The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
VOLUME 138 NO. 6
Friday, September 10, 2010
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
In 1991, The Miami Student reported the Oxford Police Department debuted its bicycle patrol at the beginning of September. In the first three hours of the patrol, one officer wrote 16 tickets for various violations.
Underage drinking grabs city’s attention By Erin Fischesser News Editor
On the heels of recent national headlines, Miami University students are gaining attention once again for their drinking behavior. According to Oxford Police Department (OPD) Sgt. Jim Squance, the number of underage drinking arrests has greatly increased in the 2010-2011 school year. Since the beginning of August, Squance said there have been 102 reports of underage drinking in Oxford. During the same time period in 2009, that number was approximately 57 and in 2008 it totaled approximately 89. Oxford Mayor Richard Keebler has also noticed the increase in underage drinking reports. “It appears that there have been a lot of arrests and a lot of citations and I hope they keep that up,” Keebler said during a Sept. 7 city council meeting. “It continues to be disappointing to me to see the behavior that is coming from underage drinkers in this town.” Squance attributes the significant number of reports to nice weather and an increase in alcohol enforcement measures taken by OPD. “We’ve stepped up our alcohol
wSee DRINKING, page 5 SAMANTHA LUDINGTON The Miami Student
CAMPUS
CAMPUS
Dalai Lama tickets Student committee positions remain vacant sell out, university looks for more space By Courtney Day Campus Editor
By Amanda Seitz Campus Editor
Members of the public looking for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at Miami University tickets this past We d n e s day didn’t find any. After two days of open sale to Miami Dalai Lama f a c u l t y, staff, alumni and students, tickets for the Dalai Lama’s Oct. 21 lecture were gone, five days ahead of schedule. Over 10,000 seats were quickly ordered up by Miamians in anticipation of seeing His Holiness, according
to Claire Wagner, associate director of public information. Wagner said over 5,100 tickets were sold from 10 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. Sept. 1, the first day of sale. “This is an extraordinary situation,” David Keitges, director of international education, said. “Except for a pop music group, we don’t sell out Millet Hall very often … People thought it would be very popular. I don’t think we were aware how very exciting this was for so many people on campus.” But for those who are not part of Miami, chances of attending the Dalai Lama’s lecture are bleak. “There is a dramatic level of interest off campus to attend
wSee TICKETS, page 5
Vacancies are continuing in 30 of the 51 student positions on subcommittees of University Senate and Student Affairs Council (SAC). Only 28 percent of the available SAC committee seats designated for students are filled and only 54 percent of the spots are filled for University Senate committees. “This is a difficulty we face at the beginning of each year,” University Senate Executive Committee Chair Steve Wright said. “I don’t think we have a good system.” Wright said he was responsible for finding faculty and staff to sit on senate committees, and those positions are all filled. He filled these positions through active recruitment including word of mouth and e-mail announcements. While the system works for staff and faculty, Wright said the student recruitment system is not as effective. “We don’t have a good mechanism for getting students involved,” he said. Associated Student Government
THE
INSIDESCOOP
“NOT WITHOUT COUPS, BABY”
Kroger offers online coupons that can be loaded on your Kroger Plus card.
COMMUNITY, page 4
(ASG) is charged with the responsibility to help find and recommend students for appointment to these committees. “We are actively searching for students to serve on committees,” Student Body President Heath Ingram said. Ingram said ASG has sent e-mails over departmental listservs to advertise the positions, but there were fewer responses than he would like to see. The lack of student interest is not new this year. Several committees have expressed frustration with both lack of student appointments to committees and lack of commitment on the part of some appointed students. Ingram said some students who accept committee positions fail to come to meetings and fulfill their duties. Wright said some of the absences are because of schedule conflicts and there is absenteeism among faculty and staff as well. He said students who are unable to fulfill their commitments because of schedule conflicts or other reasons should notify the senate so the position can be filled by another student. “It’s hard for us to build incentives
WHITEOUT
Miami football prepares for its first home game of the season.
SPORTS, page 12
HIT THE DANCEFLOOR
DJ Sona opens up about his expeiences.
FEATURES, page 6
Specials on dog adoption won’t affect any Miami undergraduates.
COMMUNITY, page 4
FLYIN’ HIGH
AMUSEMENT, page 7
THUMBS UP?
Sat
Sun
78 q 51 p
WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NET SPORTS: SOCCER PREVIEW
Spots are still available for students interested in parking in the North Campus Garage.
COMMUNITY: METER INCREASE?
EDITORIAL, page 8
77 q 59
ONLY
u
CAMPUS: OPEN PARKING SPOTS
Check out our latest feature - Thumbs - that allows you to submit whatever you might see around Oxford.
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wSee VACANCIES, page 5
Miami’s soccer team will visit Tennessee for the Marshall Invitational this weekend.
Know the ins and outs of studying in a foreign country.
WOOF WOOF
and accountability,” Ingram said. He said both recruitment efforts and accountability need to be improved. “Recruiting students has to be a collaborative effort,” Ingram said. He said he has charged the ASG executive cabinet with the responsibility of seeking students to fill these positions, but the responsibility should not solely lie on one person or on a small group. He said the various committees could do more to help find students and committee members could tell others about the position to help recruit their own replacements. George MacDonald, assistant director of parking services, said he would like to see more students on the Student Traffic Appeals Committee. “I hope there’s a big list of people that want to be on it,” he said. The committee has 10 spots for students, but none of these spots are filled. Most of the other committees that have student spots only have positions for two students. “Experience has shown me that
Mon
83 q 53 p
City council will vote on a parking meter price increase at their next meeting. What do you think about a possible increase?