ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 152 No. 3
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2023
Miami holds on to enrollment rates as national decline hits colleges across the country
Stay prepared: A guide to Miami’s active shooter policy ALICE MOMANY SENIOR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR
MIAMI ADMISSIONS ARE ON THE RISE AS MANY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE SEEING A DOWNWARD TREND. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER
OLIVIA PATEL STAFF WRITER )RU SUR¿W DQG FRPPXQLW\ FROleges are facing declining college admissions year after year as the number of students seeking a path of higher education declines nationally. The two main reasons for this phenomenon are a continuous dropping birth rate leading to an overall smaller demographic of students, and the fact that fewer and fewer students are graduating from high school. This trend is impacting college admissions all around the country, but not here in Oxford. Brent Shock, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, said Miami Universi-
In this issue
ty saw a record number of students enroll following the pandemic, with D ¿UVW \HDU FODVV RI VWXGHQWV in 2021, pulled from a pool of more than 36,000 applicants. This was a 14% increase from the year prior — a dramatic jump from the pre-pandemic years, where admissions barely reached the 4,000 mark. $FFRUGLQJ WR WKH 2̇FH RI ,QVWLWXWLRQDO 5HVHDUFK DQG (̆HFWLYHQHVV Miami received 29,990 applications IRU ¿UVW \HDU DGPLVVLRQ LQ WKH IDOO RI 2021, with 4,519 students enrolled. Out of the near 30,000 applications, 15% of all applications ended in an enrolled Miami student. In 2023, Miami received 33,912 applications, and 4,046 became Miami students. The percentage of
applications that became Miami students decreased from 15% to 11.9% from 2021 to 2023. ³$W 0LDPL ZH KDYH NLFNHG R̆ DQ intensive marketing campaign titled ‘We Will,’ where we have worked to expose the Miami brand further and further out,” Shock said. He added that Miami is looking to advertise to students outside the Midwest bubble, in places like the east coast, Texas and Georgia. The “We Will” campaign is not the only initiative Miami took to increase admissions following the pandemic. Bethany Perkins, assistant vice president and director of Admissions, said Miami has also been working to make sure students who deferred for
a year remember why they chose MiDPL LQ WKH ¿UVW SODFH “It is very important to us that students did not lose sight of their goals after deferring, and we really worked to ensure that Miami was their ultimate college choice,” Perkins said. Low enrollment across the country While Shock said that Miami is keeping applications and enrollment high, there is currently a national decline. Miami is part of a network of colleges that will have to deal with a decrease in the pool of students. On Thursday, Sept. 7, Miami’s President Greg Crawford and Provost Liz Mullenix held a faculty CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Danny Fisher knows that he belongs on the PGA Tour KETHAN BABU STAFF WRITER
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
‘People and Policies,’ episode one: Jason Bracken, city council candidate
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GREENHAWKS
Hike-a-Thon 2023: Celebrating the development of Oxford Area Trails
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Over Labor Day weekend, the RedHawks’ golf team traveled to Michigan to compete in the Island Resort Intercollegiate. The RedHawks, ranked 145th in the country, played against other golf programs from around the country, including Michigan (130), Illinois State (109), Coastal Carolina (105) and North Texas (103). Though the competition was tough, the RedHawks placed fourth out of 11 teams. Miami’s top scorer, Danny Fisher, led the team to their victory, shooting for 207 over three URXQGV DQG SODFLQJ ¿IWK LQGLYLGXDOO\ Fisher has earned a number of accolades during his time at Miami. This past week, Fisher was named Athlete of the Week in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Over the summer, he played in the US Amateur Championship, his biggest tournament so far. In 2023, Fisher was named to the All-MAC Second Team for the second year in a row. Also this year, he was recognized as an All-American Scholar
DANNY FISHER HOPES HIS ACHIEVEMENTS WILL HELP HIM LEAD REDHAWKS GOLF TO VICTORY. PROVIDED BY WILL COREY
and named MAC Golfer of the Week twice in March. His individual achievements stand on their own, but Fisher is more concerned with the RedHawks’ performance as a team this year. “My individual accomplishments are what they are,” Fisher said. “I care more about the team’s performance. We were disappointed to SODFH ¿IWK LQ WKH 0$& ODVW \HDU :H
lost by 12 shots over three rounds to ¿UVW SODFH ´ )LVKHU¶V ¿UVW H[SHULHQFH ZLWK JROI came when his grandfather took him to the course when he was 8 years old. He continued to play basketball, baseball and soccer but started to take golf more seriously when he got to high school. For him, a sport like golf makes the individual player CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
The Three Valley Conservation Trust: A staple in conservation in Southwest Ohio SPORTS
How numbers are changing the game of hockey
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RUDER PRESERVE IS JUST A STONE’S THROW AWAY FROM YAGER STADIUM. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER
SAM NORTON ENTERTAINMENT
Modern day, modern experience: How phones affect concerts
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GREENHAWKS EDITOR Southwest Ohio is a region rich in fertile agricultural land fed by dozens of streams that crisscross the landscape, with pockets of protected forest and grassland reminiscent of pre-settlement ecosystems dotting
the map. Behind hundreds of plots and thousands of protected acres is the Three Valley Conservation Trust, D QRQ SUR¿W ZLWK GHHS WLHV WR WKH 2[ford community. Founded as a trust in 1993 to “preserve open land in the Four Mile Creek Valley in southwest Ohio,” Three Valley now owns or helps to
preserve more than 24,000 acres of land in Southwest Ohio. The trust has also assisted private landowners in receiving nearly $40 million in state and federal funding through easements. “We want to make sure that the ecosystem services on that property and the habitat on that property remain at least as good as they are when we get it or get better,” said Randy Evans, the executive director of Three Valley Conservation Trust. Three Valley undertakes a wide range of conservation projects, including water quality monitoring, native habitat restoration and property management. Through easements, they have allowed hundreds of property owners to transform their land into more functional and healthy ecosystems. “It's our way of making sure that water quality increases, air quality increases in the area [and] biodiversity increases in the area,” Evans said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
This story contains mentions of gun violence. On Wednesday, Alert Carolina, the mass alert system for the University of North Carolina (UNC), VHQW D QRWL¿FDWLRQ WR VWXGHQWV RI DQ “armed or dangerous person” after “a man allegedly brandished a gun after an employment-related conÀLFW ´ 7KLV FRPHV MXVW WZR ZHHNV DIWHU ṘFHUV UHVSRQGHG WR D FDPpus-wide shooting at the university that killed three individuals. In response to the recent incidents at UNC, The Miami Student has compiled this list on Miami University’s active shooter policy. For a full list of emergency procedures and contacts, visit the Miami University Police Department’s (MUPD) website. If an active shooter is outside If an active shooter is outside the building, MUPD urges students, facXOW\ DQG VWD̆ WR VHHN VKHOWHU SUHIHUably a room where both doors and windows can be locked, and turn R̆ WKH OLJKWV 1R RQH LQ WKH URRP VKRXOG EH DEOH WR EH LGHQWL¿HG IURP the outside of the building. Someone in the building should LPPHGLDWHO\ FDOO DQG FRQ¿UP the location to the dispatcher. MUPD advises students not to leave the room until administration or poOLFH FRQ¿UP WKH WKUHDW LV JRQH If an active shooter is inside If an active shooter is inside the same building, MUPD again urges VWXGHQWV IDFXOW\ DQG VWD̆ WR IROORZ the same procedure as if the shooter was outside the building. The police department encourages students, IDFXOW\ DQG VWD̆ WR VHHN WKH QHDUHVW room, preferably one where both doors and windows can be locked, DQG WXUQ R̆ WKH OLJKWV (YHU\RQH LQ the room should get as close to the ÀRRU DV SRVVLEOH DQG UHPDLQ RXW RI sight from windows and doors. If the room cannot be locked, identify the nearest location that can be safely reached and secured, although MUPD emphasizes waiting to leave until it is safe to exit the building. If an active shooter enters the room If an active shooter enters the room that you are currently in, MUPD urges students, faculty and VWD̆ WR WU\ WR UHPDLQ FDOP 6RPHone in the room should dial 911 and inform the dispatcher of the location. If you can’t speak, keep the dispatcher on the phone so they can hear what’s taking place. MUPD says attempting to “overpower the shooter with force should be considered a last resort.” What to expect MUPD is trained to head immediately to the scene where shots were last heard. Their goal is to stop the shooting as soon as possible. According to MUPD’s active shooter SROLF\ WKH UHVSRQGLQJ ṘFHUV ZLOO arrive in teams of four. They may be dressed in bulletproof vests and tactical equipment and may be armed with guns. ,I ṘFHUV DUH GLVSDWFKHG LW LV LPSRUWDQW WR GR DV WKH\ WHOO \RX 2̇cers will ask you to keep your hands YLVLEOH DW DOO WLPHV 7KH ¿UVW ṘFHUV to arrive on the scene will not aid with any injuries, but rescue teams will be dispatched, as well as emergency medical personnel, to treat and remove injured individuals. Police will not let anyone leave the crime scene until the situation is under control and it has been announced that the threat is over. The ṘFHUV PD\ DVN \RX TXHVWLRQV EXW it’s important to remain calm and answer as you experience the events. Emergency alerts This year, Miami launched its RedHawk Alert messaging system to provide emergency communicaWLRQ WR VWXGHQWV IDFXOW\ DQG VWD̆ RQ Miami’s Butler County campuses, which includes Oxford, Hamilton, Middletown and West Chester. Previously called Omnialert, the emergency messaging system sends texts directly to individuals’ phones about immediate danger facing the entire campus. It provides quicker notice than the safety bulletins sent to university emails. Guests and visitors can opt-in WR UHFHLYH QRWL¿FDWLRQV ZKLOH YLVLWing campus by texting “muguest” to 79516. momanyaj@miamioh.edu