BY JAMES STEINBAUERFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

Lead student staffers at Miami

University’s Recreational (REC) Center have long been the soul of the colossal building’s operations.

Besides interacting with custom-ers, lead staffers at the REC are in charge of the facility’s upkeep, help-ing with membership recruitment and assisting injured patrons.

Although held to a plethora of responsibilities, lead student staff-ers at the REC are paid significantly lower wages than other student workers around campus, specifi-cally those in dining halls, according to senior lead REC student staffer Matt Gingras.

“As you train up, I think you get a 10 cent raise an hour,” Gingras said. “But then [pay] gets capped off at $8.10 per hour.”

Following its completion in Janu-ary, the Armstrong Student Center has been advertising a starting sal-ary at $8.25 per hour for new student workers, with similar dining facili-ties, such as Bell Tower, offering sim-ilar starting salaries of $8.25 per hour.

In 2012, Miami University com-bined the fitness department and the customer service department, creat-ing the office of Housing, Dining, Recreation and Business services. .This merger added the “serve-safe certification,” a certification for the proper handling of food, to the list of required certifications for staff

at the REC.Along with being certified to

serve food, REC lead staff are re-quired to have CPR certification through the American Red Cross, the CPR certification used by profes-sional rescuers, as well as blood-born pathogen certification and training through the university.

Lead staff jobs also contain some administrative functions. Often working as managers on duty, lead student staffers help develop the student staff schedule, are directly in charge of students working under their own shift and are responsible for the training of new staff.

“Our lead staffers are wonder-ful,” Senior Director of Customer Services and Facility Manage-

ment for the REC Ron Siliko said. “They’re our most talented staff, our most skilled staff and our most dedicated staff.”

A recent example of lead student staffers’ time commitment and dedi-cation is their willingness to help fill shifts on short notice following a large spike in sickness this past month, Siliko said.

One reason for the difference in pay between REC staff workers and those at dining halls may be the high desirability for REC jobs. The REC usually gets 10 times the number of applications for the number of staff needed, Deth Cropenbaker, the REC’s Director of Fitness said.

“Generally, the less attractive a job is, the higher the wage will be for

that job,” Cropenbaker said. “There are economic realities. If the univer-sity sets a rule, you follow the rule. If I say that one of my employees is worth this much to me, I’m not the one who gets to set that wage.”

The university has a freeze on raises, Cropenbaker said. They allow promotions as position changes and title changes, but they do not allow raises in pay.

“I believe that the workers at the REC should get higher pay,” Senior dining hall worker and active athlete Michael Shivers said. “Not only do they now serve food, but they have had the responsibility of saving peo-ple’s lives when they have a heart attack, and I don’t have to do that at a dining hall.”

BY EMILY CRANENEWS EDITOR

Senior marketing major Geoff Parker leans on his shovel and takes a sip of his Gatorade. At noon, tem-peratures are barely above zero, but a slight film of sweat has begun to form just above his eyes. He sets the bottle on his porch at 103 Oberlin Court. and returns to work. Thud-scrape goes the shovel. Swoosh goes the snow. At Parker’s feet, a rare sight begins to emerge: a patch of gray sidewalk.

There are 61 miles of sidewalk in the City of Oxford, not counting Mi-ami University’s sidewalks. About a third of these are in the “Mile Square” alone, according to Oxford City Manager Doug Elliott. As win-ter draws on, snow and ice continue to pile up on walkways around the city; Elliott estimates only around 15 percent are being actively cleared.

The question then arises: whose job is it to clear the sidewalks?

“The Oxford city codified ordi-nances state that it is the responsibili-ty of the property owner or occupant to remove all snow and ice,” Elliott said. “Those in violation of this

ordinance are guilty of a minor mis-demeanor, which has a maximum fine of $150.”

Several recent Ohio Supreme Court rulings however, have made local enforcement of such ordinanc-es problematic, if not impossible, Elliott said, since the court ruled it unreasonable to expect citizens to remove natural accumulations of ice and snow in such a place as Ohio, where such “inherent dangers” are expected.

“This year, I am trying a differ-ent tactic,” Elliott said. “Rather than reminding property owners and residents of the law and pen-alty, I am appealing to their better or neighborly natures.”

In a statement posted Feb. 5 on the City of Oxford’s website, Elliott called on Oxford residents to “please pitch in and shovel the snow off of the sidewalk in front of your house or business.”

Yet several miles of sidewalk re-main covered in white, particularly in stretches packed with student rentals. Associated Student Gov-ernment Secretary for Off-Campus Affairs Ari Frum said this is largely due to the fact that students and

property owners are unclear as to whose responsibility it is to clear the sidewalks.

“There’s a question of whose re-sponsibility it is,” Frum said. “But even if students were to understand that it’s their responsibility, would they take ownership of it? I’m not sure. I would love to see that.”

With such ambiguity over the matter of snow removal, the City of Oxford has broached the subject of whether it ought to become the city’s responsibility, Elliott said. The city has considered both the option of hiring private contractors to remove the snow and the option of purchas-ing $150,000 in equipment and hir-ing a staff to remove the snow. But neither option is feasible at the mo-ment because of cost.

“We’ve estimated that to hire a contractor to take care of just one snow event would be around $10,000,” Elliott said. “How would we pay for that? It’s just not in the budget. Especially for a winter like this one where we’ve had [a lot of] snow events. We’re talking about

In 1983, The Miami Student reported not even the 20-degree weather and steady snowfall could keep the community indoors and away from the Baskin-Robbins down the street. While snacking on a scoop, junior Bob Murphy said, “A good ice cream connoisseur knows no weather.”

The Miami StudentTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826

MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIOVOLUME 141 NO. 31

TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY

City lets fines slide on snowy sidewalks

Working out wages: REC jobs pay less

Are lead student REC workers unpaid?

JOSH ZAK THE MIAMI STUDENTDEDICATED DONORSPresident David Hodge addressed donors with a smile at the of-ficial Armstrong Student Center dedication ceremony.

JALEN WALKER THE MIAMI STUDENTStudents, staff, alumni and community members alike admired the Armstrong Student Center at the official dedication ceremony.

Donors give $500 millionThe Miami University Cam-

paign for Love and Honor has announced a record to-tal of $535,610,796 from contributions of more than 105,000 donors.

According to a Miami Univer-sity press release, the campaign, considered the most lucrative in Miami University history, sur-passed its goal of $500 million in July. President David Hodge said is urging those in the Mi-ami community to appreciate the donors who made the campaign possible, as their generosity is paving the way for Miami’s suc-cess into the future.

“It is natural to focus on the numbers, but the real impact of the campaign is what we are do-ing and what we will be able to

do thanks to the forward-look-ing generosity of our donors,” Hodge said in the press release. “The greatest significance of what we have accomplished is only beginning to be counted—in generations of student dreams realized, lives empowered, inno-vation unleashed and in so many promising ‘Days to Be.’”

Since its launch in 2002, the campaign has funded the ad-vancements of several academic programs on campus, includ-ing those in the Armstrong In-teractive Media Studies pro-gram, Howe Writing Center and Scripps Gerontology Center. In addition, 33 faculty members have earned professorship and 586 scholarship endowments have been instated.

PHIL ARNDT THE MIAMI STUDENTSidewalks on campus may be clear, but off-campus, the snow and ice piles high as occupants and property managers continue to pass the buck on shovel duty.

SIDEWALKS,SEE PAGE 8

EDITORSREIS THEBAULT

VICTORIA SLATERCAMPUS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET2 CAMPUS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Renovations set to rock Shideler Hall’s world

The Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) has amended the campus bus routes and schedule for the second time this school year. Visit the Parking and Transportation Services website to see the changes.

BAILEY MILLER THE MIAMI STUDENT

It’s a party: College Dems, Reps share an ASC office

BY ALEXIS DEBRUNNER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After receiving $21 million from the state, Miami University has announced plans to renovate Shideler Hall renovation begin-ning fall semester of next year.

Shideler Hall, having received very little care since its construc-tion in 1967, was chosen for the renovation project both for its desperate need of updating, and its ability to fit the state’s educational needs, Assistant VP in Physical Facilities Cody Powell said.

“Because we have requested the funding from the state, and the state has criteria for evaluat-ing the need of the funding, and the certain amount of the funding, they want to accomplish goals im-portant to the state,” Powell said.

“Shideler was a good fit for those goals based on the number of un-dergraduate students in the build-ing, and the ability it has to fit the employment needs of the state and STEM programming.”

Ohio STEM programming works to support and create

programs that encourage learning in the science, technology, engi-neering, and mathematics fields. Powell said because the state has limited funding, Shideler was a good fit because the departments teaching in the building fit STEM learning, and the structure itself was in need.

While the original capital re-quest for funding the project was north of $22 million, the amount that was requested by the gover-nor and is being moved forward through legislation is $21 mil-lion. Since the gifted amount was lower than originally requested, Powell said the university could be looking for alternate funding.

“We are going to try to get it done within the 21 million, but for whatever reason we are unable to do that and need to go beyond the

21 million, we will need to cover that locally through other fund-ing sources,” Powell said. “Other funding sources could include a variety of things; we could get gifts, or it could come through other capital renewal funds.”

Professor Brian Currie from

the Geology Department, whose offices reside in Shideler, said he thought the renovation was a great idea and would ben-efit the students who attend class there greatly.

“It’s long over-due,” Currie said. “It’s almost 50 years old, and never gone through a major renovation. The growth that the geology and geography depart-ments have experienced over the past decade are really constricted in terms of what we can do with teaching and research because of the building and its condition.”

Currie said the classrooms in particular need to be brought into the modern era, and that teach-ers in Shideler are currently lim-ited in terms of the individual classroom size.

“Some are too small, and some are too large to effectively teach our classes,” Currie said. “Also, what really needs to be done is an effort to improve our com-puter labs. They just don’t pro-vide the space that they need to be effective to the students we are teaching.”

The renovations Powell de-scribed all seem to address the needs Curri thought were most important. Powell said the build-ing will be receiving a top-to-bottom rehabilitation, including all new mechanical and electri-cal systems, telecommunications, ADA accessibility upgrades for disabled students and fac-ulty, and modernizing beyond the infrastructure to make sure it is conducive with today’s

BY JAKE ZALACFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

While they may not share po-litical opinions, College Republi-cans and College Democrats now share an office in the new Arm-strong Student Center (ASC).

This is not the first time the or-ganizations have shared an office space – they used to be located in the same room in MacMil-lan Hall. According to Miami College Republicans Chairman Katey Papin, the close proximity

continues to work out well. “Politically we may not agree,

but I know there are executive members from each club that are friends,” Papin said.

Charlie Urbancic, Miami Col-lege Democrats Outreach Chair, agreed with his officemate.

“There isn’t much controversy between the groups, aside from debates,” Urbancic said.

The College Republicans’ goal

REIS THEBAULT THE MIAMI STUDENT

SHIDELER,SEE PAGE 9

DEMS/REPS,SEE PAGE 9

BY NICK RAMSEY FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

CVS Caremark (CVS) an-nounced Wednesday, Feb. 5 it will stop selling all tobacco products in all of its 7,600 stores by October 2014. CVS is the first pharmaceuti-cal chain to make this move.

CVS predicts it will lose $2 bil-lion in sales, but that is only 1.6 per-cent of the $125 billion CVS brings in annually.

“Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for

our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health,” President and CEO of CVS Caremark Larry J. Merlo said in a press release.

The move drew praise from President Obama, who is a former smoker himself, as well as many health agencies and physicians.

It also received praise from Miami students.

“I think it’s probably a good idea just because tobacco won’t be as accessible,” Miami first-year Matt Tannehill said.

First-year Drew Patterson was

torn by the announcement.“In a way I agree, but at the same

time, it’s kind of people’s choice to smoke,” Patterson said.

He also doubted it would have much effect on Oxford.

“Not with everything Uptown, I’ve never even been to CVS,” Pat-terson said. Economics professor Jim Brock had a mixed reaction to the news as well.

“I’m cheered that CVS will con-tribute to the health of the country by freeing up the store to peddle more salty snacks, candy and sug-ar-laced soda to their customers,”

Brock said.Brock said he did not believe the

decision alone would have much economic effect, and he said it might cause a domino effect.

“Others might be compelled to do the same thing,” he said.

He also pointed out cigarettes are among the most stolen items in the nation.

“Cigarettes are so expensive they have to keep them locked up, be-cause of that it’s a problem,” Brock said. “Maybe it’s PR.”

CVS in Oxford declined to com-ment due to company policy.

EDITORSJANE BLAZER CHRIS CURMECOMMUNITY@MIAMISTUDENT.NET 3COMMUNITY

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2014

CVS snuffs out tobacco products

Evolutionists, creationists meet to argue Earth’s birth

POLICE

BEATBW-Three customers eat wings, take flight

OPD serves warrant to wanted woman

Over the river, but not through The Wood’s

BY KATE GROTON FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

Tuesday, Feb. 4, the theories of creationism and evolution went head-to-head at the Creation Mu-seum in Northern Kentucky.

Museum founder Ken Ham is a staunch and vocal believer in the theory that God created man, and subscribes to a biblically-inspired scientific approach. Bill Nye, a name familiar to many as “The Science Guy,” supports the idea that the Earth is much older than creationists postulate, and that man is the product of evolution. The two met on Ham’s home turf in a wildly-publicized debate.

“Snow ice forms over the win-ter. We find certain of these cyl-inders to have 680,000 layers, 680,000 snow winter/summer cycles,” Nye said. “How could it be that just 4,000 years ago, all of this ice formed?”

Nye’s point focused on a funda-mental difference in the two theo-ries: creationists believe the Earth is roughly 6,000 years old, while subscribers to the theory of evolu-tion find Earth’s age to be closer

to 4.5 billion.Ham believes in a literal inter-

pretation of the Earth’s creation as given in the Book of Genesis and as mentioned in the rest of the Bible. He said he believes this idea is foundational to science and should be taught as such.

“From Adam to Abraham, you’ve got 2,000 years,” Ham said. “From Abraham to Christ: 2,000 years. From Christ to the present: 2,000 years. That’s how we reach 6,000 years.”

Nye said while billions are re-ligious, and religion enriches life on Earth, many of those believers do not literally interpret creation stories, nor do they believe the Earth is 6,000 years old or that Noah and his arc carried all life on earth throughout the great flood, as Ham believes.

“Creation is the only viable model of historical science con-firmed by observational science in today’s modern era,” Ham said, “I want children to be taught the right foundation. That there is a God that loves them, that created them.”

Miami University evolution-

ary biology professor Richard Moore said he uses various teach-ing approaches to explore the compatibility between religion and science.

According to Moore, though many scientists have personal re-ligious beliefs and may hold stock in a sort of divine creation, they do not have an issue with the the-ory of evolution.

“Ham argues that one must accept every word in the Bible and if you don’t accept one thing, you don’t accept it at all,” Moore said. “The creationist approach believes answers are already there in God’s words, but the method of science seeks natural explanations.”

Moore said he believes Ham’s theory lacks appropriate founda-tion, as the Bible was conceived 2,000 years ago, before countless advances in modern science.

Father Jeff Silver of Oxford’s St. Mary Catholic Church said he believes religion works to recon-cile the differences presented by Ham and Nye, though he said he did not watch much of the debate.

“The Catholic biblical

fundamentals of Genesis are more than scientific truth,” Silver said. “Science works with facts while the church believes in faith.”

“As definitions change, we con-tinue to struggle with aspects of science and church,” Silver said. “Science favors older earth than those who are fundamentalists.”

Miami psychology professor Paul Flaspohler said the ideas presented by creationists and evolutionists may have appeal to their followers, but that sci-ence wills out when students are investigating concepts.

“I try not to take a stance in my class about science versus religion or faith other than to make stu-dents aware that science provides a superior method for asking and answering questions about the natural world,” Flaspohler said.

Flaspohler said science, un-like religious doctrine, protects against errors in knowing though a rigorous revision process.

“I don’t think religion should be taught as science, it’s hard for everyone to believe in a cer-tain faith,” sophomore Allison Van Horn said.

AMANDA PALISWAT THE MIAMI STUDENTFROS-TEA AFTERNOONS AT KOFENYAJuniors Samantha McCauley and Erin Fitzhugh find warm solace in Kofenya over the bitterly cold weekend.

KATIE TAYLOR, JOSH ZAK THE MIAMI STUDENT

At 1:30 a.m. Sunday, OPD officers were dispatched to Buf-falo Wild Wings, 10 E. Walnut St, in response to three patrons who had left without paying their bill.

The party’s waiter told OPD three diners out of a group of 12 had dashed, leaving their bills of $14.35, $21.18 and $3.75 un-paid. The group had been there for a birthday party for a female who was still at the restaurant.

The birthday girl told Buf-falo Wild Wings’ management she knew the suspects, and of-fered to pay their outstanding bills. However, the suspects have been contacted and in-formed they must pay their tabs, OPD said.

Failure to do so may result in charges filed. No word on whether that includes tip.

While investigating a “sus-picious vehicle” located in the 5000 block of College Corner Pike, OPD officers found a fe-male in the passenger seat who faced outstanding warrants from the Butler County Sheriff’s Of-fice. Other vehicle occupants confirmed this, her warrants were verified by the officers and she was taken to Butler County Jail.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, an OPD offi-cer noticed an argumentative male in front of The Wood’s, 17 N. Pop-lar St. He had been refused entry and was disputing that with staff.

The officer approached the male and asked him for proper identification. The suspect re-fused, according to OPD, and the officer asked again. Again, the male refused.

Judging the male to be highly intoxicated, the officer said he was worried for his safety. When asked his age, the male said he was 19. Quickly, the male became loud and belligerent, asking friends to bother the officer.

Because of his intoxication and disruptive behavior, he was placed under arrest. When the officer at-tempted to move the suspect to the cruiser, he refused, grabbed the exit gate and began to push away. His friends attempted to interfere in the situation, despite the offi-cer’s verbal warnings to cease. Af-ter ordering the onlookers to step back, the officer again attempted to get the male into the cruiser, according to OPD.

Again unwilling, the male shoved the officer and attempted to run. The officer immediately grabbed the male and put him in handcuffs. While doing so, the officer noticed two over-21 wrist-bands on the male’s wrist.

With the help of two additional officers, the male was placed in the cruiser and taken to the sta-tion. The male admitted to using an expired license not belonging to him to obtain the wristbands. Of-ficers then found his Ohio driver’s license, which indicated he was 20 years old.

He was cited with sales to and use by underage persons, resisting arrest, and certain acts prohibited. He was released.

CVS will no longer sell tobacco products after Oct. 1, as it aims to justify its existence as a healthy-lifestyle promoting pharmaceutical chain.

Save the trees! Please recycle when you’re finished

EDITORLAUREN KIGGINS

ARTS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET4 ARTS & EVENTSTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

‘8’ brings awareness to marriage equality issues

Warming up to the wintry blues at Mac & Joe’s

BEN’S BOOMBOX

TUESDAYFEB. 11

THURSDAYFEB. 13

WEDNESDAYFEB. 12

FRIDAYFEB. 14

Career Services will be offer-ing a Basic Interviewing Skills program at 7 p.m. in the Shriver Center MPR-BC. The session encompasses basic interviewing techniques and is required for any student who intends to participate in an on-campus interview.

Wendy Brown of the University of California Berkeley will be shar-ing her theories of power, gender and oppression in her lecture, “Does Human Capital Have a Gender? Homo Oeconomicus and the Neo-liberal Transformation of Politics.” The event begins at 4 p.m. in the Shriver Center Multipurpose Room.

After a year’s hiatus, the Brown Bag Recital Series returns to a new home at the Armstrong Student Center’s Shade Family Room. The series features solo and group per-formances by faculty and students, beginning at noon each week.

The Oxford Community Arts Center is hosting Second Friday, a celebration of the arts, starting at 6 p.m. This free event features live music from local musicians, new art exhibits and one-of-a-kind art-work for sale.

SATURDAYFEB. 15

A two-day workshop put on by CraftSummer in Philips Hall will teach the art of copper enameling. Workshop attendees will learn how to produce usable bowls and dishes using different techniques. No pre-vious art experience is required; call (513) 529-7395 to register.

SUNDAYFEB. 16

MONDAYFEB. 17

Spend the afternoon ice skating at Goggin Ice Center. The event begins at 3 p.m. and is $7.50 for public, $6.50 for high school stu-dents and younger and $4.50 for Miami students.

Part one of the two-part lecture, “The World that Smith Made: Ad-vocating for Religion in the U.S. Today,” begins at 5:30 p.m. in ART 100. Speaker and Indiana Univer-sity – Bloomington professor, Win-nifred Sullivan, will be available for a Q&A session after the lecture.

ARTS & EVENTS CALENDAR

It’s another Friday night in Ox-ford. The bars are reaching ca-pacity as the temperature drops, making students question where

to put their coats. The weather can make some p e o p l e very sad, or in other words, feel-ing blue.

In an al-ley that holds two of many

great Oxford bars, music ema-nates from the lower level of Mac & Joe’s. After showing identifi-cation (since you have to be 21 to enter), rock’n’roll lovers can enjoy a great blues band by the name of Smokestack Lightning. They are a three-piece (guitar, bass, drums) band whose set list ranges from some of their own

creations to the likes of Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton, among others. For me, it was great to sit at the bar while listening to Alex Potet rip away at his guitar, Ed Kreibal keeping it steady on the drums and Mark Bittinger giving up some melody for my ears.

I recommend spending a Fri-day night at Mac & Joe’s for this reason. You can feel the energy that pours out of every note they play. They have been playing there for quite some time now. I went and saw them back in late November and the bar had around seven people inside: three bartenders, the band and myself.

I went back this past Friday and found the bar packed with students enjoying the show as much as the guys were play-ing. It was a sight to see indeed. Grab your coat and head over to that alleyway and catch Smoke-stack Lightning killing it on a Friday night.

BEN MEINKING

BY CHRISTINA CASANOSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The newly-revived student orga-nization the Walking Theatre Project (WTP) produced a staged reading of the play “8” Sunday, Feb. 9. The play depicts a historic trial in which two same-sex couples took on the state of California after Proposition 8 passed.

According to director and the-ater professor Polly Heinkel, the play came directly from transcripts of the case.

“Prop 8 made it illegal for same-sex couples to marry,” Heinkel said. “They used children in publicity, how they would be affected. Noth-ing was factually-based, they were running on how it would affect the normative, nuclear family.”

The show, first performed in 2011, became popular after a 2012 staged reading broadcast from L.A. with a cast made up of celebrity advocates. To Heinkel, it seemed like a perfect fit for WTP, an orga-nization “geared toward producing socially-motivated theater,” accord-ing to Megan Haynes, co-president of WTP.

“I got interested in the show a few years ago,” Heinkel said. “I brought it to the WTP because they were getting back on their feet, and since Broadway Impact owns the rights to the show you can get them for free.”

Actors and members of the orga-nization who worked on the show expressed their belief in the impor-tance of a piece of theater like “8”.

While the actors came to the show for different reasons, they came together to create a powerful piece of theater.

“This show made me think about how I relate to issues,” Cara Hinh, co-president of WTP and an actor in the show, said. “We’re all con-nected because we all believe in the right to love.”

Haynes said she thought the piece was especially relevant because of current events.

“It’s [‘8’] relevant because a lot of states have passed laws or tried to pass laws like Prop 8 in recent years,” Haynes said.

Kaela Smith, a sophomore theater major, played three characters who were in support of Proposition 8.

“A lot of things I say as Maggie [Gallager] and Mr. Blankenhorn I hear from people,” Smith said. “I try to take it from the standpoint that they have those views for a reason, but they aren’t inherently bad people.”

Another actor talked about his ex-perience playing a member of one of the couples.

“I don’t say much, but the times I stand up with Daniel [Lees], it’s powerful.” Dallas Ray said. “The more I do it, the more proud I am to be representing someone that has had to go through that struggle.”

Though the issue of same-sex marriage has coverage in the media, it is still a hot-button topic that plays like ‘8’ utilize to bring awareness.

“It’s an issue that people are very polarized on,” Hinh said. “I think having it here is a good thing be-cause this is not exactly an equali-ty-centered campus. It’s the only play that I know of that had such a straightforward, factual view of the issue of same-sex marriage.”

Ray agreed that Miami particu-larly needs greater exposer to the issues covered in “8.”

“As much as people at Miami say they’re cool with [same-sex marriage], there’s still a whole other side,” Ray said. “It’s sad that a college that has just opened a new building for students, that claims ‘love and honor,’ still has this criticism.”

The best way to address these is-sues, Heinkel said, is to educate and inform people, which “8” does.

“There’s this basic human de-sire to love and be love,” Heinkel said. “It’s important to educate people on what goes on between same-sex couples so that they can gain understanding.”

MIKE CHIORAN THE MIAMI STUDENT

Open Fifth prepares for their International Championship of Collegiate A Capella competition Feb. 22.

CONTRIBUTED BY MEGAN HAYNES

Clooney hunts for gold at box officeMOVIE REVIEW

“The Monuments Men”BY BRITTON PERELMANFOR THE MIAMI STUDENT

“What is all of this?”“People’s lives.”Boasting a star-studded cast,

“The Monuments Men” delivers a heartfelt story, but an anticli-mactic one at that.

The movie centers on a hodge-podge group of art scholars and professionals who are recruited to join a platoon whose sole job it was to find art pieces stolen by the Nazis and return them to their rightful owners. George Clooney, who co-wrote, stars in, and directs the movie, is Frank Stokes, the leader of the group. He is joined by Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban as they make their way across war-torn Europe on a treasure hunt for famous art.

Although the script gives him powerful dialogue, Clooney’s portrayal falls short; lacking the emotional depth and complex-ity that was hoped for, it comes across as stiff and shallow. He seems to have developed an on-screen personality that he inserts into each role, evident from the fact that it took me three fourths of the movie to stop calling his character George in my mind.

Instead of being an individu-al, unique character, he’s just George, that’s all.

But where Clooney fails, the minor characters shine. The au-dience is reminded of just how good an actor John Goodman is and that Bill Murray can be more than a funny face. The scenes that stood out are those centering on the pairings of minor characters: a run-in with a Nazi in a country cabin, a tragic scene in a Euro-pean church and a haunting scene from Christmas time in a military camp. Making up for Clooney’s lackluster performance, these minor characters are the heart of the movie.

The best part about “Monu-ments Men” was that it put the war in a different perspective. The men it focuses on weren’t soldiers, they weren’t fight-ing on the front lines, but they were fighting just the same; they were fighting for something entirely different.

“If you destroy an entire gen-eration of people’s culture, it’s as if they never existed. That’s what Hitler wants, and it’s the one thing we can’t allow,” narrates George – I mean Frank Stokes. It’s harrowing to think that this movie was based on a true story, that Hitler had his men destroy

hundreds of pieces of art because his sole purpose was to obliterate an entire race of people. What’s inspiring is that there was a group of men who knew that losing human lives was worth saving priceless art because that art was someone’s life.

The unfortunate bottom line of “Monuments Men” was that it just wasn’t great. It was slow, making the two-hour running time feel much longer. It wasn’t exciting. Action packed but not an action movie, dramatic but not a drama, amusing but not a comedy, I’m not sure it really knew what to be. That’s not to say that the story wasn’t great, because it was. The story is inspiring and genuine but, typical of movies like this one, the excellent cast and heartfelt story weren’t enough to keep it from falling flat. A general sense of predictability left this movie-goer wishing it had more. Though I desperately wanted to say it wasn’t, “Monuments Men” was simply average.

“The Monuments Men” is playing this week at the Prin-cess Theatre Uptown at 2 p,m,, 4:30 p.m., 7:15 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. everyday.

Also recording individual wins for the ’Hawks were Wagner, fresh-man Stephanie LeMire, Marquiss, sophomore Aubrey Kluth and junior Courtney Collett.

“It was a great meet,” head coach Mark Davis said. “It was good to see new people step up… Ohio’s a good team but they had injuries this season. I’m happy with the perfor-mance. It’s fun to send our seniors

off with a win. Now, we have time to rest and taper before we get ready for the MAC’s and the senior meet.”

Senior Michaela Scott said she is looking forward to the upcoming meets.

“It’s been fun swimming with this team,” she said. “But we’re not done yet.”

The women’s team returns to ac-tion Feb. 27 when it competes for a MAC title Geneva, Ohio while the men are back in Oxford Feb. 28 for the Ohio Senior Championships.

BASKETBALL, FROM PAGE 10

SWIMMING, FROM PAGE 10

5 TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2014www.miamistudent.net

CounterterrorismMaking a Smarter and More Humane Policy

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Reception to follow.

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The Finch Lecture in International AffairsSponsored by the Department of Political Science

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 • 4-5:30 pmHeritage Room, Shriver Center

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OU head coach Jim Chris-tian praised the play of Kellogg and Wilkins.

“These two [Kellogg and Wilkins] probably get up more [shots] than anybody on the team,” Christian said. “So the game eventually re-wards you, and that’s what happens. You’ve got to put the work in, and that’s why I feel so happy for them.”

Senior forwards Bill Edwards and Will Felder led the way for Miami with 19 points each. Felder also add-ed a game-high nine rebounds.

The loss to OU marks the sec-ond straight road game in which the RedHawks surrendered a substantial lead in the second half. Cooper said finishing games on the road is one facet of the game the ’Hawks still need to work on.

“Any time you go on the road, you

talk about conference play … it’s hard to finish,” Cooper said. “One of the things for us and where we are in our program is it’s about getting better, it’s about understanding what you have to do to be successful, how you have to win games and what it takes down the stretch, the execution and all those kinds of things. We’re not quite there yet.”

The RedHawks next return home to take on the Bulls of the University at Buffalo (13-7, 7-3 MAC).

The matchup to watch for in this contest will be Felder versus senior forward Javon McCrea. The 6-foot-7 McCrea is second in the Mid-American Conference in scoring at 18 points per game and leads the league in rebounding at 10.2 per game.

Buffalo is in a three-team tie for second place in the MAC.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The MiamiStudentis looking for

beat reporters and staff writers.E-mail news@miamistudent.net for

more information.

WRITERS WANTED.

EDITORSEMILY ELDRIDGE

NICOLE THEODORE EDITORIAL@MIAMISTUDENT.NET6 OPINION

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

PATRICK GEYSER THE MIAMI STUDENT

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

Rule of Thumb

Keeping off-campus sidewalks safe should be made a priority

Hockey team loss at homeIt’s the first time we have been swept at home since 2011.

Olympic lighting fail During the opening ceremony the fifth ring just didn’t light up... #sochiproblems

CHRIS CURME COMMUNITY EDITORJANE BLAZER COMMUNITY EDITORVICTORIA SLATER CAMPUS EDITORREIS THEBAULT CAMPUS EDITOR TOM DOWNEY SPORTS EDITOR

KATIE TAYLOR EDITOR IN CHIEFEMILY CRANE NEWS EDITOREMILY ELDRIDGE EDITORIAL EDITORNICOLE THEODORE EDITORIAL EDITORLAUREN KIGGINS ARTS AND EVENTS

Rush is over

Congrats to new members of Greek life. We hope you finally get some rest.

Shideler Rennovations

A prominent academic building gets a much-needed face lift. p. 2

“High temps” this week When we mean “high,” we mean a high of 34 degrees. Better than single digits though, right?

Early senioritis You may not have that many classes left to take... but it’s harder than ever to reach for motivation.

Milkshakes at Pulley DinerIf you don’t mind the calorie intake, get the Cookies n’ Cream shake.

The struggle is real for off-campus students attempting to walk to class, or anywhere for that matter. As the snow and ice pile up on Oxford’s 61 miles of sidewalks without much attempt by landowners, the city or resi-dents to shovel them, students have ditched the hazardous walk-ways for the cleared streets.

For drivers, it is frustrating and dangerous to dodge and weave around students on off-campus residential roads, but it is even more aggravating for students to have to choose between trudging through a foot of snow or walk-ing in the road at the risk of being hit by a driver who may not be paying complete attention.

Just as the university has a duty to keep its sidewalks clear on campus in order for students to successfully navigate to their destinations, landlords, residents and the City of Oxford should have a duty to keep sidewalks clean so students and residents can safely use them.

In an “urgent request to resi-dents and property owners,” by the City of Oxford on Feb. 5, they requested help from residents and property owners in keeping residential sidewalks clear of ice and snow. If our landlords mow our lawns and fix the outside of our homes, most of us have prob-ably been under the assumption that they will be taking care of the snow as well. But, regardless of whose job it is, the stretches of icy sidewalk indicate it simply isn’t getting done.

According to city ordinances, residents and property owners

have to keep the sidewalks in front of their homes clean. Even though failing to do so is tech-nically a misdemeanor, it’s dif-ficult for Oxford to enforce this ordinance or hand out fines due to recent Supreme Court rulings that say a citizen can’t be fined for natural events outside their control, such as the weather.

The Miami Student Editorial Board believes it is time for Ox-ford’s residents—which includes us students—to take responsibil-ity for ensuring sidewalks are made safe for those who are liv-ing off-campus, and not kept as an ambiguous gray area.

We are calling on students to be active citizens of this com-munity. We must all begin by calling our property managers to determine once and for all who is responsible for clearing the sidewalks, and then make sure it gets done. We also call on students to go beyond their mere responsibilities at times and just help each other out. As long as we are complacent and continue to do nothing, we’re all going to have to live with these sidewalks and the per-ils that come with them. If it is a landowner’s job to keep the sidewalks clean, then that con-versation is only going to take place if students take it into their own hands.

For now, crowds of students will be walking in the roads until we take action. The Board hopes students will make the decision to reach out to the city and to landowners in an attempt to take care of this issue. friend

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As support grows for the le-galization of marijuana, it is time

to consider l ega l i z ing all drugs in the Unit-ed States – heroin, LSD, crack, everything – and end the destruc-tive War on Drugs.

S u c h a notion seems counterintui-tive; marijuana is a natural sub-stance, has potential medical benefits and almost half of all American adults have used it. Moreover, a CNN poll found 55 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana.

However, consider this: a po-tent fentanyl-cut of heroin killed 22 people in Pittsburg. Heroin overdoses increased 84 percent in New York City from 2010 to 2012. Meanwhile, heroin use has almost doubled across the United States since 2007 from 373,000 users to 669,000.

This is not a war we are win-ning so long as we see drug use as a criminal problem instead of the health crisis that it is. As Lucy Steigerwald argued in Vice, jail time, police harassment

and the potential for dangerous product is only magnified by prohibition laws.

“Laws can’t stop people from using drugs, they can only make drug use a more harrow-ing experience for addicts,” Steigerwald said.

If one is too skeptical about legalizing all harder drugs, then the least we could do is make heroin use safer by making nal-oxone readily available to users.

Naloxone, hailed as a miracle drug, is an antidote for heroin overdoses. It has been in medi-cal use for 30 years and is ap-proved by the American Medi-cal Association. Yet, it has not been approved for over-the-counter use by the Federal Drug Administration.

Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose on Super Bowl Sunday. After his death, health professionals and policy advocates in The Atlantic and The New York Times argued that heroin use could be made safer.

Jeff Deeney argued in The At-lantic that while naloxone is not drug treatment, it might have saved Hoffman’s life.

“Dead people can’t get clean. Every reversed overdose is an-other chance at life,” he said.

Nobody should be caged for marijuana use, but neither should

they for snorting a line of co-caine or injecting a needle full of heroin into their arm.

First, there is the moral ele-ment. As autonomous human beings, we own our bodies. Therefore, we can decide to put what we want into our bodies. If such a course of action becomes an addiction, then it is a health problem, not a criminal one.

Republicans who fret about liberal paternalism regarding the welfare state do not seem to mind this strain of it in the enforcement of the War on Drugs. Democrats that lambaste conservatives for waging an invasive war on women do not seem to mind anal cavity searches in New Mexico for drugs.

Drug use can be foolish, but it does not have to be unsafe and it most certainly need not be the concern of the government.

Second, it is a matter of the law: we know prohibition does not work.

People generally look back on alcohol prohibition in the 1920s as a bad idea, but fail to see how destructive such prohibition of drugs is.

There is a reason you do not see Budweiser and Miller hav-ing gunfights in the inner cit-ies. Comparatively, since 2006,

63,000 Mexicans were killed on and around the border in drug-related crime. The United States has helped to wage this ineffective war on the Mexi-can drug cartels with the Mexican government.

“For the past seven years, Mexico and the United States have put aside their tension-filled history on security mat-ters to forge an unparalleled alliance against Mexico’s drug cartels, one based on sharing sensitive intelligence, U.S. train-ing and joint operational plan-ning,” said Dana Priest for the Washington Post.

Not only did violence increase with U.S. involvement, but the flow of drugs into the U.S. went on unabated. Ending the War on Drugs would go a long way to weakening the cartels.

Moreover, directing resourc-es, time and money to hunting people down and locking them up for what they put in their own bodies is an awful misallocation. Such time could better be spent on eliminating the rape kit back-log across the country and going after violent crime.

After 43 years of prohibition, millions of arrests and over $1 trillion spent on enforcement, what has the Drug War won us? The United States has the

highest per capita incarceration rate in the world. It also has a policy that disproportionally targets minorities.

Even though all blacks and whites use and sell drugs at similar rates, blacks comprise 74 percent of those imprisoned for drug possession.

Michelle Alexander published a provocative book, “The New Jim Crow,” which argued the War on Drugs is the modern day version of the Jim Crow laws that formed after the Civil War.

“The fate of millions of peo-ple—indeed the future of the black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial jus-tice to re-examine their basic as-sumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society,” Alexander said.

The War on Drugs from every conceivable angle – economics, social justice, morality – is disas-trous and a blight on the United States and its southern neighbor, Mexico.

Growing support for marijua-na legalization is exciting, but it does not go far enough to end the pervasive problems with drug enforcement.

Legalize all drugs, not because you condone drug use, but be-cause it is the right thing to do.

7TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014 OP EDwww.miamistudent.net

I remember my shoes hitting the morning pavement with cau-

tion as I ran out the tension, the four weeks of con-tained en-ergy and the anxiety that had built up within my body from the ab-sence of this

weekly ritual. Street police operated in si-

lence — not a soul wandered the crosswalks or the usual smoke-filled cafes. There were no car horns, no conversations, no no-ticeable smells-- just the smell of summer in Kosovo.

My heavy breathing, and the occasional wandering sparrow were all that existed at 5 a.m. I guess you could call this being “alone,” but I think of it as a

type of therapy. These exact mo-ments last summer are why I am a runner.

I saw the capital city of Pris-tina in a completely new way in the silence. The layers of the city began to peel off for me and this new layer was astounding. Koso-vo’s beauty emerged with each step I took. I saw the wounds and the neglect molding with trans-formation and the hidden reform that was taking place.

I think back to how my tired legs carried me to the lifeless soccer stadium, usually full of dedicated and die-hard fans, even though Kosovo hasn’t been recognized as a country by FIFA, so they can’t participate in the World cup.

I jogged past Ninety-One, an English pub where I occasionally got drinks, and up to the epicen-ter of Pristina life: Mother Teresa Boulevard. Forgotten popcorn and candy stands stood unlit, all the venders still at home, asleep.

I continued past another bar where I celebrated American Independence Day earlier in the summer, laughing full-heartedly, drunk off motivation and pride. “Go USA!” the bartenders had said to my American group and we yelled it right back.

I could feel a caged energy still present within me. The rest-lessness led me past the quiet Mosques I would often hear playing the ominous call to prayer at four in the morn-ing. Every morning I would lay awake listening to it from my bed and it would soon lull me back to sleep.

I ended up at the Old Market, usually bustling with wives and mothers buying fresh vegetables and spices, or young Kosovar’s looking to score electronics or soccer balls with their favorite team’s logo on it. The market was a mosaic of old and new rit-uals meshing comfortably with fresh smells of food, intense

haggling and curious looks. I was addicted to it.

I remember thinking back to the girl I was four weeks earlier at the same market, trying to fig-ure out how to buy spices, only having two or three words of Al-banian in my vocabulary.

Some stray dogs had been eat-ing what was left of someone’s supper from the previous night, one had started to even chase me as I ran by. His frightened, wild eyes did not surprise me.

Even the local canines were not used to some blonde run-ning around their streets at 5:30 in the morning.

I passed a row of tents as I ran back to the main road of Mother Teresa. There slept Kosovars on a hunger strike. They too wore a puzzled look on their faces by my activity as some of them ex-ited their tents. It isn’t common to see people running outside in Kosovo, much less a woman in shorts.

I still waved at them. “Mire-mengjes,” I mustered between short breaths, cold sweat drip-ping down the back of my neck. They nodded silently, still watch-ing me as I ran past them.

State workers were washing the streets and sidewalks with never-ending hoses in large trucks, an everyday ritual here. The water splashed up onto my calves and the silence slowly began to dissipate.

Pristina was waking up. Another day of passing bills,

NGO’s working endlessly to get Kosovo standing on its own two feet after a crushing ethnic war and thousands of Kosovar on their way to work, or trying to find work. Unemployment still stands at a devastating 35 per-cent for the country.

And then there was me, an average American woman searching for the next story hid-den within the overcrowded foreign streets.

NICOLETHEODORE

BRETT MILAM

NICOLE’S TWO CENTS

MILAM’S MUSINGS

Taking a look at the hidden beauty and imperfections of Kosovo through running

Marijuana legalization does not go far enough: All drugs need to be legalized

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some serious money.”Though the city cannot foot the

bill for private contractors anytime soon, many Oxford businesses employ them to keep their side-walks clear. President of Dewitt Construction, Dave Dewitt said his company has contracts with a num-ber of businesses Uptown and in Stewart Square.

“We used to do residential stuff too, but we just don’t anymore,” Dewitt said. “It’s all businesses, with the exception of some rent-al properties that happen to be above businesses.”

When it comes to clearing side-walks, one cannot be too careful, Dewitt said.

“There are liabilities if you clear a sidewalk, period,” Dewitt said. “If you shovel it, you’ve addressed a hazard and are responsible for what-ever happens.”

Robert Reddick, a Miami alum-nus and partner at Kisling, Nestico and Reddick, LLC in Akron, Ohio, confirmed that issues of liabil-ity can arise when citizens choose to clear the sidewalks in front of their homes.

“If in clearing it, you create a hazard that wasn’t there before, you could be held responsible,” Reddick said.

Creating a hazard could entail any number of things—shoveling away snow but leaving a sheet of ice ex-posed, packing down the snow with tire tracks, allowing a leaky drain-pipe to leak water onto the sidewalk creating an icy surface—but in or-der to win a case, the plaintiff would have to provide strong evidence for the fact that the conditions in which they were injured were not natural.

“The basic premise is that to have a property owner be responsible for constantly keeping their property clean of snow and ice is just burden-some,” Reddick said. “You’d liter-ally have to have someone standing by with a shovel at all times.”

So although issues of liability can arise if citizens unintentionally create hazards by shoveling their sidewalks, such cases are fairly rare, Reddick said.

All matters of legality, responsi-bility and liability aside, Frum said he hoped to see students behaving as active members in the community.

“Help your fellow community members, help your fellow stu-dents,” Frum said. “Talk to your property managers and figure out whose responsibility it is to clear the snow… But then, even if it’s not your responsibility, I don’t see why students couldn’t take five minutes to shovel their sidewalks or those of their neighbors.”

After Parker’s housemate broke his ankle playing broomball, the slick sidewalks in front of his home could no longer be ignored. So Parker has found himself a shovel and gotten to work.

“It says in our lease that we’re supposed to clear the sidewalks so I figured I’d better get it done,” Park-er says. “And maybe when I’m done, I’ll go shovel my neighbor’s sidewalk across the street.”

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teaching environment. “One of the concerns is the lab

safety in Shideler is outdated, and the safety of the students is impor-tant to us, so those types of things will modernized,” Powell said. “We are moving to a more flexible state of the teaching environments and at the time it was not designed for that, the classes that are taught there need that kind of change.”

Sophomores Shelby Rudloff and Laura Asbury, who have So-ciology 135 in Shideler, said they thought the renovations were much needed and were going to make having class in the building more enjoyable.

“I think that it definitely needs it,” Rudloff said. “I’m a psychol-ogy major so a lot of my classes are in the Psych building, which is

obviously one of the newer build-ings on campus, so it’s very ob-vious to me when I walk into Shideler just how old it is.”

Asbury said she hopes the reno-vations will include technological improvements in addition to some asthetic touch-ups.

“I know that our class in partic-ular has been having a lot of click-er problems, so the renovation would be nice because it would fix those problems,” Asbury said. “Also, the building just looks old, it could use some freshening up. It’s nice to see the academic build-ings getting updated now.”

Powell said for many years, academic buildings were the main focus of university renovation projects, but in recent years, this attention has been turned to dining and resident halls.

“Probably 70 percent of our residence and dining halls were in a higher state of disrepair than

we would like,” Powell said. “We spent many years and millions of dollars addressing the academic side, and we have to continue with that, you can’t just let it sit, but we did get behind on our residence halls so there is a plan now to ad-dress that situation.”

The renovations are set to begin fall semester next year, but Powell said a lot of dominoes need to fall before that can happen. The cur-rent renovation project of Krieger Hall needs to be completed so that the Physics department in Culler Hall can move in there, in order to free up space to move the classes from Shideler into Culler.

Powell said moving everything from Shideler into Culler will al-low teaching and research to con-tinue while the building is being renovated; and, if everything falls into place, as it should, the Shidel-er renovation project will be com-pleted by January 2016.

SHIDELER FROM PAGE 2

is to spread awareness of prin-ciples and movements from a republican political standpoint, but the club houses a spectrum of views.

“We have a decent mix of po-litical views in the organization,” Papin said. “We have members that are conservative, libertarian, and independent as well.”

The Democrats strive to foster a liberal environment through political dialogue, outreach and advocacy.

“We hold weekly meetings, and organize events and pro-grams to spread awareness of democratic ideals, discuss cur-rent events and the current politi-cal climate,” Urbancic said.

Whatever their views may be, the two sides enjoy

debating their viewpoints in Political Science Department- sponsored debates.

However heated these forums get, the two sides come together in more than just office space.

“Even though our views con-flict politically, we put on a rival blood drive together with the College Democrats every year,” Papin said.

This year’s blood drive, yet unscheduled, should happen at the end of February, Papin said.

Their views may be far apart, but any interested student can find the College Republicans and College Democrats very close together in their cozy Armstrong office space.

The College Republicans meet 7 p.m. Wednesday in 111 Harrison Hall.

The College Democrats meet 8 p.m. Wednesday in 011 Harrison Hall.

DEMS/REPSFROM PAGE 2

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The Miami University men’s bas-ketball team (9-12, 5-5 MAC) went into the locker room against the Ohio University Bobcats (17-6, 7-3 MAC) sitting pretty with a 15-point lead.

The good feelings would not last, however, as OU pulled no punches in a 50-point second half that left the RedHawks battered, bruised and defeated, 82-75.

Head coach John Cooper said Miami executed its offense with ef-ficiency in the opening period, but the ’Hawks were unable to do so in the second half.

“I felt that the game was really a tale of two halves,” Cooper said. “The first half, we were able to make shots, we did a really good job of penetrating and pitching and getting the ball into the right people’s hands and they were able to make them and we seemed to have a lot of energy.”

The ’Hawks shot 53.8 percent from the field in the first half and nailed seven of their 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. Fresh-man guard Jaryd Eustace was terrific from deep in the opening half, con-necting on four 3-point shots on his way to a career-high 14 points.

MU finished the half leading 47-32. Unfortunately for the RedHawks that lead would not last, as a combi-nation of a less effective offense cou-pled with a more relenting defense

doomed Miami down the stretch. Miami shot just 40.7 percent in

the second half, hitting only one of eight 3-point attempts. On the other end of the court, Miami allowed the Bobcats to shoot 59.3 percent. OU’s comeback was keyed by the back-court tandem of senior guards Tra-vis Wilkins and Nick Kellogg, who scored 23 and 27 points respectively. It was a career-high for both players.

“I thought that their [OU’s] abil-ity to put the ball on the ground

and break down our defense and of course to make the extra pass [hurt us],” Cooper said. “Wilkins and Kellogg really stepped up big and knocked down shots and then [ju-nior forward Maurice] Ndour be-came a factor inside and they opened up the game.”

Ndour finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

EDITORTOM DOWNEY

SPORTS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET10 SPORTSTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014

JOE GIERINGER NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE

ADDRESSING THE ISSUES WITH MIAMI HOCKEY

LAUREN OLSON PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORMiami freshman forward Anthony Louis looks to skate past Western Michigan defenders during Miami’s 3-2 loss Saturday to the Broncos. Louis is the team’s fifth leading scorer with six goals and nine assists.

HOCKEY

’Hawks swept at home for first time since 2011

RedHawks fall to Bobcats after relinquishing 15-point halftime lead

SWIMMING & DIVING

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The last time the Miami Uni-versity men’s hockey team did not make an NCAA tournament ap-pearance, I wasn’t even in high school yet (Hint: I’m currently 23). The RedHawks are in serious dan-ger of letting that streak end at eight appearances in a row.

In 26 games this season, Mi-ami is an uncharacteristic 10-13-3. The RedHawks are tied for last in the newly-formed National Colle-giate Hockey Conference, and they haven’t sniffed the Top 20 since Jan. 11, when, as No. 13, they were swept by unranked Western Michi-gan University – a sentence that should be cringe inducing and all too familiar to Miami fans.

It’s important to recognize the season isn’t over. The RedHawks still have time to make a run, and a tournament berth is still within their reach. We’ve seen it in hockey time and again (think the 2012 L.A. Kings). Still, it’s a valid question to ask what happened to get them in this position.

The short answer is I don’t have one. Despite his best efforts, I don’t think head coach Enrico Blasi does either.

The RedHawks began as a veri-table powerhouse this year. The pre-season No. 2 had all the indicators of a championship run. They lost just five seniors from 2012-13, and an insanely talented freshman class blossomed into a group of seasoned sophomores. After a hot start and a stint at No. 1 in the country, the ’Hawks have faded into obscurity and are considered by many a non-factor moving forward.

To be fair to Blasi and company, injuries have plagued his usually-stellar squad. Jimmy Mullin, who was third in team scoring as a fresh-man, was seen on crutches during Saturday’s matchup. Blake Cole-man has been inactive since he suf-fered an upper body injury in early December, though he still remains the fourth leading scorer on the team with only 17 games under his belt. Injuries, however impactful, do not exclusively result in 10-13-3 record.

The ’Hawks have seen decent point production from support players all season, with six indi-viduals in the double digits. Austin Czarnik and Riley Barber continue to be two of the best players in the NCAA, and by all accounts Miami has one of the most talented rosters in college hockey.

However, the ’Hawks are one of the smallest teams in the country and are consistently outsized by opposing teams. It was evident on Friday night against an aggressive – and enormous – Western Michigan. They jumped all over the ’Hawks in the first period, combining dev-astating open-ice hits with crushing corner play to drain Miami of any and all will, ending the game before it got started.

We saw it last year, when Miami got beat in the Midwest Region fi-nal by St. Cloud State University, 4-1. The Huskies dominated the much smaller RedHawks in all three zones, laying the lumber and finishing every single check avail-able. With hitting statistics not read-ily available, it’s not something easily evident, but if you look at the tape, it’s glaringly apparent, and it’s something that Blasi doesn’t value

as much as other coaches. Yes, miss-ing Coleman’s physicality hurts, but just look at Cody Murphy. He’s been an animal all year. The “Bulldog,” as I call him, comes to play and works his butt off game in and game out, but rarely is he rewarded with a power play role or a spot on one of the top lines. Players like Kevin Morris and Alex Gacek, too, are still searching for a level of good, con-sistent play that has eluded them so far this year. With five points apiece, and just one point in the last 10 games for Gacek, Miami will need more firepower from its third and fourth liners such as these two if it wants to turn around its season.

If it sounds like I’m dissatisfied with Blasi’s coaching, forgive my tone. He’s a Spencer Penrose Na-tional Coach of the Year winner, he’s taken his team to two Frozen Fours and was within seconds of winning a National Championship. He’s won at least 20 games in each of his past eight seasons (one of only three coaches to make that claim,) and is a four-time CCHA Coach of the Year. Those of you calling for his job or debating his effective-ness need to check into the nearest mental hospital and spend a few weeks sorting some things out. He’s one of the best, and even the best have their rough patches.

That being said, he’s not at the top of his game this season. Too often has Miami been outcoached, especially right out of the gate and in the third period. They’ve been plagued by slow starts, they’ve been outscored in the final frame and they’ve struggled to find consistent goaltending from arguably the best tandem of 2012-13. Ryan McKay has dropped from an incredible .946 save percentage down to a .914. Williams has dropped from .924 to an abysmal .897, and neither sports a winning record this season.

The biggest, and least talked about loss for the RedHawks this season might be in the defensive zone. Though captain Steven Spi-nell and Joe Hartman were not the most talented players on the team, they offered size and experience that this Miami team severely lacks. The ’Hawks look sluggish in the defen-sive zone, with sloppy passes and lost pucks in the corners that tend to result in less-than-desired outcomes, and headaches for a team that has all the promise in the world, but has de-livered on none of it in 2014.

Miami has eight games remain-ing and at this point, the win/loss category is almost entirely irrel-evant. All four teams ahead are Top 20 NCHC opponents, and even with four sweeps the RedHawks would likely be left on the outside looking in. They need quality, start to finish games, something that they haven’t produced all year. Blasi himself has admitted his team hasn’t played a full 60 minutes of RedHawk hockey.

The only way Miami extends their NCAA appearance streak to nine is if it captures the first ever NCHC championship, something that will undoubtedly be one of the toughest challenges of Blasi’s ca-reer. If his third and fourth line begin to turn up the play, and Blasi places physical play higher up on his list of imperatives, he and his boys may yet salvage the season.

BY JOE GIERINGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Miami University hockey team was swept at home for the first time since Oct. 27-28, 2011, losing 5-2 and 3-2 to National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) rival Western Michigan University.

This marks the fifth and sixth 2014 losses for the RedHawks and drops them to an overall record of 10-13-3, as well an NCHC report card of 4-11-1-1. That puts Miami in the basement with a .281 conference winning percentage and a -10 goal differential in conference play.

Western Michigan pulls ahead to 14-10-4 with the pair of victories, and is making a late season push for an NCAA bid under the tute-lage of ex-NHL coach Andy Mur-ray. The weekend wins give the Broncos a 4-0 season-sweep over the RedHawks.

“We just seem to shoot ourselves in the foot,” head coach Enrico Blasi said after Saturday’s contest. “Give them credit. They were a good team, obviously better than we were. They smelled blood and obviously took it.”

Friday’s contest got out of hand quickly, as sophomore goaltender Ryan McKay was pulled at 11:01 of the first period after allowing three goals on eight shots. The RedHawks managed to stay in the thick of things with a one-timer from fresh-man forward Anthony Louis on the power play just seconds into the sec-ond session, but a comeback wasn’t in the cards. Despite outshooting the Broncos 29-21, the Red and White lost 5-2.

Saturday night started differently, as Miami jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first frame. The initial strike was a one-two shorthanded punch from junior forward captain Austin Czarnik and sophomore linemate Ri-ley Barber at 9:14. The second goal came from sophomore defenseman Matthew Caito on the power play, which ended Bronco goaltender Lu-kas Hafner’s evening after 10 shots.

Despite the early RedHawk ef-fort, second period play looked all too familiar – and lackluster – to the fans at Goggin Ice Center. Western Michigan netted three goals on soph-omore goaltender Jay Williams, and another night of subpar goaltending led to a Bronco lead. The ’Hawks

didn’t have a third period answer, and Broncos completed the sweep with a 3-2 win.

The pair of losses dealt a crush-ing blow to RedHawk tournament hopes, which were already in jeop-ardy during this massive cold streak. Miami has made an NCAA berth in each of its last eight seasons, though at the present rate, that streak is in very real danger of ending. Miami’s final four opponents of the regular season are the University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University, the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the University of Denver. All four of those teams are ranked in the USCHO Top 20. Miami’s last hope is a strong finish, and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the NCHC championship – a daunting task, to say the least, given the present state of affairs.

“Nothing changes for us,” Blasi said. “We’ve got to continue to get better, and to find a way to deliver on the weekend.”

No Miami players were avail-able for comment after either game, nor were they available in the days leading up to the publication of this article

Women’s team wins ninth straight meetBY JORDAN RINARDSENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Miami University women’s swimming and diving team fin-ished the regular season on a nine-meet winning streak as it downed Mid-American Conference (MAC) rival Ohio University 186-111 on senior day. It is the second straight season in which the RedHawks (9-1, 7-0 MAC) went undefeated in conference play.

“This meet was really exciting,” senior Brianna Fujan said. “It was good to see some of the girls step up and take events.”

Senior Nicole Wagner said her time at Miami has been great.

“When we started, Miami’s pro-gram had a very strong tradition,” she said. “I think we have done a

good job of maintaining it and gotten it even stronger.”

The men’s team also wrapped up its regular season with a victory over Ball State University 135-93. The RedHawks (5-3, 2-2 MAC) snapped a two-meet losing streak with the win.

In the meet against the Cardinals, the Red and White took nine events with sophomore Jacob Prodoehl, sophomore Sean Neri, sophomore Christopher Dieter, senior Michael Cavanaugh, freshman Bryan Mc-Namara, freshman Maximilian Jelen and sophomore diver Michael Nash all winning events.

Also taking home wins was the team of Prodoehl, Neri, ju-nior Sam Crockett and senior Sam Flessner in the 400-medley relay. The team of Prodoehl, junior Joe

Baumgartner, freshman Grant Staf-ford and freshman Jack Strauss also won the 200-freestyle relay.

Miami took 11 out of 16 events against the Bobcats after dropping three of the first four, with senior Nikki Craft taking two diving events and freshman Kathleen Dodson winning two butterfly events. Se-nior Cynthia Donovan emerged victorious in the 50-meter free-style while also contributing to the first place 200-freestyle relay team along with sophomore Natalie Rohr, sophomore Sara Krueger and junior Annie Marquiss.

“It’s been awesome,” Donovan said of her time at Miami. “It was nice beating Ohio today.”

SWIMMING,SEE PAGE 5

BASKETBALL,SEE PAGE 5