ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 149 No. 19
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021
Barstool RedHawks makes controversial karaoke post
Low income citizens ery hundred Oxford households with an income at or below 80% of the area median income, a benchmark used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine who
SHR-HUA MOORE STAFF WRITER It was a karaoke night at Brick Street Bar and Grill on March 23. Students were singing onstage; the large LED screen was broadcasting sports with infrequent transitions to the news. One such transition that night showed a broadcast of the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings, creating a scene of students singing karaoke and having fun while images with the exact opposite tone of the shooting victims played behind their unsuspecting backs. Someone took a video of this, zooming in on the news broadcast at the end of the video. The Barstool RedHawks instagram account posted it with the caption “matching energies at karaoke night.” Barstool Sports is a company that posts funny and satirical videos related to bars and drunk college students, and the @barstoolredhawks account
rent. Sam Perry, Oxford’s community development director, said the high cost of living comes because Miami dominates the local economy. The university pays the bills for over 3,000 found that 17,000 of Oxford’s 23,000 residents are students. “The town was created to support the university – to have a place for people to live that both worked for and were associated with the university,” Perry said. “It’s not like a river town or a railroad town where there was commerce happening, so I think the issues with housing have to do with that history.” Miami has long had a reputation
not connected to Miami University or any local businesses. The post was quickly taken down after it started receiving comments from people who found it more hurtful than humorous. However, it was screen-recorded by a student and reposted, leading to outrage and disgust from members of the Miami community. Barstool Redhawks did not respond to requests for a comment. Sadie Hartzell is a junior psychology major who immediately commented and saved the video after she saw it while scrolling through her Instagram feed. She reposted the video after Barstool RedHawks deleted it to share why she thought it was so problematic. “It was posted to be funny, but it was literally a newscast of people who
. DESIGN EDITOR OWEN BERG
HOUSING SEAN SCOTT ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR When an anonymous woman moved back to Oxford three years ago to care for her mother, she was already familiar with the area. Her father was a professor at Miami University, and she’d attended the school herself. Still, she was unprepared to be on the other side of Oxford’s housing market. “The person who rented me my apartment told me that it was quiet, and they didn’t have undergrads living [in the building],” she said. “That was wrong. They rented to some under-
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ordinances that probably should affect how [students] think about [Green Beer Day],” she said. Lindsay Douglass, a sophomore anthropology and Spanish double major, decided not to participate in GBD activities. Instead she wanted to take the day off to play volleyball, take a nap and relax. She also said she wouldn’t participate because she is underage and has concerns about COVID-19. “I think it’s fun that our school has a tradition,” she said. “I wish that it wasn’t so focused on binge drinking.” Miami’s Interfraternity Council (IFC) set up a station Uptown to hand out doughnuts to students. Kyle Naderhoff, a junior finance major and president of IFC, said it was to encourage safe behavior among students. “We understand that Green Beer Day is definitely a day where people are drinking a little bit too much and not eating enough,” Naderhoff said. “So we just wanted to help people find a healthy alternative and make sure that they get the proper food.” They started handing out doughnuts at 8 a.m. and handed out pizza starting at 3 p.m., Naderhoff said. Kyle Bower, a sophomore and employee at Brick Street Bar and Grill, agreed that the morning was a little less busy than normal. He said when Brick Street opened at 5 a.m., it was a lot busier but had started to slow down. Bower worked a shift from 5-11:30 a.m., and before 10 a.m., Brick Street was already get-
LEXI WHITEHEAD ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR At 9 a.m. on Thursday March 25, Miami University students were already participating in Green Beer Day (GBD) festivities. One senior zoology major who wished to remain anonymous said she and her friends had been out since the night before. After going to a bar and a party, they stopped at Bagel & Deli Shop to eat green bagels before heading home for a power nap. She said they were celebrating because it’s their senior year. “This is our last time to do so and our only time as 21 [year-olds] to do so because last March, we didn’t get a Green Beer Day,” she said. “So it’s kind of the only time as legal adults, last time to do it.” She wasn’t worried about the increased police presence Uptown because she’s not underage, but said she was worried for her sister who is a first-year. “We were a little worried when we were at a bigger party,” she said. “I’m more worried for younger aged kids.” Oxford Police Department (OPD) Lieutenant Lara Fening said around 9:30 a.m. that the day had been “super quiet” so far in comparison to previous years. Fening attributed this to COVID-19 factors that weren’t at play before. “[There are] COVID, university regulations and warnings on mass ordinances; new regulations and
grads, so I get to listen to beer pong and walk by people vomiting in the alley.” According to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, she is considered “housing cost burdened,” meaning over 30% of her income goes toward housing each month. But she’s not alone. A recent housing needs assessment conducted by Bowen National Research found the majority of renters in Oxford fall into the same category, with 54% of non-student residents considered housing cost burdened. pensive of America’s 75 largest cities, the woman lived in a two-bedroom apartment with plenty of space.
Here, she rents a small one-bedroom apartment at a higher price. ment farther from students, but competing in Oxford’s housing market to put in. “I kind of do [feel stuck],” she said. “I’m exhausted. I’m running around from job to job to job to job. I don’t have time to be looking for a new apartment.” In Oxford, her experience is the standard. In 2019, Community Development Professionals (CDP), a Hamilton-based business that specializes in community organization, made a ability in Oxford. It found that for ev-
Check(mate) out Miami's chess champion! page 6
dissuade property owners from marketing toward students. There’s no legal issue with non-students renting student-marketed properties and vice versa, but the cost can be prohibitive. “[Landlords] don’t have to provide any information to us about who they’re marketing for,” Perry said. “It’s a question that comes up, but it’s not a question that we have the legal right to Part of the disparity between student and non-student pricing comes from students’ relative inexperience CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
DESPITE ALL OF THE PREPARATIONS THE CITY OF OXFORD.MADE FOR THIS YEAR'S GREEN BEER DAY, IT WAS RELATIVELY TAME. PHOTO EDITOR ZACH REICHMAN
ting a delivery because they were already running low on supplies. He said Brick Street prepared for GBD by scheduling more staff and giving servers smaller sections. Bower also said he wished people who celebrated GBD followed COVID regulations. “Just put on your masks and listen,” he said. “And respect the people who are just trying to keep you safe.”
Despite the large police presence during Green Beer Day, just one mass gathering citation was issued between Wednesday and Friday for a 50-person gathering on Church Street. Additional reporting done by Asst. Campus & Community Editor Cosette Gunter. @nwlexi whitehan@miamioh.edu
This Issue CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
median income for students’ families in 2013 was $119,000, nearly double the median household income of $63,000 for Butler County residents. The Bowen study distinguished between student and residential housing. Residential properties average a cost of $0.72 per square foot per month, while student properties cost $2.41 per square foot per month.
"I think it's fun that our school has a tradition. I wish that it wasn't so focused on binge drinking," - Lindsay Douglass
OPINION
FOOD
A three-course boss? page 8
Being 22 means headed to the MAC tournament page 11
women page 12