ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 151 No. 14
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023
What is a ‘He always had a sunny disposition’: wrongful Remembering Bill Knight, death and two years later how does it ALICE MOMANY
SENIOR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR Content warning: This story contains mentions of suicide and death. When William "Bill" Knight first met Adriene Kelly, he knew that he was going to marry her one day, but she didn’t know that. Adriene was working in a frozen yogurt shop when she first met Bill. Bill was a customer, and he spilled yogurt all over the floor. Adriene was upset at the mess and yelled at him, but she made sure to set aside his favorite flavor of yogurt so there was some left, even though he had spilled it. Bill would later tell Adriene that he was impressed by her kindness and smile. Throughout their 28 years of marriage, Bill and Adriene enjoyed traveling together, going out to breakfast on the weekends and trying new foods and restaurants. “When Bill was traveling, he was in his element,” Adriene wrote in an email to The Miami Student. “Some of my favorite memories with Bill are special memories from our travels.” They were each other’s biggest supporters. Bill worked in academia at various Midwest institutions, and Adriene followed him wherever he went. “We were partners, and I supported him in his career, wherever that led us,” Adriene wrote. ‘He was always about fixing things’: Knight’s previous colleges In 1996, Bill was hired at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) as the director of Institutional Research (IR). Before Bill came to BGSU, there was no IR office, and he spent 15 years developing the program from nothing while serving on several dissertation and thesis committees.
In this issue
Denise Davidson, now a professor at the Bloomsburg University campus of the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, had the opportunity to learn under Bill while she was a doctoral student at BGSU. “He always had a sunny disposition and wanted to be helpful and useful, and the classroom environment sort of reflected that,” Davidson said. “I never dreaded going to class.” In 1994, Bill met Victor Borden at a conference for the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Borden and Bill were members of AIR and remained in communication, running into each other at various conferences. “I’m sure it’s not the same without him because he really was about educating the next generation,” Borden said. “He paid it forward, IN 2022, BILL KNIGHT WAS POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED THE JOHN STECKLEIN DISTINGUISHED MEMBER AWARD BY AIR. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ADRIENE KNIGHT. paid it backward, paid it in all directions.” This is how Bill spent most of his sometimes I take things for granted, ‘He had a lot of grace’: Knight time: researching the things he did like how beautiful the campus is and at Miami not know. what a unique place we have.” Bill came to Miami University “What was fun for me was to A year after Bill was hired, he in March 2019. He spent his lunch see those things through his eyes, would help navigate faculty and staff hours discovering new parts of the as somebody who was just learning during the unprecedented times university, noting things he had nevabout the campus,” Jeffrey Wanko, a brought forth by the COVID-19 paner seen before. professor of mathematics education demic. at Miami, said. “It reminded me that CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Katia Del Rio-Tsonis: newt-hing will stand in the way of her research
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY From Oxford to Ukraine: A winding trip with an unplanned ending - page 2 SPECIAL SECTION In this class, students solve puzzles, not math problems - page 8 ENTERTAINMENT The best songs to get you through finals week - page 10
RIO-TSONIS STARTED STUDYING SALAMANDERS BECAUSE SHE WAS INTERESTED IN CANCER RESEARCH. PHOTO BY SARAH FROSCH
TAYLOR STUMBAUGH SPORTS Miami synchronized skating teams shine on national, international stages - page 12 HUMOR Common purchases from Miami University notables revealed - page 14
STAFF WRITER
Unlike people, a newt can lose part of an eye and regenerate it in a way that is functional.
STAFF WRITERS
OPINION I love that Miami is a liberal arts school - page 17
PHOTO The characters of Oxford's neighborhoods
- page 18
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
It’s Bananarchy at Battle of the Bands EMILY SIDERITS TAYLOR STUMBAUGH
STYLE These three Oxford boutiques are closet staples - page 15
In her lab, Katia del Rio-Tsonis, a biology professor at Miami University, is doing research to understand how newts, salamanders and embryonic organisms are able to regenerate tissue, specifically in the lens and retina.
“They have some amazing powerful abilities to regenerate, and that is why the newt is my favorite organism to work with,” Rio-Tsonis said. Rio-Tsonis, along with Michael Robinson, a biology professor at Miami, and Justin Saul, an engineering professor at Miami, is doing this research in hopes of one day inducing regeneration in human eyes. “If you have an eye disease or an injury that destroys your retina, there's nothing we can do for you, and so if we can get humans to regrow retinas, that's a big deal,” Robinson said. Rio-Tsonis said Robinson’s lab mostly works with lens and lens development. In collaboration with Robinson’s lab, they have done gene editing to specific stem cells to try and mimic what the salamanders are doing when they regenerate.
The atmosphere Uptown started calm on Saturday, April 15, before erupting with excitement as the 2023 Battle of the Bands began. The event, organized by Miami University’s Guitar Club, ran from 3-10 p.m. and brought Miamians and townies alike together. Battle of the Bands started during the COVID-19 pandemic, having people submit their performances online. The club has been coordinating the battle ever since. Throughout the event, people lined up for the food trucks, Chicken Cone and Kona Ice. Even in the heat the crowd was chilling on blankets in the grass and standing around the park, listening to music and hanging with friends. Thirteen groups initially applied, but only 10 could make it on Saturday. For the first time, they were all entirely guitar club-affiliated bands. Jake Zickerman, a senior mechanical engineering major and president of the guitar club, spoke on the goals of the club. “It started as a guitar focused organization and has turned into a mu-
sic appreciation club for people that want to express themselves [and] want to listen to music,” Zickerman said. “We have a simple motto: play, learn, listen.” The music attracted many crowd-goers who were unaware the event was even happening. Michael Condon, a first-year student at the University of Cincinnati, was walking Uptown with his twin sister Kenzie when they decided to stop and listen.
“Yeah, I heard Red Hot Chili Pepper[s],” Condon said. “So I just came over here.” The battle began with Dust and Guitars, followed by the band Kings of the Stone Age. The evening finished with Bananarchy and Tachyons. “We finalized our setlist today, and we chose the last song today,” said Ethan Verderber, a first-year in the duo Fish Wish. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
MIAMI'S GUITAR CLUB HOSTED THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS LAST SATURDAY IN UPTOWN. PHOTO BY SARAH FROSCH
affect those involved? KASEY TURMAN STAFF WRITER
Miami University and several current and former administrators have been sued for wrongful death. This uncommon term comes with more questions and requires more explanation than a speeding ticket or littering. What is wrongful death? In Ohio, wrongful death is a civil lawsuit against a party or individual “after a death that occurs due to another person’s or party’s ‘wrongful act, neglect, or default,’” according to Ohio Revised Code 2125. A wrongful act is often described as an act of violence or assault against the individual, and neglect relates to legal negligence from a company or organization. Negligence is described as “A failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances,” according to Cornell University. Both wrongful acts and negligence can be done by an individual or a group. This creates an opportunity for an individual and the company they are associated with to be involved in the lawsuit. Who files, when and against whom? The only person that can file a wrongful death lawsuit is the individual named as the personal representative of the estate of the deceased person in the lawsuit. This means that the plaintiff is a surviving family member or an executor named in the deceased’s will. There is a window of two years after the date of death that a wrongful death lawsuit can be filed. In Adriene Knight v. Miami University et. al., Miami’s Board of Trustees, Jason Osborne, Lindsay Carpenter and Ruth Groom, the plaintiff, Adriene Knight, filed the lawsuit one year and 364 days after the death of her husband, William “Bill” Knight. A wrongful death lawsuit is able to combine an overarching group like Miami University and the individuals involved because a singular person can commit wrongful acts while the organization can commit negligence. Because Miami is a state university, the lawsuit was also filed in the Ohio Court of Claims. The Court of Claims works as a legal defense for entities under the state of Ohio and includes the Attorney General. If a lawsuit proceeds in the Court of Claims, the verdict will be decided as a bench trial rather than a jury trial. This is determined by Ohio law and gives the judge the final word. “In the event that a lawsuit makes it decided by a judge to be seen by the Court of Claims and makes it through the system, the defense will have the support of the Attorney General, Ohio lawyers and their own private lawyers,” Gus Lazares, a trial lawyer at Rittgers, Rittgers and Nakajima said. In a lawsuit that was dismissed in March of this year, the family of a student at The Ohio State University sued the university for wrongful death after their son was shot and killed on campus. The lawsuit was filed against the university as a whole rather than an individual because it related to university rules and safety surrounding fraternity houses, not specific individuals inside the organization. The lawsuit was filed exactly two years after the death of the student. What happens in the lawsuit? Unlike other civic suits, wrongful death requires a standard of truth rather than proving something beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that the jury has to find that the alleged events are more likely to have happened than not. According to the U.S. Courts, “To prove an element by a preponderance of the evidence simply means to prove that something is more likely than not. In other words, in light of the evidence and the law, do you believe that each element of his/her [claim/counterclaim] is more likely true than not.” “In a criminal case, the outcome could be prison or death in some state,” Lazares said. “In a wrongful death case, there is only money on the line. That makes the stakes lower which makes the evidence needed lower.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 3