November 7, 2017 | The Miami Student

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Volume 146 No. 11

Miami University — Oxford, Ohio

Climate Survey failed to gain enough response SURVEY

ANNA MINTON

THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Campus Climate Survey closed on Nov. 3, after an extended deadline, due to lack of participation. Despite the extended time, the survey only received a 24.2 percent response rate, making it ineligible for an official analysis. The survey was created to judge both the faculty and students’ perspectives of Miami’s campus climate, according to Denise Krallman, co-chair of the Campus Climate Working Group. “Campus climate is how we perceive our comfort level, our relationships with each other,” said Krallman. “It’s part of the experiCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

DAVE DABNEY, RAPPER FOR OXFORD BAND THE WRONG CROWD. READ THE STORY ON PAGE 6. BO BRUECK THE MIAMI STUDENT

STUDENT’S SLUR SPARKED STORM ON SOCIAL MEDIA INCLUSION

JULIA PLANT

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A Facebook post made on Wednesday, Nov. 1 has raised significant attention to issues of racism and discrimination at Miami with over 500 likes and shares in the past five days. “So, Miami University student, Thomas Wright, described black students as a ‘n----r’ in a GroupMe chat,” junior, Da’Vante Montgomery wrote. “There’s about 500 black students out of 16,000 at Miami. This is what we deal with DAILY! I dare all of the white students to hold him and the UNIVERSITY accountable.” The post went further to discuss the steps the Miami community needs to take to address what Montgomery believes to be a racist culture on campus. “Are we surprised? Hell no!!! But we are about to make him famous,” Montgomery wrote. “It’s time to have a serious conversation about being BLACK AT MIAMI UNIVERSITY.” Screenshots of Thomas Wright’s message were attached to the post. Wright commented numerous times on the Facebook post that if anyone personally messaged him, he’d explain himself. “I’ve talked to faculty and I’ve talked to students. I’m owning up to what I said. I’m ashamed. I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry,” Wright said to TMS. “I want people to

know that I’m taking steps to learn from this and steps to educate those that don’t understanding the meaning of the word. This has put things in perspective.” When asked whether or not the university would take disciplinary action against Wright, Susan Vaughn, director of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution said in an email that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects students’ privacy with regards to disciplinary records. For Montgomery, this issue is not about Wright, but rather a much larger institutional problem. “Thomas Wright is just one person who represents a much larger problem,” he said. “We want to make famous the fact that these things are happening at our university and the fact that Miami is not holding people accountable.” One of the active commenters on Montgomery’s post, sophomore Justinee Adams, also spoke out against the lack of accountability at Miami when it comes to racism. “I was pretty shocked at the outright racism,” said Adams. “We’re supposed to be one community and it doesn’t make it easy when people voice different opinions like that.” There will be a Black State of the Union forum at 7:11 p.m. tonight in McGuffey Hall 322 in response to this event and to continue the conversation about inclusion at Miami.

Ben Eaves: Forever a hockey player PROFILE

EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR

Ben Eaves will always be a hockey player. He may sit at his desk above Miami hockey’s weight room as a student, on a medicine ball leading a workout as a coach or on press row watching a game as an analyst, but Eaves will always be a hockey player. “It’s almost like your first sweetheart, your first love,” Eaves says. “You know it’s never going to last forever, but you just have the fondest memories and you

know it’s a great experience of your life.” But then, of course, hockey players stop playing hockey. Eaves, 35, is now Miami University Hockey’s Director of Human Performance and Wellness, a title that he even recognizes as too regal and very fancy. Eaves works with players in the gym and on the ice as a development coach. He says he’s always learning and reading about teaching college players how to play the game they love. Eaves has hockey in his blood. His father Mike, former center for the MinneCONTINUED ON PAGE 11

BEN EAVES LOVES BEING A COACH BUT WILL ALWAYS LOVE BEING A HOCKEY PLAYER. ANGELO GELFUSO THE MIAMI STUDENT

Sophomore indicted for sexual assault charges CRIME

CÉILÍ DOYLE

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Students were informed via an electronic campus crime alert from the Miami University Police Department that a sexual assault had occurred in Heritage Commons on Oct. 12. The initial email, sent out on Oct. 19, indicated that MUPD was still investigating and searching for a college-aged, Asian-American male with brown eyes and brown hair, around 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. Two weeks later, sophomore Nicholas Cristescu stood for one of his first hear-

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ings on Thursday, Nov. 2 in the Butler County Area I courthouse in Oxford. Cristescu appeared before the judge sporting an orange Butler County prisoner jumpsuit. Both his hands and feet were shackled. Cristescu was initially charged with one count of rape and sexual battery, five counts of pandering obscene material to a minor, one charge of voyeurism, one charge of marijuana possession and one charge of marijuana paraphernalia. The five charges for pandering obscene material were merged by the state into an amended class one misdemeanor for disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.

CULTURE P.5

A NOTSO-SWEET TREAT Reining in Sprinkles, Miami Equestian Team’s crankiest horse.

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Cristescu plead guilty to the misdemeanor as well as the charges related to marijuana possession and paraphernalia in the courthouse last Thursday. His sentencing for those charges was continued to Thursday, Dec. 14 at 1:00 p.m in the Butler County Area I courthouse. However, the charges for rape, sexual battery and voyeurism were all dismissed by the state in the Butler County Area Court system, because Judge Robert Lyons cannot hear felonies in Oxford. Instead, Cristescu was indicted by a grand jury in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas on one count of rape, one count of sexual battery and 11 counts of voyeurism, according to publicly avail-

able court records. His arraignment hearing for the rape, sexual battery and voyeurism charges was held on Monday, Nov. 6 in Hamilton, OH at the General Division Court. During the procedural-based hearing, Cristescu’s bond was set for $75,000. As of right now, Cristescu is still registered as a student at Miami according to Claire Wagner, director of university news and communications. Updates on Cristescu’s court proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas will be available at miamistudent.net. doyleca3@miamioh.edu @cadoyle_18

OPINION P. 12

SWEETIN HIT THE MARK WITH LECTURE The ‘Full House’ star was candid about her struggle with addiction.

SPORTS P.14

FIELD HOCKEY MAC CHAMPIONS The team finished with an undefeated conference record.

NOVEMBER

WESTERN COMMONS 5:00–8:00PM