ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 167 No. 13
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2025
Fake IDs become harder to recognize as production moves overseas
S.B. 1 upends higher ed TAYLOR STUMBAUGH SENIOR CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY EDITOR
BOUNCERS, LIKE REGAN SPARKS, ARE HAVING AN INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TIME IDENTIFYING FAKE IDS, AS THE QUALITY OF THE IDS IS IMPROVING. PHOTO PULLED FROM THE MIAMI STUDENT ARCHIVES
CHLOE MCKINNEY EDITOR AT LARGE A few years ago, fake ID production in Oxford was isolated to residence hall rooms and off-campus houses. However, trends in fake ID culture have shifted in recent years, moving production overseas and increasing the quality of fake IDs accessible to Miami University students. Regan Sparks, a senior pathology major, started working as a bouncer at Bar 1868 last October. Sparks said she remembers the fake IDs her
In this issue
friends had their first year as flimsy, with the lamination often peeling off. On a busy night, Sparks said she comes across five to 15 fake IDs in a two-hour shift. Out of all the fakes she comes across, she said she only sees around one low-quality fake ID every other week. “I rely a lot on just how people carry themselves and what they're acting like,” Sparks said, “but I've noticed that [recognizing fake IDs now] is really challenging.” These new fake IDs are made with the same materials and machines that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles uses. They have holograms and en-
OLIVER HAHN COLUMN
Warbler birds hit travel troubles in Oxford - page 12
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
A sit down with the new student body president and vice president - page 4
OxVegas Chicken may seem, at a glance, to be just another chicken place, but at its core, it’s a model of Miami University graduate success. Located at 48 E. Park Place Ave., the business was opened by Miami graduates on Jan. 20, 2024. OxVegas set out to create a restaurant that would become an Oxford staple. Through carefully conducted surveys and interviews with Miami students, founders Jackson Trester and Tyler Storer, both former Miami students, settled on the idea of selling chicken. Through dedication to their business idea, they secured the necessary funding from investors that allowed them to live their dream of opening this restaurant.
SPORTS EDITOR
Miami’s foreign language programs shine in the face of adversity - page 11
SPORTS
Miami football starts spring practice ahead of the 2025 regular season - page 7
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This story is one of great success for two Miami grads. Trester and Storer were both students of the Farmer School of Business. Trester majored in finance, while Storer was a supply chain operations and management major. Both of these degrees were critical to their success in the business world. On its website, the Farmer School of Business said that it has a 99.6% post-graduation success rate for Oxford degree recipients in 2022-2023. Many people see a fact like this and think it’s impressive, but they don’t think much more about it. The success of OxVegas serves as a real life example of this post-graduation success rate. Storer and Trester happened to meet at a Farmer event, which allowed students to experience the different steps of creating a startup business. However, for Storer and Trester, it did much more than that. It helped set these two students at
the time on a path that would change their lives. Over 40 or more businesses have been started by Miami students even before they graduated, including OxVegas, as Storer was a senior when the business was launched. OxVegas stands as a testament to the impact of the education that we receive at Miami. It shows that our college is truly a place for growth, learning and new experiences. Through events like these in any department, students are able to meet other like-minded people who can become life-long friends and create ideas that can become a successful business like this one. Storer and Trester’s journey demonstrates the potential that Miami students have. As long as Miami’s commitment remains fulfilled to its students, there will be countless examples of success that follow.
Seven Miami University men’s basketball players announced their return to the RedHawks next season on X from March 20-27, while three players – redshirt sophomore wing Kam Craft, sophomore guard Mekhi Cooper and sophomore center Reece Potter – entered the transfer portal. The RedHawks are coming off a historic 25-9 season that brought them to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship for the first time since 2007, but they fell short against the University of Akron Zips. Miami brought in more than 20 wins for the first time since 1998-99. Miami’s roster consisted of just one graduating player: Dan Luers. The remaining players included four juniors, eight sophomores and three first years. The official Miami men’s basketball account announced the returns of junior guard Peter Suder, junior
forward Antwone Woolfolk, sophomore wing Eian Elmer, sophomore guard Evan Ipsaro, sophomore forward Jackson Kotecki, first-year guard Luke Skaljac and redshirt firstyear wing Brant Byers for the 202526 season. Each player shared a similar reasoning for his return: finishing the job by winning a MAC championship. “I think it goes back to that same thing: We just want to win that MAC championship, and we like it here,” Byers said. “How close we got without getting the result – I mean, we couldn’t have been any closer – that was a big draw for a couple of us to come back because we want to win that MAC championship.” Suder and Woolfolk arrived in Oxford last season as incoming transfers from Bellarmine University and Rutgers University, respectively. In his first season with the RedHawks, Suder emerged as the team’s top scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game and leading the roster with
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Miami named official university of the Cincinnati Bengals OLIVIA PATEL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
KETHAN BABU SPORTS EDITOR
94 free throws on 121 attempts. He scored 20 or more points during six games this season, including a career-high 42 points against Air Force Academy on Dec. 2, 2024. Despite playing his first year with Miami, Suder held more experience than most of the RedHawks in 202425. After his time in Oxford so far, he couldn’t see himself playing anywhere else next year. “I don’t know why you would want to leave, in my opinion,” Suder said. “I get that you could go in the portal and make a ton of money somewhere, but [like] a lot of people say, the grass isn’t greener at a lot of places. I’m super happy here at Miami. I’m obviously coming back, and the guys that are coming back are really excited as well for the next season.” Woolfolk averaged 7.7 points per game, and he proved to be a key component to the Miami defense that allowed 72.7 points per game, the third-lowest in the MAC.
On March 26, Miami University announced its partnership with the Cincinnati Bengals NFL team in an educational collaboration for internships, job shadowing, on-campus speakers and other opportunities. President Gregory Crawford met with Mike Brown, the owner of the Bengals, to complete the agreement at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, making Miami the “official university” of the Bengals. “This partnership is an excellent way to honor the legacy of Paul Brown, a legacy that has united the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami University for years,” Crawford said in the campus announcement on Wednesday. “We are extremely excited for Miami students to benefit from this unique relationship, and for them to add value to a first-rate NFL organization like the Bengals.” Paul Brown, the founder and original namesake for the Bengals’ stadium, graduated from Miami in 1930 and is an original member of the Cradle of Coaches. Brown played quarterback for the RedHawks football team until he graduated. He returned to collegiate football as a coach for The Ohio State University Buckeyes in 1940, before leading them to their first national championship the following year. He jumped to professional football as the first head coach of the newly-created Cleveland Browns in 1946. After an argument with Browns owner Art Modell in 1962, he left and formed the Cincinnati Bengals, who originally played in Paul Brown Stadium, in 1967. By the end of his coaching career, Brown accumulated 338 wins, 127 losses and 15 ties. Miami’s new partnership with the Bengals reconnects the original owner with his alma mater.
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7 men’s basketball players confirm return for 2025-26 season; Craft, Cooper and Potter enter transfer portal KETHAN BABU
OPINION
company, he gets the IDs for free. This is a common marketing tactic companies use to push out a product faster. “I don't really work for [the company],” Daniel said. “It's like a resale thing, so I get it for free. If I want one, I can just ask for one.” When it comes to bars trying to mitigate underage drinkers, some bars, like Bar 1868, choose to rely solely on their bouncers and bartend-
The success story of OxVegas Chicken: how Miami creates successful graduates
THE MIAMI STUDENT
GREENHAWKS
gravings and are made with polycarbonate; some even work with ID scanners. *Daniel, a mechanical engineering major, started selling fake IDs in October because it was an easy way for him to make good money fast. Daniel said the company he gets the fake IDs from online is based in China. The company charges around $35 per ID, which he then resold through word of mouth for $80 – turning a large profit. Daniel said in the last five months, he’s sold roughly 60 to 70 fakes. Now, because he has been such a consistent, reliable customer of the Chinese
Gov. Mike DeWine signed Ohio Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1) on March 28, effectively putting it into law. The repercussions have already made their way to Miami University. However, S.B. 1 officially takes effect at the end of June, according to University Communications. While the bill was making its way to DeWine’s desk, the Office of Liberal Education announced a name change over email to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) category in the course list, Degree Audit and Bannerweb. The Miami Plan Perspectives Area of DEI is being renamed Ethical Citizenship & Leadership (ECL). “This is a name change only,” the email stated. “It does not add any new requirements or impact your graduation hours.” However, in an email chain given to The Miami Student, one professor argued that it’s not simply a renaming. He wrote that the ECL designation carries a new set of student learning objectives which were created so courses with the old DEI designation would fit the new ECL designation. The ECL will be applicable to certain courses that wouldn’t have met the requirements for the old DEI designation. “I think [the name change] makes sense for what the bill proposes, but I do think it's kind of undermining the purpose,” Ta-Niyah Darden, a junior biochemistry major, said. Kali Barcroft, a first-year political science major, said she had a similar sentiment. “If that's their way of hiding it, then fine, as long as we're still representing those core values that DEI stands for and that Miami stands for,” Barcroft said. “If it's just the name change, then so be it.”