy, color-saturat-ed shots that perfectly illustrate the highlights of their life.

“The Theory of Everything” is true to itself and true to the people it portrays and I respect that. I simply can’t say enough about this film. No spoilers here, but I do want to mention that the ending is truly beautiful — one of the best I’ve seen.

REBECCA HUFFFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Gyro Concept was supposed to take the streets of Oxford but after a year, the 26 W. High Street location remains vacant.

“I’ve heard from other friends that they are staying closed because they opened too many franchises at once and didn’t have enough money to finish it,” urban and regional plan-ning student, Michele Turner said.

According to The Gyro Concept’s Facebook page, the business is aim-ing for a December opening in Ox-ford. The Gyro Concept announced that roughly a year ago.

With the plan of opening within the next month, the franchise hired their first set of employees, but time

and time again the restaurant had to push back their opening date.

Three months later, The Gyro Concept posted, we are hoping to be open in 10 days.

The restaurant posted pictures on their Facebook page under the tag 95 percent complete.

It has been nine months since the post and The Gyro Concept is still not opening soon.

The Gyro Concept did not re-spond to calls, but rather by Face-book message.

“The rumor [of staying closed] is not true. We do not have a sched-uled date for opening yet,” The Gyro Concept said. “Unfortunately, we have had many issues arise at that location and most were out of our control.”

After attempting to contact The Gyro Concept about the issues they

faced, they did not respond.The Gyro Concept uses Greek in-

spired foods such as the Gyro, pro-nounced as euro, but with an Ameri-can twist like the GBLT (gyro BLT)

and the Philly gyro.“It sounds amazing and I would

love to have a gyro in between class-es,” Junior Alex Randall said, after hearing about the new restaurant for

the first time.While these gyros are not in

Oxford’s future anytime soon, the taunting “Coming Soon” sign has remained in the restaurant’s window.

James Marsh’s film stays true to itself

The Gyro Concept to remain closed, with no set opening date

‘The Theory of Everything’

We don’t need to understand physics to be able to un-derstand the bond shared between Stephen and Jane.”

4 CULTURE [email protected], DECEMBER 2, 2014

FILM

EVENTSDECEMBER 1 DECEMBER 4 DECEMBER 4 DECEMBER 6DECEMBER 1

Handel’s Messiah

7:30 p.m.

Hall Auditorium

Oxford Holiday Walk5 p.m.

Uptown Oxford

Wind Ensemble Concert7:30 p.m.

Hall Auditorium

Oxford Holiday Festival9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

OCAC

Comics and Culture in Brussels draws on experience abroad

WORLD

CUISINE

LAUREN KIGGINS THE MIAMI STUDENT

Uptown’s The Gyro Concept advertises its opening, but remains closed after a year of misleading posts on their Facebook page.

PHILL ARNDT THE MIAMI STUDENT

A SWINGIN’ HOLIDAY The Miami University Department of Music presented the annual Grand Night Nov. 21 and 22 in Hall Auditorium. This year’s show featured new arrangements of classic holiday pieces, acompanied by the Grand Night Big Band and pianist Tedrin Lindsay.

The Night Before Christmas6:30 p.m.

HOCAC

Page 5: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

5WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NET TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

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work with HR to determine which one and look to my parents for advice,” Leeker said.

Junior Justin Cohen said he also is covered by his family’s health insurance plan.

“I’m on my family’s plan,” Cohen said. “That’s what I’ve al-ways been on and it’s the cheap-est option for me.”

Cohen said he plans to stay on his family’s health insurance policy until age 26, which is per-mitted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“I can stay on my parents’ plan until I’m 26, so I’ll probably do that to save money,” Cohen said. “Then I’ll try to get something in the low or medium range in terms of cost because I’ll be pret-ty young, so I’m sure there won’t be too many things I need to worry about.”

Cohen said he does feel well equipped to find health coverage after college.

“With the Internet, there’s so much information out there that as long as I put in some research and some time, I should be able to find a good plan,” Cohen said.

each year will be limited.“Implementation of this type of

policy would also likely require current students to be ‘grandfa-thered’ in some fashion,” members of the task force said, “since we currently have students that have been taking classes part-time for several semesters.”

In the proposal, the task force also explained that a student who wants to begin at a regional campus could do so, but after completing two years must either fully relocate to Oxford to pursue that degree or stay regionally located and pursue the generic version of that degree.

The members also suggested the regional campuses should no lon-ger have open admission, and the

students who are denied admission to the main Oxford branch be de-ferred to the regional campuses.

Rebranding the regional cam-puses is another issue the task force suggested. They are considering branding the regional campuses together, so rather than Miami Hamilton and Miami Middletown, they would be called, collectively, “Miami Regional Campus.”

For a more permanent name, the task force suggested a more compelling term for the regional system, one that captures the sense that we are “one Miami” with a variety of locations, spaces and purposes.

Hodge and the Board of Trustees will discuss these recommenda-tions Friday, Dec. 5, at a regularly scheduled board meeting.

FROM REGIONAL »PAGE 1

FROM HEALTH »PAGE 1

“The number one reason that students come to this campus is the beauty of this campus and especially the beauty of the trees,” Keegan, who believes one of the major needs of the university is to give the trees higher priority, said.

“The trees make the campus, there is simply no question,” he said. “We need to do everything we can to protect them.”

The outlook for the ash trees on campus, the first trees to

display the striking orange, brown and golden leaves of fall, remains glum while the emerald ash borer is around.

The best Cirrito hopes for is that the loss will bring about an abundance of different trees through replanting.

The red-brick, tree-lined Mi-ami will always have to fight against forces of nature — not only invasive species, but climate changes and pollution as well — to keep the school green because, as Cirrito said, “The ash borer won’t be the last.”

FROM ASH BORER »PAGE 2

Page 6: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

I have not written in length about my unabashed and particular affin-ity for the dogs in my life since my

childhood dog, Jessie, died.

P e r h a p s that is merely coincidence, but such a coincidence struck me as peculiar that

in all the ink I’ve spilled musing, not once did the paws so specific to my life tread therein.

This is my “inkblot,” then, to my furry best friends.

Jessie was a Labrador/pitbull mix, although given the stigma pitbulls unjustly receive, we always made sure to emphasize the labrador part of her.

Like a faded photo, I still re-member when the family went to retrieve Jessie. I was maybe five at the time with those obscene thick-framed glasses and a mane of unruly red hair.

We got out of our typical 90s fam-ily red van and Jessie came running around to meet us, like a can of Red Bull on four legs. That’s the first im-age I retain of her: how energetic and happy she was. If her tail was going any faster, she would have devel-oped wings.

I think every dog owner says this and then qualifies it with, “Yeah, but for our dog, it was true!” but Jessie was human-like. Her per-sonality meshed well with us little kids. There wasn’t a pre-dog-liking time; there was just Jessie. Loving her was innate.

I’m no child developmental afi-cionado, but it’s not hard to see that for a geeky, awkward and often out-casted kid like myself, having that companion meant a whole lot to my growth.

That if the kid at school was knocking my books out of my hand or if I did something particularly embarrassing in front of the class, I could come home and there she would be. Not passing judgment, just eager to play and love, uncondi-tionally and pure.

The best of course was using her body as a comforting pillow and allowing the warmth of her fur to

shield a shy, scared kid from an im-possibly big world. Maybe my big head resting on her belly was burden-some, but she never let on.

Then, as life tends to go, death tends to come. She was breaking down, as dogs will do at 16. It got to the point where moving was prob-lematic for her arthritic legs.

Deep within her brown eyes, I liked to think was the longing for the dog she had once been and wished she could still be. The dog that looked like a cheetah floating across our expansive backyard or the wacky, goofy dog that somehow managed to get on the roof of our house when we were away... twice.

“It’s only an animal,” is the re-frain of someone that’s never lived through putting a dog down. Some-one that’s never developed that bond and connection over years of chew toys, dinner table scraps and pretend-ing like she really did understand what I was saying and feeling.

To the nascent mind of a child, the dog “gets you” when nobody else does. There’s a reason Miami University, other institutions and organizations use dogs as therapy. They make us happy; they ease back the familiar fog of stress, anxiety and depression.

On the way to the vet, I couldn’t look at her. Instead, I focused my wet eyes on the car window, not seeing anything, only thinking about how I was betraying her.

After we got there and went through the administrative process, the vet took her in his arms to leave behind a door where presumably the deed would be done. Her brown eyes stayed on mine in those final mo-ments and I liked to think that I com-forted her in the way she had me for 16 years, if only a little.

Nah, we didn’t get a new dog right away. It wasn’t liked I needed to go to JCPenny’s and buy a new pair of shoes. There would have to be a gradual transition phase to any new dog. But there was always going to be a new one.

Without the presence of a dog,

I’m lost. Sure, we went through a slew of dogs, looking for the right one like it was OkCupid and we had to find the right match.

One even seemed to not like me because I found her at the end of my bed after having peed on it giving me a nasty look. She was still cute at least.

Then we found Dallas, a German Shepherd/Collie mix named after the Cowboys. She had Jessie’s brown, glossy eyes.

I come home every day and by the slit of a window next to the front door, I see her beaming, waiting to play.

Once inside, it’s a mad rush to the living room to roll around and rub her belly and scratch her ears. I long derided those that did the annoying baby talk with newborn babies. Get me with Dallas and I do the baby talk voice. Yep.

Sometimes, admittedly, the world feels like a vice grip worthy of Jig-

saw, but a potent thought that often gets me through it is the thought of coming home. No matter how bad something is, at least I’ll eventually get home and put it behind me.

Dallas will be there, waiting, too, to help. The thought of ever leav-ing her waiting is much worse than any conceivable pressure from that vice grip.

I will never understand those that can live without a dog in the house and in their lives. Maybe those peo-ple are made of some different ma-terial. Maybe their hearts have some internal tail-wagger, face-licker that keeps them going.

As for those with cats, well, my musings do have a limit and that limit does not suffice to explain why dogs are obviously superior.

Finishing this column, Dallas’s two paws sit on my lap with her head titled back waiting for the next ad-venture. She doesn’t know that I’m about to run and the chase will be on.

6 OPINION [email protected], DECEMBER 2, 2014

Reflecting on the good and bad of Miami football’s first year under Chuck MartinThe following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.EDITORIAL

check out our new website

M I A M I S T U D E N T. N E T

Dogs come and go in our lives, but they all make home a happy place

LIFEMILAM’S MUSINGS

With plenty of ups and downs, last week’s rivalry game against Ohio University marked an ap-propriate end to Miami’s football season. The good: a spotlight of Bagel and Deli on ESPN. The bad: an exceptionally empty sta-dium and another loss added to the final tally.

It seems as soon as we start to show a snippet of excitement about our football team, we are left disappointed, but never really surprised.

With an overall record of 2-10, it might be a leap to talk about positive takeaways from this season. But, there are a few. The biggest one might be the fact that some of us watched that game on Tuesday, from the comfort of our couches, and we were unhappy when we lost. We watched our football team and we felt actual emotion. Last year, most of us would have turned the chan-nel and not even have given it a second thought.

Our team showed a competi-tive drive that we weren’t accus-tomed to seeing. D espite the loss-

es, they kept up with big teams. The team has made progress this season and is light-years ahead of where it was under previous head coach Don Treadwell. And, if we think back to last year and the lack of any noticeable interest in our team, we’ve come a long way. Even as a Division I program, the majority of people on this campus

probably couldn’t have named our quarterback or coach last year. Aside from the grim distinc-tion of our losing streak, no one cared about last year’s team.

To some degree, we believe that mentality has changed this year.

Think about Chuck Martin, An-drew Hendrix and Quinten Roll-ins. People know those names now; they know something now.

Sure, there are plenty of negatives when we reflect on this season, we won’t attempt to sugarcoat it and sell our team as something it’s not. As our sports editor poignantly remarked: “The simple fact with the team is this: they aren’t very good. They just can’t compete and win against the rest of the Mid-American

Conference. Yet.”This might not sound like new

information. Our team is defi-nitely not as strong as it can be, but it’s getting stronger. Head coach Chuck Martin is in the pro-cess of fixing it, though, and we can see that. So yes, our football team had a less-than-good season, and we’ll probably be about the same next year.

There was one major, objec-

tively disappointing takeaway from this season: tailgating. There was potential to get more people in the stands and create a fun tail-gating setup, but the university, in some ways, took that excitement away from us. How do you get students to the games? By giving them an incentive. And what do Miami students want on Saturday afternoons? Alcohol. The univer-sity needs to come to terms with that so we can change the football culture at this school. It’s a lost opportunity, either way.

When we see the pride other schools have in their football team, we’re jealous. As much as we poke fun at this team for our national rank of being among the worst, we all want a better program.

We want football games to be a popular weekend activity, more than studying at King, sleeping in or Beat the Clock. If Yager was packed every Saturday af-ternoon, we’d all want to go, too, because no one wants to miss out on the fun or not be where all their friends are. The problem is we

make the football games out to be something akin to a giant joke.

So, taking into account the good and bad, here’s what we think: we need to start appreciat-ing what we have. We need to get out of the mockery habit. Here at Miami, we are so privileged with our sports teams and we don’t even know it. After having a lack-luster coach, we now have a com-petent head coach with a bright future who’s leading the way to playing better football. Martin easily could’ve chased big money somewhere else, but he’s here and he’s on his way to making our program viable.

It’s early, but to the Editorial Board, it feels like it’s working. Some of us now feel some alle-giance to our football program, which is a completely different story than seasons in recent mem-ory. No matter what lies ahead, we hope we continue with this minor amount of momentum. We are a university with the potential to have a quality football team, a solid support base from students, and we have to start somewhere.

Some of us feel some allegiance to our football program, which is a completely different story than seasons in recent memory.”

BRETT [email protected]

What Miami’s identity means for regional campus students

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

What do the Middletown and Hamilton campuses look like? What kinds of courses are taught there? Have you ever met a Mid-dletown or Hamilton student? I have been a student at Miami Ox-ford for all of one semester, so you may assign appropriate weight to my comments, but I would assume 90 percent of Oxford students have never even seen the Middletown or Hamilton campuses, let alone met a student or taken a class at either of these campuses.

Over the last several months, we have witnessed debate regard-ing the future of Miami’s regional campuses in Hamilton and Mid-dletown. The facts of this debate are simple on the surface. These campuses cause brand confusion with Oxford, the joint issuance of degrees causes administrative problems, and unfortunately, most Oxford students just don’t under-stand why the regional campuses exist. Recently, in an exhibition of pathetic imagination and muddled institutional goals, our university administrators decided the Oxford campus should be effectively sepa-rated from the regional campuses.

Miami professors talk about in-creasing accessibility to education, we host speeches about wealth in-equality and we have sent students to study in Luxembourg. Yet we fail to capitalize on the incredible opportunity sitting right under our noses. We could be building an exemplary system of accessible educational institutions fully inte-grated with the incredible resources of Miami-Oxford. Instead, our uni-versity is determined to erect more roadblocks to accessible education. Where are the opportunities for in-dividuals who didn’t go to private school, didn’t attend SAT prep courses and whose parents don’t pay tribute to their alma mater? In two small cities in southwest Ohio, individuals from any background and of any age can get educated and obtain a degree from a nation-ally recognized institution.

Miami University spends $25,253.39 annually on each un-dergraduate student at the Ox-ford campus. In Middletown and Hamilton, the university spends $8,665.03. Last year, only the Mid-dletown campus required financial assistance from the universities central endowment in the amount of $2,409,031. Hamilton produced positive cash flow contributing $4,200,651 to the universities en-dowment. Despite claims to the contrary, the regional campuses are actually a cash positive enter-prise. Even if the regionals were

fundamentally cash negative, creat-ing additional separation between the campuses cannot possibly be a financially beneficial endeavor. Separating certain academic sys-tems will inevitably create the need for new administrative positions and systems at the regional campus-es. Further institutional separation at the budgetary level could lead to separate procurement practices, resulting in the regional campuses losing existing economies of scale.

Every time I drive down Tren-ton-Oxford Road, I see a small banner that reads: “Miami: Ohio’s public ivy.” Does this mean Mi-ami wants to be like Harvard or Dartmouth? Interestingly, Harvard is embracing the concept of brand accessibility. Through the newly revived Harvard Extension School, a diverse set of individuals can at-tend online classes taught by Har-vard professors. While most stu-dents don’t receive degrees though the Extension School, they are still available. In 2008, the Extension School awarded 111 bachelors and 91 masters degrees. Numerous uni-versities with nationally recognized brands are moving in the direction of educational accessibility. Unfor-tunately, Miami seems to be mov-ing in the opposite direction.

Forty-eight years have passed since the founding of Miami’s first satellite campus in Middletown. Throughout this time, our univer-sity has provided value for stu-dents, advanced intellectual causes, increased the national recognition and prestige of our brand, advanced the long-term interests of the State of Ohio and provided accessible education options to our local com-munity. What does the Miami of the next 48 years look like? Will we spend our time finessing out-come statistics, curtailing ten sec-onds of campus confusion from out-of-state applicants and collect-ing outrageous parking fines? Or will we spend our time develop-ing a small portion of tomorrow’s better society?

I hope to see our administration craft some creative proposals for the regional campuses. How can we better integrate Hamilton and Middletown with Oxford? Can funds be appropriated to improve facilities at the regionals? And if so, can we see a detailed proposal as to what improvements would be made? Perhaps we can finally wit-ness the regional campuses viewed as a drastically underappreciated asset, not a troublesome liability.

ALEXANDER [email protected]

Without the presence of a dog, I’m lost. Sure, we went through a slew of dogs, looking for the right one like it was OkCupid and we had to find the right match.”

Page 7: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

The day after Thanksgiving, I was watching my father and his fa-ther shovel snow off of my grand-parents back deck. The snow was about two feet deep, but they both shoveled the same amount, even with over 30 years between them. I watched as they both cut into the snow and scooped it the same way, shovels acting as axes then spoons, both straight-across brows furrowed similarly, both sets of light blue eyes squinting against the glare of the sun. Even their backs took the same hunched shape as they lifted the powder off the deck and threw it to the side. They both moved with the same mechanical grace, and it was that striking similarity that terrified me thoroughly.

My grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago, and his conditions have worsened exponentially this past year. Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease that slowly kills brain cells and destroys synapses, results in memory loss, confusion and be-havioral issues. This man no longer recognizes who his son is, let alone who I am. The worry, of course, is that this disease will also begin to af-fect his descendants. Regardless of these concerns, however, it is not an isolated condition; rather, Alzheim-er’s is almost a plague.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 5 million Americans are living with the dis-ease, and 500,000 of those die each year because of it.

Its prevalence requires that al-most one in every five dollars paid to Medicare be put toward finding a cure. Unfortunately, however, its commonality does not make it any less heartbreaking, or destructive, both inside and outside the home. Alzheimer’s causes behavioral is-sues that are not usually characteris-tic of the patient, as well as increases risks on the road.

At least one third of older driv-ers who die in car accidents have Alzheimer’s disease, according to a

report by The Independent. Disheartening as it is, it’s also

frustrating to know that one’s full life and personality may be erased upon the loss of brain cells. Not much is known about Alzheimer’s, but over time, many more underly-ing risk factors of the disease have been identified. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not all about genetics — the gene that passes on the risk of getting the disease directly accounts for only about 5 percent of cases.

According to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation (FCARF), the cause of Alzheimer’s is likely the result of a combination of interconnected factors, including environmental influences, which range from previous head trauma to educational level to one’s experi-ences in early life as well as lifestyle factors, such as diet.

It’s that time of year where Ameri-cans are stuffed full with many more calories than usual thanks to Thanks-giving and other winter holidays, but eating like this has long term effects. The majority of the studies say the same thing: a healthy heart ensures a healthy brain. This is espe-cially relevant for college students.

We already have a leg up, because according to FCARF, education has a significant impact on the acquire-ment of the disease. Some experts, according to FCARF, say that a higher education level may produce a denser network of synapses, which creates a kind of ‘neural reserve.’

This compensation allows for longer withstanding against those destructive changes in the brain. that come with age. The issue beyond this, however, involves learning about preventative measures, not just ways to postpone the devasta-tion of the disease. And — surprise — this involves acting out a healthy life style. And we’re not just talking about brain teasers.

According to the Alzheimer’s As-sociation, “people who are obese double their risk of developing de-mentia.” The consumption of food high in fat and sugar and red or processed meats puts the consumer

at a greater risk than those who eat a balanced diet, namely includ-ing lean meats and fish, as well as fruits and vegetables. But, why should you care?

As we creep up on the holidays, it is important to keep in mind that America as a collective gains mil-lions of pounds during this time of year. According to The New York Times, the average person gains only one pound during the holidays, though for people who are already overweight, the gain can be five pounds or more.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a well-known talk show host and cardiologist claims that “most Americans who gain weight between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve generally don’t lose that weight ever again.”

One study conducted by the Na-tional Institutes of Health found that extra weight accumulates through the years and may contribute to obesity later in life. As Americans, we are unfortunately hyper-aware of the prevalence of obesity. And as it turns out, some effects stemming from obesity, like high blood pres-sure, high cholesterol and diabetes also contribute in some form to a person’s chance of developing Al-zheimer’s, says FCARF.

Of course, age, race, gender and head trauma are other non-genetic risk factors. Anything that kills brain cells is a non-genetic risk factor — and yes, that means alcohol and drugs.

As we approach finals week, J-term freedom sets in and partying ensues, we all need to know that anything we do for our body now is important in the long run. We col-lege students are experts at destroy-ing ourselves with no sleep, bad food, late night drinking and drug-ging; you name it, we’re doing it.

Just remember to take care of yourself in the coming weeks, or else later on in life it’s like-ly that you’ll begin forgetting everything altogether.

FINALS APPROACHING Yes, we absolutely hate finals and the stress that comes with taking grade and future-altering tests all in one stressful week. But, once finals are over, we have over a month of stress-free bliss and Netflix. And, that’s good enough for us.

INSULTING THE OBAMASElizabeth Lauten, a GOP communications director, has resigned after making extremely harsh comments regarding Sasha and Malia appearance at the annual White House turkey pardoning. Nothing on social media stays private for long.

OPINION [email protected] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

RULE OF THUMB

BROS BEING BASICWe enjoy a laugh between rounds of studying for finals, and the Bros Being Basic Instagram account is the perfect place to lighten our mood. Call us crazy, but guys imitating girls is somehow always hilarious.

GIRL SCOUT COOKIESPrepare yourself for the most tempting kind of online shopping. From Tagalongs to Thin Mints, you can start buying (in bulk) all your favorite cookies on the web this month. Thanks-A-Lot, Girl Scouts (pun intended)!

AIRPORT LINESThe holidays are always a busy time for travelers and airports, but this holiday season might have been the worst yet. The security line at the Chicago Midway International Airport stretched for over a mile on Sunday. We’d rather walk home than wait.

PATRICK GEYSER

Our habits when we’re young impact our health in the future

Alzheimer’s may be a disease for the elderly, but it starts earlier than you think

MADELEINE [email protected]

HEALTH

ROUND TABLE

Forget about finals and look on the bright side: What are you

excited about this holiday season?

My favorite part of the holidays is knowing the end of classes is near. I can put my hard work in and know there is an end point where I can finally relax.

BRIAN ROBBENSENIOR, PROFESSIONAL WRITING

Oh my gosh, everything. But really, my favorite part is the whole atmosphere of the holiday season. Ev-eryone is so cheerful and in the giving mood. I also love spending time with my family and friends and being constantly surrounded by love and support.”

MARY DAVISJUNIOR, SPEECH PATHOLOGY

My favorite thing in the world is just sitting around a table playing games and talking to all of my aunts and uncles and cousins. I took that time for granted in high school, but being away at school has really given me a new appreciation for the time I do get to spend with them.”

MIKAYLA SPRAGUESOPHOMORE, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

I love giving really personal gifts to people. It lets them know that your really appreciate and care about them.

VICTORIA BALGOSENIOR, ZOOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

JALEN WALKER THE MIAMI STUDENT

Page 8: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

Senior Staff Writers Olivia BraudeLauren OliverJordan RinardJustin MaskulinskiLibby Mueller

Staff WritersConnor Moriarty

DesignersDarby ShanabergerJulie NorehadKyle HaydenKatie Hinh

Editorial Writers Gregory Dick Andrew GeislerBrett MilamSteven BevnonEva Bandola

Sports Columnists Andrew GeislerJoe GieringerJustin MaskulinskiCharlie CliffordJordan RinardRob Hanes

Photography Staff Phill ArndtKim ParentJalen WalkerConnor MoriartyTyler Rigg

CartoonistsPatrick GeyserChris Curme

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8 FYI WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NETTUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

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Website: www.miamistudent.net For advertising information: [email protected]

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The content of The Miami Student is the sole responsibility of The Miami Student staff. Opinions expressed in The Miami Student are not necessarily those of Miami University, its students or staff.

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

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with it — give fans and the media a skewed vision of the best way to build a roster.

Consider the stories out earlier this year that said Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s lack of leadership in the locker room was a big reason for their early season struggles. Now, the Seahawks are 7-4, and these sto-ries have lost traction.

Everyone knows Wilson is far from being the key to the Se-ahawks’ roster. It’s really the attack-ing defenders Pete Carroll and John Schneider have put together to form one of the most aggressive and ef-fective defenses in the league. When the defense wasn’t producing, the team wasn’t. Wilson playing well is helpful, but that’s not about his leadership or command of the locker room. His success stems from the schematic challenges he presents for an opposing defense. The key to the Seahawks’ success is the winning culture coming from Carroll. His “Win Forever” philosophy encour-ages players to be themselves and have a fun time playing the game with excellence.

What this example also points to is that, just like offensive systems, there’s more than one way to skin the cat when building a roster. It is in vogue to act like the best way to play football today is the no huddle attack

with an excellent quarterback. That’s the Patriots model, but trying repli-cate Bill Belichick’s roster-building success has proven difficult for his subordinates who have left town, and dominant defensive teams win the Super Bowl with frequency.

The question of leadership can be a tricky one, but it’s safe to say the head coach, general manager and owner do much more to set an organizational culture than the quarterback. For the team to be suc-cessful, the quarterback should take cues from the top, but he is not the top. He’s more like the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, first among equals, with an emphasis on equals.

Football teams are made up of organizational silos. There’s of-ten a key leader in every position group, and if there’s not, that group underperforms. At the same time, there has to be a commitment to teamwork. The veneration of the quarterback can actually hinder this development.

Still Don Shula’s famous dictum that “Luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck,” rings true today. A quar-terback has to be consistent, he has to buy into the program, but we shouldn’t force all of them to the head of the table.

FROM COLUMN »PAGE 10

ANDREW [email protected]

27.3 percent from the floor.“Our effort wasn’t consistent

tonight, we didn’t execute our game plan, and I felt like we were a roller coaster all night long,” Wright said.

Miami fell to 1-3 on the season after then-No. 16 MSU’s domi-nating win Sunday. Reid was the only RedHawk to score in the double digits with 10 points. Freshman guard Ana Richter and Brown each contributed nine points.

The Spartans quickly jumped to a 10-1 lead within the first four minutes of play. The Red and White held steady pace of the ball, forcing MSU into turnovers on five straight possessions at one

point. However, MSU ran away with the lead and the half ended at 41-19.

The second half told a similar story. Redshirt sophomore Tamira Ford and freshman guard Jazz Smith tried to close the gap with late-minute baskets, but it wasn’t enough to lift the RedHawks past the Spartans.

MSU had five players who scored in double digits. They were led by senior guard Anna Morrissey with 17 points. Mi-ami was held to a 23. 9 shoot-ing percentage, while MSU shot 53 percent.

“It was a good Michigan State team,” Wright said. “They have good size and lots of great talent. I would’ve liked to come out stron-ger. There’s certainly a lot we can

learn from this game.”The RedHawks return to action

noon Wednesday when they host Valparaiso University (3-3). Last season, Valpo finished with a 3-13 record and tied for eighth place in the Horizon League.

The Crusaders are shooting 41.4 percent on the season and holding opponents to 42.1 percent. Fresh-man forward Dani Franklin leads the squad with 13.2 points and seven rebounds per game.

“Valpo is much improved over last year…we’ll have to be ready to play,” Wright said. “They’ve got some nice wins already this year, they shoot the ball well from the outside – they have some guards that are shooting over for-ty percent from the three.”

Tipoff is noon Wednesday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL »PAGE 10

day before and after prac-tice. To me, I just block ev-erything out and just concen-trate on the goal and put the ball in the basket.”

Last season, the University of Dayton was the Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament. As an 11 seed, the Flyers knocked off Ohio State, Syracuse and Stan-ford on their way to an Elite Eight appearance, before falling to top-seeded Florida.

The Flyers (4-1) are coming off an easy 75-41 win over the Uni-versity of Illinois-Chicago. Senior guard Jordan Sibert led the Flyers with 22 points, making seven of 11 shots from the field, including four 3-pointers. Sibert was a key factor in the Flyers’ tournament

last season, and his experience makes the team a dangerous force in the much-improved Atlantic 10 conference.

The RedHawks are averaging just over 15 turnovers per game, a number that must go down if they want to knock off the Flyers.

The Flyers convert turnovers into points at the other end, which can take the RedHawks out of the game in a hurry. Sophomore Flyers Kyle Davis and Scoochie Smith combine for 3.4 steals per game, so the RedHawks must play clean and efficient basketball to beat their talented opponent.

Tip is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday. Fans can listen to the game on redhawkradio.com.

PREVIEW »PAGE 10

WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED READING

EARTH WANTS TO LOVE YOU BACK

PLEASE RECYCLE

Page 9: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

9WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NET TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

Page 10: December 2, 2014 | The Miami Student

JACK BREWERFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Miami University men’s basketball team faces the Univer-sity of Dayton Wednesday, a team that surprised the country last sea-son with an Elite Eight run in the NCAA tournament.

The RedHawks (2-4) are com-ing off a tough 70-68 loss to Elon University. Senior guard Will Sul-livan and junior guard Geovonie McKnight were the top scorers for the RedHawks, with 13 and 14 points, respectively. Both players shot 5 of 11 from the field, but Sul-livan struggled from 3-point range,

making just two of eight shots from behind the arc.

“When you want to win games you got to have 40 minutes of con-sistent basketball, so that’s some-thing we’ve got to work on,” Sul-livan said after the game.

Despite the loss, the RedHawks were exceptional from the free throw line, making 13 of 14 attempts. The RedHawks have had their struggles from the charity stripe thus far, but the effort is a good sign for the team moving forward.

“You treat it almost like practice, you know,” junior forward Chris Bryant said. “I take those shots ev-ery day. We shoot free throws every

GAV DAVISFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

What is a powerful group of starters without its benchmen?

Elon University’s starters were helped by its versatile and talented bench Sunday. Elon’s bench out-scored the RedHawks’ 48-22, giv-ing the Phoenix a narrow 70-68 win.

Miami (2-4) entered the game after losing their two previous games of the Cancun Challenge to Northwestern University and Vir-ginia Tech. Elon scored with 0.7 seconds left in the game to squeak by with a win.

Both Miami and Elon played a sloppy first half, shooting a com-bined 2 for 17 in the first 5:51 of

play, along with seven turnovers. “You know, the first half is

what really dug us in a hole early on,” junior guard Will Sullivan, who finished with 13 points said. “That was probably the real reason we lost.”

Miami was able to keep it close with Elon throughout the majority of the game, but was unable to truly take over and separate itself.

Elon looked to be the team in control heading into halftime, leading 30-26.

Miami, however, remained in contention and played a better brand of basketball in the second half. Junior guard Geovonie McK-night scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, allowing his team to stay neck and neck with Elon.

Miami grabbed its largest lead,

7 points, with 7:36 left to play. Both teams battled from the charity stripe down the stretch, but Miami failed to make a field goal in the last 4:11 of play. Elon tied the game at 68-68 with 20 seconds to go.

Elon held the ball for the final possession, and Elon sophomore guard Luke Eddy, who had a game-high 22 points, missed the game-winning layup, but senior guard Kevin Blake was there for the put-back to win the game.

“The first half really hurt us and affected us,” head coach John Coo-per said. “But it didn’t just come down to Mr. Blake’s big play; we did a lot of things poorly to allow the game to be that close that late.”

Miami faces off against the Uni-versity of Dayton Flyers (4-1) 7 p.m. Wednesday at Millett Hall.

Phoenix outlast RedHawks

10 SPORTS [email protected], DECEMBER 2, 2014

MEN’S BASKETBALL

23.8STAT OF THE DAY

The percentage of 3-point baskets the Miami University men’s basketball team made in its 70-68 loss to Elon University. Only three players connected beyond the arc, while the team chucked up 21 3-pointers.

SCOREBOARD

Virginia Tech ....... 78Miami ....................63

Northwestern .... 55Miami ....................46

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLMichigan State ... 85Miami ....................39

Oakland .............. 65Miami ....................51

Elon .................... 70Miami ....................68

FOOTBALLOhio .................... 24Miami ....................21

MEN’S BASKETBALL

CONNOR MORIARTY THE MIAMI STUDENT

Junior guard Geovonie McKinight drives to the lane during Miami’s 63-52 win over Liberty University to open the Cancun Challenge. The loss to Elon was the last game of the Challenge.

Judging from the media coverage surrounding both the NFL and col-lege football, you’d be hard pressed

to not expect way too much, or too little, of the quar-terback on every roster. This is be-cause a quarter-back is considered elite, a game man-

ager or needing to be replaced.The need to be simplistic in such

matters on television and on the ra-dio is understandable, but it tends to give fans, and less-than-expert media members, an inflated sense of the importance of the team’s

quarterback to the whole program. Obviously, this is not to say solid quarterback play is not essential to success, but to listen to the talk-ing heads you’d think he has to be a member the organization’s senior leadership team.

Quarterback leadership can be important, but it’s not the only path to football success. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Drew Brees are probably the best five quarterbacks in the NFL. All but Luck has at least one Super Bowl, and he will get one before too long. All are also the most dominant personality on their team.

But, the rise of this type of player — with the ridiculous stats and Su-per Bowl championships that come

COLUMNGOING LONG WITH GEISLER

Buzzer beater and bench push Elon past Miami

BEN VANDERTILLFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Miami University men’s and women’s swimming teams have taken no time off during Thanksgiv-ing break, as they are back in the pool to host the 21st Miami Invita-tional in the Nixon Aquatic Center. The meet starts Dec. 4.

The Miami Invitational con-sists of six sessions; three pre-liminary and three final. Starting at 1:30 Dec. 4, the meet continues through Saturday.

The invitational stands as an in-season milestone meet for the RedHawks, giving them a midway evaluation point on their season. A year ago, the women’s squad was able to come away victorious over the likes of the University of Illinois,

Denison University, Emory Univer-sity, University of Cincinnati, Ball State University, Wright State Uni-versity and Urbana University. The men’s team put forth a solid team effort but ended up falling short to Denison University last year.

The men’s team looks to keep the ball rolling after a big win over Cleveland State University Nov. 1. The win improved the RedHawks’ duel meet record to 2-1. Leading the way was sophomore Bryan McNamara, who posted two first place finishes in the 500 and 1000 freestyle races.

Junior Emma Szczupakiewicz snagged one of three individual vic-tories for Miami in last year’s meet, winning the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:00.64.

Szczupakiewicz hopes to con-tinue to build the team’s momentum during the Invitational.

“The invite is always a great meet for our team and it really provides momentum going into the second half of the season,” Szczupakiewicz said. “We have focused a lot on little things like stroke count and breath control in training, so we’re looking forward to seeing that work translate into some fast swimming.”

Home field advantage has favored the RedHawks, as they have come away champions the past four years. So far this season the ’Hawks have a 2-2 record. Junior Cristina Favia believes the meet gives the ’Hawks an opportunity to bust the door open for the rest of their season.

“The invite is always a very fun and exciting meet,” Favia said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to suit up and race. We’ve been do-ing a lot of good work in the pool and I’m confident that it will show this weekend.”

’Hawks host Miami InvitationalSWIMMING

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The myth of the game manager quarterback

GRACE REMINGTONFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

While the majority of cam-pus students and staff enjoyed leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, the Miami University women’s basketball team hit the road twice to continue their 2014-15 campaign.

The RedHawks dropped their first road game of the season to Oakland University 65-51 Fri-day and were routed by Michi-gan State University 85-39 Sunday afternoon.

“Win or lose, we need to

learn,” head coach Cleve Wright said. “Every game is a test, and we had two difficult tests this past weekend.”

In the Oakland game, Miami was led by junior forward Jessica Rupright, who tallied 14 points and eight rebounds. Junior for-ward Hannah McCue notched a career-high 19 rebounds and freshman guard Baleigh Reid scored 11 points.

The RedHawks started out slowly, making only one of their first 11 shots. Oakland capitalized on that, building an 18-5 lead by the 11:49 mark. A jumper from freshman guard Kayla Brown helped Miami create an 11-0 run

that held the Golden Grizzlies scoreless for 6:19 and narrowed the score to 18-16. However, the ’Hawks couldn’t capture the lead and headed into the half trailing 28-24.

Oakland maintained control of the game through the second half, their lead fluctuating between five points and 18 points.

The Grizzlies were led by junior forward Olivia Nash, who scored 13 points with nine rebounds, and senior guard Peyton Apsey, who recorded 11 points, seven boards and eight assists. The Oakland de-fense held the RedHawks to just

Red and White fall to Oakland and MSUWOMEN’S BASKETBALL

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RedHawks face FlyersMEN’S BASKETBALL