ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 163 No. 9
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2025
‘I feel numb to it’: The before and after of sexual violence on Miami’s campus
The real reason Miami doesn’t have sorority houses OLIVIA PATEL MANAGING EDITOR
THE MAJORITY OF COLLEGE STUDENTS WILL BE SEXUALLY HARRASSED AT SOME POINT IN THEIR COLLEGE CAREERS. PHOTO BY SARAH FROSCH
TAYLOR STUMBAUGH SENIOR CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY EDITOR Trigger warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault, violence and other sensitive WRSLFV WKDW VRPH UHDGHUV PLJKW ¿QG upsetting. Bella’s name in this article is an alias to protect her privacy and those involved. Hoye decided to use only her last name to protect her full identity, as well. Bella had spent only one weekend at Miami University before meeting a man in her honors dorm on Western FDPSXV LQ 7KH\ ÀLUWHG %DQ-
In this issue
tered. They even spent two nights together in his dorm room. She trusted him. That changed when she stayed over a third night. She said it was like any other time they hung out during the two weeks of knowing each other, peacefully falling asleep, some light cuddling. %XW LW ZDV GL̆HUHQW ZKHQ KH NLVVHG and touched her while she wasn’t fully awake. Bella said she didn’t have much experience with sex, so when he started to pull on her shirt and kiss her, she rejected him. But he didn’t stop. “Eventually I just kind of gave up and let him do what he wanted be-
PATRICK REAVES
In the shadow of snowcapped giants - page 12
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
The real reason why Miami doesn’t have sorority houses - page 5
“I thought I liked this guy, and I had never had sex before, so I didn’t really know, like, how things were supposed to go,” Bella said. Over the next couple of months, Bella struggled with school and completing everyday activities as she tried to understand what happened to her. Near the end of October in her ¿UVW \HDU WZR PRQWKV DIWHU WKH LQLWLDO incident, he started acting strange toward her. She said he would steal DUWZRUN R̆ KHU GRRU DQG KDUDVV KHU in their shared dorm hallway.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
5 Things I Learned as a Football Equipment Manager THE MIAMI STUDENT
GREENHAWKS
cause I was just so tired and I didn’t really know what to do,” Bella said. They had sex that night. What Bella said she experienced is shared by thousands of other survivors. Nearly two-thirds of college students are sexually harassed, and among college women, nine out of 10 victims of rape and sexual assault NQRZ WKHLU R̆HQGHU 0RUH WKDQ of the assaults go unreported, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Now a junior, Bella said at the time she didn’t realize she’d been raped.
When I got to college, I was simiODU WR PDQ\ ¿UVW \HDU VWXGHQWV DFURVV the country: nervous, a little excited DQG ZLWKRXW D GH¿QHG UROH RQ FDPpus yet. Transitioning from a small high school in Georgia was certainly intimidating. I tried to get involved in a few ways, including trying out for the club golf team and the mock trial team. After those didn’t pan out, I applied to be an equipment manager for our football team. I had done it in KLJK VFKRRO RQ D VLJQL¿FDQWO\ VPDOOHU scale and thought it might be fun. Although I was initially hired to only do laundry, it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. +HUH DUH ¿YH RI WKH PRVW LPSRUWant lessons I’ve learned during my time in the equipment room. 5. Learn quietly, but don’t be afraid to ask questions Being the new person in any setting can be discomforting. Everyone
else has a wealth of knowledge you KDYHQ¶W \HW DFTXLUHG ,Q P\ ¿UVW VHmester, I was purely helping with laundry, but during the second semester I started working practices and building my knowledge base. You can only learn so much without actively participating and asking questions about tasks you don’t know how to do. While I was around the team, I mostly kept my head down DW ¿UVW DQG ZHQW DERXW P\ ZRUN $Iter all, I was an equipment manager: Our job is to work behind the scenes to serve players, coaches and anyone else in the program. Miami University’s equipment WHDP ZDV D ELW GL̆HUHQW , DVNHG questions about anything and everything, trying to grasp the entirety of our operation. Eventually, I began getting noticed for my work, and the workplace became more comfortable. All of this is to say if you’re in a new job: stay humble and learn from those with experience, and people will notice and respect you. 4. No job is too small
This pairs well with the last lesson, and it’s pretty self explanatory. When you are starting out at a new job, you’re low on the totem pole. You get assigned the tasks that others with more experience grew out of. Accepting them willingly and doing them to the best of your ability is crucial to the team’s success and shows the commitment you have to your coworkers. While I was fortunate to have a good work ethic coming into college, doing the late laundry shifts and making sure our equipment room was clean helped reinforce it. We all have to forge our own career paths, and the faster we accept and excel at our introductory tasks, the faster we can take on more responsibility. 3. The job isn’t everything 7KLV RQH WRRN PH D ZKLOH WR ¿Jure out. I always had the perception that if I wasn’t at work everyday and outworking most of my coworkers, I wasn’t committed to the program. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
The birds and the bees are coming to Oxford PARKER GREEN ASST. CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY EDITOR
OPINION
Why can’t we keep our children safe? - page 10
SPORTS
‘They game me a chance’: How Brian Ugwu went from an uncertain future to an NFL draft prospect - page 7
When thinking about habitat loss, it’s easy to imagine a clear-cut rainforest, the mass destruction left beKLQG IURP D ZLOG¿UH RU WKH GULOOLQJ RI a pristine Alaskan nature reserve. But we rarely think about the local KDELWDWV 7KH QDWLYH ÀRUD DQG IDXQD disrupted by our daily human activLWLHV 7KH EHHV $ QDWLYH ZLOGÀRZHU not as pretty as its invasive counterpart. A humble chimney swift. These “smaller” losses greatly impact the quality of local ecosystems, making habitat creation and preservation incredibly important for several Oxford and Miami-based organizations. One of those organizations is the Miami University Audubon Society, led by sophomore Michelle Baker. The Audubon Society is involved in many avian-related projects, the latest of which is the construction of
a “bird tower” that will house local chimney swifts. “[Chimney swifts] have these funky hooked feet that make them unable to sit like other perching birds,” Baker said. “They have to hook on to the side of things.” She added that before humans came to North America, the tiny birds hooked on hollow trees. As people took over the area, they found a more stable habitat in chimneys, giving the birds their iconic name. Now though, DV KRXVHV ERDUG XS WKHLU ÀXHV RU VLPply construct new buildings without chimneys, the swifts have nowhere to go. Baker and her club members KRSH WR ¿[ WKDW “We build what is essentially a chimney-shaped structure so the swifts can roost inside, raise their young, and just generally [to] provide shelter while they live here during the summer,” Baker said. But why should Oxford residents and Miami students care about these tiny birds?
“Aside from just being an adorDEOH OLWWOH À\LQJ FLJDU VKDSHG ELUG they’re very avid insectivores,” Baker said. “Mosquitoes are one of their IDYRULWHV VR WKH\ À\ DURXQG DQG HDW all of these insects that carry bloodborne pathogens.” It’s humans who have interrupted chimney swift habitats not once, but twice, and it’s now up to humans to ¿[ LW The bird towers were successfully completed near DeWitt Cabin late last fall, long after the chimney swifts migrated south. Baker said she is optimistic that when they return, they’ll ¿QG D QLFH KRPH ZDLWLQJ IRU WKHP LQ Miami’sNatural Areas. The Natural Areas aren’t just home to bird towers, though. They’re also one of the key places where groups like the Wild Ones Miami Valley Chapter focus on restoring native plants. Carla Blackmar, who works with both Wild Ones Miami Valley CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
“The Mother of Fraternities.” At Miami University, approximately one-third of undergraduate students are members of Greek life, which comprises 27 fraternities and 26 sororities. This includes the IRXQGLQJ RI ¿YH VRFLDO *UHHN OHWWHU organizations, from which the university earned this nickname. The university is even ranked No. 15 on Niche’s 2025 Best Greek Life Colleges in America, beating out large Greek life schools like the University of South Carolina and Indiana University. Of the 24 Interfraternity Council fraternity chapters at Miami, 21 ocFXS\ R̆ FDPSXV KRXVHV DVVRFLDWHG with the university. These chapter houses allow second-year fraternity PHQ WR OLYH R̆ FDPSXV VR ORQJ DV they and their chapter are in good standing with the university. But sorority women do not have the same opportunity. There are two main rumors both sworn to be true by members of the Panhellenic community, which repUHVHQWV WKH QDWLRQDOO\ ḊOLDWHG VRURULWLHV 7KH ¿UVW PRVW SRSXODU rumor says that Oxford City Council considers a house a brothel if a certain number of women live in a single residence, hence the suggestion of a “brothel law.” The second rumor attributes the absence of chapter houses to a wealthy alumna who donated an extensive amount of money to the university with the stipulation that sororities could not ever build houses. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
The TikTok blackout: Why it happened and what Miami students think ISABELLA OLIVAS THE MIAMI STUDENT The date Jan. 19, 2025, had TikTok users counting down the clock in anticipation, wondering if the app would be permanently removed from their devices. Around 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Jan. 18, the app went dark hours before the original ban date. But why did 7LN7RN JHW EDQQHG LQ WKH ¿UVW SODFH and how did it make a comeback? The U.S. Supreme Court was concerned that TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, may have been stealing sensitive and private information from its American users. Justices and politicians alike said they believed that the Chinese government could access location information from its users, according to CBS News. The court said it also believed that the Chinese government was fueling misinformation and propaganda to American users through TikTok. The social media platform was also blamed for spreading antisemitism and racism. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims. When asked about collecting sensitive information from users, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew explained that users’ private information is stored on their device. In a testimony before the US Congress , Chew said, “We do not collect body, face or voice data to identify our users.” Despite the information provided by Chew, President Joe Biden signed the TikTok ban into legislation, giving Bytedance until Jan. 19 to either withdraw from American platforms or sell the app to an American-owned company, which was ¿UVW SURSRVHG LQ E\ 3UHVLGHQW Trump. Bytedance, refusing to sell the app, was banned from allowing TikTok access to American companies. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3