ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 171 No. 6
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
University libraries adapt in the face of flat funding
Miami administration assesses response after reports of an active threat SHANNON MAHONEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PEOPLE WALK IN AND OUT OF KING LIBRARY. PHOTO BY AUGUST HUMPHREY
PAIGE AUXIER
THE MIAMI STUDENT
ELISA ROSENTHAL MANAGING EDITOR
Miami University’s libraries are home to a wide variety of physical and digital scholarly resources. Students across all majors and disciplines have free access to these materials. Senior theater major Raine Serra regularly uses the library’s digital databases for coursework, professional development and personal research. As a theater major, having access to anthologies, theater studies texts and play scripts is invaluable.
Individuals in fields outside the arts and humanities use the library’s resources as well. Business analytics and accounting student Brooke Davis said she used the library’s digital research database to complete a major project in an introductory business class she took last year. Additionally, she’s used the library to complete assignments in her Miami Plan courses or research how to improve her individual writing skills out of personal interest. “I feel like on the internet nowadays, finding trusted resources is getting more and more difficult,” Davis said. “So not having access to a space where we can access completely ver-
ified sources would be detrimental in a lot of ways.” In an era of widespread misinformation, it’s increasingly important for students to have access to sources they can trust. Luckily for Miami students, that security is afforded to them through their access to the university libraries’ sources. However, acquiring scholarly materials and databases depends on funding, which hasn’t increased over the years to match today’s rising inflation rates. Kevin Messner, head of the Advise & Instruct Department at the libraries, said there are a number of different avenues through which the
Men’s basketball looks to continue momentum from historic season VINCENT JOLLIFF
In this issue
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
TORI FEE
STAFF WRITER
MIAMI PLAYERS JUMP FOR REBOUND IN EXHIBITION GAME AGAINST INDIANA UNIVERSITY EAST. PHOTO BY ELISE HANNA
pass and shoot at every spot. That is rare in college basketball.” Dakich brings experience from legends such as John Beilein, Chris Holtmann and his father Dan Dakich, a former coach at Indiana University. Managing expectations and acting as the marquee game on the schedule for many teams it faces will be a heightened challenge for the RedHawks. They dealt with that throughout the end of last season, but after making history, they will not be a surprise to anyone coming into this year. “We want to be the hunter with how we play,” Steele said. “You know you’re going to get everybody’s best shot.” The schedule includes high-profile games against other top mid-major teams including High Point University, the perennial favorites in the Big South Conference; the University of Illinois, Chicago, who project to be
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
Oxford wins best college town: Here’s why - page 4
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Miami’s deer management program enters its fifth year
ASST. SPORTS EDITOR The Miami University men’s basketball team is coming off a season that saw the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007. It went 31-0 in the regular season, set a program record for wins with 32 and won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 1999. Head coach Travis Steele is back in Oxford for his fourth season. Despite losing senior guard Eian Elmer, junior forward Brant Byers, sophomore guard Trey Perry and Mid-American Conference (MAC) player of the year Peter Suder, Steele retains a team that is good enough to compete among the best in the MAC and the mid-major ranks. Overall, they return 45.5% of minutes from last season. The RedHawks lost a valuable coach along with the players. Associate head coach Jonathan Holmes, who joined Steele’s staff in his first year, left to take the same position at the College of Charleston. Miami brought in Andrew Dakich and elevated associate head coach Khristian Smith and assistants Carl Richburg, Ben Botts and Elijah Pennington to fill the crucial role that Holmes left. Dakich joins the RedHawks from Illinois State University. He also has experience at Elon University, the Ohio State University and as a player at the University of Michigan. “There’s a lot of retention from last year,” Dakich said, “really smart players and guys that can dribble,
university acquires its databases and resources. The bulk of funding is spent on subscription services for online journals and streaming resources, as well as on upkeep costs for the online databases on which those materials are located. Katelyn DeGregorio, the library’s coordinator of marketing and communications, and Messner said that as part of the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) consortium, the university has access to a pool of resources collected across universities and libraries in the state.
After hearing what sounded like nearby gunshots, students in McGuffey room 117 locked the door while the professor called the police on Thursday, Oct. 15. Two Miami University Police Department (MUPD) officers responded to the call and were on site within 54 seconds. After entering the building, clearing classrooms and hallways and taking statements from those in the building, MUPD confirmed that the noises were not gunshots, but likely fireworks or a vehicle backfiring instead. But getting to the building and investigating is only part of the job. In situations where someone or something may pose a threat to students, MUPD is tasked with communicating that information to everyone on campus. Because the call on Oct. 15 suggested there may have been a shooter on campus, MUPD Emergency Management and Forensics Coordinator Walter Schneider activated the RedHawk Alert system and sent the first message, warning students there was an active threat and instructing them to “RUN/HIDE/FIGHT!” The initial message is pre-written and intentionally vague so it can cover a broad amount of events that could happen. Having a single message allows MUPD to warn students as soon as there is a problem, rather than having to spend time drafting a message.
among the top of the Missouri Valley Conference; and the season opener against James Madison University, a constant contender in the Sun Belt Conference. The schedule will also include a new-look MAC schedule featuring 22 conference games, a home and home against each team, in true round-robin format. This will include two games, a piece against the University of Akron, the University of Toledo and Kent State University, projected MAC contenders. “It’s hard to get non-conference games,” Steele said. “I think you will become a true champion. Everybody’s playing everybody twice.” Both the NCAA and MAC changed their tournament structures coming into this season. CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Deer sightings on campus are a staple of Miami University. Too many deer, however, can leave a negative impact on its local environment. Miami University Natural Areas and Ecology Research Center (ERC) combat overpopulation through a comprehensive management plan aimed at restoring native plant growth for future generations. David Gorchov, professor of biology and chair of the Natural Areas Committee, said this program began in the 2022-23 academic year after a noticeable loss in spring wildflowers and tree seedlings. Gorchov said that he and ecology professor Thomas Crist set up deer exclosures around the Natural Areas to keep deer out with the goal of seeing what animals were active and their effects on native plant life. He said they saw better tree seedling growth in plots where deer were excluded. “If there aren’t enough seedlings, there won’t be enough small-to-medium trees,” Gorchov said, “then we won’t have enough trees to replace the canopy in the future.”
SPORTS
OPINION
Civic education is a duty, not just a privilege
Field hockey eyes ninth straight MAC title and trip to the NCAA tournament
- page 11
- page 6
Gorchov said Miami’s program is focused entirely on bow hunting. Hunters must have a valid Ohio hunting license and can apply over the summer. If accepted, hunters must pass an archery accuracy test before they’re approved for the Miami season. Hunters have the choice of including a partner or hunting alone. Gorchov said around 50 hunters will help with this year’s season, split between the Natural Areas and ERC. The City of Oxford hosts a separate deer management program, utilizing a mix of city-owned and private properties. Reena Murphy, sustainability coordinator for the City of Oxford, said their program began in 2009 and is largely based on community feedback. “We started hearing from residents at city council meetings and through other means that they were really feeling the effects of deer overpopulation,” Murphy said. She said they implemented recommendations from biology capstone students and public feedback to grow their program. One example is their switch to a bow hunting-only approach. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
CULTURE
Inherited nostalgia - page 9
FYI
2
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
Our Awards
THE MIAMI STUDENT STAFF SHANNON MAHONEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ELISA ROSENTHAL
KISER YOUNG
MANAGING EDITOR
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
EVELYN DUGAN
CAITLIN WONG
OWEN MARTIN
ASST. DESIGN EDITOR
PARKER GREEN
AYLA PEDEN
2025 Ohio News Media Association Award for First Place in Best Website 2024 and 2025 Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper in the large school category
REN CHAFFEE
CAMPUS &
ASST. CULTURE EDITORS
COMMUNITY EDITORS
COOPER MENEGHETTI
GRAHAM YOUNG
2025 Ohio Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Award for First Place in the Best College Newspaper category
VINCENT JOLLIFF
SPORTS EDITOR
ASST. SPORTS EDITORS
TAYLOR POWERS
ABE HAGOOD
OPINION EDITOR
ASST. OPINION EDITOR
STELLA POWERS
IVY KLEINMAN
CULTURE EDITOR
PHOTO EDITOR
CARLEY RAPP
AUSTIN SMITH
HUMOR EDITOR
2025 Greater Cincinnati Pro Chapter Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Excellence in Journalism Award in the College Student Publication category
BUSINESS MANAGER
SARAH KENNEL
JOE SAMPSON
GREENHAWKS EDITOR
FACULTY ADVISER
SYDNEY MULFORD
SACHA BELLMAN
DESIGN EDITOR
BUSINESS ADVISER
ELISE HANNA
AIM MEDIA MIDWEST
DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR
PRINTER
2025 Ohio News Media Association Award for First Place in Best Website
Advertising information: Smith646@miamioh.edu Send us a letter: eic.miamistudent@gmail.com The Miami Student is published biweekly during the school year by the students of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The content of The Miami Student is the sole responsibility of The Miami Student staff. Opinions expressed in The Miami Student are not necessarily those of Miami University, its students or staff.
2025 Mark of Excellence Award (SPJ) for First Place in Best Affiliated Website
CORRECTIONS POLICY
The Miami Student is committed to providing the Miami University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.
ASG makes public University Senate reviews campus safety policies and procedures statement on sexual assault
PHOTO BY MOLLY ALLISON
MOLLY ALLISON
THE MIAMI STUDENT Associated Student Government (ASG) invited Director of Community Standards, Alex Fields as a guest speaker to talk about the new changes to the student Code of Conduct. Fields said that after talking with several students, the code of conduct was not student-centered enough. Student feedback suggested that the process of a report was intimidating. There is now a dashboard that has one link to submit reports, to ensure the website is easier to navigate. Previously, sexual misconduct and harassment were grouped in with Fields’ office, but under the new Code of Conduct, it doesn’t cover those topics. It was removed and now has several of its own policies. Minimum sanctions were eliminated, making probation a consequence of second and third class violations instead of previous first violation. This change was made so consequences are less punitive. “If there’s a very niche situation that has taken place, and we don’t have a specific educational sanction that fits that very niche thing, we can work with the student to determine an appropriate sanction,” Fields said. Senator Allen Bartels presented a statement announcing ASG’s support for victims and survivors of sexual assault. The statement also acknowledges that it is a dangerous and persisting issue, and lists several resources for survivors. The statement was passed.
Senator Preston Brooks proposed a new legislation “A Resolution to Advance Comprehensive Eating Disorder Prevention and Support.” “There are no resources on campus for students struggling with eating disorders or disordered-eating related issues,” Brooks said. The resolution suggests spreading awareness for resources that help combat these disorders, as well as working with Miami Dining Services to make the nutritional labels and calories not as clearly displayed, in hopes of it being less triggering for students with eating disorders. “College students [are very] much the most threatened population [for eating disorders],” Brooks said. Senator Brian Mead read the federal statue on nutrition labeling, which the Miami Dining Website is legally bound to. “I think instead of trying to attack this company for following federal statute, which is kind of an uphill battle, we just try mainly focusing on providing resources for eating disorders,” Mead said. Brooks said he is open to making adjustments to the legislation, but hopes ASG can work to support students who struggle with eating disorders. There was a motion to table the legislation for a week. ASG will meet again at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3 in the Joslin Senate Chambers. allisomk@miamioh.edu
UNIVERSITY SENATORS REVIEW SAFETY POLICIES. PHOTO BY KYLIE BUNN
KYLIE BUNN
STAFF WRITER The University Senate passed diploma legislation and discussed campus safety in its meeting on Oct. 26. Provost Trent Gould announced a search for a graduate school dean is underway. He said he decided to keep the search through Human Resources rather than using a national firm to save costs. Gould also shared that Miami’s Crisis Management Team is meeting to review a summary report compiled from feedback provided by deans regarding campus safety responses following the emergency alerts of Oct. 15. Associate professor Sarah Watt presented work of the Center for Teaching Excellence, detailing the review process for giving grants and the Philips Knox Distinguished Professor Award. She said grants are reviewed for both minors and majors based on student impact, sustainability, innovation and quality teaching. The Philips Knox Distinguished Professor Award is the most distinguished teaching award at Miami. Professors who are nominated for the award are to submit a packet to be reviewed by the committee and then interview with the committee
in January for selection. The senate adopted a resolution to support the Associated Student Government (ASG) in changing the current diploma design. ASG speaker Quin Ahler said there has been continuous strong support from the student body on the matter. “We acknowledge that there is some ambiguity regarding the specifics of expectations articulated by the ASG resolution,” Ahler said. “We also believe that [students] have clearly identified an interest in preserving a historic aesthetic to be used on the Miami diploma.” The senate added an amendment to ensure no differentiation exists between Oxford and regional campuses during design changes. The senate also passed a resolution to change the Faculty Evaluation Task Force timeline with two additional amendments: to change the recommendation to formal senate resolution and to request additional updates on the implementation process. Nathan French, executive senate chair, introduced a resolution regarding the active threat event on Oct. 15. The senate recommends that faculty and students review classroom-based emergency responses once per semester. French said these policies would
be beneficial to discuss during syllabus week: orienting students with the building they are in, where the exits are and having a shared understanding of how to respond in an emergency situation. French said the senate should share the resolution with its constituents. “You don’t get many chances to do something like this over,” French said. “You want to make sure you are prepared.” Senators also suggested infrastructure improvements, such as ensuring doors lock properly and repairing elevators on campus. ASG President Charlie Merrill reported on sustainability week activities including trail maintenance and a tour of the underground geothermal plant. He also said there are five new senators this week, and the effort to fill the chamber is on track to be completed by January of next year. Merrill said at their last cabinet meeting, a senator presented a public statement supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence which will go to the ASG floor for a vote. The University Senate’s next meeting will be at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, in the Joslin Senate Chamber. bunnkm@miamioh.edu
GAMES
3 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
The Miami Student Games Crossword
Sudoku
BY ELIZA SULLIVAN
Anagram
G A E R S P
BY CASEY BERTCH
Across 6. Salad dressing commonly used on carrots 7. Beaver mascot of a U.S. convenience store chain 8. Abreviation of nanosecond 9. “Liar, liar, ___ on fire!”
How to play: Unscramble the letters to reveal possible word combinations! The number of possible answers may be greater than the number of answer spots provided, so pick your favorite words to use.
Down 1. Sphere, ball 2. Internet slang for an old person, derived from word for male relative 3. Game played on a black and white checkerboard 4. Internet slang when someone has “cool energy” 5. What a penny is worth
19 POSSIBLITIES 2 POSSIBLITIES
6 POSSIBLITIES
13 POSSIBLITIES
BY WALKER SCHULTZE
Alcohol offenses drive busy week for Oxford police
GRAPHIC BY MACEY CHAMBERLIN
AUSTIN SMITH
BUSINESS MANAGER Between Oct. 19 and Oct. 26, police officers responded to 32 incidents, according to the Oxford Police Department report. On Oct. 20, at 11:58 a.m., in the 3700 block of Southpointe Parkway, officers responded to a report of a firearm that had been stolen sometime over the past several months. On Oct. 22, at 1:39 p.m., in the 400 block of Emerald Woods Drive, officers responded to a report of criminal damage after a resident found nails at the end of her driveway. That same day at 4:48 p.m., in the 300 block of S. Locust St., officers responded to a male who reported that a female he knows had been harassing him on multiple social media platforms and through email. Officers took the report, but the victim did not want to pursue charges at the time. Later that day at 11:23 p.m., in the 0 block of E. High St., officers stopped a male for an open container. They found the male to be underage and in possession of a fake ID. Officers charged him with underage drinking, open container and possession of a
fake ID. Within the next three hours, officers charged four more people with open container in three separate incidents, including an underage male who also had a fake ID. On Oct. 23, at 9:41 a.m., in the 200 block of E. Church St., officers were dispatched for a theft report. Officers took the report, and the investigation is ongoing. That same day at 9:30 p.m., in the 3600 block of Southpointe Parkway, officers cited a cashier for selling alcohol to an underage confidential informant during a compliance check. That night at 10:53 p.m., in the 200 block of E. Sycamore St., officers cited another cashier for selling alcohol to an underage confidential informant during a compliance check. Later that night at 11:52 p.m., at the intersection of North Poplar Street and East Church Street, officers cited a male for underage drinking and disorderly conduct. The male was then transported to the hospital. On Oct. 24, at 2:06 p.m., in the 200 block of S. Locust St., officers were dispatched to a report of a hitand-run crash involving a pedestrian. Officers later confirmed that the crash
was not a hit-and-run. Officers took an informational report. Later that day at 4:24 p.m., in the 700 block of Carter Court, officers were dispatched to a report of domestic violence involving a boyfriend and girlfriend who lived together. Officers arrested both and transported them to the Butler County Jail. That night at 10:53 p.m., at the intersection of Oak Street and East Spring Street, officers conducted a traffic stop on a 19-year-old driver for a lane violation. During the stop, officers found that the driver was in possession of alcohol. Officers determined that the driver was not impaired but issued citations for the traffic violation and underage alcohol offenses. Later that night at 10:58 p.m., at the intersection of Morning Sun Road and Kelly Drive, officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle with its headlights off. During the stop, officers found that the driver was intoxicated and made an arrest for driving under the influence. On Oct. 25, at 12:15 a.m., in the 5000 block of College Corner Pike, officers were on routine patrol when they saw a suspicious vehicle pulling
out of the parking lot of an apartment complex. The driver put the vehicle in reverse and accelerated quickly before getting stuck on the curb. The driver and passenger fled the scene. Officers apprehended the passenger but were unable to locate the driver. The incident is still under investigation, and the driver’s identity is unknown. That same day at 1:27 a.m., in the 200 block of N. Beech St., officers stopped an intoxicated male. They found the male to be underage and in possession of two fake IDs. Officers issued him a court summons and released him. Later, at 2:54 a.m., at the intersection of South Main Street and East Walnut Street, officers found a male passed out on the sidewalk. Officers issued him citations for disorderly conduct, underage drinking and prohibitions. That same morning at 3:12 a.m., in the 100 block of E. Church St., officers were dispatched to a bar for a report of an intoxicated male. Officers found the male to be underage and in possession of a fake ID. Officers transported him to the hospital and cited him for underage drinking, dis-
orderly conduct and possession of a fake ID. Later that morning at 4:07 a.m., in the 0 block of E. High St., officers responded to two females who reported that they believed they had been drugged at a bar. Officers spoke with the father of one of the females, who simply wanted the incident to be documented. That same day at 9:14 p.m., in the 5000 block of College Corner Pike, officers took a report after a vehicle was involved in a crash in Clermont County. When the vehicle’s owner was contacted, she reported that it had been stolen. There were no suspects at the time. On Oct. 26, at 2:50 a.m., in the 200 block of S. Locust St., officers observed a female slumped over behind the wheel in the parking lot of a business. Officers found that the female was simply sleeping. However, they saw drug paraphernalia in plain view. When searching the car, officers found unknown substances and more paraphernalia. The substances will be sent to a lab for testing, and further charges are pending. smith854@miamioh.edu
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
4
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
Oxford wins best college town: Here’s why ZOEE ROBINSON STAFF WRITER
Out of the 64 most popular college towns, Oxford was voted best in the country. Barstool Sports hosted a bracket-style competition on their “Barstool U” Instagram account in partnership with each school’s own Barstool Instagram accounts, such as Miami University’s account, @barstoolredhawks. During the rounds, each school’s individual Barstool account uploaded a post encouraging users to vote for their town. One like on the post equaled one vote. Reposts equaled five votes. The post with the most likes and reposts advanced to the next round. Barstool Sports also visited Miami’s campus and Brick Street during the Final Four, posting photos and videos on their Instagram to show the country what Oxford is all about. Oxford entered the bracket as a No. 15 seed. Their road to victory began with advancing over No. 2 ranked Knoxville, Tennessee and the University of Tennessee, and ended with a championship win over another No. 2 seed: Iowa City, Iowa and the University of Iowa. Oxford advanced over towns with schools in the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten, each averaging a student populations over 31,000. Some may wonder why a MAC school with about 22,000 students in a small city surrounded by cornfields in southwestern Ohio won best college town, but it was no surprise to those that have experienced the Oxford community. In an email to The Miami Student, Jessica Rivinius, vice president, chief marketing and communications officer, said that those who have visited Oxford have seen how much the town has to offer. “Everyone who has spent time
here, especially Miami alumni, know just how special this place is and take pride in the community Miami and Oxford have built,” Rivinius wrote in the email statement. “I think that’s why we saw so many Miamians engaged in this contest.” Iconic red brick buildings and the nature in between Academic buildings, administrative offices and residence halls are all made of red brick, constructed in a neo-Georgian style. The uniformity is visually appealing and creates an elegant and vintage feeling on campus. Emma Kerr, a sophomore public administration major, said her favorite thing about Oxford and Miami’s campus is the history that exudes from the buildings. “You can tell that they have lived such a life, and there’s a story everywhere you go,” Kerr said. In between the brick buildings are a plethora of carefully maintained green patches, most including trees, flowers and bushes. During the spring season, red and white tulips can be seen blooming around campus, representing Miami’s school colors. Uptown and the community The red brick does not stop on campus. Uptown, Oxford’s commercial area, contains streets of red brick as well. Along the main road, High Street, sit many traditional storefronts lined side-by-side. The colorful windows invite pedestrians into boutiques, thrift shops, Miami apparel stores and a range of cafes, restaurants and bars. Ella Schriber, sophomore media and communications major, said she enjoys the classic small-town atmosphere of Uptown. “My favorite thing about Oxford is how homey Uptown feels,” Schreiber said. Oxford Nightlife Anyone that has visited Oxford can attest to the vivacious nightlife of Uptown and the surrounding streets
that are peppered with fraternities and student houses. The bars and fraternities also host many traditions, including Oxford’s famous Green Beer Day, which always falls on the Thursday before Miami’s spring break. Fraternity parties start at 12 a.m. Thursday morning, and many bars open around 7 a.m. Reese Balding, a sophomore media and communications major, said she appreciates how easy it is to spend time with friends Uptown. “My favorite thing about Oxford is going out with all my friends Uptown and getting dinner at all the different restaurants afterward,” Balding said. Many restaurants Uptown stay open until around 3 a.m., so students can grab a bite to eat on their way home from a night out. Bagel & Deli has been a part of the Oxford community for just over 50 years. During the day, Bagel & Deli serves locals on their lunch break, but Gary Franks, co-owner, said the bulk of their business comes from students. Despite students and Miami immensely contributing to the Oxford economy, some locals aren’t very fond of the students, Franks said. “There are people that complain about the students all the time, and if it wasn’t for the college and all the students here, there wouldn’t be a town like this,” Franks said. “You wouldn’t have all the fun stuff, all the restaurants, all the perks of living by a university, so I always enjoy having students around. It keeps me alive.” Sports are on the rise Oxford is also home to Miami’s Division I sports teams. Last year, the men’s basketball team had a historic season, finishing with a 32-2 record and advancing to the first round of the NCAA tournament. Millett Hall reached capacity crowds of over 10,000 fans, breaking attendance records. The women’s basketball team also advanced to the first round of the
Students at Miami University navigate Ohio’s new voting laws ahead of 2026 election
STUDENTS WAIT IN LINE AT THE CUSTOMER SERVICE WINDOW AT SHRIVER CENTER. PHOTO BY IVY KLEINMAN
MOLLY FAHY
SENIOR STAFF WRITER For weeks, Nathan Lomnicky’s mail-in absentee ballot has sat in his purple homework folder inside his backpack. It’s filled out, and the envelope is stuffed; the only thing left to do is buy a stamp and mail it. But as a junior majoring in games and simulation and computer science, he hasn’t had time to go to the post office. “There’s only seven days for my ballot to get to where it needs to be,” Lomnicky said. “College students are busy people. Being in the right place at the right time in my day has been quite a journey.” Although the election is still a few days away, changes to Ohio voting laws mean Lomnicky’s usual plan to vote is no longer an option. Instead of
mailing the envelope a day or two before the election, Lomnicky has had to fill out his ballot and send it earlier than normal. In December 2025, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio Senate Bill 293 into law. It instituted several new election laws, including abolishing a policy that allowed mail-in ballots to arrive and be accepted by a county’s board of elections four days after an election. Now, mail-in ballots must be received by a voter’s board of elections by the close of polls on election day. Lawmakers said Ohio S.B. 293 was designed to “enhance election integrity.” Opponents say the bill will disenfranchise thousands of voters. In the 2024 election, approximately 7,800 mail-in ballots were received by Ohio boards of election in the fourday grace period after the election.
While the mail-in ballot restriction first took effect for the May 5 primary, many Ohio voters will experience the new mail-in ballot system for the first time in the upcoming November general election. This is especially true for college students who may be far from home or busy with classes, making in-person voting difficult. For Lomnicky, who is originally from Illinois but registered to vote in Ohio, the lack of an Ohio-specific state ID means he is unable to vote in person. His only option is to request an absentee ballot, since mail-in ballots can use a Social Security number to verify a person’s identity. “If I’m voting in Illinois, I’d have to mail it anyway,” Lomnicky said. “I mailed it for the 2024 election, but this election, I’ve been wanting to vote in Ohio since last year, just because I think the seats are more con-
PEOPLE WALK PAST SKYLINE CHILI IN UPTOWN OXFORD. PHOTO BY KEEGAN PEREZ
NCAA tournament, earning an automatic bid as a 13-seed. The women’s team finished their season 28-7 and won the MAC championship. Men’s ice hockey is also a massive campus tradition. The RedHawks are undefeated in the 2026 season so far, sweeping the University of Alaska Anchorage in their home opener last weekend. Lastly, Miami is known as the Cradle of Coaches, producing a significant number of successful college and professional football coaches. The Cradle of Coaches legacy also includes three Super Bowl winning head coaches: John Harbaugh, Sean McVay and Weeb Ewbank. The relationships built Because Oxford is such a small town, many have described it as a “bubble.” Many students find this kind of environment welcoming and
helpful, especially students who are just starting their college journeys. First-year students Luke Ellis, business economics major, and Adam King, finance major, said the bubble has brought them great people while at Miami, including each other. “I think what makes Oxford the best college town is really just the people,” Ellis said. “The people here are really amazing and nice, and it’s always a good time.” King said he agreed that the friendly people were his favorite part of town because he’s made so many connections here. “You never have a bad day when you’re in Oxford,” King said. “Everybody’s always in a good mood, and you always meet somebody new, no matter where you go.”
tested, issues are hotter [and] they matter more.” As mail-in ballots become a popular voting method for students, several groups on Miami’s campus have focused on helping people navigate changing election laws and ensuring they register to vote and request their ballot correctly, with plenty of time to spare. The Wilks Institute for Leadership and Service is a university-sanctioned division of the Office of Student Life. Throughout the beginning of the fall semester, the Wilks Institute can be seen tabling around campus, walking students through how to check their voter registration, helping with any applications and providing voting resources. Alexis Gomes is the assistant director for civic engagement of the Wilks Institute. Gomes says the best thing students can do is start thinking about the election early and return their ballot as soon as they get it. “[Students will] want to really be intentional about the timelines of what it takes for them to mail their ballot back,” Gomes said. “At this stage, if they have a way to vote in person and they have an Ohio photo ID to vote in person, we’re trying to let students know that may be a safer way to ensure that their vote gets counted on time.” If any student ever feels confused or overwhelmed trying to navigate the election process, the Wilks Institute has staff members on hand to help. Additionally, the office will host a special Party at the Polls with food, games and non-partisan voting resources. With only a handful of days before the election, students who vote by mail must ensure their ballot is sent early enough to arrive at their board of elections in time for Election Day. Mail typically takes one to five business days to reach its destination, but
reduced USPS staffing could cause significant delays. Eric Corbin, the deputy director of the Butler County Board of Elections, said the best thing students can do to ensure their vote is counted is to plan ahead. For those who may have forgotten to mail their ballot and worry it won’t reach their county’s board of elections in time, Corbin said their best chance is to drive it to the board of elections and either drop it in the dropbox outside the building or hand it to a staff member inside. For students who have already submitted their ballot, their county’s board of elections will take one to two days to process it. All mail absentee ballots can be tracked online. If something is wrong with how the ballot is filled out, they may receive a notice from the board of elections on how to fix it, to ensure their vote is counted. “We will also reach out if we have a phone or email, and we’ll send a letter to the voter as well, in which case, they can correct that missing information,” Corbin said. “They have until the Saturday after the election, or four days after the election, to make sure that they get that form back to us.” Despite a packed schedule, Lomnicky carved out five minutes between classes to walk over to the Shriver Center mail desk to buy a stamp. Even though he’s had to do much more work to send his ballot this election, Lomnicky doesn’t mind. For him, voting is too important to neglect. “If you’re not voting, then you’re missing out on being able to do something,” Lomnicky said. “If you believe in doing something about things going on, if you want your voice to be heard, there are other ways to do it, of course, but voting is the most consistent and successful, effective way.”
robinsza@miamioh.edu
fahymm@miamioh.edu
Miami administration assesses response after reports of an active threat CONTINUED FROM FRONT “We can’t tell you any more information at that point because that’s all pre-built, and we’re still trying to confirm what’s going on, exactly where it’s at,” MUPD Chief Stephen VanWinkle said. “Was a threat inside? Was a threat outside? We can’t give you any more information because we don’t want to push people into the wrong areas.” The MUPD dispatchers have the authority to send the initial message as well as follow-up messages if they have additional information. Dispatchers are expected to send a message out within 15 minutes of the previous message. On Oct. 15, MUPD sent four messages in the span of 30 minutes. The department has prewritten templates for many scenarios that allow dispatchers to fill in details and alert students swiftly to new information, like the location or specific kind of threat. During the Oct. 15 incident, the first message was entirely prewrit-
ten, the second message used a preset template, the third message was entirely original and the fourth message, which told students the situation was clear, was another preset template. These messages were also posted across Miami’s social media pages. The last two messages were sent during a flurry of activity at the dispatch center, as dispatchers were overwhelmed by more than 170 phone calls from students, faculty and families searching for information. Schneider said that amount of phone calls can make it difficult for MUPD to respond to legitimate concerns or tips about suspicious activity. “That is not a good way to receive information because we’re trying to receive information,” Schneider said. “If there was an active threat, we’re trying to get those calls open so people could call if they say … ‘I saw this person. This is the description.’ That’s what the call center is for.” Although MUPD is in charge of preventing and responding to threats, they aren’t the only ones who deal
with crises. Like most universities, Miami also has a Crisis Management Team (CMT), which is designed to plan for and address a variety of crises the university could face — including active shooters. The team has 17 members working across different areas and fields at the university. The team participates in a simulated training exercise once a year, usually during the summer. The scenario changes every year, but VanWinkle said past exercises have involved tornado threats, student encampments and active shooters. The group met the week of Oct. 26 to run through a debrief of the response and identify anything that requires a follow up. Already the group is looking at the language in some of MUPD’s pre-scripted messages, protocols in areas where large groups of people gather, like Armstrong Student Center or King Library, and looking to put locks on classrooms that don’t already have them. David Creamer, senior vice president for Finance and Business
Services and head of the CMT said the scope and functions of a university make it difficult to create campus-wide protocols that will protect every individual, which is part of the reason the university uses the “run, hide, fight” language common across schools in the U.S. “It’s just the difference of being in a campus where you’ve got lots of green space, lots of outdoor event space and many many buildings, which makes some of the things that go on through K-12 just not practical in our environment,” Creamer said. However, the CMT is working to promote the resources Miami already has in place, like free training and presentations from MUPD and the RedHawk Safe app. The app allows students to simultaneously send their location and call MUPD and report tips among other features. “We’re scheduling a lot more active threat training for faculty and staff,” Schneider said. “We’ve got quite a few classes already scheduled that departments have called and booked.”
Jayne Brownell, senior vice president for Student Life, and another member of the CMT, said she spoke with a number of students and families after the Oct. 15 incident. While some students seemed barely phased by the incident, others — particularly those who had not experienced active threats before — were more shaken, Brownell said. While the event was out of the ordinary for Miami, Brownell said she hoped students would use it as an opportunity to think seriously about emergency preparedness and safety, and that students would remember to be there for each other. “I also heard that people were making jokes about it, like on YikYak and other stuff within hours,” Brownell said. “Just think about the power of your words, and that there are people that are really struggling with this.” mahones5@miamioh.edu
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY From students to faculty: Miami Miami faculty and alumni who came full circle student leaders
5
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
react to free speech ranking CLAIRE GROSEL
THE MIAMI STUDENT
DAVID MOTTA LOOKS OUT OVER THE LAGUNA TORRE IN EL CHALTEN, ARGENTINA. PHOTO BY ELISA ROSENTHAL
LIAM CLARKE STAFF WRITER
After receiving his master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Costa Rica in 2004, David Motta decided to return to his alma mater, Miami University, to teach Spanish for three years. It has now been 23 years. Miami University produces roughly 5,000 graduates each year, according to Data USA. While most go on to have careers elsewhere, some find a long-term home in Oxford. Motta said it felt natural to return to Miami’s campus because it had been four years since he graduated. He said drawing from his experiences has helped him connect with students in a way that other professors are not able to. “I think it adds a level of intimacy that many may not have,” Motta said. “Talking about Brick Street and how the campus has changed, the students appreciate that, and they can learn.” Motta said he looks fondly upon his experiences abroad in Argentina and Costa Rica, and he plans to travel much more when he retires.
A four-year transition from student to instructor is fast, but not as fast as it was for Ava Kerry. Kerry completed a four-plus-one undergraduate and graduate degree program at Miami in 2026. An opportunity arose to return as a visiting instructor on a one-year renewable contract. She said she jumped at the opportunity to return to the town that reminded her of the fictional town in the TV show “Gilmore Girls.” “I already knew I loved the town and the school,” Kerry said. “In my mind, I’ve always seen Oxford as being the college town version of Stars Hollow.” Kerry said she hopes to return as a long-term instructor. Susan Brehm is the senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Science. Brehm received her undergraduate degree from Miami in 1997, as well as her graduate degree in 1999. After attending the University of Florida for her doctorate, she applied to several teaching jobs and was accepted at Miami. Brehm said she hesitated at first, fearing it could keep her from moving forward and gaining new perspectives.
“At first I was like, I’m not really sure this is a great idea,” Brehm said, “but after a short period of time, a lot of opportunities fell in my lap.” Brehm has led research mentorship programs with students, which she said was fulfilling and helped her give back to the place where she started out. Motta and Brehm said connections they had in their departments when they were students endured when they transitioned to faculty, another advantage that is unique to alumni. Kerry said she found her visiting instructor position through her graduate student status; but in Brehm’s experience as an administrator, she said Miami does not purposefully favor hiring alumni. While alumni professors can easily connect with students, that does not mean other professors can not. “I think that faculty really do want to understand the student experience, even if they came from somewhere else,” Brehm said. clarkelt@miamioh.edu
Miami University’s campus climate of free speech has earned a D grade from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) for the 2027 rankings, underscoring ongoing student and faculty concerns surrounding self-censorship and institutional backing. The College Free Speech Rankings are published annually to reflect and track shifting speech climate on campuses across America, according to FIRE. Its methodology looks at student experience, administrative policy and controversies on campus to determine rankings. Rachel Makarowski, the special collections librarian and the vice president of librarians for the Faculty Alliance of Miami (FAM), said she is skeptical about the underlying agendas of these reports. However, she said she is not surprised by the grade itself, and worries about future implications on the education system. “I know some students feel like they can’t speak up in class, but also some faculty feel like they can’t speak up in class,” Makarowski said. “So when you have both sides feeling like they can’t actually engage with one another, you can’t educate that way or be educated that way.” Makarowski said although self-censorship is an institutional problem, it is not a problem unique to Miami. These concerns are felt all across the state of Ohio. From the Ohio universities that were surveyed, the average grade was a D-, according to the speech rankings report, making Miami one of many institutions struggling in this climate. Makarowski said legal protections would make her and her co-workers feel better protected. “Certainly in the librarian’s case, a signed article on academic freedom would help us feel a lot more supported,” Makarowski said. The passing of Senate Bill 1, a piece of higher-education legislation focused on speech in the classroom, has left librarians questioning their academic freedom. Although the university promises this freedom, they will not engage with proposals for it to be a signed article, according to FAM. McHael Jones, the president of Miami’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and a senior international studies major, said he agrees with Makarowski’s sentiment about the ranking.
“I think Miami a lot of the time wants to be this neutral place,” Jones said. “Neutral is good sometimes, but at the same time it alienates other groups.” During his first year, in 2023, students and faculty gathered in encampments protesting the genocide in Palestine. Following these encampments, the university threatened the suspension of the organization and potentially students for participating. SJP suffered in the coming years. Its tier three status was taken, it lost funding and last year it did not have a presence on Miami’s campus. Jones is working to build the chapter back up. He said the university has not pushed back on its resurgence, although administrative changes with Associated Student Government funding have caused some trouble for the organization. “Miami University kind of lives in a bubble, and we don’t really get to hear other opinions oftentimes because of that bubble,” Jones said. While some students blame the university for suppressing free speech, others disagree. The president of Miami’s Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter, Cooper Lemaster, believes that the school is generally supportive of free speech and organizations that rely on it, and that the grade is more likely to come from students who do not understand what free speech entails. “I genuinely feel like free speech is free here,” Lemaster said. The senior supply chain management major said his only conflicts have been with students taking pictures of members tabling, getting flyers ripped or taken and one instance of a man raising his voice. These actions all came from students. A B- is a more suitable grade for Miami, Lemaster said. The TPUSA chapter struggled to become established; however, after being persistent with the university, Lemaster said the administration has been responsive. “The school was really willing to work with us,” Lemaster said. “Especially this year, the communication with us and then the leadership of the school has been really, really astounding, and the school has been supportive.” Students and faculty will test the boundaries of campus discourse as Miami’s speech climate continues to evolve. groselcf@miamioh.edu
University libraries adapt in the face of flat funding CONTINUED FROM FRONT Messner said the resources from this consortium account for close to half of the library’s overall collections budget. Even with the increased affordability of resources granted by their membership in OhioLINK, the university still struggles with purchasing materials for students and staff. As prices for databases and resources continue to rise, the university has
had to strengthen their ability saying no to publishers and vendors. “The unfortunate part of that is that we’re saying no to that publisher and vendor,” Messner said. “But from the student and faculty perspective, sometimes that also means that we’re effectively saying no to [them].” When making decisions about who and what to say no to, several factors are taken into consideration. Messner’s role as the head of the Advise & Instruct Department is to
supervise the subject specialist librarians. According to him, it’s these individuals who primarily decide what texts and materials should be purchased by the library. The decision-making process itself is largely rooted in data analysis. In order to determine what should stay, librarians look at how much a material costs and how much it’s being used across the board. Additionally, when there are changes in the university’s curriculum the libraries
often decide to dedicate larger portions of funds to acquiring materials for new programs. Despite the struggles raised by flat funding rates and the existing concerns surrounding the future of library resource acquisition, both DeGregorio and Messner continue to have faith in the university’s libraries. “I absolutely trust the leadership of the libraries, and I trust the leadership of the universities that recognize the importance of the libraries and
the importance of what we have to offer,” DeGregorio said. “I know that we, as a library system, are in pretty good shape compared to a lot of our peers in and around colleges.” Moving forward, the university libraries will continue adapting, advocating for themselves and seeking funding when possible. While the situation may not be ideal ,it also isn’t, as Messner put it, impossible. wadzinski@miamioh.edu
SPORTS
6
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
Field hockey eyes ninth straight MAC title and trip to the NCAA tournament
Cooper’s Spooky Corner: Losses more haunting than Halloween
MIAMI FIELD HOCKEY PLAYERS FIGHT OVER THE BALL IN GAME AGAINST KENT STATE. PHOTO BY LANDON FORD
MATTHEW SWEENEY THE MIAMI STUDENT
GRAHAM YOUNG SPORTS EDITOR
Three minutes into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, the University of Virginia Cavaliers scored to take an early 1-0 lead. The heavily favored Cavaliers were the No. 4 seed going up against the unranked Miami University RedHawks in Charlottesville, Virginia. Later in the first quarter, freshman Malena Sabez scored the equalizer off of a penalty corner. Then, at the 39-minute mark the Mid-American Conference (MAC) freshman of the year, Justina Intzes, scored the final goal of the game, ending with a 2-1 historic RedHawk win over the Cavaliers. Despite losing to the Northwestern University Wildcats 3-2 in the next round, this win over the Cavaliers brought the RedHawks to their first ever elite eight appearance in the women’s field hockey program’s history. “We proved to ourselves that we closed the gap, we’re over the hump and now we can really compete with these teams everyday,” senior back Kylie Coughlin said. Now, Miami (12-4, 7-1) trails the University of Massachusetts (16-1, 8-0) by one game. The historic run for the RedHawks gave them confidence they could compete with any team in the nation. Last year, the MAC tournament was hosted at James Madison University in Harrisburg, Virginia. But despite playing away, the RedHawks brought home their eighth title. They are in search of their ninth straight title this year and a bid to the NCAA tournament. The MAC tournament is being held in Oxford this year from Nov. 4-7, which gives the team a homefield advantage over its opponents.
The tournament will feature six MAC teams, with the top two seeds earning a first-round bye. UMass will hold the No. 1 seed and Miami will hold the No. 2 seed. What sets the team apart from MAC opponents is the ability to score from anywhere on the field. This season, 17 different RedHawk players have scored a goal, the most in program history. “Diversifying the scoring has been a super important piece for us,” said assistant head coach Chip Rogers. “I think that we are very confident with the ball in the back and the confidence has really helped fuel our offensive charge as well.” Earlier this season the RedHawks lost to UMass 3-2. Miami outshot the Minutemen 30 to five and cornered them 17 to two. Despite the loss, Miami is favored to win the MAC tournament. “You can absolutely dominate statistically everywhere but the scoreboard,” Rogers said. “Come tournament time, anything can happen. For us, the regular season is much more vindictive than a tournament championship to be honest.” Regardless of the loss, the team didn’t beat themselves up, rather they used the game as an experience to bring next time they meet UMass. “We really did play our own game that game, and we played it really well,” senior striker Sloane Wearren said. “We want to stick to our game plan and play our Miami game that makes us who we are.” With eyes on winning their 25th MAC title and ninth consecutive, the RedHawks have an added chip on their shoulder to maintain the standards set by the teams before them. They’re motivated by the added pressure to bring home the MAC title. “We know we can win the MAC and we are not scared,” said sophomore midfielder Justina Intzes. This confidence doesn’t come just from the veterans, but the RedHawks’ young core. Sophomore midfielder
Malena Sabez and Intzes lead the team in goals scored with 13 and 12, respectively. The Mendoza, Argentina natives have dominated the MAC offensively. Sabez leads the league in shots (86, 5.38 per game) and Intzes ranks fifth (47, 2.94 per game). Defensively, the RedHawks have excelled. The team has allowed 18 goals over 16 games, good for second in the MAC. Senior goalkeeper Nicky Sjoulken leads the conference in goals allowed per game with 1.46. Last season, Sjoulken was second in goals allowed per game (1.23) and second in shutouts (7) in the MAC. The combination of a high-intensity offense with a strong support from the defense allowed Miami to get in the mix with some of the top teams in the country. Now, the RedHawks use that experience as a new identity. “[The NCAA tournament] did teach us so much about what we are capable of doing at Miami,” Wearren said. “We are up there with [traditional teams], and we can compete with them.” Miami will close out the regular season against Central Michigan University on Oct. 30 before hosting the MAC tournament. Miami will have to win three straight games to earn its ninth straight title. Without it, the team can still earn an at-large bid and a trip to the NCAA tournament. Coughlin, Sabez and Sjoulken all earned awards for week nine of the regular season on Oct. 27. Coughlin earned MAC Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week, Sabez earned MAC Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Week and Sjoulken earned MAC Field Hockey Goalkeeper of the Week. After winning their last six matchups, the RedHawks have proven they are capable of generating win streaks against conference opponents. A postseason win streak could make history again for the RedHawks. sweenem3@miamioh.edu younggm7@miamioh.edu
Men’s basketball looks to continue momentum from historic season CONTINUED FROM FRONT The NCAA expanded to 76 teams making the tournament and the MAC added byes for the top teams in the regular season. The RedHawks will return junior guard Luke Skaljac, sophomore guard Justin Kirby, senior forward Almar Atlason and senior guard Evan Ipsaro, who missed a majority of last season with a knee injury. They also retain forwards Kyle Waltz, Tyler Robbins and Jackson Kotecki and guard Leshawn Stowers. After Ipsaro’s injury last season, Skaljac was one of the main drivers of the offense and played the point guard position. Ipsaro started the season as the engine of the offense. It will be interesting to see this dynamic play out as both players have shown the ability to effectively run the offense. “I want to grow into more of a vocal leader,” Skaljac said. Kirby was also able to step up after Ipsaro’s injury last season. He was effectively the sixth man last season and will look to take another leap after a full offseason. Kirby shot 40% from three-point range out of 42 attempts last year. Atlason is another shooting threat for the RedHawks. The Icelandic na-
tive shot 36% from three and averaged just shy of 10 points per game. Atlason will look to earn a starting role in his second season in red and white. Robbins and Waltz will also be depth pieces for the RedHawks. They both bring a different skill set to the table with Robbins acting as a traditional big man and Waltz as a wing player. After a plethora of drama over the summer in courtrooms, senior forward Antwone Woolfolk is expected to be back for the RedHawks. Woolfolk was integral to the team’s immense success last season, and is yet another returning starter for Steele’s team. Miami brought in three transfers and two freshmen to fill out its roster, and all five should contribute to the team’s success. Sophomore guard Stevie Elam comes from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee after a successful first college season. He shot 35% from three-point range and had a turnover rate of 6%, which ranked 15th in the country. He is yet another option to run the RedHawks offense. Sophomore forward Preston Copeland joins the RedHawks from conference rival Ball State University. The North Carolina native was a
three-star recruit out of high school and looks to help the RedHawks with rim protection and paint production. Senior forward Rich Rolf averaged 9.1 points per game at Youngstown State University last season, and shot 35% from three. The Centerville, Ohio native will look to be a spark plug off the bench for the RedHawks this season. Two freshmen also joined the squad this year: guard Anthony Fresh and forward Alan Horton. The two will be coming into their first collegiate seasons looking to contribute to a deep RedHawks team. “We have a ton of depth and these guys are fighting for minutes,” Steele said. “We have a lot of competition in practice.” The RedHawks were ranked first in the MAC preseason poll, receiving nine of the 12 first place votes. Ipsaro and Skaljac were both named to the preseason first-team. The expectations are higher than they have been in a generation. The RedHawks have the talent to repeat as MAC champions and push toward a second straight NCAA tournament bid. jollifvm@miamioh.edu
GRAPHIC BY COOPER MENEGHETTI
COOPER MENEGHETTI ASST, SPORTS EDITOR
As a chill breeze moves through Oxford and the leaves start to turn an array of vibrant colors, fall is in the air. Porches are lined with jacko’-lanterns, cornstalks and Halloween lights. It’s undeniable that “spooky season” is upon us. When night falls earlier, Freddy Krueger is the least of Miami fans’ worries. Fall weather creates the perfect conditions for the most haunting of losses to creep back into RedHawk fans’ psyche. Read on, only if you dare, to be spooked by the horrors of Miami athletics since 2000. Football: Miami vs. University of Cincinnati 2026 (35-31) When Miami fans arrived at TQL stadium, optimism was at quite a low. The team was shelled by the University of Pittsburgh just two weeks prior. No one would expect what happened next. Freshman returner Scoop Smith caught the opening kickoff and began to run, 98 yards, through the Cincinnati kickoff unit for a touchdown. It was Miami’s first time with the ball and the team already had a lead. Immediately, the expectations were flipped on their head. Redshirt-freshman quarterback David McComb moved the ball at will during the first half. The RedHawks gashed the Bearcat defense for a total of 334 yards passing. After the end of two quarters, Miami led 28-7. Cincinnati fans booed their team as they departed the field for half time. It looked like a bloodbath was coming. In the second half, Miami was haunted by repeated special teams errors; missed field goals, botched holds and bad snaps. The lead, which at one point seemed insurmountable, began to shrink rapidly. Then, finally, it happened. With a minute and 29 seconds left in the game, running back Cole Tabb broke through the Miami defense like he was Ghostface. His touchdown gave the Bearcats a 35-31 lead. McComb marched the team down the field and threw a ball into the endzone with just seconds remaining. Wide receiver Braylon Isom made a play on the ball, but he could not hold on. What ensued was a vicious social media firestorm. For fans and coaches alike, this loss will continue to haunt them until the end of time. Basketball: Miami vs UMass, Mid-American Conference tournament 2026 (87-83) The eyes of a nation were trained on Cleveland. The nation’s only remaining undefeated team, the 2025-26 Miami men’s basketball
team, was looking to stay undefeated and reach the NCAA tournament. No one was expecting the Minutemen, a team the RedHawks had dispatched twice during the regular season, to pose much of a fight in round one. After an extremely close first half, the RedHawks extended their lead to 10 points with a little over 10 minutes left. Miami should have pulled away. Instead, UMass went on a 9-0 run and tied the game with a little over five minutes left. The ever-haunting Marcus Banks Jr. willed the Minutemen into the lead. Peter Suder leveled the score inside of a minute to go, however it was Banks who would get the last laugh. As UMass celebrated their win, Banks seemed to sneer at the camera, an image Miami fans will not soon forget. With that, the dream of an undefeated season prior to the NCAA tournament was over. The national media began to question the resume of Miami. Although the RedHawks would reach the tournament, they could have avoided embarrassment and potentially gained an easier path in March. Hockey: Miami vs Boston University, 2009 National Championship (4-3) At the peak of its powers, Miami hockey was one of the premier programs in college hockey. The RedHawks made their way through the Frozen Four bracket all the way to the national championship game. Although the Terriers scored first, Miami leveled the score early in the second period. With less than eight minutes to go, the RedHawks broke the 1-1 draw. Tommy Wingels gave Miami the lead before Trent Vogelhuber seemingly put the final nail in the coffin. The RedHawks had a 3-1 lead with a little over four minutes remaining, primed to reach the pinnacle The celebrations were short lived. Sixty seconds before victory, Boston’s Zach Cohen drew the game within one goal. All they needed was a final 60 seconds of good defense, they got 41. Before his 14-year NHL career, Nick Bonino leveled the score of the national championship. The game went to overtime, where Colby Cohen ended Miami’s hopes of national glory. It will forever be remembered as a collapse of epic proportions. Wherever your Halloween adventures take you around Oxford, bogeymen, gargoyles and demons abound. This time of year RedHawk faithful must stay vigilant for cold blooded killers like Tabb, the ghoulish grin of Banks and the menacing beard of Bonino. meneghcj@miamioh.edu
SPORTS
7 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
Miami women’s basketball prepares for a season of lofty expectations COOPER MENEGHETTI ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
With the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament Championship trophy sitting on the table in front of him, Miami University women’s basketball head coach Glenn Box addressed the media. With the net sitting on top of the trophy, Box said that championships are the standard. In the shadow of the MAC Tournament champions banner being unveiled at Millett Hall, an animated Box guaranteed a repeat of last season’s performance. Senior forward Amber Tretter returns to Oxford looking to pick up right where she left off last season. Named to the All-MAC first team for her dominance a season ago, Tretter will look to chase records in her fourth year as a RedHawk. This offseason, senior guard Núria Jurjo also decided to return to Oxford. The Barcelona native is one of the premier defenders in the MAC while providing an elite three-point stroke. Transitioning into the starting role, Jurjo averaged 6.6 points per game, 4.2 rebounds per game and 72 steals. In the modern age of annual roster transformation, it is rare to see players stick with the same university in the way that Tretter and Jurjo have. The two integral pieces of last season’s run play a key role in maintaining the culture Box has instituted at Millett. “Coach Box emphasizes that we won last year, but [winning championships] is where we want to be,” Jurjo said. “We try to help our teammates [and] tell them what he’s trying to tell us to do on the court [to be a champion].” Fifth-year senior guard Amber Scalia’s future is in jeopardy. If the reigning MAC Tournament MVP receives a favorable ruling on her lawsuit, she will once again light up the scoring column in a Miami uniform. Scalia provides an elite scoring threat from anywhere on the court. Redshirt-senior forward Brooke
Blumenfeld will return to the RedHawks, the last returner from a season ago. Her season ended after just seven promising games. She averaged 7.8 points per game with 2.6 rebounds per contest, and will play an important role in the RedHawks’ depth at forward. Unlike the men’s team, which boasts a high level of roster continuity, the women’s team has had to add all but four of their players from last season. Replacing such a vast amount of talent comes with the challenges of maintaining the standard set in years prior. Coach Box is confident that he has recruited the right players to rebuild last year’s success. “We want people that are excited and about the opportunity,” Box said. “We abide by the philosophy that when you put mature, intelligent people in one group, they’ll figure things out.” Box hopes that this new group of players will continue to improve on the trajectory of last season’s team. Finding the right transfers to fit in with the existing players was a top priority this offseason. Senior forward Julianna LaMendola comes to Oxford by way of Grand Canyon University. The highly-touted transfer averaged 11.5 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game with the Lopes. LaMendola’s profile as a long-range scorer will enable her to play a similar role to Ilse de Vries last season. “Amber Tretter is one of the easiest girls to play with. I mean, she’s not only a great teammate, but a very talented player,” LaMendola said. “We spent the whole time in the summer trying to get that kind of synergy.” Indiana University transfer senior Jade Ondineme stands at 6-foot-3inches. The France native provides a major height advantage around the rim and efficient close range scoring. From the guard position, senior Jaya McClure adds valuable MAC experience from her time at rival Ohio University. McClure’s career has been marred by injury, as she suffered a pair of season-ending injuries at OU and University of Illinois Chicago.
AMBER TRETTER JUMPS TO DUNK THE BALL IN GAME AGAINST GSU. PHOTO BY ALEX AREHART
McClure provides an All-MAC level scoring threat, if healthy. Sophomore guard Addison Baxter has the unenviable responsibility of replacing one of the nation’s best passers, Tamar Singer. Although the Butler University transfer will have several other guards around her to shoulder the load, her 2.4 assists per game average will need to grow as she develops into the Miami offense. Junior guard Audrey Biggs transferred from the University of Pittsburgh, adding another sharp shooting threat. Lucía Martínez López is a junior guard-forward hybrid from Xavier University. She has put up solid rebounding numbers, however, she has a tendency to get into foul
An unexpected path brings MAC shots-on-goal leader to Miami
MALENA SABEZ RUNS TO TAKE THE BALL IN GAME AGAINST KENT STATE. PHOTO BY LANDON FORD
COLIN MCDONALD
THE MIAMI STUDENT Malena Sabez pictured herself playing field hockey with her friends in Mendoza, Argentina. She envisioned a future playing in Europe. She never expected the sport to take her to the United States. Miami University field hockey head coach Iñako Puzo watched her
play and gave her a chance to continue her field hockey career far from home. Puzo traveled to Argentina in the spring of 2025 after two former Miami players, who played with Sabez at Los Tordos, encouraged him to recruit there. He knew about Sabez’s international experience, but she was not initially among the players he planned to pursue.
Watching Sabez play in-person changed that. “Once you see Malena on the field, it’s very, very easy to identify her as an amazing player,” Puzo said. Sabez had previously earned a silver medal with the Argentina national team at the 2023 junior World Cup and was captain of the team at the 2024 junior Pan American Championship. Miami offered a different ex-
trouble. The RedHawks also added several new freshmen talents to try and bolster the roster. Guard Brooke Zartman set several three-point records at her high school. Laia Jové and Adela Plans Bellavista round out the four Spaniard guards on the roster. Both come to Oxford with a championship pedigree from their time in Spain. Dominika Ullmann is the final addition to this year’s freshman class. One of six international players on the Miami roster, Ullmann won MVP in three Polish tournaments. With this new arsenal of talent, coach Box believes that this team will exhibit some new wrinkles in its
game. “There are a lot of things that we did last year, but there’s also a lot of new things that we do,” Box said. “We know we can go to another layer.” Although Box did not want to speculate on the strategies his team will employ this season, he believes the RedHawks bring an “ameoba-like” adaptability that will help them in any situation. As alluring as a regular season title may be, the ultimate prize for this Miami team would be its second consecutive MAC tournament title and trip to the NCAA tournament.
perience: an opportunity to pursue an education while continuing to play. Sabez said earning a degree was the biggest reason she chose Miami. She already knew about the university through friends, but she was concerned about being so far away from her family. Justina Intzes, a teammate of Sabez on Los Tordos, was considering attending the university as well. Although they knew each other as teammates, they weren’t particularly close. Sabez played in the club’s first division, while Intzes sometimes played with Sabez in another division. Puzo approached both players after the game, but their recruiting conversations were vastly different. Intzes was finishing high school, while Sabez had already spent time with Argentina’s national team and had to consider what leaving that environment would mean. As they contemplated a move to Miami, the two became closer. Puzo visited in May and said she and Intzes had roughly two months to decide whether to come to Miami before arriving in August of 2025. They discussed the opportunity with friends and teammates, as well as each other. “If you don’t go, I don’t know if I’m going,” Intzes said, recalling their conversations. They decided to come together. Sabez remembered arriving on a campus that felt like something from a movie. Her teammates welcomed her, but speaking English made those first conversations difficult. By the end of the day, she was exhausted from trying to understand others and thinking through what she wanted to say. Her teammates helped by repeating things and explaining the unfamiliar language. She kept asking questions, including whether she had said a sentence correctly. Their patience helped her get more comfortable communicating. Puzo expected Sabez’s experience to help her contribute immediately. What surprised him was how quickly she began leading, even with the language barrier. Within her first few days, she was sharing ideas and offering her opinion about the team’s play. “It’s almost like having another coach on the field,” Puzo said. Speaking up was nothing new for Sabez. She had been vocal at Los Tordos. Having more responsibility with the ball was a bigger adjustment. She described her role in Argentina as defending and passing. At Miami, the coaches gave her more freedom to create chances and expected her to help direct the offense. Puzo recalled asking the team to
execute a difficult play. Sabez questioned why they were attempting something so challenging when they could do something easier. “I’m asking you to do this because I know you can do this,” Puzo said. Puzo said that confidence helped Sabez settle into her role. The pressure of college field hockey was yet another adjustment to make, with rankings and postseason opportunities making each game important. Miami trusted her to handle that responsibility almost immediately. Sabez started all 21 games in 2025, finishing with 25 goals and 51 points. Her goal total ranked second nationally and second in Miami history for a single season. Against Ball State University, she scored all five goals in Miami’s shutout victory. She earned the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Offensive Player of the Year award and first-team all-conference honors. She received third-team All-American recognition from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association and second-team recognition from Synapse Sports, which also named her National Rookie of the Year. More recently, Sabez was named week nine MAC Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 27. Sabez credited much of her scoring to penalty corners. Teammates must deliver and stop the ball before she can shoot, making their execution just as necessary as her finish. “For me, scoring is a team thing,” Sabez said. This season, she said different responsibilities have required her to contribute beyond goals. Sabez still wants to score, but getting frustrated about her production would take attention away from everything else she needs to do. She showed her scoring ability against Liberty University in September, scoring twice in the fourth quarter and again in overtime as Miami won 5-4. Intzes sees Sabez helping teammates away from games, too. If someone hesitates to ask a coach a question, Sabez asks for her. She makes an effort to talk with everyone. Sabez said she also notices when teammates seem upset and makes sure to check on them. Living far from her family once seemed impossible. Now, she has found friendships and a role at Miami that she never imagined growing up. Puzo wants her development to continue after she leaves Oxford. “I don’t want Malena to play her best hockey here in Miami,” Puzo said. “I want Malena to play her best hockey after Miami.”
meneghcj@miamioh.edu
mcdona97@miamioh.edu
CULTURE
8
Wrap it up
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
We keep adapting Jane Austen: Do we still understand her?
GRAPHIC BY STELLA POWERS
COMMENTARY
AUGUST HUMPHREY THE MIAMI STUDENT
After 365 days of paying an unreasonable amount of money to not have to listen to ads, it’s almost time to watch a little slideshow about my listening stats — most of which I already know, to be honest. But it’s almost time for the most wonderful time of the year (not Christmas): Spotify Wrapped. Seeing as there’s nothing more that I love performing a sold-out concert to my fans in my car, I thought I’d bring you along behind the scenes of the artists and songs that have filled up my setlist this year. Billie Eilish Anyone who has been around me for five seconds, knows that I’m a huge Billie Eilish fan — so much so that friends and family have texted me: “I saw this picture of Billie, it reminded me of you,” or “I heard the radio mention Billie, and it made me think of you.” Regardless of how my Wrapped will turn out, there is absolutely zero doubt in my mind that she will be very prominent there. While Eilish hasn’t published any new music this year, “bellyache” is a song from her debut EP that I always find myself gravitating toward. I’m a strong believer that music influences mood. For me, “bellyache” has always done a good job of pulling me back towards a “neutral” state, regardless of whether or not I was in a good mood or a bad one. Some of my other favorites from her this year include: “you should see me in a crown,” “THE GREATEST,” “bury a friend” and “wish you were gay.” FLO While they aren’t as famous, FLO is an R&B girl group from the UK that gives me the type of confidence to believe that I can win “America’s Got Talent.” I first discovered them in early 2022 when they released their debut single, “Cardboard Box,” and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve listened to a lot of girl groups, but no one harmonizes and belts like these girls do. In 2024 they released their debut album, “Access All Areas,” and this past August they released their sophomore album “THERAPY AT THE CLUB.” Some of my personal favorite FLO songs are “IWH2BMX” and “Small Doses.” The main reason I’m in love with these three, is because of standout lyrics in each: “Boy just look at me now, face on every poster / Can’t escape me / you’re old news” and “Nothing this good comes without a warning / Gets you high, next thing you’re falling / That’s why I only take
love in small doses.” It’s much easier to explain the impact of those lyrics when the music is accompanying them, but they’re just so satisfying to me. They scratch a part of my brain I didn’t think was reachable. Ashnikko Last year Ashnikko released her second studio album “Smoochies,” and has been touring all year in support of it. I was lucky enough to be able to go to a show this past August, and let me tell you, I had a blast. Seeing “Smoochie World” (as Ashnikko herself has dubbed it) is a lot easier than trying to describe it. But in five words, “Smoochie World” is: empowering, loud, queer, playful and the-tiny-door-Alice-fell-into. And she has the lyrics to back it up: “So what can you do for me / That I can’t do for myself? / Anticlimactic / Get your sticky fingers off me,” Nina Chuba On top of English music, I also enjoy listening to German music. I’ve listened to multiple different German artists this year, but the standout for me was Nina Chuba. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a private jet to fly me to Germany whenever I please, but this year I watched Nina Chuba tour across Germany through every social media platform I could get my hands on. The songs I couldn’t get enough of ranged from upbeat hits like “Wenn das Liebe ist,” (If that’s Love) that explores pros of being single, and ballads like “Unsicher” (Unsure) that dives deeper into the insecurities and self doubt we all face. Regardless if your music taste is the complete opposite of mine, 2026 has been a great year for music. What will your Spotify Wrapped look like? humphrdk@miamioh.edu
About August Humphrey
August Humphrey is a firstyear undecided student at Miami, minoring in German. When she’s not studying, you’ll most likely find her at home in bed with her cat.
GRAPHIC BY REN CHAFFEE
COMMENTARY
ELEANOR JONES
THE MIAMI STUDENT The frequency with which we return to Jane Austen is almost absurd. Her novels have been adapted, reimagined, modernized and repackaged so many times that one might reasonably wonder what remains to be said. Yet here we are again, with a new “Sense and Sensibility” and another “Pride and Prejudice” arriving on Netflix in December. I confess that I am predisposed to welcome such endeavors. Austen is one of those authors whose work offers something new with every reading, not because the words change, but because we do. Her novels are romances, certainly, but to call them merely romances is to misunderstand a writer who could dissect an entire social order in the space of a polite conversation. She understood the humiliations of dependence, the indignities imposed upon women by their economic circumstances and the extraordinary distance between what people say and what they mean. This is why I approach every new Austen adaptation with both enthusiasm and apprehension. I want to see these stories brought to life. I also want to recognize the woman who wrote them. The latest “Sense and Sensibility” returns us to Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, sisters whose contrasting temperaments shape their responses to love and disappointment. But their story begins with something less romantic: an inheritance. Their displacement demonstrates how vulnerable women could be when their financial security depended upon the goodwill of men and the arbitrary workings of property law. Their romantic prospects are inseparable from their economic ones. Marriage is a matter of affection, but also of survival and social standing. To lose sight of this is to transform “Sense and Sensibility” into a more conventional romance, one in which the sisters navigate the famil-
iar difficulties of love rather than a society that constrains the choices available to them. Austen’s irony is equally essential. Her wit is not merely an ornament between declarations of affection; it is one of her sharpest instruments. She exposes hypocrisy through the very language in which it attempts to conceal itself. Elinor’s composure is not an absence of feeling, but the discipline of feeling under circumstances in which its expression carries a cost. Marianne’s romantic idealism is not simply foolishness, but a refusal to accept the emotional compromises her society encourages. Neither sister is entirely right, and neither is merely a lesson for the other. Contemporary adaptations need not reproduce Austen’s social conventions without question. They must, however, understand them well enough to appreciate what it means when a character defies them. There is a difference between making Austen accessible and making her agreeable. This is also why “The Other Bennet Sister,” which turns its attention to Mary Bennet of another Austen work, presents such an interesting possibility. Mary is often relegated to the margins of “Pride and Prejudice,” her awkwardness serving largely to distinguish her from Elizabeth. Giving her a story of her own invites us to reconsider the women whom a novel’s central romance leaves behind. Such an expansion can be distinctly Austenian, provided it engages with the character Austen actually wrote rather than simply turning her into a contemporary heroine in Regency dress. The forthcoming “Pride and Prejudice,” starring Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet and Jack Lowden as Mr. Darcy, inspires a more cautious optimism. Elizabeth has become so firmly established in popular culture as the witty, independent heroine that we sometimes forget her capacity for error. Her confidence is part of her appeal, but so is her eventual recognition that intelligence does not make one immune to
vanity or prejudice. Darcy, too, must confront the arrogance shaping his judgment of others. Their romance depends upon mutual correction, not simply attraction. I do not expect every adaptation to surpass its predecessors. Nor can a disappointing film diminish the books themselves. But I hope each new interpretation gives us a reason to return to them, to reconsider a familiar passage or discover something overlooked. We return to Austen because she understood how people deceive themselves, how society rewards performances of virtue and how difficult it is to distinguish what we desire from what we ought to desire. Her romances are not escapes from the world she observed, but instruments through which she examined it. To admire Austen is to take her seriously enough to demand more than picturesque settings and familiar love stories. The adaptations will keep coming. The books, fortunately, will remain. joneseb3@miamioh.edu
About Eleanor Jones
Eleanor Jones is a senior Honors political science major with minors in business, English and religion from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her interests include literature, law, medicine and travel.
Ayla’s Adventures: Learning to enjoy the calmness away from the city
THE VILLAGE OF BRÉ WITH LAKE LUGANO AND THE SWISS MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND. PHOTO BY AYLA PEDEN.
COLUMN
AYLA PEDEN
ASST. CULTURE EDITOR For the past couple of weeks, I have been busy flying from place to place. When I last wrote about my adventures, I had just gotten back from my birthday trip to Paris. Since then, I have been to Slovenia with my classmates for our study tour, Milan and Florence in Italy and Barcelona, Spain. Each trip has been exciting and fast-paced. However, after doing that week after week, my friends and I were starting to get tired of the hustle and bustle of the cities, so we took a
trip to a lake in the Swiss Alps: Lugano. On Thursday, Oct. 22, my friends and I hopped on a plane and flew over the Alps. It was truly magical to see. Mountains rose above the clouds, and snow covered their peaks. The mountains spread out for miles in each direction. Upon landing at the Milan airport, we made our way to the train station and boarded a train headed to Como, which is a 30-minute train ride from Lugano. The lake and surrounding town are stunning, and I wish I could’ve spent more time admiring the landscape. Just when we thought we had the perfect afternoon in Como, we boarded a FlixBus that took us to Lugano.
When I say we had the stereotypical FlixBus experience, I mean it. Passengers had thrown their things haphazardly about the bus, leaving my friends and me having to fight past people and their things in order to find our seats. Soon enough, we were on the move, but not long after, police officers showed up, started questioning people and asked for IDs. For a moment, I thought that my Swiss dreams had been crushed. However, we persevered and made it to Lugano. The next couple of days were spent wandering the city, drinking overpriced coffee and visiting the Lugano Art and Culture Museum, which held a piece by Monet and other paintings depicting the region. The best day by far was Saturday,
Oct. 24, when we went to an amazing outdoor museum: Swiss Miniature. I genuinely had the time of my life here. The whole park is made up of miniature versions of famous or notable Swiss buildings and landmarks. My favorite had to be the recreation of Schilthorn, a mountain near Interlaken. At the top of the miniature mountain is a ski lift station, where mini ski lifts go up and down. I experienced childlike wonder while prancing around the tiny villages — and it definitely wasn’t because my friends and I were the only people in there without kids. We had so much fun goofing off while we acted like Godzilla about to destroy the miniature town. After visiting Swiss Miniature, we made our way back to the main town, where we rode a funicular up Monte Bré, a mountain just on the eastern edge of the town. The view was stunning, but the best part was reaching the mountain’s peak and taking in the panoramic view. Before the journey up, I found a trail for us to take down the mountain. The trail led us to an overlook that let us see the village of Bré. I was amazed that people live in this village year-round and have a view of the lake in their backyard. We steadily made our way down the trail, not rushing like we do in the city. While on the trail, I remembered how much I enjoy hiking and exploring. I also noticed we all seemed
calmer by the time we made it to the bottom. Moving forward, I will try to include calmer walks and hikes in the bigger trip to de-stress and relax after longer travel days. While I was looking forward to this trip, I didn’t anticipate how much I’d enjoy myself. I hope to return one day, sooner rather than later. pedenae@miamioh.edu
About Ayla Peden
Ayla Peden is a junior sociology and journalism major with plans to pursue a career in law. She is the assistant editor for Culture and spends way too much time in the newsroom. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, reading and chatting with friends at a coffee shop — basically any old-lady activity.
CULTURE Inherited nostalgia
GRAPHIC BY REN CHAFFEE
COMMENTARY
REN CHAFFEE
ASST. CULTURE EDITOR Nostalgia is an inescapable feeling, and it often finds us in the strangest ways. This can manifest in several ways: looking back on childhood places, reflecting on memories and even feeling a deep desire to be present in a time we weren’t old enough to remember. A lot of Generation Z (Gen Z) is deeply infatuated with the early 2000s, a time they weren’t around for or were not old enough to remember. The creator of the “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows,” John Koenig, created a term for this nostalgia for
a place or time you weren’t around to live through: anemoia. The Archbridge Institute did a study in 2025 that found “most Americans reporting nostalgic feelings for eras before their lifetime (68%), attraction to products, media, styles, hobbies, or traditions from these periods (69%).” This connection to nostalgia for an unknown time can be explained by several factors. For one, the current fashion movement is heavily centered around minimalism with simple designs and neutral colors. In contrast, the early 2000s “Y2K” aesthetic is bright, colorful and fun — traits that not much fashion has now. While people now focus on wearing simple, put-together outfits, the
9 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
2000s had staple pieces that reflect liveliness: halter tops, mini skirts, rhinestones and heavy accessorizing. There’s a perception of this time period as an ideal moment to create a strong and recognizable identity for yourself without any sort of backlash. “I feel like a big influence for me is definitely movies or shows like ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘Clueless’ that make it look so fun,” said first-year primary education major Isabella Konya. “Social media also has a big impact because people post their outfits, so I feel like it’s big in the media.” The way we view the world is heavily influenced by the media we consume. “Back then they seemed a lot happier, at least how they were portrayed in movies,” said Abigail Huesman, another first-year primary education major. Another possible explanation is that the early 2000s were a prime time to be involved with the digital world. This is when social media was purely about connecting with others, its original purpose. Social media was also not used as a performance; pictures were posted without the intentional setup of a ring light or hours spent editing. The early 2000s were much more authentic than the age we live in now. There was a clear division between technology and real life. The way I see it, it was the start of the global, technology-heavy era we are living in right now,” said junior professional writing and strategic communication major Caitlin Faulkner. “Things like cell phones, Facebook and MySpace were all on the
‘Crystal Lake’ looks at ‘Friday the 13th’ from a new lens
PHOTO COURTESY OF A24
COMMENTARY
STELLA POWERS CULTURE EDITOR
This fall has been fantastic for horror fans, with new adaptations of classics such as Mike Flanagan’s “Carrie” and, more recently, the A24 prequel to “Friday the 13th,” “Crystal Lake.” “Crystal Lake” stars Linda Car-
dellini (“Dead to Me” and “Scooby-Doo”), someone I will watch pretty much anything for. She can do no wrong. However, as a lover of the slasher genre, I would’ve tuned in to this one regardless. Cardellini plays Pamela Voorhees, the original “Friday the 13th” killer and mother of the famous franchise mascot, Jason Voorhees. The prequel, however, portrays Pamela as
a mother trying to get justice for her son — she’s still a brutal killer, but in this adaptation, she has a motive. Early in the series, they show the pivotal moment of what pushes Pamela to her breaking point: her son’s drowning. She’s convinced that if the kids were being watched, he wouldn’t have drowned, so she’s determined to get justice for him. However, in her mind, justice in-
rise, and for the first time, humans could instantly get into contact with just about anyone at any given place, as long as they had a phone in their hand.” Now, the internet seeps into every aspect of life and is essentially impossible to avoid. There’s no more simplicity with electronics where we can use it for one purpose or feature it was made to do and then simply put it away. “Since a large portion of Gen Z were young kids and even toddlers during the early 2000s, it’s just a really nostalgic time for us,” Faulkner said. “To me, the early 2000s marked the beginning of a digital era that was hopeful, and to a lot of Gen Z, even a time of naivety before we were introduced to the real dangers of the world, at an age much younger than any previous generations, through the Internet.” One of my favorite memories of 2000s technology growing up was my MP3 player. While Spotify is an extremely convenient platform, sometimes I miss being able to get out a device solely for music and being able to avoid being sucked back into the other features on my phone. The MP3 player, and all single-purpose devices, are a great metaphor for why the 2000s are perceived as a key time to be alive. It represents the separation of different aspects of life. Everything feels so convoluted and complex now compared to when we reminisce about the 2000s; it seems like a time when the only thing that needed to be done was to enjoy life. To put it simply, I think the sole
reason that much of Gen Z is entranced by the early 2000s is nostalgia. The simplicity and comfort the era reflects, in contrast to the highstress environment many of us live in now, is deeply appealing. “Back then, at least it shows it way more, that everything is colorful,” Huesman said. “People are searching for that sense of color and happiness.” It’s hard to want to focus on current stressors when looking back on childhood is a viable escape: playing under the street lights, safety and simplicity.
cludes killing everyone who played a role in her son’s death. It’s gory and shocking in the best way and an absolute must-watch for any horror fan — bonus points if you like “Friday the 13th.” Cardellini’s performance is breathtaking. She’s great in everything she does, but seeing her step into a role like this was so incredible. I hope she takes on more roles like this in the future. The series also answers a lot of questions “Friday the 13th” fans have had for ages, such as why Jason is indestructible, who Ralph is, where he came from and how Pamela got to this point. It was also interesting seeing the recreation of some classic scenes in the original film, including different twists and surprises that weren’t shown in the first movie. “Crystal Lake” also features Grace, the only kid who was nice to Jason while he was alive. After Jason’s passing, Pamela tries to take Grace in as her own and serve as a mother figure to her, which leads to some gruesome twists in the show. One thing this series showed us is that Pamela is ruthless and will do anything for her son. Watching a grieving mother be pushed to the point of a killing spree is so fascinating to watch, and Cardellini’s performance was so vulnerable that it was impossible to look away. I loved almost everything about
this show, and I cannot wait to rewatch it soon. After finishing the season, I decided to rewatch “Friday the 13th.” Going back and rewatching after seeing the prequel made the film seem entirely different — there’s so much we didn’t know before that the series explained, making the classic film seem even more brilliant. Rating: 9.5/10
chaffele@miamioh.edu
About Ren Chaffee
Ren Chaffee is a sophomore strategic communication major with a minor in rhetoric/ writing and has a passion for writing and music. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, spending time in nature and hanging out with her dog.
powers40@miamioh.edu
About Stella Powers
Stella Powers is a senior journalism and media and communication major from Wooster, Ohio. Powers is the Culture editor for The Student and former editor-in-chief of The Miami Student Magazine. Outside of TMS, she enjoys film, television and theater.
Forget about it: How the gangster genre got whacked COMMENTARY
CASEY BERTCH
THE MIAMI STUDENT Much like Jimmy Hoffa, movies and TV shows about the Italian-American Mafia have slowly vanished. Known by many names — the Mob, La Cosa Nostra or just organized crime —the Italian-American Mafia has long occupied a specific place in American pop culture. From “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas” to “The Sopranos,” stories of bosses and made men have become some of the most iconic and famous pieces of media in American history. Yet, somewhere along the way, Hollywood has seemingly lost its appetite for Mafia stories. While the crime drama continues to thrive, there’s an apparent lack of new stories about the Mafia. Mafia movies gave audiences a glimpse of a world most Americans would never be a part of. A world where men could rise from poverty to live a life of luxury. In many ways, it represented a twisted version of the American Dream, in that Italian immigrants could rise to the top through extortion and intimidation instead of hard work and determination. The made men we see on screen are what many people wish they could be like: tough, resilient and never backing down to anyone. Through movies like “The Godfather” and “Scarface,” people got to see others living dream lives. While many people would love to be rich and powerful, there aren’t many who would be willing to cross the line of murder. This ties into the idea of romanticization in media. Much like pirates, cowboys and vampires, the Mafia was heavily romanticized. Movies like “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas” show the audience the high life, and while they touch upon the dark side, the romanticized version of the Mafia
obscures reality. They show glittering suits, fancy cars and extravagant mansions, but not always the human cost of it all, from deaths to exploitation. In many ways, the Mafia genre has gone the way of the Western. Once the cornerstone of American pop culture, Western movies romanticized life on the frontier with cowboys saving damsels from outlaws and bringing justice to the frontier. But as time went on, the genre lost its grip on Hollywood, and now Westerns are just something your parents or grandparents watch on a random channel on TV. Mafia movies have followed a similar path, slowly falling out of favor as public interest shifted towards other topics. But why? If you ask a group of people what the greatest movie ever made is, there’s no doubt that at least one person will say “The Godfather.” If you ask what the greatest TV show ever made is, a common answer will be “The Sopranos.” For many people, the genre has already peaked. So, if a young and aspiring director wants to make it big in Hollywood, why would they try to make a Mafia movie when they have to go against these titans of pop culture? Another reason is that compared to the mid-20th century, there are far fewer Italian-American communities in modern-day America. Back then, cities like New York and Chicago housed densely populated Italian-American communities. According to NBC, the shrinking of Italian-American communities really happened in the latter half of the 20th century as more immigrants came from places like China and Vietnam and needed cheap places to live. Because Italian-Americans had been there for decades at that point, many were able to move into other neighborhoods, leaving space for other immigrant groups to move in.
In addition, “little Italy” communities began to shrink because of gentrification. Italian-American culture remains alive, but without these concentrated areas, the inspiration for Mafia movies is far less central to most Americans. By far the biggest reason for the lack of Mafia movies is the decline of the Italian-American Mafia. For much of the 20th century, La Cosa Nostra held severe influence over labor unions, gambling, local businesses, construction, sanitation and countless other forms of business. They were ingrained in everyday life in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and even cities like Cleveland or Detroit. At that time, in those cities, mobsters were your best friend’s uncle, the guys sponsoring your Little League team or people sitting two pews down from you at church. In 1970, this began to change. With the passage of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the federal government began to crack down on the Mafia after years of feigning ignorance or outright working with them during World War II. Through the RICO Act, they were able to punish the entire criminal organization instead of specific individuals. Bosses could be arrested for the crimes of their soldiers and would almost always get the most severe punishment. High-ranking mobsters realized they would likely die in prison if they got caught. Due to this, many of them effectively started their own gossip column and became top informants for the FBI. RICO forced the Mafia to collapse in on itself. The ultimate irony of La Cosa Nostra was made clear: Organizations built upon loyalty and trust were full of guys looking out for themself. RICO didn’t change these men; it revealed who they were at their core, guys who, when push came to shove,
GRAPHIC BY CASEY BERTCH
cared about themselves above all else. Nowadays, the Mafia is still around, but nowhere near as powerful as they used to be. According to BCC, their crimes are mostly white-collar and involve as little violence as possible. As the Mafia declined, so did their cultural relevance. When La Cosa Nostra held power over key American cities, they were a natural subject for movies. But that landscape is gone. As high-profile arrests and trials like that of Gambino boss John Gotti happened, the mystique slowly faded. People were given a closer look into the world they saw on screens for decades prior. Then, in the late 90s, HBO’s “The Sopranos” first aired and stripped away even more of that mystique. It heavily criticized the romanticized versions of the Mafia by showing each made man as a horrible, despicable person. In 2019, famed mob movie director Martin Scorsese released “The Irishman,” which some call the last great piece of Mafia media. We still get an occasional show or movie about the Italian-American Mafia, but it has largely been replaced by media about cartels, like “Breaking Bad,” or serial killers, like “Dahmer.” The gangster genre isn’t gone completely, but much like the real-life Mafia, it is a shell of its former self.
The wiseguys are gone, the neighborhood dissolved and the public’s eyes turned elsewhere. Now, the dominant genre in theaters is the superhero genre. Instead of audiences lining up to see Italian-American actors smoking cigars and wearing suits, they line up to see actors don CGI costumes and fight villains. Maybe in a decade or two, we’ll see another cultural shift and someone will write an article about why superhero media fell out of favor. bertscca@miamioh.edu
About Casey Bertch
Casey Bertsch is a first-year public administration major. In his free time, he enjoys reading comics, watching NASCAR, watching movies and playing golf.
OPINION
10
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
Why survivors stay silent Financial anxieties are chasing students away from their passions
GRAPHIC BY CAITLIN WONG
ELEANOR JONES
THE MIAMI STUDENT
GRAPHIC BY TESSA KLEMP
ETHAN FOSTER
THE MIAMI STUDENT When I decided to go to Miami University, I was excited about three things. First, the campus was a gorgeous red-brick college town, complete with all the amenities available to a modern university. Secondly, Miami was an in-state school and gave me generous scholarships that made attendance affordable. Finally, I thought going to Miami would give me the best chance to make money later in life. That monetary anxiety is not an attitude unique to me. In fact, financial anxiety is nearly universal amongst today’s university students. According to a study by CFP Board, 83% of college students believe that financial well-being is crucial to their happiness in life. Another survey by New America’s Education Policy Program reported that roughly 90% of students decide to attend college based partly or mostly on the earning outcomes that attendance may provide. So why are students so concerned about their financial futures? College is much more expensive than it was in previous decades. Even after adjusting for inflation, the cost of attending college today is nearly three times as expensive as it was in 1980, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This massive increase in costs makes college attendance a much bigger risk than in years past. A student today needs to be sure that college attendance will result in a boost to their paycheck, or they risk drowning themselves in student loan debt. Increasing costs of living further exacerbate the fears of modern students. Particularly in the last six years, prices have risen dramatically, and wages have fallen behind. The Federal Reserve estimates that prices have risen 24% since 2020,
sparking further uncertainty about the future of price stability and wage growth. It’s not just the fear of being poor that makes students anxious. In today’s society, money seems to mean more than just having nice things. Students today look at society around them and see that money means stability, freedom and even power. Money is ultimately our society’s measure of success. Making money is the very thing that our entire lives seem to be centered around. We spend the first 20 or more years of our lives training to become good workers, then the following 40 years working to make as much money as possible. Then, if you made tons of money, maybe you get 20 years to spend on yourself. If you were a low earner, maybe you don’t get any years off at all. It seems to be the entire purpose of our lives. Students are increasingly aware of this, and it’s forcing them to make difficult decisions. Students now have to choose between careers they’re passionate about and careers that will make them money. A friend of mine has been obsessed with college sports his entire life. He’s the kind of guy who knows every player on every roster in college basketball. He chose to be here at Miami because of the focus the university had on data analytics, and specifically a master’s program built around sports analytics. He had hoped to pursue a career as a college coach. But he’s given up on that dream. “I decided that I actually want to be able to buy a house and feed my family,” sophomore Benjamin Gronstal said. “I just won’t make enough money [as a coach] to do that.” Gronstal said he hoped to go into wealth management instead. “I don’t really care about it, but
it’s what I gotta do to make money,” Gronstal said. He is hardly the only student to feel pressured to make a decision like this. How many great college coaches, scientists or artists have been lost to middle-management desk jobs? How many great minds gave up on their dreams to change the world because pursuing their passions meant sacrificing their financial future? If society isn’t passionate about what it does, is anyone really living a meaningful life? Should financial anxieties be allowed to cull the next generation of great minds? If we want to live meaningful lives, we need to relieve the financial anxieties that prevent us from doing so. Living a passionate and fulfilling life should be possible regardless of financial circumstances. Society is failing the next generation of leaders. What are we gonna do about it? fostereg@miamioh.edu
About Ethan Foster
Ethan Foster is a sophomore philosophy and economics double major from Newcomerstown, Ohio. He is an Opinion writer for The Miami Student and plans to attend law school.
There is a reason survivors of sexual assault do not come forward. Again and again, survivors have had to fight not only the people who harmed them, but the institutions that should have listened to them. Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor, sexually abused hundreds of young athletes under the guise of medical treatment. Harvey Weinstein used his enormous influence to intimidate and discredit women who spoke about him. Jeffrey Epstein’s wealth and social connections helped him evade meaningful accountability for years. Now, the allegations surrounding Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity have raised familiar questions about what happens when a student reports sexual assault and the institutions responsible for investigating it fail to inspire confidence. These cases are not identical, but the pattern is depressingly familiar: survivors speak out, institutions hesitate and everyone asks why nobody came forward sooner. Then there is Annie Altman. Annie Altman, the younger sister of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, accused her brother of sexually abusing her throughout her childhood. Sam Altman has denied the allegations, calling them entirely untrue. The case has since been dismissed as she refused to attend the independent medical examination required by the judge. In August 2026, Annie Altman sat for a deposition in the case and has since released the first portion of the footage. In the video, she knits while answering questions, explaining that the repetitive motion is soothing. The public’s reaction to that detail tells us almost everything we need to know. People are scrutinizing the knitting and analyzing her demeanor, pauses, facial expressions and tone. They are asking whether she looks credible, whether she seems sufficiently distressed, or whether she behaves like someone who has been telling the truth. It is an old prejudice disguised as skepticism, one that demands survivors perform their trauma in ways that satisfy everyone else’s expectations. But survivors are not actors auditioning for the role of victim. Trauma does not produce a standardized performance. One response over
another does not prove an allegation to be true or false. We repeatedly demand that survivors perform their pain correctly before we are willing to take them seriously, which is precisely why survivors stay silent. They know coming forward does not necessarily mean being heard. It can mean having their memories dissected, their motives questioned, their behavior examined and their credibility put on trial. It can mean facing the same question asked in different forms: Why didn’t you say something sooner? The cases of Nassar, Weinstein, Epstein and the allegations surrounding Cornell reveal the consequences of a culture that scrutinizes survivors more readily than it confronts the institutions that failed them. We demand to know why they waited to speak, yet rarely ask what made silence seem safer in the first place. Justice requires evidence as much as it requires skepticism. It requires allegations be investigated rather than automatically accepted as fact. Sam Altman is entitled to defend himself, just as any accused person is. But skepticism should be directed toward finding the truth, not toward demanding that survivors make themselves easier to believe. If a woman knows that she will be interrogated not only about what happened to her, but about how convincingly she can perform having been hurt, silence becomes an entirely rational choice. joneseb3@miamioh.edu
About Eleanor Jones
Eleanor Jones is a senior honors political science major with minors in business, English and religion from Philadelphia. Her interests include literature, law, medicine and travel.
A night out is not a free pass None of us were born knowing these habits. We learned them, and we pass them along to each other like survival skills. Here is the truth I wish more people understood: A night out is not a free pass. It doesn’t excuse a man from basic respect, no matter how much he’s had to drink, and it doesn’t matter what a woman is wearing. There is no situation in which common decency should be thrown out the window. kleinmim@miamioh.edu
STUDENTS STAND IN LINE AT BRICK STREET BAR WAITING TO GET IN. PHOTO BY IVY KLEINMAN
IVY KLEINMAN PHOTO EDITOR
Going out Uptown has become more of a pressure than a pleasure. The excitement of picking a cute outfit, doing my makeup and dancing with friends has been overshadowed by anxiety about what could happen. Is my outfit too revealing? Am I standing near the “wrong people?” One weekend, just like every other, I got dressed in an outfit I felt confident and comfortable in and headed out with my friends and my boyfriend. We went to Brick Street to dance, chat and have a fun night. After a little over an hour, we had migrated to the dance floor and formed a small circle next to a staircase and railing. Farther from the DJ and the center of the crowd, I thought
we’d be left alone. Then, as I stood next to my boyfriend, a random guy walked up, put his hand on my boyfriend’s shoulder and said, “I’m gonna drug your girlfriend.” We were all shocked. My jaw was on the floor as my boyfriend told him to back off. The guy offered an apology that was clearly not sincere. Minutes later, he circled back and acted like he had no idea what happened, claiming he had no recollection of what he said. It would be easier to call that night a freak incident. It wasn’t. It’s one of many times I’ve tried to enjoy a night out, only to have a man decide I was there to be harassed. Another night at Brick, I was talking with my roommate when a guy walked by, looked me up and
down, licked his lips and kept going, as if he’d done nothing wrong. Ask any woman you know, and she’ll have her own version. There’s the guy who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer when asking to dance. There’s the man who will grab a woman’s waist on the dance floor after she’s already said “no.” There’s the unfortunately common experience of a butt grabbed without consent, or even a word. There are the men who loudly catcall as young girls walk by. And there’s the constant, tiring habit of watching our drinks to make sure no one tampers with them. These aren’t just uncomfortable moments. The numbers point to a bigger problem. According to data in an email statement from Matt Stitzel, a records specialist with the Oxford Police Department, there were 65
reported sexual offenses across four categories under Uniform Crime Reporting definitions from 2022-26. Of these offenses, 31 were classified as rape, 33 as fondling and one as sodomy. Those figures only count what was reported. They don’t capture the harassment and unwanted touching women endure on an ordinary night out. But they offer a glimpse of the more serious offenses that reach police, and they show that the fear women carry isn’t paranoia. That fear shapes everything, including the walk home. We carry pepper spray. We share our locations with close friends. We hold our keys like weapons. We put in AirPods and pretend to be on the phone. We scan our surroundings constantly.
About Ivy Kleinman
Ivy Kleinman is a sophomore studying journalism with a minor in creative writing. She is the Photo editor for The Student and a blog writer for UP Magazine.
OPINION
11 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
Civic education is a duty, not just a privilege term elections. Yet in countries with mandatory voting, turnout rises to 90%. The issue is not necessarily just voter turnout. The issue is citizens being uneducated on political topics and not participating in all elections that directly affect them. It is our democratic responsibility to vote at every level — federal, state and local. These issues infiltrate every aspect of everyday life. When citizens don’t vote on these issues, they are conceding their civic duties and allowing other people to make decisions for their own livelihoods. It is vital for every person to be educated on democracy and to understand the sheer importance their vote has, because every vote does matter. norrisl3@miamioh.edu
STUDENTS WALK PAST VOTING SIGNS FOR THE 2023 ELECTION. PHOTO BY THE MIAMI STUDENT
LAYLA NORRIS STAFF WRITER
On almost any given day, a Miami University student may be sitting on one of the benches surrounding the Seal. They are likely wearing a red polo and holding a clipboard. When a person walks by, they ask, “Are you registered to vote yet?” Sometimes, they’re met with an aggressive eye roll or an inconsiderate groan. Sometimes, their existence is completely ignored. These canvassers are not trying to be a nuisance in people’s lives. They are exercising their civic duty and urging others to do the same. The United States, at its core, is a representative democracy. Our government is elected by the people, for the people. Voting is how citizens choose their elected officials and participate in the democratic process at the core of our nation’s function.
Our government has its flaws, undoubtedly. Politicians are corrupt, politics are divisive and it can be hard to engage with civic democracy positively. In present times, people tend to associate regulations on civic education with Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1). This reform changed the guidelines for civic education in Ohio, yet it implemented conservative ideals into our educational system. It eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion offices. It restricted educational faculty from taking firm stances on what it calls any “controversial belief or policy.” It also requires undergraduate students to take a course covering American civics, traditions, democracy and capitalism. Superficially, S.B. 1 seems to promote civic education. However, people criticize it as micromanaging higher education and facilitating propaganda. “This bill is not about promot-
ing free speech, it’s about silencing diverse perspectives and allowing harmful misinformation … to be presented as legitimate discourse,” said State Senator Casey Weinstein in his condemnation of S.B. 1. “This bill undermines the integrity of Ohio’s educational system and jeopardizes critical thinking in our classrooms.” I do not believe the ideals proposed by S.B. 1 align with the actual civic education American students should be receiving. Learning about diversity, politics and history is essential to American democratic participation. Educating American residents on the democratic process will ensure their knowledge of voting procedures; this is the end goal. Democracy comes with responsibilities, and voting is one of them. “When voters don’t exercise their franchise, by default they allow others to make decisions for them,” said
United Nations diplomat Sonam Tobgay from the McCain Institute, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to public service. “They have to live with the decision of the small minority who voted.” According to the Pew Research Center, the 2020 and 2024 elections had the highest voter turnout in the past century at 66% and 64%, respectively. Yet these were presidential elections, which only occur every four years. Congressional elections occur every two years. Local elections happen annually. These may seem small, but they are equally important as presidential elections, even if they do not garner the same turnout. According to Fair Vote, voter turnout in the United States is significantly lower than turnout in other nations. Turnout for presidential elections is approximately 60% of citizens, and it drops to 40% for mid-
About Laya Norris
Layla Norris is a sophomore double majoring in political science and professional writing, with minors in history and human capital management and leadership. Alongside writing for The Miami Student, she is involved with Kappa Alpha Pi and RedHawk Radio.
Loving people who drive you mad
GRAPHIC BY CIANNA FERRANTE
VEDIKA KAUSHAL
THE MIAMI STUDENT There should be a word for “I disagree with you, I find you profoundly irritating and I would still choose to spend my Friday evening with you.” We have words for friendship, affection, love and hatred. We have entire philosophical traditions dedicated to understanding human relationships. Yet, somehow, we have no convenient word for the particular insanity of loving someone you sometimes cannot stand. You are a rage-baiter. You have the most infuriating opinions I have ever heard. You think pineapple belongs on pizza, and I question your entire moral character. You hate chips, and I love chips. You are disgustingly disorganized and probably need professional intervention. Anyway, I will see you at dinner. Why do we keep choosing people
who make absolutely no sense to us? Aristotle, in “Nicomachean Ethics,” book VIII, takes friendship seriously enough to examine whether people are drawn together by similarity or by their differences. He even discusses the idea that opposites attract, suggesting that friendships based on usefulness can emerge between people who possess what the other lacks. The poor and the rich, the ignorant and the learned: Each might offer something the other does not have. But what about the people who offer each other absolutely nothing useful? What about the friend whose opinions you dismantle for sport, whose habits make you want to scream and whose personality seems designed in a laboratory to test your patience? Where is the equilibrium-craving force that keeps bringing two apparently incompatible people together?
THE MIAMI STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Aristotle himself complicates the idea of opposites attracting. He argues that the fullest form of friendship involves people who are good and similar in virtue, who wish one another well for the other’s own sake. In other words, differences alone do not make a friendship meaningful. Nor does agreement guarantee affection. Perhaps the question is not whether we are opposites, but what remains between us when our differences are stripped of their novelty. I find this especially interesting because I speak multiple languages, and each offers its own vocabulary for affection and companionship. Sanskrit has “sakhya,” meaning friendship or fraternity. Punjabi has “yaar,” an affectionate word for a friend, and “yaari,” the bond of friendship. Hindi has “sneh,” which conveys tenderness or affection, alongside “dosti,” friendship. Japa-
nese “suki” expresses liking or fondness, while Turkish “sevgi” conveys love or affection. These words do not translate neatly into the exact feeling I am looking for. Friendship, fondness, love and companionship name recognizable parts of the experience, but none necessarily captures the exasperated affection of looking at someone and thinking, “You are wrong about everything, and I am so glad you exist.” Maybe the word isn’t missing because other languages have failed to invent it. Maybe we have been trying to fit too many feelings into one word. Affection can coexist with irritation. Respect can coexist with disagreement. You can believe someone’s worldview is fundamentally mistaken without believing that the person is fundamentally unworthy of your time. Perhaps our differences make this possible in the first place. We are geographically, culturally, linguistically and habitually different. We eat different foods, follow different customs, believe different things and argue over the most ridiculous details of everyday life. Yet someone who grew up thousands of miles away can somehow feel familiar. Someone whose experiences you will never fully understand can still make you laugh until your stomach hurts. Does the multitude of differences between two people reveal a more basic commonality? The experience of being human, perhaps, is wanting to be understood and to find company, finding things funny, and being deeply annoying and loving people who tolerate it anyway. I do not think opposites always attract. Sometimes, opposites are simply incompatible, and that is fine. We do not owe everyone affection, and love does not require us to tolerate cruelty or abandon our convictions. But there is something remarkable about a relationship in which disagreement does not become a threat, in which neither person needs
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to win every argument to feel secure in the other’s affection. Maybe that is the equilibrium: Not two people becoming more alike, but two people making room for each other without requiring either to disappear. I still do not know what to call this feeling. Aristotle gave us a framework for understanding friendship, and languages around the world offer beautiful words for its different forms. But I am still looking for the word that means: “I hate your guts. You are completely wrong. You are impossible. Please never stop being my friend.” Perhaps the word doesn’t exist yet. The feeling, evidently, does. kaushav@miamioh.edu
About Vedika Kaushal
Vedika Kaushal is a first-year student studying political science and economics. She is an aspiring journalist and international relations researcher. She spends time reading research on the politics of India and the Middle East. Beyond academics, she enjoys reading poetry, playing chess and finds joy in the kitchen.
GREENHAWKS ‘More to life than just fungi:’ Miami professor introduces amoebas to the Oxford Lane Library
12
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
A SIGN AT THE OXFORD LANE LIBRARY PROMOTES DR. NICHOLAS MONEY’S NEW BOOK, “A IS FOR AMOEBA: THE STORY OF LIFE IN A SINGLE CELL.” PHOTO BY CAMERON MURRAY.
CAMERON MURRAY THE MIAMI STUDENT
On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Miami professor, fungal biologist and science writer Nicholas Money spoke about amoebas at the Oxford Lane Library. Money published his most recent book, “A is for Amoeba: The Story of Life in a Single Cell” through Princeton University Press in August. In his lecture, Money used the ten chapters of his book to give a brief overview of amoeba biology, weaving together a tale of history, science and philosophy for the Oxford community. Amoebas are single-celled eukaryotes (organisms with cells containing a nucleus) belonging to the diverse group Amoebozoa. The first amoeba was discovered in pond water, but amoebas are found in nearly every
environment from soil to volcanic vents. Amoebas are recognizable under the microscope by their iconic “blob-like” amoeboid shape. Money spent most of his career studying fungi, but held a lifelong fascination with other microorganisms. “I thought, maybe there’s more to life than just fungi,” Money said. Money distilled thirty years of experience from his time as a Miami professor into what he calls “Money’s Laws of Biology.” Money’s first law says: “While there is a lot more to a human being than an amoeba, there is no more to being a cell in a human than being the cell of an amoeba.” Amoebas are overlooked as being simple organisms due to their unicellular existence, but Money argues that each cell of an amoeba is proof of
the complex mechanisms and adaptations that allow life to persist. “We’re collections,” Money said, “walking ecosystems.” Money’s second law says: “Life is chaos making sense of chaos.” Money said nothing about an amoeba is random, not their movements or their behavior. “The amoeba is the paradigm of self-determination,” said Money. As Money introduced new information about amoebas, he highlighted the bizarre characters who made these discoveries over time. Friedrich Nietzsche and George Bataille were among the philosophers appearing in Money’s story. In his third and final law, Money says:, “Animal life is a nightmare.” Nihilistic as this final law may sound, Money used it to link amoebas
AN AMOEBA ISOLATED FROM A TROPICAL SOIL SAMPLE UNDER A MICROSCOPE. PHOTO BY RACHEL SHEPHERD.
to the struggles humans face in the modern age, describing the importance of studying these organisms. “The biosphere is a place of villainy, a tragedy that has evolved since the origin of life, but for most of Earth’s history, there was no suffering — just life, amoebas and so forth,” Money said. While most amoebas are harmless and an important part of the food chain, a select few cause disease in humans with disastrous consequences. Climate change warms bodies of water where Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba, can thrive. Money explained that with this in mind, scientists studying amoebas have a great incentive to study medically-relevant amoebas. Jackie Berberich, the adult refer-
ence librarian at the Oxford Lane Library, organized the event. “I’m excited to learn from somebody who’s passionate about what he’s presenting,” Berberich said. Liz Garrison, branch manager of Oxford Lane Library, also expressed excitement about providing this learning experience to the community. “When we find someone who is very good at delivering information to patrons, they can captivate patrons and get them interested in science. That’s gold,” she said. “... [Our goal is] just delighting people.” More information about upcoming science programming at the Lane Libraries can be found at lanepl.org. murra195@miamioh.edu
Miami’s deer management program enters its fifth year CONTINUED FROM FRONT
DEER DRINKS WATER ON THE GROUND. PHOTO BY CARA HALLQUIST
Murphy said the city also offers an incentive for hunters based on Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) guidelines. The city offers hunters $150 per antlerless deer harvested to help offset deer processing costs, and encourages hunters to meet ODNR regulations. Both the Miami and Oxford programs share the idea of sustainability through population management and deer harvesting. Murphy said all of the deer harvested were used for food, with over 4,500 pounds going to local food pantries. Hunters in Miami’s program have the option of donating their deer
to the Myaamia Center. Director of Miami Tribe Relations Kara Strass said hunters can work with someone from the Myaamia Center to obtain deer meat and hides. She said the Myaamia Center works towards the revitalization of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma language and culture through educational initiatives, such as their painted hide project. The painted hide project showcases the historical importance of hides and deer hunting in Miami culture while integrating art and knowledge, Strass said. The Myaamia Center has participated in educational workshops in the past for hide tanning, processing and painting, along with
the Miami Tribe and Peoria Tribe. “If [the hides] aren’t getting used by someone else, we feel like it’s not only sustainable but also a great opportunity for us to use these hides and meat in a really culturally-responsive way,” Strass said. Miami’s 2026-27 deer management program will include 13 locations in the Natural Areas and four in the ERC from Nov. 15, 2025 to Feb. 1, 2026. Gorchov said they expanded the number of areas and divided the season into three time blocks, with the goal of taking more deer. feeta@miamioh.edu
COMIC BY ELENA COX
HUMOR My experience taking a foreign language class in college
13
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026
GRAPHIC BY SYDNEY MULFORD
CARLEY RAPP
HUMOR EDITOR I haven’t taken a Spanish class since eighth grade, when I basically learned how to say my name and how to ask for the bathroom. That was it. Now, as a sophomore in college, I am once again battling the same language in order to acquire my biology degree — because apparently, the steps of glycolysis hit different if you can describe it in two languages. Currently, my Spanish class is courageously earning the title of my lowest grade. Taking Spanish along with my other classes Last Wednesday I had an exam in
organic chemistry at 8:30 a.m., and a presentation to give in Spanish at 11:40 a.m. the same day. Tuesday night I took my chemistry practice quizzes, and instead of taking my scheduled TikTok breaks like I usually do to preserve my sanity, I decided that practicing my Spanish presentation would suffice. I think I remember an exact situation I dreamt of that night too: Cyclohexane gossipped behind Pentane’s back, and Pentane confronted her in fluent Spanish. Pentane: “Chismosa! Chismosa! No chismear sobre mi!” For those who aren’t forced to be left-brained as a right-brained major, that basically translates to:
“You suck! I know you have an extra carbon and think you’re so cool, but you’re a fake friend!” Anyways, I immediately woke up because I couldn’t understand the Spanish that my own brain was spitting at me. Why is this language so difficult to learn? Recently, I had an exam where I had to listen to a minute-long podcast, recorded fully in Spanish by a native speaker who clearly got paid by the word. We got three listen throughs, and during the first listen I wasn’t even paying attention; I was just sitting there wondering how long the woman would keep talking. I was in awe of her lung capacity. By the
third listen, I had seamlessly decoded two words: “hola” and “gracias.” I think the five most embarrassing moments I’ve ever experienced have all been a product of the last eight weeks of Spanish this semester. There is no horror quite like being asked a question by the professor in front of your entire class, freezing, and then spitting back an answer that makes absolutely no sense. I think one time he asked me my favorite food. I said, “Si, yo tengo un hermano,” and might’ve even smiled in confidence afterwards. I’m not sure if I could even use my newfound skills in real life I guess the whole point of learning a new language is to be able to
interact with others and experience different cultures, but I’m not too sure I could hold a conversation with someone from another country who actually knows their Spanish. I could tell them about my dogs and my name, but I’m not too sure the average grocery store clerk in Costa Rica would care about my story. Still, if I’m ever stranded in a Spanish-speaking country, at least I’ll be able to politely thank someone while mispronouncing all of the following words. rappcr2@miamioh.edu
The Oxford Odyssey: 5 The anti-embarrassment epidemic best campus transport styles ranked
GRAPHIC BY KEEGAN PEREZ
ELISE HANNA
DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR As someone who’s lived on campus for going on three semesters now, I’ve quickly learned that despite how vast and beautiful our campus is, it’s a pain in the butt to walk from one place to another. I’ve also learned I have a knack for scheduling classes as far apart from each other as humanly possible. This being said, I have lots and lots of opinions on the best ways to trek across campus, all compiled in a little list for your reading convenience. 5. Bus system Have you ever wanted to ride in a mostly empty bus with some stranger who passes by every open row to sit right next to you? Well the campus bussing system is just the thing for you. For the low price of spending an hour trying to figure out the glitchy bus app, it arriving late and having to run across campus anyway, you can get the bumpiest ride of your life. Luckily, this is a completely free service that can even take you up to Walmart, which makes up for the time it drove a mile entirely on a curb. 4. Car Now I know what you’re saying dear reader; “Why are you ranking cars so low Elise?” And to that I ask if you’ve ever actually driven a car across campus. Miami students are known to randomly appear in the middle of the road, jaywalking to go skip their classes faster. Plus, I can count the number of parking spots open to non-staff
members on one hand. I’d also like to point out complain that resident assistants don’t fit into this category. If I have to teach a dorm full of first-years how to use a washing machine, I deserve premium parking for my efforts. 3. Lawn mower I’ve been chased by one; I know how fast these bad boys can go. No amount of concrete or road will stop these things in the heat of a pursuit, and as a plus, you can likely convince some member of the administration to pay you for your efforts. 2. Bike If you want to show off your athletic abilities, feel free to invest in a bike. You can ride past those walking plebians and then spend twenty minutes trying to lock up your bike at an overcrowded rack. Not like anyone would steal it, but like, you can never be too safe. 1. Electric scooter Now for the best form of transportation on campus — the e-scooter. It’s most commonly used by athletes, so people assume you’re a member of some varsity team instead of someone too lazy to walk up a flight of stairs. Another plus to this is that people JUMP to get out of your way. Just the other day, I almost got hit by Scoop Smith on an e-scooter, and I’ve had my head on a swivel since. I refuse to go down like that, but if I do, edit my obituary to make it say I got eaten by a shark or something cool. Thanks in advance. hannaer@miamioh.edu
GRAPHIC BY SYDNEY MULFORD
MIA STREBY
THE MIAMI STUDENT I have a theory — one that isn’t based on science or evidence, but came to me during my morning meditation. And by meditation, I mean zoning out in class. We, as Generation Zers, are afraid of embarrassment. I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t everyone? Well, yes, I guess the human species, from caveman to cardiologist, has had an internal drive not to make a fool of themselves, but for us humble Generation Zers, this gene has mutated through the invention of social media. We grew up in a world where we can filter, crop and position ourselves to perfection. We no longer look each other in the eyes; instead, we peer through a mutated mirror, trapping ourselves in a realm of curated beauty. Our mantras have changed from “Mirror, mirror on the wall, show me the fairest of them all,” to “iPhone, iPhone in my hand, show me the hottest on the gram.” We scroll, dissect and distort our reality, dulling our ability to appreciate and connect with ourselves and others. Wow… that was really dark. I want to assure my faithful reader (love you, Grandma) that my goal in this article is not to curse out all technology and set fire to Silicon Valley. I sim-
ply want to remind everyone that we as humans are meant to be silly. We are meant to fall on our faces. These moments of humanity allow us to connect. We should not try to bury the memories that make us cringe; instead, we should laugh about them. Through an incredibly scientific online poll and begging my friends, I compiled an anonymous list of comical moments that will remind us that, when it comes to falling headfirst into embarrassment, we are all the same! Have you ever run into a tree while staring at Apple Maps? For the directionally challenged, this is all too familiar. Or has your phone surprisingly connected to aux, playing Shrek the Musical in front of every guy on your sports team? This one is sadly mine. Technology definitely has disadvantages; just ask one student who accidentally posted on the Miami 2027 story, “they don’t know I f*** with the muppets!” Don’t worry, we all love those silly characters even if no one wants to admit it. Who can avoid it when one of Cupid’s arrows misses your heart and instead knocks you into a ditch? It’s heartbreaking to get rejected by a girl, only realising later you asked her at her aunt’s funeral, or sliding into someone’s DM’s on your company’s social media account! I maintain, they make the interface intentionally
confusing. L’amour is hard to come by unless you accidentally say “I love you” to the guy checking you into a workout class. I think he just wants to be friends. Don’t worry, there’s more! We have all accidentally interrupted a silent class through our gastrointestinal tract making itself known, or by our phone giving an unplanned concert blaring “Deeper” by Party Next Door. Deeper is also the only option when a wave steals your swimsuit top. I argue you can feel just as vulnerable when you get an impromptu pixie cut and look like the love child between Hillary Clinton and Ellen DeGeneres. It’s a rough look! Wasn’t that therapeutic or at least entertaining? No screens or filters, just a bunch of people laughing at themselves. My challenge for you is: sometime in the next week, do something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Sing, dance, learn how to weave baskets underwater; it does not matter as long as you set down your phone, have fun, and don’t care what other people think. Allow yourself to be silly, and if you embarrass yourself, email me and you can join this list of perfectly imperfect humans. strebykm@miamioh.edu
PHOTO ‘Howl at the Moon’ brings Halloween fun to Oxford families ANABELLE MONAHAN THE MIAMI STUDENT
The Oxford Community Arts Center hosted its annual “Howl at the Moon” event Oct. 27, bringing families together for Halloween-themed activities ahead of the holiday.
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Children dressed in Halloween costumes, and participated in trickor-treating, haunted mazes and other festive activities. The event also featured themed games and treats for families to enjoy. monahaa4@miamioh.edu
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6 GAMES ANSWERS
ANAGRAM ANSWERS Six letters PAGERS GRAPES Five letters GRASP PAGER PAGES GEARS PEARS SPEAR REAPS PARSE
PARES SAGER GAPES GRAPE RAGES Four letters AGES REAP PARE GAPE GAPS RAPS
PEAS APES SAGE PAGE RAGE GEAR SEAR RAGS EARS PEAR REPS PARS AGER
Three letters RAP REP SAP SAG PAR SEA
Did we miss anything? Contact mahones5@miamioh.edu
1 A GIRL DRESSED AS A TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE COMES TO A TABLE TO COLOR IN A PAPER MASK. PHOTO BY ANABELLE MONAHAN
4 A LITTLE GIRL DRESSED AS A CHEERLEADER GETS HER FACE PAINTED. PHOTO BY ANABELLE MONAHAN
2 A WOMAN AT A GAME TABLE EXPLAINS THE GAME TO A LITTLE BOY. PHOTO BY ANABELLE MONAHAN
5 THREE MEN HOLD UP TINY PUMPKINS IN A GAME. PHOTO BY ANABELLE MONAHAN
3 A LITTLE GIRL DRESSED AS JESSIE THE COWGIRL PULLS BACK A PUMPKIN SLINGSHOT. PHOTO BY ANABELLE MONAHAN
6 A KID DRESSED AS A CLOWN HANDS OUT BALLOON CREATIONS. PHOTO BY ANABELLE MONAHAN