The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
VOLUME 138 NO. 30
Friday, January 14, 2011
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
In 1955, The Miami Student reported Dimensions, a new student publication, would print an issue that would be judged by the students and faculty. Dimensions was a student and faculty-written magazine dedicated to interdepartmental communication.
Hodge’s contract under review By Adam Giffi
Senior Staff Writer
Students won’t be the only people on campus spending time reviewing this semester. Miami University President David Hodge and the board of trustees will meet to review his employment agreement and begin to discuss renewal, extension or non-renewal of this contract. Hodge said he is unsure of whether he plans to pursue renewal of the contract, but he did make it certain he does not intend to exit out of his contract early. “My contract allows for two dates, one would be to finish in 2012 and the other
would be to finish in 2013,” Hodge said. “At this point, my expectation is to serve at least to 2013 and possibly longer if the board is willing.” Hodge Though the official date for the meeting has not yet been set, Hodge’s contract stipulates it must take place before June 30. Donald Crain, chair of the board of trustees, confirmed this contract review will indeed occur in the future and said it is not uncharacteristic of employment agreements. “The two parties will get together to discuss performance,” Crain said. “He’s
our employee. We are responsible for not only taking care of David’s needs, but also for talking to him about the goals and objectives of the university, which David has laid out, and making sure that these are being met appropriately.” Despite the upcoming meeting, Hodge said he will not be stressing about his contract. “I really don’t think about the contract too much,” Hodge said. “I just think about my commitment to Miami and the decisions we need to make in these challenging circumstances.”
Hodge’s ease of mind about his employment seems to match the board of trustees’ feelings on the matter. According to Crain, there is no obvious reason for the board to actively pursue a path of non-renewal unless it is what Hodge desires. “He’s done just a wonderful job for us and been an outstanding president and we are very lucky to have him,” Crain said. “I can say that I personally hope that he’s around as long as he wants to stay. I’ll just leave it at that for now.” Sophomore Ronald Kidwell has not been as satisfied with the job Hodge has done at Miami, but he admits he is not
positive how many of his complaints are about decisions made directly by Hodge himself. “The amount spent on new construction seems like a big waste of money,” Kidwell said. “Also, the direction he’s led the professors, which is seemingly towards more time researching and less time in the classroom, I feel is hurting the Miami brand.” Junior Rachel Smith said she hasn’t had any issues with Hodge and
MU implements transcript fee
For The Miami Student
SAMANTHA LUDINGTON The Miami Student
CAMPUS
Miami ranks 18 among ‘druggiest colleges’ By Amelia Carpenter Campus Editor
Students doing drugs on campus landed Miami University in the top 50 druggiest colleges in the United States, according to a Dec. 13 report by The Daily Beast. Miami ranked 18th out of 50 behind two other schools in the state, Ohio Wesleyan University at 10th and Kent State University at 14th, with an overall grade of C-. The top druggiest college was the University of New Hampshire. The Daily Beast, a news source and opinion website, published the report based upon available statistics and out-
side research related to drug law violations on college campuses. The report included information about each state’s drug use for 18 to 25-year-olds. In Ohio, the percentage of 18 to 25-year-olds using marijuana and cocaine is 28.74 and 5.83 respectively. There were 60 arrests for drug law violations on campus in 2009, according to Miami’s most recent crime statistics. Statistics for 2010 will be released in October 2011, according to Miami University Police Dept. (MUPD) Lt. Ben Spilman. The rankings were based upon the given data and student population. In 2009, the City of Oxford reported
150 drug related arrests, according to Sgt. Jim Squance. Those arrests include non-students arrested for drug law violations. Spilman said most MUPD arrests happen in and outside residence halls. “Typically we’re seeing marijuana, but (there has been) an increase in prescription drug abuse and other drugs like (oxycodone and Adderall),” Spilman said. He said the report could be a subjective one. “I’m not sure it necessarily reflects individual schools as accurately as what they really are,” he said.
wSee DRUGS, page 9
wSee CONTRACT, page 9
CAMPUS
By Shane Corcoran
Marijuana, a popular drug choice for some Miami students, has helped land the school on a list of ‘druggiest’ colleges.
reflected positively on his presidency. “I like President Hodge, he really seems to interact with the students well,” Smith said. “He comes to the games and smiles and high-fives the students and I feel that he really cares about the student body and what we’re doing.” Though the contract allows for Hodge to stay on the Miami team as a professor in the geography
Students requesting transcripts need to start getting their wallets out because the Miami University registrar has enacted a new transcript fee. The charge, which began in July 2010, is $12 per transcript. If a transcript is ordered online through the National Student Clearinghouse, the charge decreases to $8. According to Amanda Euen, associate registrar for operations, the charge is a common practice among universities. “Miami was one of the few universities still sending transcripts out for free,” Euen said. She also said the prices are based on average transcript request fees that are being implemented at schools such as Ohio University, Wright State University, The Ohio State University, Kent State University, University of Cincinnati and Cleveland State University. In 2010, Miami sent out approximately 52,122 transcripts, down from 60,793 the year before, a drop Euen attributed to the new fee. “The reduction in volume in 2010 compared to 2009 likely resulted from the implementation of the
$8 fee for transcripts,” Euen said. “With the implementation of the fee, we have seen fewer orders for 10-plus copies at a time.” Seniors applying to graduate school, internships or jobs are particularly affected by the charge, which has left some students bitter.
“With the implementation of the fee, we have seen fewer orders for 10-plus copies at a time.” AMANDA EUEN
ASSOCIATE REGISTRAR FOR OPERATIONS
“I’m glad that they’ve made it so our transcripts are available faster, but I think the amount of money that they’re charging is a little pricey,” first-year Gage Spears said. “I believe the school should be helping students out in any way possible, and charging us a high price isn’t the way to go.” Senior Chris Lyttle agrees. He said he doesn’t think Miami should be taking advantage of
wSee FEE, page 9