The Miami Student Oldest university newspaper in the United States, established 1826
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013
VOLUME 141 NO. 17
MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
TODAY IN MIAMI HISTORY In 1981, The Miami Student reported the return of former university president Phillip Shriver, who had recently sent chills down the spines of 200 students with his lecture on “Miami Mysteries.” Shriver shook up the crowd of curious listeners by recalling the rumor of an ax murder at Oxford College, a frightening legend he later admitted was completely fake.
Miami sophomore dies on Oxford train tracks BY KATIE TAYLOR EDITOR IN CHIEF
Today the Miami University community mourns the loss of 19-year-old sophomore Jacob Jarman, who was found dead on Oxford railroad tracks early Saturday morning. The Oxford Police Department (OPD) continues to investigate, according to Sgt. Jon Varley. “During the investigation, they’re going to try to determine if it was deliberate or an accident,” he said. “To do that, we’ll check phone messages, talk to friends and go back as far as we can to see if there are any issues with relationships, etcetera … they’ll check all that and see if there were any known issues.” OPD found Jarman’s body at 9:13 a.m. on the tracks east of the intersection of South College and Foxfire Drive. Oxford Township Police Department, Miami University Police Department and CSX railroad personnel provided additional support.
Jarman’s time of death has not yet been released. In the last eight years, five individuals have died after being hit by a train in or just outside Oxford, according to Varley. Including Jarman, four of those individuals were Miami students. Varley explained that the train tracks in Oxford are the private property of CSX Transportation. “With the miles and miles and miles of track they have, there’s no way to [regulate trespassing],” Varley said. “If they see there’s a problem in a certain area, they’ll address that area.” CSX Railroad System Production Team Mechanic John Theodore, who has worked for CSX for 12 years, said people often underestimate the danger of moving trains. “Train safety is extremely important,” Theodore said. “People get complacent around trains ... The rate of their speed is misleading.” OPD attended the autopsy this morning and is awaiting the
toxicology report. It has not yet been determined whether alcohol played a role in the student’s death. “If it can be determined that [underage intoxication] was a direct causation or direct factor, then yes, it will probably be acted on,” Varley said. “And if there was clearly somebody responsible, they could also end up being charged.” A second-year transfer student from Greenwood Village, Co., Jarman lived in Hahne Residence Hall and was studying journalism and communication. President David Hodge addressed the Miami community with a statement on Twitter. “We mourn the tragic death of a Miami student this weekend. Our hearts go out to the family in their grief,” Hodge said. Jarman’s family has been notified and is en route back to Colorado for his burial. With additional reporting by Chris Curme, Community Editor.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
DAMIEN WATSON, KEVIN RAITH
Young Oxford residents take part in Safe Trick or Treat Oct. 24.
Mysterious Miami: a guide to secret campus haunts BY KENDALL HUTCHISON
FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT
CHRIS CURME COMMUNITY EDITOR
Miami sophomore Jacob Jarman was found dead on Oxford railroad tracks early Saturday morning.
Keeping the faith: Student organizations call for equal religious accomodations BY CONNOR MORIARTY population is Chinese who culturally the Jewish population, but also, true & MARIAH SCHLOSSMANN are not religious.” to our values, emphasize the need to FOR THE MIAMI STUDENT
As a university where the main religion is Christianity, Miami is making efforts to promote a more religiously diverse campus and increase awareness to more religious groups. According to the 2011 Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Survey that addressed the religion of registered first-year students, 32 percent identify as Roman Catholic, and approximately 65 percent identify themselves as some Christian denomination. Co-campus director of the Miami Navigators, a Christian group on campus, Mark Smith said he is not surprised that the majority of students at Miami identify themselves as Christian. “The majority of the country is Christian,” he said. “Miami’s campus seems to holds true to that number.” 77 percent of the adult US population identify themselves with a Christian religion according to the Gallup Daily Tracking Survey, an organization that tracks nationwide statistics. Mormonism and Judaism follow that percentage at 2.1 percent and 1.7 percent of the population respectively. Smith said he believes that part of the religious diversity on campus can be credited to Miami’s demographics. “Being mostly caucasian students from the suburbs, there isn’t a cultural precedence for interest in Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism, etcetera.” Smith said. “And the vast majority of our international
Aminata Coulibaly, treasurer for Muslim Students’ Association (MSA), said MSA does not receive adequate attention from Miami. MSA’s goals are to create a place for Muslim students to gather and learn about the religion in a community setting, while teaching the Oxford community a little more about Islam. “Having to accommodate and pay attention to all religious groups on campus can be a lot of work, Coulibaly said. “However, it would be nice to have more interfaith dialogues on campus.” She also said Miami could accommodate for MSA and their faith better by allowing more diverse food options in campus dining halls. “Having halal/kosher food options at the food places on campus will be very helpful to us,” Coulibaly said. “Many of us become vegetarians when we live on campus, because we are unable to eat the food provided at the halls.” Currently MSA has 40 active members and prays in their office in MacMillan, but the nearest mosque is in West Chester, about 50 minutes away from Miami. Marcy Miller is the Executive director of Hillel at Miami, a non-profit Jewish cultural and educational organization that welcomes Jewish and non-Jewish students alike who strive to serve the Jewish student population as part of a campus community. “We specifically provide Jewish students with opportunities to explore their history and heritage, while helping them to understand the universal components of being Jewish,” she said. “We not only serve
help others in the world.” According to Miller, there are about 1,000 Jewish students on campus, and about 500 of those students currently utilize the resources and opportunities provided by Hillel. Though there is no synagogue on campus, Miller said she believes that Miami is and has been open to bringing the diverse campus community together as a collective effort with Hillel and the many other groups that make up Miami. “Each and every one of us is diverse in some way,” Miller said. “My hope is that all of us can come together to share our thoughts, customs and beliefs, whether those are secular, cultural or religious.” Miller said one of Hillel’s goals is to help and coexist with others and to not impede, and that is what has shaped their partnership with Miami. Hillel often host events open for anyone to come. “We host Breakfast for Dinner the first Tuesday of each month in the Hillel/Arthur Beerman Center which is open to all,” Miller said. “And Saturday there [was] a traditional Jewish wedding in MacMillan Hall for anyone to experience.” Sophomore Interior Design major Leah Gray said that she believes that students in Miami are often unaware of the various religious groups on campus and the events that they provide. “I couldn’t tell you the names of three religious groups,” Gray said. “I think it would be helpful for the groups to publicize themselves and the events they host outside of Shriver so [students] can stay informed.”
Halloween offers a night of mystery and horror and a time to recall the multitude of spooky disappearances, murders and urban legends in Miami University’s past. Miami’s 200-year history is full of strange occurrences at different sites that the university has acquired throughout time. “I heard about all of Miami’s urban legends even before I arrived at school,” junior Stephen Bowman said. “Some of them are really freaky, and I could definitely understand why students would be scared in certain dorms after what happened there.” According to the Miami’s “History and Tradition” website, one such incident transpired the night of May 9, 1959 when Roger Sayles, the Resident Assisant (RA) in Reid Hall, which was demolished in 2007, disrupted a fight between two residents. The events after that are unclear, but eventually a gun went off, killing Sayles. As the legend goes, Sayles fell backwards against a door where his bloody handprints were said to be visible for years after. The assailant then fled to neighboring Ogden Hall where he committed suicide using the same gun. “I first heard about this story freshman year when a group of friends were telling scary stories about Miami,” Miami junior Maggie Babuder said. “I thought it was really cool that people still pass down stories like this today because it helps to keep out schools history alive.” Another well-known story, according to “History and Tradition,” is the disappearance of Ron Tammen Jr, a sophomore who lived in Old Fisher Hall. Before Miami acquired it in 1952, Old Fisher Hall had previously been the home to Oxford College for Women and was then converted to a mental asylum. Tammen, who was heavily involved on campus, was a member of the wrestling team, and the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He was last seen around 8 p.m. on the night of April 19, 1953. Tammen’s
roommate came back later that evening and discovered his psychology book laying open on his desk with all of the room’s lights still on. No one thought anything of it until the following day when he did not return. Today, Tammen’s whereabouts are still unknown, as some believe he ran away, while others think he was murdered. “History and Tradtion” also tells one of Miami’s most notorious spooky stories, one that took place in Peabody Hall, which had originally been a part of the Western Female Seminary. The hall’s namesake and head of the school, Principal Helen Peabody, was very protective of her female students and was suspicious of the male Miami students wandering onto her campus Upon her death, she has been said to still guard Peabody Hall, as many students have seen the image of a ghostly female figure floating through the halls. Since then, the dorm has caught fire twice, and was remodeled each time before the women’s school merged with Miami in the 1970s. Today, it is said she is present on occasion to watch over the women who now live in the dorm, and to scare away the men who she sees as trespassers. Junior Alex Windsor, who lived in Peabody Hall her freshman year, said she first heard about the ghosts who supposedly resided in the dorm the summer before starting school through the “Accepted to Miami University,” Facebook group. “There were many rumors about what actually happened there as different people said they had seen ghosts,” Windsor said. “A lot of times during the year if you were in the hallway in the night, the lights will flicker on and off which reminded me of a scene straight out of the horror movies.” According to a Miami Student survey of 100 students, 36 percent said they have experienced paranormal activity on campus. Whether that activity is rooted in Miami’s rich past is unclear; however the university’s 200-year history is riddled with spooky encounters and haunting incidents that will endure into the future.