ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 170 No. 3
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2025
The Miami Student alums set to receive '18 of the Last 9' honor CAITLIN O’BRIEN THE MIAMI STUDENT
MIAMI UNIVERSITY'S SOLAR ARRAY AND FUTURE SUSTAINABILITY PARK SITS BEHIND WESTERN CAMPUS, SOON TO POWER FACILITIES AND LEARNING. PHOTO PROVIDED BY OLIVIA HERRON
An array of learning: New solar field powers campus and education SARAH KENNEL GREENHAWKS EDITOR
Nestled behind Hillcrest Hall on Miami University’s Western campus lies Miami’s newest energy initiative: a 2.26 acre solar array. After a $5 million donation from Miami alumni passionate about sustainability, and nearly a year of instal-
In this issue
lation work, the project is in its final phase of installation and is expected to be providing power to Miami starting this October. Director of sustainability Olivia Herron said the project, along with the Millett geothermal fields currently under construction, will reduce Miami’s emissions by nearly 10% and
SPORTS EDITOR
‘Struck Gold’: Institute of Environment and Sustainability welcomes new director - page 12
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
Miami’s Director of Student Wellness awarded the Rachel Hutzel Prevention Provider Award - page 5
OPINION
Why we should be worried about the end of DEI - page 10
SPORTS
Walking on to the unknown: How the fallout of the NCAA settlement affects Miami athletics and its walk-ons - page 6
said Joel Fellman, electrical engineer project manager. Herron said the project is special because it will power on-campus learning initiatives and physical facilities. While it is common for solar panel sites to be blocked off, Miami will open the park to the public. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Preview: Miami football welcomes UNLV to Yager for home-opener KETHAN BABU
GREENHAWKS
push it further toward its 2040 carbon neutrality goal. The array sits atop the existing western geothermal wellfield, putting the existing land to use in supporting two kinds of energy production. “We would never be able to build or do anything on top of this field, so this is the perfect opportunity to utilize this land for its peak value,”
The Miami University RedHawks football team will host its home-opener game at Yager Stadium on Sept. 20 for a noon kickoff against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels. Before their bye week, the RedHawks took their second loss against the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights. Miami’s offense outperformed its week-one counterpart, but dominating second and fourth quarters from Rutgers saw the Big Ten opponent win 45-17 on Sept. 6. Sixth-year quarterback Dequan Finn threw for 251 yards and one pick against Rutgers while netting 85 rushing yards. Finn and redshirt first-year running back D’Shawntae Jones rushed for one touchdown each, keeping the score within seven
early in the third quarter before Rutgers officially took command of the game. With one additional week without a matchup to prepare for this weekend, head coach Chuck Martin said the RedHawks worked especially hard on improving their consistency over the past two weeks. “It’s different,” Martin said. “We get two more practice weeks, and I think an experienced team like last year was kind of like, ‘It’s too early, you could use it later in the year when you have more bumps and bruises’ … But for us, can we spend two weeks [getting] more consistent? How much more consistent can we try to play our systems the way we want to play our systems against UNLV and force them to physically beat us.” After their back-to-back Big Ten road matchups, Miami returns to Oxford hoping to continue its home winning streak from last season. The
RedHawks successfully defended their home turf five times in 2024 and haven’t lost at Yager since last year’s Battle for the Victory Bell on Sept. 14. Miami is 12-5 at home in the last three years. The Rebels and the RedHawks will meet for the first time in either program’s history. UNLV became the only undefeated team left in the Mountain West Conference following its 30-23 win over the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins on Sept. 6. The Rebels are 3-0 and one of 39 teams in the nation that haven’t lost yet. Junior quarterback Anthony Colandrea played an efficient game against UCLA, throwing for 203 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
Heavier workloads push faculty to reconsider study away programs SOLOMON BOWSER THE MIAMI STUDENT Katie Caleodis spent her J-term in Hollywood. The senior media and communication major joined other students on a trip to the home of the silver screen as part of Inside Hollywood, one of Miami University’s study away programs. Over the course of three weeks, Caleodis and the other students toured studios for major production companies and interacted with media professionals and Miami alums in the field. Even though Caleodis is still considering her career options, she said she’s grateful for the connections she’s made with industry insiders. “Knowing that I have some really high-up people in certain companies that would vouch for me, and I know
that I could contact if I needed anything,” she said. “It makes all the difference.” Study away programs have provided opportunities to engage with professional industries for more than five years in cities all over the country, but changes to Miami’s teaching infrastructure have tested the only lifeline these programs have: faculty. As of the 2025 fall semester, Miami implemented new course load requirements, increasing the number of courses most professors are required to teach. Andy Rice, a professor of film studies and communications, led Inside Hollywood for three years until his final trip during this past J-term. He said his time spent working has slowly added up over the past few years, which meant spending less time on his work as a filmmaker. Now
he’s at a point where trying to balance personal projects and teaching a study away program has become impossible, primarily because the program is a huge amount of responsibility. “Well, it doesn't make sense for me to do Inside Hollywood anymore,” Rice said. “I mean, there’s no space for that.” Inside Hollywood will continue with Kerry Hegarty, an associate professor of film studies, as its new faculty leader. These programs are usually run by a single faculty member, with exceptions made for larger student groups. As program leaders are the only faculty assigned to the trip, they also take on the full responsibility of planning it. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Every year, Miami University Alumni Association recognizes exceptional alums with the “18 of the Last 9 Award.” Inspired by the school’s founding year of 1809, the award is presented to 18 remarkable alumni who graduated within the last nine years, who are oftentimes nominated by faculty. The journalism department was proud to have graduated two lucky recipients chosen this year: Madeline Mitchell and Reis Thebault. “I'm not surprised that they're receiving this honor,” said Joe Sampson, head of the journalism department. “They were deeply involved in their undergraduate experience … They're both very deserving recipients of this award.” Mitchell, who graduated in 2019, started her first year as an honors student with a double major in theater and interactive media studies. After some encouragement from friends she met abroad, she decided to join The Miami Student and fill the open writer spot. It was there she discovered her passion for journalism. That next fall semester, she added a journalism major and fell in love. In addition to her academics, she was extremely involved in extracurriculars. During her four years, she was the president of The Walking Theatre Project, a member of the MUDEC student executive board, a staff writer for The Student and a participant in the Geoffrion Fellowship and Undergraduate Summer Scholars programs. Mitchell packed her schedule tight to get the most out of college, and the experience paid off. After a successful internship at The Cincinnati Enquirer her senior year, Mitchell was offered a fulltime position right after graduation, where she started on the education beat. In February, she was promoted to the women and caregiver economy reporter for USA Today. In addition to her work in the journalism field, she continues to use her theater education to write and produce her own plays. “I made great friends and connections at Miami,” Mitchell said. “I feel like I had opportunities to be creative, to try different things. I would not be where I am now if it was not for Miami University, that’s for sure.” Thebault, a 2016 graduate, came to Miami with journalism and individualized studies majors. Similar to Mitchell, he was very involved on campus: he served as editor-in-chief of The Student, worked on RedHawk Radio, The Miami Public Radio Project and was a member of CAS Student Ambassadors. After his time interning at The Boston Globe and The Columbus Dispatch, he is now the West Coast correspondent for The Washington Post. He has covered a wide range of topics, including the L.A. fires, school shootings and a plethora of political stories. He said his countless hours writing for The Student aided him the most in getting to where he is today. “When journalists are good at their job, when they care about the work they're doing, when they think of it really as a public service – that's reflected in the work that they produce,” said Rosemary Pennington, chair of the department of media, journalism and film. “I think you see that in the work of both Reis and Maddie.” While the list goes on for both alumni’s favorite professors, the two who stood out were Pennington and Sampson. They both witnessed students in their classrooms become award-winning journalists. “The most gratifying thing is that I know how good our journalism legacy is, how good our professors and our graduates are and how good The Student is,” Thebault said. “So it feels great to be able to represent that.” Along with the 16 other alums, Mitchell and Thebault will visit Sept. 26 for the 18 of the Last 9 networking lunch to celebrate their accomplishments and connect with current students as well as their old friends still at the university. “They represent the best of our program and we're happy to welcome them back and celebrate their early career success,” Sampson said. obrie175@miamioh.edu