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CAMPUS
EDITORS REIS THEBAULT VICTORIA SLATER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
CAMPUS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET
TAYLOR WOOD THE MIAMI STUDENT
CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?
Soul2Souls, an all-men’s a cappella singing group, opened for Pi Sigma Epsilon’s Date Auction at Sidebar Tuesday night.The Date Auction raised money for breast cancer awareness.
Miami reflects on five student deaths this year
MU extends financial aid options for winter term BY LIBBY MUELLER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
BY EMILY CRANE NEWS EDITOR
The bells at St. Mary’s Catholic Church pierce the cold Oxford night with a mournful clanging. Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. The last students file in and find seats in the church’s packed sanctuary. It is Wednesday, Nov. 20 and Jaclyn Wulf’s memorial service is about to begin. Most of the rows are filled with Jaclyn’s sisters from the Alpha Xi Delta sorority who came to know Jaclyn when she participated in rush last January. “I knew the minute we hung out she was so much more than the shy, sweet girl I met during the preference round,” Jaclyn’s “Big,” Hanna Weigel, wrote in an email interview. “I couldn’t have asked for a better ‘Little.’” It was through the process of pledging Alpha Xi Delta that Jaclyn met sophomores Jane Spooner and Brooke Sabatelli who became her close friends and roommates in Swing Hall this year. “She had a gift of being able to tell if her friends were upset just by looking at us,” Spooner wrote. “If we were upset for whatever reason, she would do everything in her power to make us happy.” Together, the three enjoyed late-night dance parties in their room, hockey games and whole grain goldfish. “Jaclyn stood up for those around her,” Hanna wrote. “She was fiercely protective and wasn’t afraid to tell others her feelings.” Though Jaclyn always had a full social calendar, she was a driven student as well. She was a psychology major with aspirations of going on to
study neuropsychology in graduate school, Brooke said. Nonetheless, she always made time for midnight ice cream runs, trips home to visit her nephews and leaving notes on her roommates’ desks. Four nights before, several of the students now crammed into St. Mary’s had been with Jaclyn at a party. The following morning, she was found unresponsive in her room. Her Resident Assistant (RA), Ashton Spann called the Miami University Police Department, reporting that she had “had a lot to drink last night.” MUPD sent the Oxford Life Squad to transport Jaclyn to the McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital where she was declared dead at 9:42 a.m. Jaclyn is the fifth Miami student to die in the last 12 months. Ding. Andy Supronas. Dong. Nicole Sefton. Ding. Sean VanDyne. Dong. Jake Jarman. Ding. Jaclyn Wulf. One last peal from St. Mary’s bells and then all is silent. A year of loss “There is nothing so horrible as the phone call that comes to tell me about a student death,” Miami University President David Hodge said. “As a president and as a parents, it’s horrible, devastating. There are no adequate words to describe the sense of grief.” Hodge has received five such phone calls in the last year, beginning with the call about Andy Supronas Dec. 3, 2012. Andy Supronas At first glance, Ainas “Andy” Supronas may have come off as intimidating to some, weighing in
at 250 pounds of pure muscle. But behind the built exterior was a man who loved his cat, Ducky, and made regular trips home to Mason, Ohio to visit him. He loved fast cars and long workouts and never missed a party, according to his roommates. Originally from Lithuania, Andy’s family moved to Ohio when he was in high school. A natural athlete, Andy started his career at Miami on the men’s swim team, but later dropped out to play water polo recreationally. As a first-year, he pledged the Phi Delta Theta fraternity where he met two of his closest friends, Thomas Goldberg and JT Corcoran. “He had a heart of gold,” Thomas said. “He was loving, kind, generous. He was always the person to go to.” Andy was the sort to look out for his friends at any cost. “One time, there were these two girls he knew and this guy was being way too physical with them, so Andy took him on and all his friends and got two black eyes and a broken nose,” Thomas said. “He didn’t even hit the guy at first,” JT chimed in. “He was shielding the girls and the guy decked him.” Though Andy was always the life of the party, he had a quiet side he embraced in his budding career as a software engineer. He didn’t let his academics interfere with his social life but his natural affinity for learning got him good grades nonetheless. He even had an internship lined up with IBM for the summer, Thomas said.
DEATHS, SEE PAGE 5
Miami University’s first winter term offers new opportunities for classes and study abroad experiences, but these opportunities come at a price. In order to alleviate the financial strain on some students, the Office of the Provost has made institutionallybudgeted money available to assist students with financial need. Director of Student Financial Assistance Brent Shock said the level of financial need is based on student responses on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The financial aspect of winter term can be daunting to some students, according to Shock. “The financial pieces could be a challenge,” Shock said. “Under federal guidelines, federal, university and state aid is apportioned for the fall and spring semesters and there are maximums students can receive per year, so when you add a winter term, that may mean that there’s not additional aid available to students.” But Miami is making some extra support available, Shock said. “We are awarding some additional aid to students who have financial need,” Shock said. “It’s simply based on their level of need.” According to Shock, the university has recently started identifying these students and informing them of the additional aid they will receive. “We’re looking at students who have already enrolled in winter term, looking at the level of financial need and notifying
via e-mail,” Shock said. “There’s no application. We’re trying to make it as easy as possible. We want to make sure students know about that aid before the billing cycle.” According to Shock, the total level of financial aid Miami will give is not yet known because winter term enrollment continues to fluctuate. David Creamer, the vice president for finance and business services, said the implementation of Miami’s winter term achieves both financial and holistic goals for the university. “The goals have been both financial and offering more opportunities for students,” Creamer said. “When we built the budget, we didn’t really build much expectation of revenue beyond what it would take to cover the costs of the program.” Creamer said the additional revenue Miami receives will be small compared to regular fall and spring academic terms. “Institutions across the nation are looking for more flexibility rather than the rigid academic term,” Creamer said. “Students are seeing if options work for them.” Creamer said the university recognizes student concern over the affordability of winter term. However, winter term could lower the total cost of education in the long run for certain students, according to Creamer. “One of the ways we’ve looked at this over multiple years [is] students taking advantage of
AID,
SEE PAGE 5
ASC for the students, paid by the students BY NICOLE THEODORE EDITORIAL EDITOR
The nautical chandeliers are lit in the Shade Family Room, the soda fountains at the 24-hour Pulley Diner are ready for use and construction workers are putting the final touches on the interactive glass seal, located at the heart of the Armstrong Student Center. The intricate threads of ASC are seemingly coming together to reveal a masterpiece, yet there is still a key part missing. Well, $1.7 million in yearly fees, to be exact.
A $110 ASC fee will appear on upcoming spring bursar bills for all undergraduate students. This goes toward the $1.7 million and will remain an annual fee for upcoming semesters, like fees for the REC center and Goggin Ice Center. Approved in Sept. 2010 by the Miami University Board of Trustees and Associated Student Government (ASG), the fee will cover the bonds that constructed the center and future operating costs. “There was a financing plan put into place that was a mixture of each students fee plus funds
to be raised to fund the center,” said Associate Vice President for Budgeting and Analysis David Ellis. “The fee covers about 43 percent of phase one construction, and the remainder is covered by donations.” ASG has been rallying since the 90s to convince the administration to build a new student center, but understood that, along with fundraising and donations, students would also have to chip in. “I understood that in fact, with
ASC,
SEE PAGE 5
Brownell appointed VP for student affairs BY NICOLE THEODORE EDITORIAL EDITOR
AMANDA PALISWAT THE MIAMI STUDENT
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
First-years Maya Johnson and Christy Finney prepare for the their first college finals in King library.
Miami University has appointed Jayne Brownell as the vice president for student affairs, according to a university press release. She will officially assume the position March 1. Brownell, a Columbia University graduate, currently serves as the assistant vice president for student affairs at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. In this
position, she is responsible for more than 13,000 students. Miami’s vice president of student affairs must oversee a division of more than 150 employees in residence life, student activities, among others. Brownell has worked in depth in such fields, and because of this, President David Hodge said he believes she is an ideal candidate for the position for Miami’s vice president of student affairs.
“Dr. Brownell’s leadership and broad, innovative experiences are paired with her sincere warmth and enthusiasm for students,” Hodge said in a press release. “We welcome her to Miami.” Hodge said, as vice president of student affairs, one of Brownell’s top priorities is to provide programing about bystander intervention as a well as establishing a venue for non-drinking student activities.