ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 151 No. 2
In this issue
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
Student housing dilemma leaves more than 70 students displaced
Biden announces billion-dollar plan to reduce federal student loans LUKE MACY
STAFF WRITER CAMPUS & COMMUNITY Red Brick Friday: Streets & Eats welcomes students back to Oxford - page 4
final inspection to acquire the occupancy permit. “We have not done the final building inspection yet,” Potter said. “We’ve done different parts … like the hydro flush … but we’ve not done a final fire alarm inspection, or final inspection or final sprinkler system inspection.” On Aug. 11, the building failed a hydro inspection which tests that clean water is flowing through the sprinkler system, but the inspection passed the next day on Aug. 12. On Aug. 16, less than a week before the start of the semester, Myers personally called each of the residents to say the apartment would not be ready in time to move in and emailed them a list of resources for other housing options. Myers also said that they would receive full refunds on any rent and deposits already paid.
President Joe Biden made steps toward fulfilling one of his campaign promises when he announced current students and college graduates could receive up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness. In an address on Wednesday, Aug. 24, Biden said the Department of Education would forgive $20,000 in federal loans for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. Only those who make less than $125,000 a year are eligible for either, except in the case of jointly-filing married couples who make less than $250,000 per year. Livy Shaffer, who graduated from Miami in 2021 as a history and political science major and received Pell Grants during college, said the student loan forgiveness could help open options to those in debt from school. “Especially for someone who came from a single-income household, it’s just more manageable,” Shaffer said. “It also allows me to look at, because I want to go to law school … that kind of thing rather than just worrying about getting out of debt.” During his speech, Biden said the U.S. was falling behind other countries in terms of higher education. “For the vast majority of Americans, 12 years of universal education is not enough, and we’re going to be out-competed by the rest of the world if we don’t take action,” Biden said. “But here’s the deal: the cost of education beyond high school has gone up significantly. The total cost to attend a public four-year university has tripled, nearly tripled, in 40 years.” As of 2019, 13% of Miami University students had received Pell Grants, which are given to students with high financial need. Although Miami ranked lowest for percentage of Pell Grants among Ohio public universities, several students will be impacted by Biden’s announcement.
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FOOD What are the best places to eat on campus? Seven of Miami’s best dining halls and markets - page 7
MORE THAN 70 STUDENTS WERE FORCED TO SCRAMBLE FOR HOUSING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER BECAUSE THE CAROLINE HARRISON BUILDING ISN'T READY FOR MOVE-IN. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER
ALICE MOMANY
SPORTS Miami Volleyball season preview: What we can look forward to in the 2022 season - page 8
STYLE Four Trends That Oxford Is Rocking This Semester - page 12
ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR During the spring 2021 semester, first-year Molly Schneider and three of her friends signed a lease for their junior-year apartment that, at the time, didn’t even exist. The girls planned to live in a four-bedroom apartment at the Caroline Harrison Building at the corner of High Street and College Avenue. A few months after Schneider and her roommates signed their lease, construction began on the new apartment building, but one week before Schneider was supposed to start her junior year, her roommate got a call that they needed to find somewhere else to live. “One of our roommates got a call that [the apartments] were not going to be done for two, three weeks … and then my parents called the
apartment company asking what happened, and then they extended [the delay] from two weeks to a month,” Schneider said. Despite having more than a year to complete the building, the construction company, Robert Treadon & Associates, Architects, was unable to finish it — leaving more than 70 residents displaced. Inspections go wrong Schneider said Lindsey Myers, co-founder of West High Street Investments and owner of the Caroline Harrison Building, called her parents and said the building failed to get an occupancy permit after a failed inspection earlier that day. Myers did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Miami Student. Robbie Potter, a fire inspector for the City of Oxford Fire Department, said Myers has yet to schedule the
An Expert's take on the Dining hall pizza Is Actually No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats Good Now (And Other Observations About the Aramark Dining Transition) MEREDITH PERKINS COLUMNIST
PHOTOS COURTESEY OF JACK WEAVER, KENTUCKY KERNEL
JACK SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR
COLE PARKE
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR As the sports editor of the Miami Student, I’m really not an expert on anything, especially Kentucky Wildcats football. So I found one. Here’s what Kentucky Kernel sports editor Cole Parke had to say about the No. 20 Wildcats. JS: What are a couple of storylines Wildcat fans are talking about coming into this year? CP: Oh where to even start? First, the football program was granted significant renovations to the indoor practice facility and Kroger Field video boards. In agreeing to these facility upgrades, Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart caught the ire of men's basketball coach John Calipari when his men's basketball facility was not quite up to the standards one would expect a program like University of Kentucky (UK) to have. Press conferences were held, not-so-subtle jabs were thrown, it was a whole thing. Besides just the drama it created, both programs now face immense pressure to succeed or else face the scorn and mockery of many of their own fans who picked one side or the other. Beyond that, UK running back Chris Rodrigues Jr. is suspended for the first three games of the season after getting busted for DUI over the summer, as well as another legal issue that UK has not gone public with. With Rodrigues gone it will be interesting to see how the run game does and if the claimed
confidence (Kentucky head coach Mark) Stoops and Co. have in their backup RBs is warranted. Those don't even touch on the pre-season hype surrounding starting quarterback Will Levis as a prospect and what he could accomplish, either. UK football has quite a few storylines ongoing at the moment. JS: Are there any trap game whispers going through Lexington right now? CP: Not really, truthfully. I would say most people on and around campus are feeling fairly confident about Miami, but most were confident before Chattanooga last season as well and that didn't quite go UK's way with the Cats barely escaping 28-23. In fact, the fans and supporters themselves may be the ones falling into the trap more than any of the actual coaches or athletes, though how much of that is standard coach speak like 'we treat every game the same way' and how much of it is truthful is to be determined. I have heard quite a few rumblings that Miami's MAC rival, or brethren depending on how much conference-ism you're feeling, Northern Illinois could be a trap game, but with a road game in The Swamp in week two, Miami could have just as much trap-game potential as the Huskies even if Wildcat fans don't see that, especially with Gabbert under center for the RedHawks. JS: What can we expect from Penn State transfer Will Levis?
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Today I did something that, a year ago, I would have deemed unthinkable: I enjoyed dining hall pizza. Last year, I had many evenings in which I despondently resorted to cardboard-crunchy, stomach-wrecking dining hall cheese pizza. Dining hall cheese pizza was not a delicacy; it was what you ate on the rare occasion that everything else in the dining hall was somehow worse. Thus, the first time I bit into the Aramark margherita pizza, I was understandably taken aback by the fact that I wasn’t immediately disgusted. In fact, it was excellent: the cheese was melty, the spices were tasteful and the crust was crispy without feeling like cardboard. I threw my head into my hands and wondered, How the hell did I ever eat the old pizza? This change is only one of many major changes that have recently happened to Miami dining. With the transition to Aramark, our dining hall menus are full of new recipes and options. Beyond the new menu options, loosened COVID-19 restrictions have eliminated plasticware and paper cups. For the first time in my entire college experience, I can enjoy my dining hall coffee in a real mug and cut my food with a real fork and knife. With all of these new changes, you may be wondering: what food is good? What food is bad? And is dining hall fish still as mysterious as it has always been? For the past week, I have been sampling a variety of different meals from a variety of campus dining halls. Through my research, I have compiled a holistic review of our new dining options: the stand-out favorites, the disappointments and the reliably good options. The Stand-Out Favorites Zen Garden: This newly improved station at Garden Commons thoroughly impressed me. With rice, lo mein noodles, different stirfry options, sautéed shrimp, tofu, and various veggies, you can customize your own bowl. I was particularly enthusiastic to see the variety of sauces, including teriyaki, chili garlic, soy and — my personal favorite — sweet and sour. Everything in my bowl of brown rice, red peppers, chicken and broccoli was flavorful and cooked perfectly.
PHOTO BY MEREDITH PERKINS
Crispy chicken sandwich: The first time I tried one of these, I told my friends to leave the table and grab one for themselves. Cooked to a perfect crunch, this juicy chicken sandwich tastes fresh and pairs well with the saratoga chips. French toast sticks: These nostalgic-tasting delights are just one of the many great new breakfast options (and an overwhelming fan favorite among my friends) at Maple. I paired this with the wonderfully-crispy hashbrowns for a restaurant-quality breakfast. Maple bacon donut: I would rank the maple bacon donut among the best desserts our dining hall offers, along with the blackberry brownie treats, cherry pie and oreo pudding. Spotted in Maple and Western, these filling donuts make a great evening treat. Ham: I was skeptical about getting dining hall ham (cue flashbacks to rubbery, lukewarm ham from my first year of college), but I was truly surprised by the juiciness of the ham at Garden. I paired this with the mashed potatoes (also good!) and some veggies. It tasted like a delicious home-cooked dinner! Fries: Who doesn’t love a side of well-seasoned, crispy French fries? I dipped my French fries in some of Western Dining Commons’ chili and had an excellent chili fry dinner. Disappointments Mac and cheese: I tried two different mac and cheeses at both Garden and Western, and each dish seemed to lack the level of flavor I was looking for. Instead, I would recommend going for mashed potatoes or cooked vegetables. Tilapia: Last year, one of my favorite entrées was the crusted tilapia. The new tilapia at Western is no longer crusted, but served with CONTINUED ON PAGE 7