By Brian GallaGher SportS editor

In less than three months, the best swimmers in the United States will converge upon Oma-ha, Neb. for the fastest swim meet in the world. Fans will surround the two 50-meter pools set up in-side the Qwest Center and watch as over 1,500 athletes attempt to realize their Olympic dreams.

Among those swimmers will be a contingent of Miami Uni-versity athelets, including junior Bekka Westrick, junior Maegan O’Connor, junior Leah Thorn-ton and freshman diver Lacey Houser, as well as Megan Brunn, a 2011 Miami graduate.

After leading Miami to a third-place finish at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Champion-ships in February, the end of the season was still in the distance for these RedHawks and there was little time for rest as their sights honed in on the week of June 25-July 2.

“After MACs it just happened so fast, we were back in the

water after just three days off, we didn’t have time to lose focus,” Thornton said. “But we all knew this was the goal going in, so we didn’t have to adjust that much.”

However, only Westrick had a trials standard at the time after qualifying this past summer in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:01.87, which was under the qualifier of 1:01.99. She then added a second qualification to her resume with a swim of 26.26 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle at the Central Zone Speedo Sec-tional Championships March 22 just sneaking under the standard of 26.39.

“The public thinks if you go to the trials you go to the Olympics, and while that’s not the case it’s still exciting to qualify,” Westrick said. “It’s a natural progression though; you go from nationals to the trials, and it’s often something that happens only once in your swimming career.”

The sectionals proved to be a harbinger of success for the ’Hawks as Thornton and O’Connor also grabbed

qualification times at the meet. Thornton punched her ticket with a swim of 1:03.17 in the 100-meter backstroke, passing under the standard of 1:03.99, and then came back three days later to qualify in the 200-me-ter backstroke in 2:17.93 to squeak under the qualifying time of 2:17.99. Not to be outdone, O’Connor swam 1:01.31 to qual-ify in the 100-meter butterfly and will join Westrick in that event in Omaha.

“Four years ago I had this in my vision and really put work into it and tried to go after it, and now that I’ve made it to the trials it’s really exciting,” O’Connor said. “I’m going to have fun and enjoy the experience.”

Like O’Connor, many kids dream of making the Olympics, whether it be in swimming or another sport. However, though many get to dream, few get the chance to realize those dreams and even fewer get to enjoy that

The Miami StudentFRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826

MiaMi UniVerSity OXFORD, OHIOVolUMe 139 NO. 52

In 1994, The Miami Student reported the formation of a campus watch program created by Miami University Associated Student Government. The Student reported student volunteers would be stationed across campus, identified by bright orange vests and bright yellow identification tags, and would assist those walking alone or those in compromising situations.

today in MiaMi hiStory

’hawk swimmers head to olympic trials University awaits governor’s student trustee selection

Miami, UC communities rally against hate

olyMpiC trialS,See paGe 3

Catherine UBry THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University students and staff and Oxford community members gathered at the Phi Delta Theta Gates Thursday to demonstrate against an assault March 25 against two gay students. Spectrum Co-President Billy Price (left) and Miami President David Hodge (bottom) spoke to attendees about uniting the community. The University of Cincinnati also held a rally Thursday.

laUren Ceronieeditor in ChieF

Miami University may be rivals with the University of Cincinnati (UC), but students from the two schools put their differences aside and joined together Thursday to demonstrate against the attack of two gay students.

At the event attendees chanted, “two, four, six, eight, no more vio-lence, no more hate” and, “no hate on my campus” and held hands to symbolically support the two men who were assaulted.

Miami students held their rally at the Phi Delta Theta Gates while UC students met at the corner of Dr. Mar-tin Luther King Drive and Clifton Avenue in Cincinnati.

Miami junior Michael Bustin, one of the students attacked March 25, said he was “humbled” by the show of support from students at the two universities.

“I’m really humbled about how the school, the community [and] UC has stepped up and pushed against

what happened,” Bustin said.The rally began with speech-

es from Miami President David Hodge, Dean of Students Susan Mosley-Howard and Oxford Mayor Richard Keebler.

“Violence has no place in our society and no place in our city,” Keebler said in an interview before his speech. “You can disagree with someone, but violence and hatred has no place here.”

In his speech Keebler said, “vio-lence is out and acceptance is in.”

Speakers and students alike called their reason for gathering unfortunate.

“It’s a shame that two men are safer walking alone than together,” Mark Noviski, co-president of Spectrum, Miami’s LGBTQ association said.

Mosley-Howard agreed with this sentiment.

“It’s unfortunate we have to gather under these circumstances,” Mosley-Howard said. “When one of us is as-saulted, all of us are assaulted.”

In an interview after his speech, Hodge called on the community to

come together against hate.“What’s so incredible about this is

how constructive the approach is,” Hodge said. “There is no excuse for violence of any kind and the fact that it’s targeted makes it the worst. But this is an opportunity for the commu-nity to be reminded to step up and do the right thing.”

Members of the Miami and Ox-ford community also united in rallies after a student was attacked outside Spectrum’s drag show in April 2010.

Bustin said the night of the attack he met a student from UC at Spec-trum’s drag show and decided to walk him home to make sure he got there safely. When the two men were walking on East Church Street a few strangers saw them holding hands and called them “fags.”

Bustin said he and his friend kept walking but the strangers approached them and began to punch the UC stu-dent. Bustin said he stepped between the assailant and his friend to stop the fight but was punched in the face sev-eral times. Another attacker began to punch Bustin and his friend when five

or six students came up and broke up the fight, according to Bustin.

Oxford Police Department’s (OPD) Sgt. Jon Varley said the at-tack was marked as criminal with hate bias, meaning if the attackers are caught they could face harsher penal-ties and longer jail sentences.

Billy Price, co-president of Spec-trum, said the organization is work-ing with OPD, the Miami Univer-sity Police Department (MUPD), Miami administrators and UC stu-dents to raise awareness about hate bias violence.

“Unfortunately we’re still in a place where people think it’s appro-priate to attack people based on their sexual orientation,” Price said. “This is unacceptable and shouldn’t happen on Miami’s campus. But, the out-pouring of support shows the campus has come a long way.”

Bustin echoed Price’s sentiment.“My whole goal was just to tell my

story and let people know this wasn’t alright to happen,” Bustin said. “I think it [acceptance on campus] has gotten better though. I didn’t come

out until this past year but people are becoming more understanding.”

Bustin said he was especially touched by the support shown from people he does not know well.

“I’ve been humbled; people who I haven’t talked to in ages sent me Facebook messages and emails ask-ing me if they could do anything,” he said.

Varley said OPD would be happy to provide extra security at the drag shows if their presence was requested.

“We’ll respect the wishes of those attending [the show],” Varley said. “Sometimes they don’t want the police around but we’re more than happy to make sure everyone is safe and has a good time.”

Bustin said he hopes his attack will raise awareness about this sort of violence.

“I hope this serves as a message for the future to stop hate no matter what it is over, whether it’s sexual orientation, gender, religion, race [or] whatever,” he said. “We need to stop it.”

By Jenn SMolaCaMpUS editor

The finalists for Miami Univer-sity’s student trustee position have been chosen by Associated Student Government (ASG) and forward-ed to Ohio Gov. John Kasich for final selection.

Out of 15 applicants, three were chosen by ASG and sent to the gov-ernor over winter break, according to Nick Miller, ASG secretary to the executive cabinet.

Miller was in charge of the ap-plicant search, developing the application and conducting inter-views. The three candidates chosen by ASG include sophomore Molly Rzepka, sophomore Arianne Wilt and first-year Lance Sterle.

“I think all three of [the final ap-plicants] are outstanding,” Miller said. “We felt comfortable with ei-ther three of them being chosen as the next student trustee.”

Now the university must wait until the governor makes his selec-

tion. During the 2010-2011 school year, ASG sent in the finalists to Kasich in December 2010 and no trustee was announced until Octo-ber 2011. The long wait may have been because it was Kasich’s first year in office and a budget year, Miller said.

Former Miami Student Body President and Student Trustee Heath Ingram said he was disap-pointed to hear Kasich’s office is once again dragging its feet about making a decision. When Ingram applied to be a student trustee in fall 2007, he said he found out he got the position by the beginning of February 2008.

“It’s frustrating because the trustees — the whole board — relies very heavily on the student trustee’s opinion,” Ingram said. “It’s frustrating because the trustees will lose valuable insight into how students perceive the decisions that

trUStee,See paGe 3

By LiBBy MueLLerFor The MiaMi STudenT

College students are familiar with the grueling job search pro-cess, from painstakingly compiling résumés to frantically preparing for interviews, but a new survey conducted by the National Asso-ciation of Colleges and Employ-ers (NACE) may ease some of the stress.

The survey found 2012 college graduate hiring is expected to rise 10.2 percent.

According to NACE, the 10.2 percent increase is higher than the 9.5 percent increase projected dur-ing a poll the association conducted in September.

Associate Director of Miami University’s Career Services Cathy Moore said Career Services, as part of NACE, knew about the increase in hiring.

“Certainly what we’ve seen in the office reflects the increase in hiring,” Moore said. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of em-ployers at the job fairs. In addition, attendance at Spring ICE (Intern-ship and Career Expo) was the sec-ond highest ever.”

According to Moore, on-campus interviews conducted by employers have also increased 10 to 12 percent from last year. Perhaps because of this, the number of students taking advantage of the mock interview process offered by Career Services has nearly doubled since last year, Moore said.

NACE Representative Mimi Collins said employment is up because of the improvement in the economy.

For future graduates, the positive change in the economy bodes well, Collins said.

“But I would say that although the job market has improved, stu-dents need to understand that it’s still very tough to get a job,” Collins said “What you want to do while you’re in college is make sure to avail yourself of the resources at your college career center.”

Moore said there is a plethora of resources available to Miami stu-dents through Career Services.

“We’re always striving to help students find jobs,” Moore said. “We have preparation sessions, whether it’s preparation for Spring ICE or the Career Fair, programs in the evening and programs in class-es. In addition, the CareerLink da-tabase has seen a huge increase in the number of students using it.”

One thing Career Services has started doing to better prepare stu-dents is tracking which students attend career fairs by having them swipe into events with their student IDs, according to Moore.

“We can do more targeted re-search for those who are coming in,” Moore said.

ediTorSJENN SMOLA

ALLISON MCGILLIVRAYcaMpuS@MiaMiSTudenT.neT2 CAMPUS

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

Cain cancels College Republicans speechBy carSyn rodriguezFor The MiaMi STudenT

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s scheduled trip to Miami University yesterday was canceled due to a scheduling conflict, according to Co-Chair of Miami’s College Republicans Briana Sakach.

Cain’s scheduler told College Republicans Cain would not be able to come Thursday night, as originally planned, and wanted to move him up to 2 p.m. However, Sakach said because many Col-lege Republicans and Miami stu-dents have class during that time, they decided it would be too hard to hold the speech then. The group and Cain’s scheduler decided to cancel and reschedule a more convenient time.

“We are going to try to bring Cain back either late spring or probably early next fall,” Sakach said.

Cain had been booked to come to Miami since a week after spring break Sakach said, and he was only canceled about a week and a half ago. Fortunately, Col-lege Republicans had not yet paid the speaker’s fee because they were not far enough along in the

process to sign an actual con-tract, so the club lost no money, Sakach said.

“We were definitely disappoint-ed but understanding,” Sakach said. “We understand Cain has a very busy schedule being who he is, and with Easter, finals and other events at the end of the semester approaching, Miami students are busy themselves in April.”

Miami students had a wide range of opinions regarding Cain’s cancellation and appearance on campus.

First-year Jarett Engle said he had not heard of Cain’s upcoming speech.

“I had no idea he was com-ing, but that’s really disappointing that he the decided not to come,” Engle said.

Junior Chris Hemmelgarn said he thought Cain would have brought an important message to Miami.

“Even though he dropped out of the race for presidency, I think he would have had a lot of good, valid and valuable things to say to Miami students,” Hemmelgarn said.

Sakach said College Republicans wanted to bring Cain to campus because of his recent publicity as a

result of his presidential candidacy and his Republican ideals.

“Cain, being a former presiden-tial candidate, has a lot of name recognition, is on the lower end of what we could fit in our budget and could really bring in and talk about the core Republican values that we stand for,” Sakach said.

Cain was also scheduled to prepare Miami students for next week’s College Republican’s Con-servative Week on campus, accord-ing to Sakach.

Due to the short notice, the group may schedule another speaker in Cain’s place for next week, but it would most likely be a smaller-scale speaker, like an Ohio Repub-lican politician, Sakach said.

Next week, College Republicans will be handing out promotional materials, highlighting Second Amendment Day, talking about gun rights as well as discussing gas prices and promoting the Keystone Pipeline Project.

Sakach said the main goal of Col-lege Republicans and Conservative Week is to make others aware of College Republican values and show the importance of student awareness of political issues to-day, with or without the help of Cain’s influence.

First-year confirmation increases by 26 percent

As MU seniors search for jobs, survey projects increase in post-graduate hiring

Anchors away: Miami hosts first intramural battleship competitionBy Jenn SMoLacaMpuS ediTor

Miami University students took to the water last weekend in the university’s first-ever showdown of intramural battleship.

Though the game had been piloted with fitness center student staff mem-bers, this was the first official game of intramural battleship played by Miami students, Geremy Bardon, as-sociate director of intramural sports said. According to Bardon, 52 stu-dents showed up at the pool for the competition Sunday at the Recre-ational Sports Center (RSC).

“The event went very well,” Bar-don said. “Everyone that plays it has a great time.”

According to Bardon, teams of four are given one paddle, one shield and two buckets. Four or five teams in canoes compete against each other and the last boat to sink or get tipped is the winner.

Aside from some games

running long, Bardon said the event ran smoothly.

First-years Christian Jaekle and Tyler Simonton competed in the event and although their success in the water was short-lived, the two said they had good time.

“We were the first team to lose in

Miami history,” Jaekle said. But Jaekle and Simonton did not

let the loss get them down.“I thought it was a blast,” Si-

monton said. “It was really cool to ‘go down’ in history. I haven’t had that much fun playing an

intramural sport.”According to Bardon, intramural

battleship is something that has been gaining popularity at other universi-ties across the country such as the University of Dayton and the Uni-versity of Alabama.

“It’s something we heard about at conferences that other universities had done,” Bardon said.

Bardon said because the pool in the RSC is often in use for events on weekends, it is not easy to find time to host the battleship event. However, Bardon said it is surely an event RSC will put on again.

“We are definitely going to offer it again next year,” Bardon said. “If the popularity grows we may try to offer it twice a year.”

Jaekle and Simonton are eager to redeem themselves.

“Hopefully they do it more of-ten,” Jaekle said. “It was just good to have everyone at the pool. It was a great way to meet friends … and enemies.”

Lauren oLSon THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University hosted its first-ever intramural battleship game Sunday. Over 50 students attended the event.

FeLicia Jordan THE MIAMI STUDENT

To WriTe LoVe on her arMSMiami University’s chapter of To Write Love on Her Arms hosted national founder Jamie Tworkowski Saturday. Tworkowski spoke about founding a national non-profit, and the struggles of battling depression, self-injury and suicide.

By reBecca peeTSSTaFF WriTer

After receiving a record num-ber of applicants, Miami Uni-versity is now experiencing a 26 percent increase from last year in confirmations of enrollment.

This is much higher than previ-ous years, but the incoming class size will be roughly the same, according to Claire Wagner, associate direc-tor of university communications.

“We’re aim-ing for a fresh-man class size of 3,600,” she said.

This is rough-ly the same as last year’s goal, according to Wagner.

“We’re always working within a certain range,” Wagner said.

To calculate this range, Miami must accept a higher number of students than it knows will actu-ally confirm, according to Wag-ner. Miami chose to admit 72 percent of the 20,291 students who applied to Miami.

“We admitted 14,700 because we know that not all students will come,” Wagner said. “We’ve been doing this for so many years we can expect a certain number.”

The university bases its es-timates on historical data,

according to Ann Larson, interim director of admissions. If a high-er number of students than antic-ipated accept, the impact would be in those courses used to fluc-tuations in enrollment, mainly the College of Arts and Science, Larson said.

“They’re strong students,” Larson said. “They have a lot of options available with the best schools in the country. They’ll

have many colleges to choose from.”

Larson is con-fident in the predicted model.

The university is prepared for either way en-rollment goes, whether too many people accept or

too few, according to Larson. “We wait list a number of stu-

dents to offer a buffer should we not meet that number,” Larson said.

The number of accepted stu-dents is much higher than last year, when 13,600 were accept-ed, according to Wagner.

“We had more applicants to choose from this year,” Wagner said.

First-year Michael Vostatek

hiring,See page 5

accepTance,See page 5

I would say that although the job market has improved, students need to understand that it’s still very tough to get a job.”

MiMi coLLinSnaTionaL aSSociaTion oF coLLegeS and eMpLoyerS

repreSenTaTiVe Miami University is now experiencing a 26 per-cent increase from last year in confirmations of enrollment.

It was a great way to make friends ... and enemies.”

chriSTian JaekLeMiaMi FirST-year

3 FRIDAY, ApRIl 6, 2012www.miamistudent.net

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experience with swimmers from the same team. Having four swimmers from one school marks the exception to the rule.

“In all the years I’ve been here we’ve never been in the situation where we have a handful of girls in a major meet like this, so I’m very excited and very proud of them and what they have accom-plished,” Head Coach Dave Jen-nings said. “Some of them have had a lifelong goal of swimming at that meet so for them to have the perseverance and ability to be there is really special.”

But at a school with 16 MAC Championships, success is as much a part of the program as chlorinated water and that culture has been an integral part of the swimmers’ achievements.

“I didn’t come [to Miami] thinking that I would use this to go to the Olympic Trials,” Westrick said. “But I think this atmosphere, the competition that we have in the pool and just being pushed everyday in the water by your teammates has been a huge help in taking that next step.”

Once every four years the

Olympics come around and thrust a sport like swimming into the national spotlight. But the U.S. Olympic Trials for swimming are unlike those for other sports in that it often takes a record-set-ting performance just to qualify for the Olympics. For instance, there were nine world records and 21 American records set at the most recent Olympic Trial, which means those swimmers had to swim the fastest times of their lives just to advance to the Olympics.

The goal of swimming faster than they have before is also shared by each Miami swimmer and echoed by Jennings. And do not expect the RedHawks to rest on their laurels having made it this far.

“It might be a long shot but you have to dream a little and we would love to see someone sneak into a semifinal and swim at night,” Jennings said. “I think we’ve got some very talented women and you never know what’s going to happen on any given day. And the focus now is to get them ready for that.”

The Olympic Trials start June 25 and run through July 2 and will be televised live on NBC.

OLYMPIC TRIALS, FROM PAGE 1

the administration, faculty and ulti-mately the board are making.”

Until the governor’s office selects the next student trustee, the student voice on the board of trustees is be-ing cut in half, Ingram said.

“It just doesn’t seem that Gov. Kasich or the people in his admin-istration value the student trustees,” Ingram said.

Student Body Vice President Matt Frazier agreed.

“He’s a busy man to start with, but it seems it’s not very high up on his priority list,” Frazier said.

Frazier also said the longer it takes the governor’s office to make a decision, the less time the trustee has to get acclimated to his or her position.

“I think everyone deserves a proper transition,” Frazier said.

The new student trustee will be replacing former student trustee Matthew Shroder, who joined the board in 2010 and whose term ended at the end of February. The new member will join sophomore trustee Lot Kwarteng, who will re-main on the board until 2013.

Trustee Mike Armstrong said the board of trustees values student trustees.

“I value their presence,” Arm-strong said. “I think their in-volvement has been positive for the university.”

Miller said he hopes this time the new student trustee will be named by the end of the school year, but pointed out sometimes the gover-nor’s office has “bigger fish to fry”

than selecting a student trustee for a university.

“Optimistically, I’m hoping we hear something back soon,” Miller said.

While Kasich’s office has con-firmed receiving ASG’s candidate recommendations, there is no word when a decision will definitively be made. A representative from Ka-sich’s office said a decision will be made soon, but offered no definite timetable for the decision.

“The governor’s office has re-ceived résumés of potential ap-pointees from Miami University’s Associated Student Government, and an appointment decision will be announced sometime after Feb. 28,” Connie Wehrkamp, deputy press secretary for the governor’s office said at the beginning of the semester.

“The student trustee position is very unique,” Kwarteng said.

According to Kwarteng, student trustees act as a liaison between students and the board of trustees. They are able to answer questions and offer perspectives to adminis-trators based on what is going on in the student body, he said.

Student trustees should be able to articulate the wants and needs of students, as well as research and understand in-depth issues going on in the university, Kwarteng said.

Since Shroder’s term ended in late February, Kwarteng will be the only student trustee until the gover-nor’s office makes a decision.

“I would like to see the next trustee appointed in a timely fash-ion,” Kwarteng said.

TRUSTEE, FROM PAGE 1

is looking for photographers.E-mail photo@miamistudent.net for more information.

The Miami Student

EditorsCAtHEriNE UBrY

LisA rEYMANNCoMMUNitY@MiAMistUdENt.NEt

4 COMMUNITYFRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

PoLiCE

BEATBurglar nabs full set of golf clubs from foyer

Student finds markings scratched onto his car

Alterations made to Pell Grant BY JAsMiNE HAYEs For tHE MiAMi stUdENt

Recent changes to the Fed-eral Pell Grant Program may im-pact Miami University students’ financial aid.

The program is a federal grant for students with a high level of finan-cial need. The amount of money is determined by the student-provided information on the Free Applica-tion for Federal Student Aid (FAF-SA). The government decides who is eligible for the grant and Miami awards the grant on behalf of the federal government, according to Brent Shock, director of the office of student financial assistance.

“About 18 percent or so students at the Oxford campus receive the Federal Pell Grant,” Shock said.

There were two primary changes to the grant that will take effect July

1, he said. The first change eliminated the

two grants in one school year pro-vision, a new addition to the grant. Three years ago students could only receive one grant in one year, Shock said.

“This change will only impact students who are attending summer school,” Shock said.

According to Shock, if a stu-dent has used their full Pell Grant Program eligibility in the fall and spring semesters at Miami, they will not be eligible for a grant for the summer.

“I don’t receive a lot of money from the Pell Grant but every award I do receive helps me continue my education at Miami,” sophomore Stephanie Reed said.

The second change to the pro-gram reduced the number of years of full time grant eligibility from

nine to six, Shock said. “I’m never happy when federal

aid is cut, but I also understand that in some respects through the eyes of [the U.S.] Congress this is done to preserve the program,” Shock said.

There is only so much money available to fund the program, he said.

“Miami University tried to pro-actively identify and notify stu-dents who receive the Pell Grant so they can be aware of the changes,” Shock said.

Miami informed students who accepted the grant last summer about the changes and advised them to come in and visit the office to go over all available financial aid options, according to Shock.

Shock said available options would vary depending on the stu-dent. Different types of financial

aid will be considered to assist stu-dents with their education.

“We try to find any financial aid that we can help the student with, but finding options is really a case-by-case situation because it all will depend on the student’s enrollment and etc.,” Shock said.

Some advice Shock gave to stu-dents was to continue to complete the FAFSA because it keeps stu-dents in the running for the most possible financial aid. If students have specific concerns with finan-cial aid they should visit Miami’s Financial Aid Office and schedule an appointment with a counselor.

“It’s depressing that the govern-ment is taking money away from students who need assistance to better their education, but I’m glad Miami is taking the time out to help students who might lose some financial aid,” Reed said.

BY CAtHEriNE UBrYCoMMUNitY Editor

Former Oxford resident and Ta-lawanda High School graduate Re-becca Zomchek has published a sec-ond book with her illustrations.

The children’s book entitled, I Grew Up To Be President, was pub-lished by Scholastic Inc. and fol-lowed her first children’s book, A Tale of Famous Heroes.

Zomchek said I Grew Up To Be President is a book that goes into detail about the childhood of each United States president as well as their family lives, careers, accom-plishments and other details kids will find interesting.

Zomchek began working in the academic and artistic worlds in Ox-ford and has expanded since moving to New York City.

“I went to Talawanda High School and when I was in Oxford I worked part time doing freelance art for awhile,” Zomchek said. “How-ever the economy wasn’t great and

then I went to Syracuse [University] for undergrad.”

However, Zomchek said she did not always know illustrating was what she wanted to do. Her parents read to her all the time as a child and her mother, Kristen Zomchek, who works in the psychology depart-ment at Miami University as the assistant to the chair of the depart-ment, always encouraged reading and academics.

“When I applied to college I actu-ally didn’t know if illustrating was what I wanted to do … I did some painting that was not very career based for a while, though I liked the idea of publishing rather than gal-lery work,” Zomchek said. “Once I figured out in college a little more and talked to some illustration pro-grams, I got more into it.”

Before she began graduate school, Zomchek said she came back and took a full year of classes at Miami while deciding what she wanted to do.

“Just having Miami here and

being exposed to other lectures, people coming in and speaking and growing up in a small community that had Miami so close opened up the door to opportunities a great deal for her,” Kristen Zomchek said.

Zomchek’s mother said having both the small community and the large city experience was beneficial for her daughter.

“When she came home after Syracuse she had the chance to take classes that she couldn’t during her undergrad,” Kristen Zomchek said. “She was taking honors classes and six hourlong studios there so hav-ing a chance to come back and take classes at Miami gave her an oppor-tunity to take a broader range of art classes that she only could’ve had at Miami.”

Kristen Zomchek said having more mentors at Miami in the art department was also beneficial.

“She was able to work very close-ly with Sara Butler, a professor in Miami’s art department who now teaches history of western dress,”

Kristen Zomchek said. “Through working with her she had the chance to see and do other things that she could never have done at Syracuse. So that was amazing as well.”

Zomchek attends graduate school at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and will graduate in five weeks. She lives in midtown New York and said she definitely plans to continue illustrating and would even like to create her own series of books one day.

“The reason I went to grad school was because I would like to maybe one day become a professor,” she said. “Growing up in Oxford and with my parents being so involved and working at Miami, I’ve been around academics my whole life.”

Zomchek said she still visits Ox-ford to see her family whenever she is on breaks and will most likely re-turn over the summer as well.

“I love Oxford,” Zomchek said. “It is so picturesque. It’s great to go back now that I have left for a while. I love the city but it’s nice to

have both the city and the quiet little town too.”

Miami sophomore and integrated English language arts education ma-jor Molly Miles said she thinks it is great that an Oxford resident has gone on to help create such appeal-ing literature. She also said she be-lieves reading the book to future stu-dents would be a great way to bring a sense of community to education.

“As Miami remains a tight-knit community, our graduating educa-tion majors should definitely support authors, illustrators and fellow com-munity members in Oxford,” Miles said. “Reading Rebecca’s illustrated book would be doing just that.”

Zomchek said she believes the problem solving and creative side of illustrating is what draws her to it the most.

“Illustrating is like problem solv-ing and it’s also like writing because you have to approach it in different ways and everyone does it differ-ently,” Zomchek said. “It’s always appealed to me.”

BY MorgAN sCHAFFEr sENior stAFF WritEr

Recycling has become a huge focus in society and on Miami University’s campus. Miami makes it easy to be green with recycling plans and pro-grams, but students living off campus may find recycling a bit more difficult.

David Treleaven, environmental specialist with the Oxford Service De-partment, said Butler County, Oxford and Miami University are making an effort to recycle.

“Students are more aware than they used to be,” Treleaven said.

He said it is important to recycle and to do it correctly, along with making sure people are aware of where they can re-cycle. According to Treleaven, Miami and Oxford have completely separate recycling operations.

Recycling plans can be divided into two groups: residential and commer-cial. Residential recycling plans are for people living in individual houses, du-plexes and structures with four or less apartments, Treleaven said. Commer-cial accounts are structures with five or more apartments.

“People will be more likely to recycle if they are already paying for it,” Treleaven said.

Treleaven said if a person has a residential account and is paying city utilities then that person is also required to pay for the solid waste, or regular trash, utilities and recy-cling is already included in the solid waste payment.

“[The cost is] $17.30 a month for recycling and solid waste,” Treleaven said. “It is included whether you de-cide to utilize recycling or not. [The included cost for recycling is] $2.90 a month.”

Treleaven said Rumpke is in charge

of all residential and commercial ac-counts in Oxford. There are different types of bins that can be provided to people, either 18 or 23-gallon waste wheeler totes.

Commercial accounts are required to have some form of waste removal or trash pick-up, Treleaven said.

“They are required by the way our ordinance is written is to have larger containers, either the dumpsters or at least one of the brown 95-gallon waste wheeler totes,” Treleaven said. “To encourage commercial recycling, the cost of recycling is exactly what Rumpke charges the city.”

Robert Brinkman, leasing manager for Level 27 Apartments, said they have their own deal with Rumpke.

“We have an agreement with Rumpke where they supply a large dumpster size recycling bin,” Brink-man said. “We provide the ability [for tenants to recycle]. We encour-age it, but it is not required. We do not have to pay anything [for the recycling].”

Brinkman said Level 27 Apart-ments worked out a special deal with Rumpke to not have to pay any-thing. They have a large bin in each trash bay and they are always full on trash day. Apartments that just have dumpsters, but not recycling, have reasons for doing so, according to Treleaven.

“Apartment complexes lose park-ing spaces because another pod has to be created for the recycling container,” Treleaven said.

Another reason some apartments tend to not focus on recycling is be-cause if solid waste is put into recy-cling bins, it becomes contaminated

City, Butler County make effort to recycle

Oxford-born writer finds success writing, illustrating children’s books

ANNE gArdNEr THE MIAMI STUDENT

Dresses from the “Weaving Women into History” exhibit are on display at the Miami University Art Museum until May 12.

reCyCling,sEE PAgE 9

Around 10:30 a.m. Wednes-day, an Oxford Police Department (OPD) officer met with a male in response to a burglary. The vic-tim said sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. someone entered the un-locked foyer of his residence and removed his golf bag, which con-tained an entire set of golf clubs. He also told the officer he con-tacted his housemates and verified nobody had moved the clubs.

Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, a victim reported his car was dam-aged while parked on North Pop-lar Street. He said between Sunday and Monday someone came and left over a dozen scratches on the car. He also said there were initials that looked like “KA” on the roof of his car. The victim said he does not know anyone with the initials of “KA” or anyone in the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. The victim said his car is sometimes mistak-en for a police car so he does not know if the damage was intended for a policeman.

Around 10 a.m. Monday, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity contacted Oxford Po-lice Department officers (OPD) regarding a stone lion stolen from the front of the fraternity house over the weekend. The lion was 36 inches tall, weighed about 150-200 pounds and was Kelly Green. The victim believed it was taken between midnight Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday. The fraternity has had the statue for 30 years. The victim told officers there were recent confrontations with the Sigma Chi and Phi Kappa Tau fra-ternities but was unsure if they had anything to do with it.

Male reports 200-pound lion stolen from yard

Around 6 p.m. Monday, a victim reported sometime over the weekend someone broke her porch window to unlock her win-dow and then entered her house and exited out the front door. None of her roommates were home so the victim is not sure what was taken. There are no sus-pects at this time.

resident discovers signs of forced entry

BY JEssiCA BArgAsENior stAFF WritEr

After recent accidents involving pedestrians on U.S. Route 27, Ox-ford City Council passed a resolution April 3 recommending a reduced speed limit to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

“We’ve had some unfortunate incidents with vehicles striking pe-destrians,” Oxford Service Director Mike Dreisbach said.

Dreisbach said Miami University had, in light of these events, asked the city to do a study involving po-tentially reducing the speed limit.

For an area of U.S. Route 27, which would include the area from Chestnut Street to Campus Avenue, the proposed recommended speed limit would be lower than 28 mph, according to Dreisbach, which would translate to a 25 mph speed limit in that area.

If the proposal is cleared by ODOT, the reduced speed limit would likely be in effect by the beginning of the fall semester, Dreisbach said.

Three new resolutions passed

at the meeting will facilitate the re-vamping of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, according to Dreis-bach and Oxford City Manager Doug Elliott.

“Many of the facilities there are over 40 years old and we’ve been having some problems with the maintenance,” Dreisbach said.

There are three components to the development process: repairs and improvements to the sludge disposal building, which provides recycled methane that is re-used for energy at the plant, improvements to the recir-culation pumps, which are currently inadequate, and improvements to the non-potable water system, which will prevent the wastewater plant from having to import such water from the water treatment plant.

The original $3.12 million budget actually came in at $3.11 million, Dreisbach said.

“The project [will be] funded out of the current capital improvement fund for sewers,” Oxford Mayor Richard Keebler said, meaning the city will not need to borrow addi-tional money for the project.

City council aims to lower speed limits after pedestrian accidents

5 FRIDAY, ApRIl 6, 2012 CAMPUSwww.miamistudent.net

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ASG passes transcript bill, receives advice on medical amensty billBy Allison McGillivrAycAMpus Editor

Miami University Associated Stu-dent Government (ASG) passed six bills Tuesday April 3.

ASG unanimously passed a bill supporting green-space wireless coverage, a resolution supporting the collegiate housing and infra-structure act and a resolution to sup-port the restructuring of the Miami regional campuses.

ASG also passed a resolution to remind instructors to return aca-demic assessments in an appropri-ate timeframe, a bill supporting ad-ditional information on academic transcripts and a bill recommending the addition of speed bumps on the service drive for King Café.

The academic transcript bill, which would require a distinction on a student’s transcript between courses taken at each of Miami’s campuses and honors and non-hon-ors courses, inspired debate among the senators.

Senator Ashley Burke opposed the bill because she said the differ-ences between the campuses would not influence potential employers to not hire a student.

“I think this is somewhat elitist in thinking that the difference between a regional campus and the Oxford campus should influence your future career,” Burke said. “A Miami edu-cation is a Miami education no mat-ter where you get it.”

Secretary for Academic Affairs Tyler Sinclair disagreed.

“I would say that it is most certain-ly not elitist for us to be proud of us going to an institution that has strict and rigorous academic standards,” Sinclair said. “I think it is only fair that we be differentiated from those that are held to a lower standard.”

Last week ASG introduced a bill supporting a Medical Emergency Assistance Program.

This week ASG brought in Gail Walenga, assistant vice president of student affairs, to help clarify what the Medical Emergency Assistance Program will do.

Walenga said currently the uni-versity and the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) do not cite students if they make it to the emergency room without the notice of their residence assistant (RA) or MUPD.

This new policy would allow a student to seek help from their RA, MUPD or to call 911 and not be

cited by the university.Walenga said most parents she has

heard from as well as the Oxford Po-lice Department (OPD) support this new policy.

According to Walenga, however, the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution (OESCR) and MUPD Chief of Police John McCa-ndless do not support this program.

There are over 70 schools around the country, including Ohio Univer-sity, with similar policies to the Med-ical Emergency Assistance Program in place.

Walenga urged ASG to support the bill.

“I think the advantage of having ASG support this is we can move it forward,” Walenga said.

The bill supporting the Medical Emergency Assistance Program will be discussed at the next ASG meet-ing April 10.

said a larger pool of applicants is good for Miami because it allows the university to choose from the best.

“I think the application rate is increasing because of the in-creased publicity having to do with Miami and the prestige of the business school,” Vostatek said. “Miami is known for hav-ing an excellent business school which draws more people to it each year.”

Although overall applications

to the Farmer School of Business are up, there is an overall reduc-tion in business admission ac-cepts, according to Larson.

“We have reduced that co-hort,” Larson said. “It’s supposed to be a much smaller class than last year.”

International admission is still underway, according to Michael Kabbaz, associate vice president of enrollment management.

The international numbers are still in review, according to Lar-son, but the numbers are up from last year.

“We’re still in the throws of international review right

now,” Larson said. “The process is very different. There is a much broader ap-plication, more information, more required. There’s no fi-nancial aid or scholarship capacity for them as of now, but we are thrilled with their numbers.”

To date, international applica-tions are up 20 percent to 2,200.

As of now, the demographics of the new class are unknown.

“We usually do a survey of the incoming students in the summer to get a general idea of what the incoming class is like,” Wagner said.

AccEptAncE, FroM pAGE 2

HirinG, FroM pAGE 2

Students can prepare themselves for an increase in hiring by being well-prepared, Collins said. Em-ployers are specifically looking for students with good communication skills, she said.

“In particular, students who take part in practice interviews do much better,” Collins said.

Moore said Career Servic-es’ mock interview program, which includes mock interviews with members of the commu-nity, students and staff, is a great

opportunity for students to practice their communicating skills.

Senior business legal studies major Ashley Smith said in the Farmer School of Business alone, the pressure to get a job, even in the first semester of senior year, is very high.

“The increase in hiring gives me more hope that I will get a job,” Smith said.

Moore said students should begin seeking jobs sooner rather than later.

“Start early,” Moore said. “Don’t wait until last minute to really start thinking about what you want to do and how you want to get there.”

ASG This WeekRevamping Academic

Transcripts: Associated Student Government (ASG) members Secretary Ty-ler Sinclair and Secretary Nicholas Miller met with the members of the Office of the Registrar to ask them to include either campus name or location and also to better distinguish honor classes on academic transcripts.

Medical Amnesty: Over the past weeks off-campus Senator Lizzie Litzow and Student Body President Nick Huber, along with other members of ASG have met with Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, Gail Wa-lenga, about creating a “Good Samaritan” program, where students will be exempt from a single alcohol violation if they are in dire need of health assistance and their friend/peer seeks help from an RA.

Restructuring Regional Campuses: Members of ASG, including off-campus Senator Elizabeth Burch, have gone to the Regional Campus Committee meet-ings. On Tuesday, Student Senate passed legislation sup-porting restructuring of the Miami Regional Campuses.

EditorsRACHEL SACKS SARAH SHEW

Editorial@miamistudEnt.nEt6 OPINIONFRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

PatriCK GEYsEr THE MIAMI STUDENT

laurEn CEroniE EDIToR IN CHIEF

jm riEGEr NEWS EDIToR

sarah shEw EDIToRIAL EDIToR

raChEl saCKs EDIToRIAL EDIToR

billY rafaEl ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

CathErinE ubrY CoMMUNITY EDIToR

lisa rEYmann CoMMUNITY EDIToR

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jEnn smola CAMPUS EDIToR

brian GallaGhEr SPoRTS EDIToR

all letters must be signed in order to be printed. Please send letters via e-mail to: editorial@miamistudent.net we reserve the right to edit for length, content and clarity.

EditorialThe following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

student trustee position needs to be chosen quickly

Finalists for Miami Universi-ty’s student trustee position were chosen by Associated Student Government (ASG) and forward-ed to Ohio Gov. John Kasich for final selection. Out of 15 appli-cants, three were chosen by ASG and sent to the governor over winter break.

ASG looked for candidates who were confident, comfort-able talking in front of people, prepared, with institutional knowledge and eager to make a difference at Miami.

Now the finalists must wait until the governor makes his selection of the new student trustee, which will hopefully be named by the end of the school year.

While Kasich’s office has con-firmed receiving ASG’s candidate recommendations, there is no tell-ing if a decision will be made in the near future.

While two student trustees are supposed to sit on the board, it took nearly a year for the gover-nor to select the last student trust-ee. As such, there has only been one student trustee on the board.

The editorial board of The Mi-ami Student thinks the process in choosing a student trustee

should not take as long as it has in the past, and hopes the process of picking a second student trustee will be much more efficient.

It is understandable that Kasich has other tasks and jobs he must attend to and take care of, but we must ask how long should this really take?

The task is simple: to look over three applications to find a student who is the best pos-sible choice to represent Miami University.

The student trustee is the voice of student body and the univer-sity needs someone on the board who represents the student body. Student trustees are uniquely able to answer questions and offer perspectives to administra-tors based on what’s going on within the student body.

With the amount of time being taken to choose a student trustee, terms are being cut short and the voices of Miami students are not fully represented.

The student trustees give an-other opinion and another voice, and in order to efficiently speak for the students they represent, a new trustee needs to be chosen as soon as possible.

thE Contrarian

daniEl j. watKins

Constitutionality of mandate does not deal with important issue of universal healthcare

With the recent hubbub fol-lowing the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) discussion of the major health-care legislation passed in 2010, a fissure has risen again in a clas-sic “you’re with us or against us” scenario.

The standoff is between those for or against the in-dividual mandate in recent healthcare legislation.

Around that, the central ques-tion is this: can the government mandate that a private citizen purchase healthcare from a private organization?

To be forthright, the discussion has created an illusion that the individual mandate is central to creating universal healthcare.

A more profound question is this: why would lawmakers com-mit to something they know is constitutionally questionable by making the legislation an all or nothing endeavor?

At best, my head spins with suspicion. At worst, I wonder how bad it might actually be to be required to purchase healthcare.

The power of the United States Congress that’s in question is found in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution.

Simply, it allows Congress the power to regulate commerce. Throughout the years, when SCOTUS has handled these cases it has generally ruled in favor of Congress.

The question of this individual mandate though, as you’ve likely heard, is very different in nature.

As several district judges and attorneys involved, especially with the 2010 hearings of dis-trict courts, have said, there is now the question of creating

commerce versus regulating it. Creating commerce is very

different than regulating existing commerce.

Furthermore, to be punished for not doing something is a rath-er profound change in relation to existing punitive systems, which currently rely on what you do.

This sort of regulation focuses on not doing something.

The stakes seem so high be-cause there exists the issue of severability.

If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate, how much of the legislation can stand?

In their discussion, the justices wondered how much of the 2,400- page legislation might make it on its own, and how going through it would be done reasonably.

One of the largest issues to root itself in this discussion is something that strikes me as a falsehood.

Somehow in defense of the mandate there has come an idea that striking down the mandate means no chance for universal healthcare in the United States.

The healthcare mandate is not equal to universal healthcare.

This is a false equivalence, and it means if progress is to be had on the healthcare front, it will not be lost to removing a requirement that everyone buy healthcare.

To explain that notion, we can recall President Barack Obama’s campaign speeches be-fore he grasped the Democratic Party Ticket.

“If a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homeless-ness by mandating everybody to buy a house,” Obama said.

I think 2008 Obama was on the right track. Simply making

people spend money does not solve problems.

Healthcare, being the beast it is, should not be hinged on such a questionable premise.

I’m betting that’s why the leg-islation was 2,400 pages and not a lonely page which would read “everyone just buy healthcare.”

Some might call the mandate a tax, or like requiring the purchase of car insurance, are grounds I’ve heard mentioned for defending the mandate.

The difference in both cases though, is there exists an act for an individual to perform, which leads to either of those outcomes.

Buying something or having in-come are definitely activities one can participate in. Similarly, driv-ing a car counts for that. But the individual mandate?

That, if one desperately wanted to say it regulated an activity, would be the activity of living.

It has become all too com-mon to brush someone off by labeling the position one of “small government.”

Some rather adamant and in-consistent folks have ruined it for the rest of us.

But who is to say a person can’t think the individual mandate is unconstitutional alongside be-lieving that healthcare regulation should occur?

Not all people are good, and I’m ever more skeptical of the people who want to rule over me.

Interpreting the Constitution does not make any person some absurd caricature of fascism or communism, but to interpret it in a way that puts more power in the hands of people who have proven they poorly wield it, well that just might provide a little grounds for it.

Rule of Thumbmiami students head to olympic trialsGood luck to swimmers Bekka Westrick, Leah Thorton, Maegan o’ Connor, and diver Lacey Houser at the trials in June!

Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826

The Miami Student

Editorial board

recent graduate hiring

Employment of grads has increased over the past year.

uC and miami rallyThe rival schools teamed up April 5 to demonstrate against recent anti-gay hate crimes.

intramural battleshipThumbs up to a new Miami sport.

herman CainThe former Republican presidential candidate cancelled his appearance at Miami.

Class of 2016Congrats to the new students, and welcome to Miami University!

S U D O K U ,p a g e 8 .

7 FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 OP EDwww.miamistudent.net

Standardized testing takes true teaching, accountability out of the classroom

The MiamiStudentis looking for essayists.

Email editorial@miamistudent.net for more information.

ESSAYISTS WANTED.

ESSAYAndrEw gEiSlErgEiSlEAj@muohio.Edu

The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act “Obamacare” is back in the national spotlight.

Three recent events have brought “Obamacare” to the fore-front: the United States Supreme Court hearings of the law’s con-stitutionality, the release of new Congressional Budget Office cost estimates and the issuance of a compulsory contraception mandate, highlighted by Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University Law student and advocate for mandatory insurance coverage of birth control.

The controversy surround-ing Fluke shows just how politi-cians and media have used her as a distraction.

She is meant to distract attention from the Obama Administration’s failed attempt to force the Catho-lic Church to go against their faith by providing health insur-ance plans that include coverage for contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization.

The administration, in es-sence, changed the conversation from government intrusion in matters of faith to a health is-sue regarding women’s access to contraceptives.

Furthermore, it distracts from Obama’s track record of a stimu-lus bill that didn’t work, from a healthcare bill that has a high probability of being found un-constitutional and from energy policies that have not helped the price of gasoline.

Fluke’s case is being masked in a distracting veneer about “wom-en’s rights” when it’s not really about women’s rights at all.

It’s about separation of church and state. It has nothing to do with men trying to control women.

To perpetuate this distraction, many refer to Rush Limbaugh’s comment about Fluke, but my response to this is: Where were the women’s rights activists when Laura Ingraham was called a “right wing slut” by Ed Schultz, when Michele Bachmann was called an “evil bitch from hell” by Mike Malloy and when Sarah Palin was called a “c***” and a “t***” by Bill Maher?

It is not a gender issue. It’s not even a birth control issue. But it’s being disguised as those issues in order to create a distraction, so attempts to increase government control will go unnoticed and un-challenged by the general public.It is, however, about separation of church and state.

The issue is not so much about access to and cost of birth control, but about manda-tory insurance coverage of birth control. Fluke willingly and knowingly attended a private Catholic university.

If birth control was so important to her, she could have chosen another university to at-tend. Furthermore, most health clinics and Planned Parenthood clinics provide low-cost or free

birth control to their patients. Fluke’s case is a preview of

the coercive nature of increased governmental power. The gov-ernment is attempting to limit re-ligion. ‘Religious exemptions’ do not apply to church-run charities and hospitals, only to churches. It suggests worshipping God is ac-ceptable, but doing God’s work is not.

Charles Krauthammer sum-marizes this point: “Religious exemptions to this edict extend only to churches, places where the faithful worship God, and not to church-run hospitals and chari-ties, places where the faithful do God’s work.

Who promulgated this defi-nition, so subversive of the whole notion of godliness, so stunningly ignorant of the very idea of religious vocation?”

Krauthammer’s last line is very insightful. Who promul-gated this definition? Not only is some entity controlling things, but that entity has a ‘subver-sive’ definition of religion. Is that who you want controlling your healthcare?

Is that who you want to be de-pendent on — the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who perhaps may classify contracep-tion, sterilization and abortion pills as medical prevention and pregnancy as a disease?

Do you want a government healthcare system that views contraception as a money sav-er? And if the government views contraception as medical prevention because it reduces the rate of disease and saves

money, couldn’t you then con-clude the government might also prefer mass sterilization and even eugenics?

The consequence of “Obama care” and allowing the govern-ment to interfere with churches and eventually other institu-tions is you’ll end up getting your rights from the government and begging the government for things a free enterprise system can provide with better quality and lower prices.

The fact Fluke had to testify in front of a government commit-tee to beg for free contraceptives illustrates this point.

Most Americans believe health-care needs to be reformed. Recent events, however, show that when it comes to healthcare we need more private sector solutions in-stead of government ones.

ESSAYKYlE hArtmAnhArtmAK3@muohio.Edu

Jan. 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the historic and highly controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The act signified a new era of education in America via the reformation of a system desperately in need of blunt refinement.

While the intent of the bill was clear, both the content and practical implications have been hotly debat-ed — from Capitol Hill to the din-ner table — from day one. I find it absolutely wonderful that an initia-tive has been taken to improve the American public school system.

Furthermore, I understand this may require government interven-tion on some level; however, NCLB carries a few heavily-weighted points of concern, most notably that increasing teacher accountability and standardized testing is regressive and dangerous to the American public school system.

Having spent my first two years of college as an Education major, I’ve seen prospective

teachers from math to language arts dedicate countless, passion-ate hours to their dream of one day changing lives.

On a daily basis I interacted with other education majors who were eager to get out of the classroom and well, into the classroom.

It became clear that the keen, pro-active understanding of a challenge as immense as educating America’s future is a gift few possess and many take for granted.

I see teaching as a career that demands passionate educators, but I see standardized tests as tools which, however inadvertently, strip the job of any room for such passion and negate a great deal of the prepa-ration teachers receive from college for an otherwise intrinsically benefi-cial career.

Being from Ohio, I’ll use the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) as exhibit A.

In regard to the OGT, teachers begin “teaching for the test” early on, thus slowly retreating from their

own personal methods of connect-ing with and educating students.

By instituting these tests, the government is essentially quanti-fying educational adequacy with an equation.

In a nutshell, state governments across the nation are conveying a message of, “If you answer a certain amount of these specific questions correctly, you are considered to be a competent prospective member of society.”

Teachers begin playing into this game, adhering to the bare mini-mum for the OGT and, as a result, gradually accepting education as a mere formality.

If a school earns an A+ on the state report card based on its students’ performance on the test, it may look good on paper. But this says very little about the per-sonal experience students gain from teachers who have been sucked dry of passion for their job.

I believe there is a strong negative correlation between

standardization of education and teacher accountability.

The government believes teachers should be held more responsible for students’ suc-cess yet revokes the privilege of teachers’ autonomy.

If the success of the student de-pends more on the test than the teacher, then perhaps NCLB con-sultants should hold the state board more accountable than the teachers based on the content on the test.

Standardization and formality of education is essentially creating a world of education that implies anybody can be a teacher.

This is essentially because it doesn’t take a college degree to be able to stand at the front of a room and hand out vocabu-lary sheets while the state board holds your hand via explicit, bare minimum requirements.

Teachers want to teach. By mandating intellectual stan-dards, No Child Left Behind has discouraged a diverse,

personalized learning environ-ment and stripped the educa-tional experience of virtually all substance.

Before we head to the voting polls this November, let’s spend a minute thinking about the well being of those who are not yet old enough to vote.

After all, that was you and I no more than a few years ago.

The challenge to progress toward a more balanced, sustainable edu-cation reform will certainly remain prominent for years to come, but only if we make it so.

NCLB’s monumental yet sys-tematically flawed impact on the future of our country cannot be met with complacency, but in-stead with upward pressure from the American people for a more thorough policy.

This policy should be one that protects teacher autonomy, pro-motes intellectual growth and yields a high return on our investment in the spirit of America.

Rep. Paul Ryan is often praised for displaying political courage, the courage to actually lay out for Amer-icans what he views as the best way forward for our country.

The logic of this transparency is as follows: everything may not be easy to stomach, but it’s necessary when you’re staring at a $15 trillion and rising national debt. President Ba-rack Obama offers a competing plan and with it a completely different vi-sion, buut his plan continues to add to our deficit and got zero votes in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Ryan plan is fun for conser-vatives to praise, and the Obama plan is easy for conservatives to tar-get and vise versa. The unfortunate reality is they both are ridiculous and tell a sad story about the state of our political system. I’ll admit my bias; ideologically I am a conserva-tive and am a fan of Paul Ryan and his plan.

I’m glad there are finally some real cuts where they need to be made, namely to Medicare, and we’re fi-nally talking about real tax reform, although the specter of $700 bil-lion worth of unspecified closed tax loopholes raises some eyebrows.

But I also am well aware that the Ryan budget really is an extremist document, and extremist documents never become law.

And if you disagree that it’s ex-tremist, consider this: the Ryan budget cuts programs that the most vulnerable Americans rely on and then, after a while, massive cuts to Medicare kick in that fundamentally alter it. All of this is used to pay for massive tax cuts for corporations and the richest Americans. I think this is unfair spin from the left, but it’s the reality of the way the plan is portrayed.

I also know in the current toxic po-litical environment where an attempt to curb health care costs and make sure people have coverage becomes a political football, any ideologically extreme legislation simply makes things worse. Legislation always ends up in the middle, but nobody on Capitol Hill seems to have any interest in middle ground.

Compromise seems to be a dirty word in D.C. these days. This was on display when only 38 represen-tatives voted for a budget that was

modeled after the Simpson-Bowles commission’s proposal. It would cut the deficit by around five trillion dol-lars over the next 10 years through a perfectly reasonable mix of spend-ing cuts and revenue increases. That is the direction that a country $15 trillion dollars in debt should be moving toward, not away from.

So while Ryan’s propos-al may look courageous, it really isn’t. Because he knows it will never be law. Everyone, in-cluding Ryan knows revenue in-creases will be a part of any deficit reduction package. All proposals like the Ryan plan do is fire up the “don’t tread on me” base and divide us even further.

We don’t need more divi-sion; our problems are too great for that. The Republican Confer-ence on Capitol Hill is so extremely against any necessary tax increases, and the Democratic Caucus is so ex-tremely anti-necessary cuts.

Based on the debt ceiling fight, both are 100 percent willing to take their ball, go home and take our country off of a cliff. A centrist path is where we will have to end up; there is no other possibility. But it seems our politicians don’t realize this.

That’s why movements like No Labels, which is made up of current and past political profes-sionals and concerned citizens who see the problems with the system and want to make some real changes, are so important.

They work to bring issues into the public consciousness the gen-eral public doesn’t understand, but if they did, would demand be changed, issues like filibuster reform and end-ing ridiculous pledges.

Polarization is here to stay, and deal making seems to be dead, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill saved social security. Bill Clin-ton and Newt Gingrich produced balanced budgets.

They didn’t cut deals because they agreed on everything. They did it be-cause it was what was good for the country, and, in the end, that’s what politics should be about.

The third way is the only way for our country to move forward, we just need more leaders who are will-ing to admit this truth.

the ‘budget game’: a genuine solution to debt crisis needed

ESSAYoliviA broughbroughol@muohio.Edu

Focus on women’s rights is a distraction from the damage obama’s health care plan will cause

Religious exemptions to this edict extend only to churches, places where the faithful worship God, and not to church-run hospitals and charities, places where the faithful do God’s work. Who promulgated this definition, so subversive of the whole notion of godliness, so stunningly ignorant of the very idea of religious vocation?”

ChArlES KrAuthAmmErwAShington PoSt ColumniSt

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By Christina Lundin For the MiaMi student

Starting April 15, Miami Uni-versity botanists Jack Keegan and Mike Vincent will lead a series of nature walks, or Wildflower Walks, through The Silvoor Biological Sanctuary.

“We’ve been doing these Wild-flower Walks for the last 15 years,” Keegan, who shares ownership of Miami’s greenhouse with Vincent, said

According to Keegan, the sanc-tuary was previously the site of a landfill until it was bought and re-stored by former zoology depart-ment Chair Robert A. Hefner and his wife, Ilo in 1978.

The land was transformed into

a beautiful sanctuary for the pub-lic to enjoy for years to come.

With a total area of 2.5 acres, Silvoor boasts a network of trails and is home to a plethora of na-

ture and wildlife. Visitors can expect to see deer,

birds, mushrooms and a wide as-sortment of wildflowers such as lilies, violets and poppies.

“Silvoor has the largest

collection of wildflow-ers in Ohio,” Resident and Designated Curator Jason Reynolds said. “Not only are the Wildflower Walks are a great

way to see the park, but the pro-fessors leading the walks are very knowledgeable. They can point out many wildflowers that most people wouldn’t notice on their own.”

Reynolds has been caring for the land since moving there in 2006.

“Right now the sanctuary is more alive than ever,” Keegan said, who described the sanctuary as a wonderful, peaceful place.

“I think the partnership be-tween the residents of Silvoor and Miami is a great thing for the community,” junior Mad-die Brennan said. “I’ll probably force my friends to come with me on one of the Wildflow-er Walks … they’ll thank me later though.”

Those who are interested in at-tending a guided Wildflower Walk should meet 2 p.m. at Pfeffer Park when the guides will lead the group into Silvoor.

and the recyclables are no longer of use.

According to Treleaven, Rumpke will bill the apartment complexes if their recyclables are contaminated.

Miami junior Molly Halligan said recycling is not hard for students.

“I don’t think it is that hard to re-cycle, but I think college kids are just too lazy and it’s easier to just have one trash bin,” Halligan said.

Oxford has community-recycling dumpsters scattered in different loca-tions, Treleaven said. There is a loca-tion behind the Miami University Police Department by Ditmer Park-ing Lot administered by the Materi-als Recycling Facility. There are also locations administered by the com-pany AbitibiBowater used by the U.S. Postal Service and the Talawanda School District.

Right now the sanctuary is more alive than ever.”

JaCk keeganMiaMi uniVersity Botanist

Botanists bring spring Wildflower Walk to Oxford

riChard MandiMika THE MIAMI STUDENT

danCing BareFootThe Indian professional dance company Ragmala Dance discusses their performance Sunday night in Hall Auditorium.

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sports@miamistudEnt.nEt10 SPORTSFRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

NEXT HOME GAME: 6:30 p.M. TuEsdAy vs. XAviErchris cullumcullum’s cornEr

morE votto mEans morE mlb problEms

Buckeyes crack Miami

by tom downEystaff writEr

The Miami University baseball team fell behind early and was never able to recover, falling to the Ohio State University (OSU) 9-2 Wednesday.

It was Military Appreciation Day at McKie Field, as a sea-son high 1,146 fans watched the RedHawk defeat. The RedHawks mustered up only five hits all game compared to OSU’s 13.

“I certainly want to look at this as a glass half full, but I was not pleased with our performance,” Head Coach Dan Simonds said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game. We didn’t hit well, didn’t pitch well and didn’t coach well.”

The ’Hawks used eight differ-ent pitchers, giving up nine runs in the first six innings. Sopho-more starter Charles Zubrod went just 2.1 innings, giving up four earned runs.

“I think we just have to learn that we have to throw strikes and get ahead of hitters,” senior outfielder Bryce Redeker said. “We’re com-petitive when we do that.”

Redeker and junior first

baseman Kevin Bower were the only RedHawks with RBIs. Re-deker’s came on a triple, just one of two extra base hits on the night for the RedHawks, and Bower also contributed a double during the game.

“I was trying to just have a competitive at-bat,” Redeker said. “Our coaches always preach about that. I just got a good pitch to hit.”

One positive on the night was freshman third baseman Ryan El-ble, who recorded his first career hit during the game.

However, with the loss the Red-Hawks fall to 15-13 on the year.

“We are a lot better than we showed tonight,” Simonds said. “We have to refocus and let this one go and get centered on Friday.”

The RedHawks will go on the road over the weekend as they travel to Muncie, Ind. to take on Ball State University. Ball State enters the series 5-19 on the year, the worst overall record in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), and has lost five of their last six games. The Cardinals are 1-5 in MAC play and are last in

the MAC West. “Their record is no indica-

tion of how good they are,” Simonds said.

The RedHawks are expected to start juniors Mac Thoreson and Brooks Fiala and senior Shawn Marquardt during the Ball State trip.

The two teams played three games last year in Oxford when RedHawks took two of three from the Cardinals. Games are sched-uled for 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Red and White will return to Oxford next week when they host the Joe Nuxhall Invitational Tuesday and Wednesday at McKie Field. Miami, Xavier University, the University of Cincinnati and Wright State University will face off in the invitational.

Wright State and Cincinnati will play 3 p.m. and the Red-Hawks will take on Xavier 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The championship and consolation games will be played Wednesday.

Fans can listen to the Red and White’s games during the Joe Nuxhall Invitational on www.redhawkradio.com.

JEff sabo MIAMI ATHLETICSSophomore pitcher Charles Zubrod (No. 14) and the rest of the Miami University baseball team look on before Wednesday’s game against Ohio State University. The RedHawks fell 9-2 on Military Appreciation Day.

’hawks hope to continue winning ways in first ‘home’ match of year

JEssi thornE THE MIAMI STUDENT

flashinG thE lEathErSenior third baseman Daniela Torres snags a line drive March 17. Torres leads the team with a .376 batting average and .600 slugging percentage heading into this weekend’s home games. The RedHawks (19-12, 2-2 Mid-American Conference) play a doubleheader against Akron University 1 p.m. and 3 p.m Friday and play Ohio University 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

by Jordan rinardfor thE miami studEnt

Coming off its 29-straight vic-tory in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play in the regular season, the Miami University tennis team is seeking to extend its streak in Oxford this weekend when they face Bowling Green State Univer-sity (BGSU) and Western Michigan Unviersity (WMU).

This is first time Miami has had a “home” match in over a month and the first tennis match in Oxford since Sep. 25, 2011. The ’Hawks (9-9, 4-0 MAC) have plenty of momentum heading into Friday after having dis-patched the University of Toledo and Eastern Michigan University 5-2 and 6-1, respectively, last weekend.

“It is exciting for us to play at home this weekend against two great competitors in the MAC,” Head Coach Anca Dumitrescu said. “It is a great opportunityfor the girls to play in front of their fans and do what they have been doing all seaon: fight for

every point and embrace whatever challege they may face out there on the court. We want to encourage all Miami fans to come out there and support the team.”

Sophomore Christiana Raymond was named Miami’s Female Athlete of the Week after she won both of her singles matches over the weekend, as well as both of her doubles matches while teamed up with fellow sopho-more Nimisha Mohan.

The doubles team of freshman Christine Guerrazzi and senior Riekie Honiball were also successful over the weekend as they notched 8-4 and 8-2 victories over the Rockets and Eagles, respectively. And fresh-man Alix Thurman is on a roll of her own as she has won seven-straight singles matches.

“It’s awesome that we will be playing both of our matches at home outside this weekend,” Raymond said. “We are staying focused and really looking forward to the com-petition this weekend and hoping to continue our winning streak in the

MAC conference.”BGSU (6-6, 2-1 MAC) is hoping

to rebound after a 7-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Akron Zips. The team of juniors Mary Hill and Jade Johnson put up a valiant effort to get to a one-point margin, but were ulti-mately defeated. Hill is also a threat in singles play this year and comes in with a 17-10 overall record and 2-1 record in MAC play.

WMU (12-9, 1-2 MAC) is also coming into Oxford with consecutive losses, having dropped a 5-2 decision to Buffalo before suffering a defeat at the hands of Akron.

Senior Maria Nivia is establishing a prescence in singles play with her second conference win against Buf-falo last weekend, and senior April Kerr also has plenty of momentum going into this weekend as she is currently on a four-match winning streak in singles play.

The matches against the Falcons and the Broncos will start 1 p.m. Fri-day and Saturday on the tennis courts behind Hepburn Hall.

In an age where there are so few certainties in the world of sports, we can now officially add one to that short list: Joey Votto will not be leaving the Cincinnati Reds anytime soon.

Votto’s new 10-year, $225 mil-lion contract extension, which was tacked on to the two years and $23 million remaining on his current contract, will keep the 2010 NL MVP in Cincinnati through the 2023 season when Votto will turn 40-years-old.

The two sides to this deal are pretty concrete. Those who sup-port the deal say that a medium-sized market team like the Reds needed to do whatever it takes to keep a homegrown talent (he was a second-round pick of the Reds in 2002) in Cincinnati for the rest of his career.

Those who oppose the deal point to the fact that Votto will be 30 when his extension kicks in, and paying a 30-year-old first baseman over $20 million per year for the next 10 years isn’t the best idea, and a full no-trade clause means getting out of this deal will be nearly impossible.

Both sides make valid points and no matter how good Vot-to is, a deal of this magnitude is a tremendous risk, but one worth taking.

However, how does it affect the rest of the baseball world?

On a large scale, the biggest winner is the National League. After losing Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder to the American League this offseason and with Ryan Howard far from a sure thing, losing Votto would have been a huge blow to senior cir-cuit. Often viewed as the lesser of the two leagues, keeping Votto around keeps at least one respect-able player in the fold for the foreseeable future.

In terms of specific teams, the Dodgers come out of this deal as

winners while the Royals look to be the biggest losers.

Last November the Dodgers signed superstar centerfielder Matt Kemp to an eight-year, $160 million contract extension. I know he’s only had one year of MVP-level productivity, but if I were spending $20 million per year on a player, I would rather give it to a 27-year-old centerfielder than a 30-year-old first baseman.

The Royals, on the other hand, were served a large dose of real-ity. Eric Hosmer, Kansas City’s 22-year-old first basemen will be eligible for free agency after the 2017 season.

Yes, that’s a long time from now, but with the way salaries are trending and assuming Hosmer reaches his full potential, all signs point to him being in line for an extension just as large, if not larg-er, than Votto’s.

And even if he falls a bit short of expectations, he is still going to be a great player and great players still get paid a lot of money. The largest contaract ever handed out by the Royals was a $55 million deal they’ve given to two differ-ent players: Mike Sweeney and Gil Meche.

As you can see, this is new ter-ritory for Kansas City, so they cannot be happy with what hap-pened with Votto’s deal.

And what about other players? The biggest name out there is Red Sox centerfielder Jacoby Ells-bury, who is still under team con-trol through 2013. He’s similar to Kemp in that he’s really only had one excellent year, but after see-ing a team with a much smaller payroll than itself double-down on a player, the Red Sox may be forced to extend Ellsbury before he hits the open market.

But rest assured Reds fans, you won’t have to worry about Votto hitting the market for a long time.

RedHawks come home for annual Miami Invitational track meetby win braswEllfor thE miami studEnt

In the third outdoor meet of the season, the Miami Univer-sity women’s track and field team will host the first of three meets this weekend at the George L. Rider Track.

Miami’s fast start has put them back near the top of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), where they finished third last season.

“We’re out there to win,” Head

Coach Kelly Phillips said. “Our sprinters and throwers are stron-ger this year and having [senior distance runner Kelley] Miller back is great for distance.”

The ’Hawks know being at home will not necessar-ily make their jobs any easier. This weekend will feature some stout competition, keeping the team focused on its goals for improvement.

“I don’t really feel like the edge is completely off since Kent State [University] and Western

Michigan [University] will be there,” senior sprinter Diona Graves said. “Being at home makes it a little easier, because I know the track really well.”

Graves is looking to add anoth-er milestone to her already amaz-ing career, as she holds several individual and team records, with two coming this past indoor sea-son in the 200-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay.

“The only thing I really want to do this weekend is break the 200 school record on my home turf,”

Graves said. “That’s all I’m think-ing about right now.”

Being at home, junior hurdler Layne Baggett can focus more on her race, as she stressed all indoor season. Baggett is still in the top tier of competition in the 100-me-ter hurdles, in good standing to defend her MAC title.

“I’m hoping that being at home this weekend will play to my ad-vantage,” Baggett said. “I think that it will help me stay a little bit more focused since I’m used to running on this track everyday. The

hurdles look to be a tight race and I’m really just hoping to run a new [personal record].”

The RedHawks are also looking to have more strong performanc-es from senior thrower Alexandra Roberts as well as Miller in their respective events. Both are off to exceptional starts this season and are early contenders for claim-ing potential spots in the NCAA qualifying rounds.

This weekend’s meet begins 2 p.m. Friday and continues 10 a.m. Saturday.