Don Ritenburgh Business Adviser ritenbur@oakland.edu
248.370.2533
BEAVER FEVER A collection of animal remains features at the DNR table during this year’s Beaver Fest.
PHOTO BY MATTHEW VIGELIUS
Mission Kindness spreads Halloween spirit with BOO bags
MARYAM SOMO Campus Reporter
During a month filled with scares and spooky fun, Mission Kindness brought a touch of warmth to Oakland University with its BOO Bag event. On Oct. 28, students gathered in the Lake Erie Room of the Oakland Center from 12 to 1:30 p.m. to partake in the wholesome Halloween activity.
Students were welcome to drop in at their own pace, with no commitment to the club and take part in the activities either individually or with friends.
“We pride ourselves on kindness and we do a lot of things to make sure that we are spreading kindness throughout campus and other organizations as well,” Savannah Broaden, president of Mission Kindness, said. “It means everything to me because I’m helping people and I’m just making sure everybody has a smile on their face.”
Mission Kindness prides itself on spreading compassion throughout campus and the surrounding community through small acts of kindness. The organization aims to inspire others to get involved in these simple yet meaningful efforts to help those around them.
“Small acts of kindness are very important because they add up even though you might not see them doing so,” Emily Paganes, an accelerated second-degree student in the
School of Nursing, said. “The kindness kind of adds up in a bigger way because it might inspire someone else to do something small or even bigger.”
Attendees were welcomed with upbeat music, food and an easy setup for assembling the BOO Bags. Tables were filled with glow sticks, stickers, candy and other small treats, creating a lively and inviting atmosphere.
Events like this offer students an excellent opportunity to get involved and build connections on campus. For many students who commute to the university, it gets difficult to find new ways of getting involved. Mission Kindness provides a
simple and meaningful way to do so.
“I thought it would be a fun way to meet new people and to just kind of get out there a little more, especially because I’m a commuter, so I’m not seeing too many people often,” freshman Olivia Palazzolo said. “It’s a nice way to get out of my shell a little bit and making boo bags is fun.”
After assembling the BOO Bags, students could choose to keep them or share them with friends, family or others in their lives, continuing the club’s mission of spreading kindness beyond the event.
“I want to get more involved with actual people and not just an event or something that leads up to my personal gain,” Palazzolo said. “I want to help make a difference and that’s the sort of thing I was looking for when I looked at clubs to join and that’s when I found Mission Kindness. This club is more about giving to others rather than receiving something for yourself.”
Mission Kindness plans to continue hosting monthly events that promote positivity and campus involvement. Students interested in participating in future activities or keeping up with event times can follow the organization on Instagram at @kindessou.
Challah at OU: A taste of tradition and togetherness
ERIN BANES Campus Reporter
With midterms twisting students’ minds, the Jewish Student Organization (JSO) decided to twist dough instead. JSO is taking a muchneeded break with its Challah Bake and Take event — a hands-on cultural experience that promises warmth, flavor and fun. On Monday, Nov. 3, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Lake Erie Room of the Oakland Center, students braided, baked and bonded — all for free.
For many students, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of exams, projects and latenight study sessions. Stress can accumulate, and finding time to relax can feel impossible. This event offers a simple solution: step away from the textbooks and screens, roll up your sleeves and immerse yourself in something creative.
Baking bread isn’t just about good food — although free, tasty food is often a great motivator for eternally hungry college students — it’s about slowing down, working with your hands and sharing a moment of calm with your friends. The rhythmic motion of braiding dough can be surprisingly soothing, and the aroma of fresh bread is guaranteed to lift your spirits.
But this event is more than just a stressreliever; it’s a cultural experience. Challah is a traditional Jewish bread typically enjoyed during Shabbat and other holidays. Its golden, braided form symbolizes unity and continuity,
reminding those who bake it of the importance of community and tradition.
“Challah is the centerpiece ceremonial bread for Ashkenazi Jews,” Rachel Mennies, baker and writer at Wordloaf, said. “[For] those of us who draw their cultural origins spanning from Eastern Europe to Germany or thereabouts, whose ancestors spoke Yiddish alongside whatever language needed to survive in their home country.”
By opening this event to all students, the JSO hopes not just to share a recipe, but a story — a chance to learn about Jewish customs in a welcoming, interactive way.
“Make Monday meaningful with OU JSO,” the student organization said. “Join us for Challah Take & Bake, where we’ll braid and learn together. You’ll head home with a fresh challah and the experience of braiding it yourself.”
Food is more than something tasty to be consumed; it’s a bridge between cultures. Whether you’re Jewish or simply curious, participating in the Challah Bake and Take is an opportunity to connect, ask questions and appreciate the meaning behind the meal. You’ll leave not only with a warm loaf of bread, but also with a deeper understanding and appreciation for a tradition that has been passed down for generations.
“Unlike other enriched breads, a truly kosher challah is made without dairy or meat derivatives, relying on vegetable oils for fat and a contested number of eggs — which are considered pareve,
or neither dairy nor meat, in the kosher laws known as kashrut,” Mennies writes.
So, if midterms have left you feeling drained, the JSO invites all students to recharge and learn about the culture. The student organization invited students to come for the bread, stay for the conversation and walk away with a new skill — and maybe a new tradition.
Mondays can feel like the worst. Zoē Oakland aims to make them better with free food and good vibes. Between games and simple service projects, students leave with full bellies and smiles, feeling better than when they arrived.
One of the most sure-fire ways to lift oneself up is to first lift up another. Zoē Oakland is a Christian organization that provides the means to do so right in the heart of Oakland University. Every Monday from 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. in the Lake Erie room of the Oakland Center, the community meets to share a meal and make connections.
“It’s just important to make relationships with other students and to make connections. So it’s good to come out and meet people and feel like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself,” Laura Johnson, Zoē Oakland Program Coordinator, said.
Chartwells caters each Monday meeting, spoiling students with a rotating selection of free food. Meals are always well balanced and range from various pastas to breakfast-for-dinner, all including both meat and vegetarian options.
“I like the dishes, especially the pasta, and I like learning about other people and talking to them,” Khloee Jackson, a nursing major at OU, said.
Each week also hosts a different activity for students to participate in after eating. All are intended to forge that coveted community setting.
Most commonly as of late, the group has hosted after meal trivia style games. Director Eric Johnson also works for Sporkle and as such enjoys hosting games like Opinionation and Music Bingo. Opinionation in particular encourages students to team up and establish bonds with their peers.
Scattered amongst the games, service projects also bolster the after-meal agenda. They range from making gift bags for children in local communities to larger impact projects that affect underprivileged families.
“I love the fleece tie blankets. It’s a really fun craft and it’s meaningful. We give them to the refugee families in southwest Michigan, so that’s my favorite one that we do. Also the trivia games are really fun,” Laura Johnson said, when asked about her favorite project.
While the organization is Christian and does seek to help students learn from and forge a connection with Jesus, there is no religious commitment to the Make-it-through-Monday Meals. Students are welcome to come as they are and take the time to relax in a fun and caring environment.
This month in particular will be a hard one for community members living off of the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The current government shutdown has created uncertainty in receiving food stamps. While there are people working to access emergency funds for SNAP, the promise of a free meal is a welcomed comfort.
Leftover food from the Monday meals is often
donated to the food pantry located down the hallway from the Lake Erie room. The food pantry is another important resource to take note of in the current climate.
“We’re happy to be a campus organization now for our third year and this is our second year doing the meals. So we hope to meet more students and it’s been a really fun time for us to do this,” Laura Johnson concluded.
The meals take place every Monday through Nov. 16 and will return in the winter 2026 semester. For more information about Zoē Oakland, visit its website.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ZOĒ OAKLAND
Signing in a future of health and wellness with the Okanagan Charter
MARYAM SOMO
Campus Reporter
On Oct. 30, Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz signed the Okanagan Charter at a celebratory event running from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the upper level of the Oakland Center, making OU one of the first 50 universities in the country and sixth in the state of Michigan to commit to being a health-promoting institution.
The Okanagan Charter started in 2015 to challenge universities and colleges to create healthier campuses and healthier communities. It’s an international charter for health promotion that encourages embedding health into all aspects of campus culture and leads health promotion action and collaboration locally and globally. The Charter provides institutions with a common language, principles and framework to become health and well-beingpromoting campuses.
Before the official signing of the Okanagan charter, Pescovitz made some opening remarks regarding OU’s initiatives and future goals with the new charter.
“I consider this one of the single most important things that we need to do as a university to achieve all the other goals that we have,” Pescovitz said. “We’re adopting the Okanagan Charter and that means that we are joining a global movement of health-promoting universities and we’re in the lead by doing this; we’re reaffirming our commitment to embed health into every aspect of campus life.”
Aside from Pescovitz’s official inauguration of the charter, the event, organized by OU’s Healthy Campus Network, included activities and resources for attendees
to gain firsthand experience on how to reinforce wellness in every aspect of their lives. These varied across physical, social, mental, environmental and financial wellness.
“This is about social engagement, connection, belonging and bringing people together,” Becky Lewis, associate director for programs and administration for university recreation and well-being, said. “We want people to know that there are different kinds of tools that they can use in their daily life to manage their stress, anxiety and all of the other things going on in everyone’s lives.”
The event was open to students, faculty and staff, emphasizing that physical and mental well-being extends to everyone at OU. It highlighted that no matter who you are
or what role you play, your health matters.
“When you are able to put a community behind an initiative, you get folks to show up and I think being able to create that type of community committed to helpfulness with faculty and students is a great way to just connect people,”
Marcus Johnson, Oakland University Student Congress president, said. “I know at times students and faculty may be at odds, but I think this is a great way to sort of bridge some of those gaps, to say we may have our differences, but we’re all human at the same time with the same struggles.”
As the fall semester comes to a close, the OU community will begin to feel the stress that often accompanies final exams and deadlines. During this busy time, it’s easy to overlook physical and mental well-being. That’s why these events are essential to remind everyone to prioritize their health and self-care above all else.
“It’s a big thing for college students since winter is coming and a lot of people feel isolated and seasonal depression comes back,” Marieme Sama said. “It’s important to have balance, boundaries, know when to stop and what you can’t take.”
This charter will serve as a framework for promoting mental health by fostering a culture that prioritizes wellbeing, reduces stigma and ensures proactive, accessible support for both students and staff.
“I’m excited to sign it and adopt it because that means we’re going to continue to work on the things that we haven’t been able to check the boxes on yet,” Lewis said. “Getting health and well-being policies and best practices into play here on campus and working with different employee groups and students. It really is going to help us continue to shape what campus looks like related to health and well-being.”
OU’s Spanish Club fosters friendships and language learning
ADDISON KOCH & RUBY HERNANDEZ
The Spanish Club at Oakland University continues to establish itself as a welcoming space for students interested in learning, practicing and celebrating the Spanish language and culture.
During a student dinner on Oct. 29, club leaders of Spanish Club, Sigma Delta Pi and ALPHA — all Hispanic student organizations — revisited their mission, emphasizing that the organization is open to everyone — whether a native speaker or a complete beginner exploring the Spanishspeaking world.
“The main mission of the Spanish Club is to, of course, share the language,” Spanish Club Vice President Adrian Jimenez Morales said. “Not only with other Spanish speakers, but also with students who are taking Spanish classes, students who are applying to study abroad, or people who just want to pick up on it.”
Jimenez Morales explained that the club attracts a diverse group of students, including those who already speak Spanish fluently and those who are just beginning their language journey.
“We have a lot of people who speak it at home, or they’re trying to practice for study abroad,” he said. “I know, for example, Fatou and her family — they speak French. They speak a lot of languages, and they just add Spanish to their roster of languages.”
The Spanish Club offers a relaxed environment where students can meet, form study groups and practice their skills without pressure.
“It’s mostly a casual environment where you can meet Hispanic people and then you decide where to go from
there — whether that’s creating study groups, practicing your Spanish for a test or quiz,” Jimenez Morales said. “But really, it’s about sharing the language.”
Beyond just regular meetings, the club collaborates with other organizations such as Sigma Delta Pi and ALPFA, with upcoming events like a joint cultural dinner in the works. The Spanish Club aims to create meaningful connections across campus while promoting appreciation for the Spanish language and the cultures that speak it.
The club’s partnerships, like the recent Sigma Delta Pi Dinner with ALPFA and the Spanish Club, showcase its dedication to building community across campus. Events like these bring students from different backgrounds
together to share a meal, exchange stories and celebrate the cultures that make OU so diverse.
Students who attended the dinner highlighted how meaningful these moments of connection can be.
“I got to reconnect with people who I was already friends with and made new friends and that’s the goal here in college,” Stephen, a social work student, said. His experience reflects the club’s mission to make language learning a pathway to community, not just communication.
Through food, conversation and shared experiences, the Spanish Club and its partners remind the campus that language is more than vocabulary – it is a way to build understanding and appreciation for different cultures. Each event becomes a space for students to step outside their comfort zones and see the world through a wider lens.
Jasmin Carmona-Almanza, president of the OU Spanish Club, shared her thoughts on the collaboration with Sigma Delta Pi for the event.
“It was an honor to collaborate with Sigma Delta Pi. The best reward was seeing the smiles on people’s faces and the conversations that emerged over dinner. Spanish Club can’t wait for our next collaboration,” Carmona-Almanza said.
For many members, the club also provides an opportunity for academic and personal growth. Whether preparing for study abroad, connecting with native speakers or simply practicing with friends, students gain confidence that extends far beyond the classroom.
As the Spanish Club continues to grow, its impact on campus life is undeniable. By fostering friendships and promoting cultural awareness, the organization represents the heart of student involvement at OU — an open invitation to learn, connect and celebrate the beauty of the Spanishspeaking world together.
PHOTO BY MARYAM SOMO
PHOTO BY ADDISON KOCH
Controversy over weekend campus dining options
ADRIAN JIMENEZ MORALES Campus Editor
Dining on campus over the weekends changed in the Fall 2025 semester. With the Hillcrest dining hall closed over the weekends and Vandenberg closing at noon, resident students and commuters who attend campus on the weekends find themselves dining at the Oakland Center — a point of controversy.
As the primary dining location over the weekend, students with a meal plan can use meal swipes — also known as transfer meals — to eat at the Pioneer Food Court.
“Grizzly Street Subs and The Bistro Grille will be open both Saturday and Sunday, Halal Shack will be open Saturdays and Slim Chickens will be open on Sundays,” the OU Eats team wrote on their website.
In that same portal, OU Eats explains that a single meal swipe can buy the following items:
• Half sub or salad w/ chips, cookie, or fruit and a fountain drink at GS3
• Small bowl and fountain drink at Hallal Shack
• Any entree, side and fountain drink at The Bistro Grille
• 3-Piece tender meal, 5-piece tender bites meal, chicken sandwich meal or a tender mack bowl at Slim Chickens
“It’s really trying to find that balance of providing the best service that we can that meets the most needs, while also trying to enhance the student experience on campus,” Chris Reed, Oakland Center’s executive director, said. “Students know [the OC] is a place to congregate. So if we do food here, the hope is that we start to see that
engagement continue seven days a week.”
The change had been in the works since the campus master plan was launched last year, when the intention of centralizing campus dining sparked conversations about food costs.
“When we look at it, it probably costs less when it’s a meal swipe,” Reed said regarding the cost of the specified meals at the OC over the weekend. “We only do the meal swipes for the residents’ meal plans on the weekends because we give them the declining dollars.”
The flexibility and affordability projected by the university are not perceived in the same manner by some students who are not satisfied with the change from the prior buffet-style dining options.
“We need a buffet style because we’re spending more
money using double swipes in the shops here, instead of using one swipe to get a full meal like we would have been at Vandy,” Alex Lakin, a junior student athlete, said. “I’d like to see bigger portions for one swipe instead of using a double swipe to get a full meal.”
The change has been perceived not only by students but also by the staff working at the food court. Levi Hardy, driver, baker and food prep staff, explained that while the change has been beneficial for him and his team, there is room for improvement.
“As a worker, it’s very welcomed because, you know, if we don’t have the hours that we need, it gives us the opportunity to work full time,” Hardy said. “In regards to the weekends, we don’t change a whole lot, but we do have to explain much about how the meal system works, because I still think I occasionally get a couple of new people who haven’t been and haven’t used a single swipe yet.”
While many students complain that the change in dining options was not communicated with them, university housing sent out an email to resident students at the beginning of the semester to explain the change. Even after communicating with students, more adjustments are still in the works.
“Some buttons need to be programmed again, because there’s a lot of programming that they’re doing with the registers,” Hardy said. “There are also some things that are a little bit more murky that you can’t do and some of that has been changed and we’ve been adapting to it like any add-ons.”
As more complications are ironed out and students get used to the new weekend dining options, the campus community awaits to see how dining will change with the winter months.
OU launches new sports management minor for aspiring industry professionals
MADISON SHORT
Features Reporter
The passion many Oakland University students have for sports is immense — whether they’re staying up late to watch their favorite team, paying high prices for tickets or working toward a career in the industry they’ve always dreamed of joining.
In recognition, OU has introduced a new sports management minor program this fall, giving students the opportunity to gain real-world experience in the sports industry while developing leadership and business skills that can open doors to a range of professional opportunities.
The minor complements several major programs across the university, including business, communications and health sciences, offering what organizers describe as a unique approach to understanding the sports industry.
“The sports management minor offers interdisciplinary skills and insight applied to the sports industry,” Molly Gustafson, special instructor of marketing in the OU Department of Management and Marketing, said. “The program was designed for students who are passionate about sports and want to transform that passion into a professional pathway, combining classroom learning with real-world experience.”
Gustafson said the new program provides a combination of business education, industryspecific knowledge and access to a variety of
professional and community opportunities. These include connections to OU’s Division I athletics programs, Detroit’s professional sports scene and nonprofit sports initiatives making local impacts.
“Our program combines business education, sports industry knowledge and skills, access to Division I athletics, Detroit professional sports, recreation and community-based nonprofit sport initiatives that make a local impact,” Gustafson said.
Janell Townsend, chair of the Department of Management and Marketing, said the university’s goal was to design a program that helps students learn the fundamentals of sports management through a business lens. She emphasized that the department is committed to hiring qualified instructors and industry professionals to teach the courses.
“For example, Paul Sugameli, who teaches the sports law and compliance class, is an attorney and one of only a few licensed FIFA agents in the U.S.,” Townsend said.
She indicated the minor’s organizers are lining up guest speakers from across the industry and partnering with sports organizations to develop learning opportunities for interested students.
Students can also take advantage of elective courses outside the Department of Management and Marketing to expand their knowledge of the sports field. One example includes a sports journalism elective offered through the Communications department, which provides students a chance to explore media and storytelling
aspects of athletics.
The new minor was necessitated by student demand and the growing interest in sportsrelated careers. The program aims to bridge the gap between students’ love for sports and the practical business and management skills needed to succeed in the field.
“Our goal is to continue building pathways — whether through a concentration, major or graduate option — that support students’ interests and career aspirations,” Gustafson said.
The team is working closely with the athletic department, the Career and Life Design Center, and industry partners to ensure that students have access to opportunities that can enhance their professional development.
Townsend added that sports management is a broad field, encompassing everything from marketing and analytics to compliance and operations. She hopes students use the minor to find their niche within the industry and pursue work that is both meaningful and personally fulfilling. Gustafson said the enthusiasm people have for sports is a powerful motivator, both for fans and professionals.
“It’s a labor of love and the kind of work that keeps you up late, not because you have to, but because you care about what you’re doing,” she said. “Sports bring people together in ways that few other industries can, and I want students to see how their future careers can harness that same energy to change lives through the power of sports.”
PHOTO BY EVELYN APAHIDEAN
Beaver Fest honors OU’s wetland engineers
CAEL TANNER
Features Editor
Oakland University students, faculty and community organizations gathered at the Habitat in the Oakland Center on Thursday, Oct. 30, for the second annual Beaver Fest, a celebration of the university’s resident beaver family and a call for greater environmental sustainability awareness on campus.
The two-hour event was hosted by OU Student Congress and Team Beaver — an interdisciplinary group consisting of faculty and students led by Student Congress Director of Sustainability Riley Demond. The event was held in conjunction with several local organizations including CASE-OU, the Sierra Club, the Michigan DNR, Huron-Clinton Metroparks, Stage Nature Center, Botany Club and the city of Auburn Hills. Attendees enjoyed educational booths from the visiting organizations, cider, snacks, themed tote bag painting and a trail camera footage display curated by associate professor of biological sciences, Sandra Troxell-Smith.
“After hiring into my current position, everyone asked about Beaver Fest right away,” Demond said. “We’re trying to do a whole thing of protecting our resources, our water, and our animals on campus –beavers as well.”
Coordinators and speakers had fun dressing up a bit while educating – Demond’s beaver costume was a hit. Costumed as a 17th-century fur trader, Charlie Shelton, community outreach interpreter for Huron-Clinton Metroparks, discussed the beaver’s historical importance to Michigan. He urged students to combat ecological amnesia, an increasingly prevalent outlook in which environmental degradation is, over generations, simply accepted as the new normal.
The Post first reported a mature beaver pair having moved to Galloway Creek early last year, and Troxell-Smith’s footage this summer indicated the pair had since given birth to a baby beaver, known as a kit. Subsequent footage, projected against the Habitat’s north wall, was a key event feature.
The display showed highlights of the beavers’ dam and lodge maintenance in the thriving wetland. In a previous interview, Troxell-Smith indicated that students, staff and wildlife can share the preserve space, presenting an ideal circumstance for study.
“It was a really great opportunity for us because of where the beavers set up their dam,” she said. “Their lodge is close enough that we can monitor them easily, and students can actually go see the effects of their work for themselves. It’s really exciting to know that this is right in our own backyard.”
Beaver Fest built upon the enthusiasm with ardent concerns regarding human responsibility.
Annie Gilson, associate professor of English and creative writing and a member of the Sierra Club, said she attended to help educate students about current potential environmental threats – including the development of a new data center on existing OU parking lot 35.
Gilson said the Sierra Club – the oldest environmental group in the country – has opposed the construction of large data-processing facilities across Michigan due to their energy consumption and water use levels. She added that the club maintained a presence at the Michigan Regulatory Committee, speaking out about the center’s
development on campus land near the preserve.
“We want regulations to control how much power the data centers take from the public grid and how much water they consume,” she said. “I want students to remember that this is their world. They need to feel that they have agency – that they can take charge of and preserve it.”
Thomas Raffel, associate professor of biological sciences, previously noted that beaver dams can provide natural flood control and erosion prevention, and Demond emphasized their ecological value as a keystone species that supports biodiversity.
“They create wetlands that act like the kidneys of the earth, filtering pollutants and protecting biodiversity,” Demond said. “There can be coexistence for all.”
Coexistence was central to the event’s planning, according to Nicholas Skinner, Auburn Hills Department of Recreation program leader, OU alum and former Director of Sustainability, who helped organize last year’s inaugural Beaver Fest.
Skinner said lessons learned from last year’s debut helped grow this year’s Fest, offering an even more diverse breadth of engagement. He hopes the collaboration between environmental groups and student organizations continues to expand.
“These events are important, not only for campus, but for the wider state and regional environment as well,” he said. “The more people that learn and care about beavers, the more conservation projects we can get going. Beaver habitats offer carbon sinks and wetland habitat growth. They’re just so important.”
The event also encouraged direct student involvement. Skinner noted that volunteers are needed to help install kiosks and benches along the newly formalized trails within the preserve, part of a broader effort to make the area more accessible.
Attendees asserted that sustainability events are a welcome presence on campus. Thomas Wayne, an OU student participant, said he appreciated the turnout and the informed awareness the event fostered.
“I want other students to care about sustainability on campus and take something from what they may have learned or heard about here and implement it in their own lives,” he said. “The one thing we can’t live without is outside, so if we don’t uphold that, we’ve kind of lost.”
Beaver fans and sustainability supporters can help to uphold the outdoors by volunteering and keeping up to date with animal activity through the Animal Behavior Instagram page and YouTube channel.
Organizers expressed hope that Beaver Fest will continue to grow each year. Skinner said the event’s success reinforced the importance of campus engagement in conservation work.
“It’s awesome to see everyone come together,” he said. “One of the professors had the idea for Beaver Fest last year, and I’m just so glad to see it continue this year. We’re hoping for a third, fourth, fifth, and to just keep going.”
PHOTO BY THOMAS WAYNE
Canva offers free Design School certifications to boost creative skills
RUBY HERNANDEZ Campus Reporter
For students looking to strengthen their creative skills or boost their resumes, Canva is now offering free Design School certifications, giving anyone — from complete beginners to design enthusiasts — a chance to earn official credentials in visual communication.
The popular graphic design platform, known for its user-friendly templates and drag-and-drop editing, recently expanded its Canva Design School to include certifications in areas like branding, content creation and visual design. The best part? It’s completely free.
According to Canva, the goal is to make design education accessible to everyone, regardless of experience level or major. The online program walks learners through the fundamentals of design, including color theory, typography, composition and visual storytelling, while also showing how to apply those concepts directly within the Canva editor.
“I’ve just completed my Canva Certification! This certification has equipped me with valuable design skills and insights to create visually engaging content,” Monica Gudase, a Canva user, wrote on LinkedIn.
Each course includes interactive lessons, step-bystep projects and quizzes to test your understanding. Upon completion, students can earn a digital certificate to display on their resumes or LinkedIn profiles, an appealing feature for those entering creative industries like marketing, journalism or communications.
“Canva has always been my go-to platform in designing visual graphics and learning materials,”
Angela Ann Ibarrientos, who posted about completing a Canva certification on LinkedIn, said. “Now I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained new skills through their certification program.”
Canva’s Design School also highlights the growing importance of visual literacy across all fields. In a recent company statement, nearly all global business leaders, 92% expect employees, even in non-design roles, to have at least some design skill. For students balancing multiple responsibilities, the free courses offer a flexible way to gain practical experience and build confidence in their creative abilities.
While industry professionals note that design certifications can’t replace a full degree or handson experience, many agree that Canva’s program provides a valuable stepping stone for students interested in creative fields. It’s also a chance to practice real-world skills that translate directly to internships and campus jobs.
Canva is not the only company offering certifications for its platform. Online schools like Miracamp also offer programs to develop the design skills on the popular platform. YouTubers also have extensive guides on the interface, lacking the formal recognition but surpassing other competitors with their larger audiences.
For Oakland University students involved in organizations, student media or event planning, the certification could help make their work stand out. From designing Instagram posts to creating event posters, Canva’s lessons apply to projects students are already doing every day.
“It’s more than just learning how to make something pretty,” Ibarrientos said. “It’s learning how to
communicate effectively and use visuals strategically.” Students interested in earning a free certification can visit Canva Design School to explore available courses. With no cost and no prerequisites, Canva’s Design School is helping a new generation of creators turn creativity into credibility, one design at a time.
OU’s Association for Graduate and Professional Students returns stronger
MADISON SHORT
Features Reporter
Oakland University’s Association for Graduate and Professional Students (AGPS) is reestablishing a sense of community for students pursuing advanced degrees — offering networking, mentorship and service opportunities following the organization’s revival last year.
The organization’s objective focuses on hosting events with professionals where graduate students can discuss their interests, form relationships and gain access to advanced networking opportunities.
“We provide a welcoming, supportive environment for students pursuing graduate studies, professional work, or for individuals who may be considering pursuing graduate studies,” Payton Bucki, AGPS treasurer, said.
Bucki explained that a general organization for graduate and professional students at Oakland University did not survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was not until a group of passionate students revived it last year that AGPS returned. Since then, the board has worked to spread the word about the organization to improve the graduate student experience and promote student success throughout the school year. The group has also focused on rebuilding connections among departments that often operate independently, encouraging collaboration between programs in various fields.
The revived association is now open to students studying all disciplines, collaborating with the university staff and other organizations to host events
that emphasize professional development. These events often highlight practical topics such as balancing graduate coursework with research and transitioning from academia to the professional workforce.
“Our group mainly appeals to graduate and professional students; however, all students are welcome to join our organization,” Bucki said.
“Our board aims to be a strong support resource for undergraduate students considering pursuing graduate studies.”
Aside from board meetings that take place a few times a month, AGPS would like to begin hosting monthly meetings for general members to continue building relationships and watching the organization
grow. The board meetings include discussions about the internal operations of the organization as well as events they would like to pursue.
The organization is currently engaging in efforts to raise student body awareness by planning events encouraging students to consider a future in the Association for Graduate and Professional Students. Students can get involved by contacting board members to express interest and by attending upcoming events hosted by AGPS.
“Our members value building relationships with community members and serving their community, so many of our events and initiatives are service-related,” Bucki said.
An AGPS campus cleanup event is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Writing Center in Kresge Library. The event will give students an opportunity to give back to the community by volunteering to help maintain a clean campus environment and build connections with other students. Bucki said the group hopes this initiative will inspire more cross-departmental participation, encouraging graduate students to connect beyond their academic programs.
“I hope that beyond my time here at Oakland University, the Association of Graduate and Professional Students will continue to grow as an organization on Oakland University’s campus,” Bucki said.
For more information about AGPS — including contact information for board members, upcoming events, additional resources and a discussion page students can visit the organization’s MySail page.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PEXELS
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNSPLASH
Three things I really love
MALLORY WALIGORA
Content Editor
Taste is a remarkably personal thing. I find Rococo design to be gaudy — too much pastel and too many cherubs lounging on clouds for my liking. I scrunch my nose at a pint of Guinness — too thick, too creamy and way too overhyped. Yet, somewhere, there’s someone out there who is happily splitting the G while admiring the craftsmanship of an 18th-century Rococo painting, tracing every swirl with fascination. I suppose that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? Every person carries their own list of small, inexplicable joys.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about mine.
The obvious things come to mind first: friends, family and the thrill of getting Final Jeopardy! right when no one else does. But lately, I’ve also been thinking a lot about how my twenties have reshaped me. Not in a dramatic, cinematic way, but more in the subtle rearrangement of my preferences.
Three years ago, I wanted a tattoo of something I can’t even remember now. I swore I would never write again unless a professor assigned it — now, I write for the university newspaper. I wore skinny jeans, watched “The Office” on repeat and listened to music that now feels like it belongs to an entirely different person. While writing this, I opened my closet and realized every pair of skinny jeans had disappeared — a quiet extinction. Honestly, I probably couldn’t name more than three characters in “The Office” if you paid me (Who does Steve Carell play again?). Back then, I was so sure my life was pointed in a very different direction.
Inherently, entering your twenties means developing your taste. You suddenly have choices: where to live, how to spend your free time and what friends to keep. Somewhere along the way, you learn to pick the things that feel like home.
Here are a few of mine.
A hot dog at a sporting event
It’s the bottom of the second at Comerica Park. Javier “El Mago” Báez is stranded on third. The July sun beats down on your shoulders. The guy behind you — three Miller Lites deep — is loudly heckling the umpire. You lift your hat to wipe away the sweat from your forehead and squint toward the outfield; the grass is so green it looks artificial.
“Do you want to get a hot dog?” your friend asks, nudging you in the arm.
Of course I do.
It’s never a good hot dog. The bun crumbles in your hand the second you pick it up. The meat
is lukewarm and suspicious. The ketchup and mustard drip onto your shorts. Yet somehow it’s perfect. I’m not a religious person, so I guess this is the closest I will ever get to communion: bread and body and rising to my feet to stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers to sing along to an organ in the seventh inning.
By the top of the third, you return to your seat, balancing two hot dogs and a Coke in your hands. The chairs are warm from the sun, and your thighs stick to the plastic. You kick the peanut shells to the side. You stop pretending to care about the game, letting it blur into background noise. You talk about nothing and everything: the horrible summer jobs you can’t wait to quit, how your parents are doing and whether you’ll end up at the Tin Roof after the ninth inning.
You hear the clean, crisp crack of a bat. The crowd roars at something you didn’t see. You stand up with a half-finished hot dog in your hand and ketchup on your fingers, temporarily pausing the deep conversation with your friend. There’s an indescribable feeling in that moment. It’s not because of the baseball, and it’s not because of the hot dog. It’s a little bit of both.
Finding a favorite cafe in a city
For every city that I’ve stayed in for a while, I’ve always found a coffee place that I pledge my allegiance to. The cafe wraps its espresso-stained hands around my torso and drags me in, whispering sweet nothings of pastries and coffee beans. The cafe quietly adopts me.
In Detroit, it’s always been Dessert Oasis. The dark wood interiors have been the background to my life — first dates, catching up with an old friend or just stopping by because I’m in the area. It’s the place where I wrote 40,000 words of my senior thesis in one weekend.
In Paris, I had the Magic Carpet Café. I can still picture the barista with curly hair and a warm smile. The metal chairs spill onto the street. I remember sitting outside with a café creme and a notebook, watching people pass by. I never order hot coffee in the U.S., but I did in Paris.
In D.C., I had Call Your Mother, which I still claim to be the best bagel of my life — and will die on that hill. I remember the way my high heels felt
on the smooth tile floors. I picture my D.C. self, with a blazer, breath short from the walk from the metro, and too much to do, ordering an iced coffee. These spots have become my favorite — and not even on purpose. It just happened. Honestly, I don’t even think these cafes are the best in the city. Heck, I don’t even think they’re the best cafes in the neighborhood. But they’re my cafes, and that’s what matters.
There’s something sacred about being a regular somewhere — the quiet familiarity of recognizing the barista with the dog tattoo or sitting at the wobbly table by the window. Every time I return to one of those cities, it’s always my first stop. I know the walk from the metro. I know how busy the line will be at that time of day. I know that I have a reliable place that feels familiar.
Nice, meaningful jewelry
When I graduated from high school, my mom handed me a small box from Shinola. Inside was a Petoskey stone necklace — smooth, grey beads strung tight, each one felt cool against my palm.
“No matter where you go, you’ll always have a piece of Michigan,” she said.
I cried for an hour in my room, admiring the necklace like an ancient relic.
My grandma gifted me a pair of pearl earrings for my sixteenth birthday. I wear them for moments that scare me — job interviews, final exams or journalism events where everyone seems smarter than me.
It’s September 2022: I’m sitting in my car, fifteen minutes early for a job interview. I touch my pearl earrings, just to make sure the clasps are secure. I look over my resume one last time. I rehearse my answers. I look in the rearview mirror to make sure my lipstick isn’t smudged. I touch my pearl earrings again. The pearls are cool against my fingertips. They remind me of who I come from and who believes I’ll make it.
The earrings carry a kind of weight that no pair of Target earrings ever could.
Haunted Hallways showcases SAFAC creative spirit
Devil’s night in the state of Michigan is the night before Halloween. Many students celebrated the spooky festivities with Oakland University Student Activity Fund Assessment Committee’s (SAFAC) Haunted Hallways event.
The Residence Life Association (RLA), Student Program Board (SPB), Student Video Productions (SVP), OU Student Congress (OUSC,) 88.3 FM WXOU, the Student Activities Funding Board (SAFB), and The Oakland Post – all joined together to put on the event.
Maggie Bassett, Treasurer of SPB and coordinator of Haunted Hallways spoke on what the event was like and how it was getting everyone involved.
“It really went like exactly how I wanted it to go,” Bassett said. “Everyone just was working together. We had volunteers come in who were so excited to work with us. I think the student body really enjoyed it.”
Every member of SAFAC there participated and decorated either a room in the basement of the Oakland Center or their office. Themes from WXOU’s “haunted ghost ship,” to OUSC’s “spooky circus” and The Oakland Post’s “Saw” escape room – fun and scares were had by all.
River Dyke, Program Director for WXOU and ghost pirate scareactor, commented on how students reacted to the event.
“Some people thought it was more creepy, some people weren’t phased – but we had a pretty positive overall reaction,” Dyke said.
According to WXOU, they tied for first place in the scariest SAFAC Haunted Hallways room voting – a testament to how hard they worked not only in that event but throughout the semester.
Jack Waters, who is the Community Support Chair for OUSC, talked about what the process was like to put on such an elaborate showcase through Haunted Hallways.
“I ran a lot of OUSC’s involvement with the event, decorating the event, getting material for the event…” Waters said. “I thought that there were a good amount of people who really enjoyed the experience and I’m happy with it.”
Both Bassett and Waters noted that a SAFACcollaborate event is always fun to work. Bassett in particular was enthusiastic about having this much control in putting on an event and how glad she was that it turned out to be a success.
“It meant a lot that everyone was super comfortable coming to me,” Bassett said. “Everyone was just super excited to help out.” Waters also shared that sentiment.
“I think that when you collaborate on stuff like this more… personally, I’m a really big fan of like just getting everybody together and working on something good and fun for everybody,” Waters said.
After the event, SVP put on a showing of the movie Beetlejuice, a fitting end to the festivities.
For more information about SPB and their future events, visit their MySail page at mysail.oakland.edu/groups/ student-program-board/.
story by Chelsea Bossert graphic by August Wicker
The Fashion of Film: Vogue World recap
MARIA MAGNOLI
Arts Reporter
This October, celebrities and fashion moguls at Vogue gathered to celebrate the inextricable marriage between fashion and cinema.
Vogue World: Hollywood took place this year on Sunday Oct. 26 at Paramount Studios. Teasing the event beforehand, American Vogue’s September issue featured Ayo Edebiri, Nicole Kidman and Greta Lee. A rather new outing, the first Vogue World show premiered back in 2022, held in New York to celebrate Vogue’s 130th anniversary.
A few years have passed since then, and the production team certainly delivered this time around. Sponsored by Chase Sapphire, eBay and Eli Lilly and Company, the catwalk was a street lying behind Paramount Studios, graced with celebrities, models and spectators alike.
Los Angeles was the ideal setting for a cinematic evening. A diverse clientele traveled to attend from Anna Wintour herself to California Governor Gavin Newsom and entertainment executive and sports agent Casey Wasserman.
Split into seven acts, costume designers from corresponding films and creative directors of fashion houses collaborated to revive film fashion favorites.
“Act 1: Hollywood Glamour,” Catherine Martin (costume) and Miuccia Prada (Prada); “Act 2: The Renegades,” Colleen Atwood (costume) and Seán McGirr (McQueen); “Act 3: Historical Heroines,” Milena Canonero (costume) and Nicolas Ghesquiere (Louis Vuitton); “Act 4: Summer of Love,” Arianne Phillips (costume) and Marc Jacobs (Marc Jacobs); “Act 5: Avant-Garde,” Sandy Powell (costume) and Alessandro Michele (Valentino); “Act 6: Afrofuturism,” Ruth E. Carter and Olivier Rousteing (Balmain); “Act 7: New World,” Jacqueline West (costume) and Pieter Mulier (Maison Alaïa).
It was an atypical runway show, but an exceedingly typical movie set. Crew members moved props and pushed costume racks in the midst of the affair. Los Angeles native Gracie Abrams performed Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” and her hit song “That’s So True,” in a burgundy fresh-off-therunway Chanel set.
Shortly after, Diane Keaton’s nostalgic rendition of “Seems Like Old Times” from the movie “Annie Hall” (1977) echoed purposefully as model Betsy Gaghan glided in Ralph Lauren. Not a dry eye in sight, it was a phenomenal tribute to the late actress.
Model Marimar Cardenas stepped in the shoes of Elizabeth Taylor as “Cleopatra” (1963). Posing as the ultimate seductress, the glazed gold attire is one of Hollywood’s most expensive and jaw dropping on-screen looks.
Angela Bassett reprised her role as Queen Ramonda in her “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ensemble.
“Such an undertaking and a lot of work,” Oscar winning costume designer Carter said. “But tell me first of all, the electricity tonight was on another level…The support we got was unbelievable…It was a real snapshot of what it’s like to be on a movie set.”
Looks were served by Adut Akech as Daisy Buchanan from Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” (2013), wearing the original dress with Tiffany & Co. jewelry.
“Baz wanted the Gatsby costumes to be rooted in the silhouettes, fabrics, and details of the 1920s, but infused with an energy that would resonate with modern viewers,” Martin explained to Vogue. “This led me to favor the idealized forms over strict historical accuracy.”
With fog machines clouding the air and dark music erupting, Anok Yai appeared as “Edward Scissorhands” (1990). The costume replicated by Atwood (original designer) was identical to the one Johnny Depp wore in the film.
On the men’s side, Jeff Goldblum was spotted charming the crowd in a silver and purple sequined suit made by Gucci. Kyle MacLachlan was as dashing as ever in a baby blue Tom Ford dressing gown, a tone pairing perfectly with his exquisite silver hair.
Kidman, opening the catwalk in a custom silk black dress and gloves, emulated Rita Hayworth from the 1946 noir film “Gilda” — designed by Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. Director Baz Luhrmann shouted from ahead with film equipment, summoning Kendall Jenner to the forefront of his own production, “Moulin Rouge” (2001). Designed by Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie, she stunned in the black and silver showgirl look of “Satine,” originally played by Kidman.
Let them eat cake! Julia Garner emerged in Canonero’s recreation of Kirsten Dunst’s dress from the 2006 Sofia Coppola film, “Marie Antoinette.” The French monarchy may have been in decline, but the audience’s reaction to the robe à la Française said otherwise.
Apart from the main curations, several others walked beside them. Sandy from “Grease” (1978), Grace Kelly’s black and white ball gown in the Alfred Hitchcock film “Rear Window” (1954), Audrey Hepburn’s signature black dress with pearls and gloves from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961) and Cher and Dionne’s school girl outfits from the 90s film “Clueless” (1995) were sprinkled in the mix.
Nearly 400 enthusiasts in attendance, the off-the-runway looks were just as interesting as on: Miley Cyrus appeared in all leather attire by Saint Laurent, Hailey Bieber sitting beside her donned a Mugler 2026 collection leather off-the-shoulder dress and Halle Bailey turned heads in an copper organza gown by Lever Couture.
Opening up the finale, Doja Cat strutted the runway performing “Gorgeous,” as she channeled Tina Turner’s look from “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985). This last act brought forth the original costume selections from Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” (2021). The long silk gowns in shades of earth tones with draping sleeves and crystal head pieces cascading over the face continue to artistically stun audiences.
The extravagant 45-minute show was broadcast live, raising $4.5 million. Wintour declared that the funds will be allocated to the Entertainment Community Fund — a 501(c) charitable organization supporting performers and film workers in the performing arts and entertainment.
A significant number of costume designers were impacted by the recent Los Angeles wildfires, losing their cherished creations in the process. These generous donations will provide the assistance they desperately need to return to their craft.
“Mixing fashion and the arts and culture in the center of a city, and by raising funds for a vital cause, Vogue World has become a runway show as a rallying cry, a way to fix the attention of a huge global audience, to bring awareness and sound and unmistakable notes of positivity, creativity and hope,” Wintour expressed.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VOUGE
PHOTO COURTESY OF VOUGE
Students take on Mexican altars at the Detroit Institute of Arts
ADRIAN JIMENEZ MORALES
Campus Editor
From Sept. 27 to Nov. 2, The Detroit Institute of Arts celebrated Día de Muertos with its 13th installment of ofrendas — Mexican altars commemorating the dead. Scattered throughout the entire museum, the altars were dedicated to family members, voiced protests and reflected the multiculturalism of Detroit.
Local artists and community members constructed a dozen altars commemorating their family members, Detroit’s history and victims of pollution to help visitors identify why people honor the dead collectively.
“Ofrendas create a safe place to grieve and remember the individuals who were once a part of our lives,” Jasmin Carmona-Almanza, OU Spanish Club president, who visited the ofrendas, said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to vocalize our grief, so being able to create something tangible can bring us that outlet.”
Multiculturalism was at the forefront of the project, with most altars exploring the diasporas made up by the commemorated family members. Maria Famodou’s altar exemplified this multiculturalism, tributing her mother and mother-in-law
“This ofrenda represents Aztec and Egyptian pyramids, the Nile River at the center and Lake Texcoco surrounding it, representing their Mexican and African American roots,” Famodou wrote, describing the altar. “Honoring my mother and mother-in-law, who departed within fifteen days of one another. They did not speak the same language
but were connected by their hearts.”
Chinese, Egyptian and Dutch heritage were part of the altars as local artists celebrated family members who passed away from their motherland or made Detroit their new home. Southwest was a prominent theme amongst the artists, with many of them being born, living or working there.
“My ofrenda honors those who first settled in Southwest Detroit, highlighting how we became rooted and continue their legacy,” Natalie Rivera, local artist wrote for her Roots Run Deep altar. “I’m a Southwest Detroit-born artist and community activist. My creativity is rooted in heritage and healing and I’m driven by a passion to help my community grow and thrive.”
While the ofrendas followed traditional themes with the inclusion of cempasuchil flowers, candles, family portraits and favorite foods — all components believed to guide the dead as they come to visit the living on Nov. 2 — different takes on design and embellishments made each of them unique.
“The phrase ‘If nothing saves us from death, may love save us from life,’ I think that was very touching and also very eye-opening,” Lupita Sanchez, OU student, said. “It definitely made me think about my relationships more and how much I haven’t been valuing them as much. Seeing love being someone else’s priority made me reflect on my own.”
“Where the Air Remembers and the Trees Dream” was a communal altar for victims of industrial pollution in Detroit. With the collaboration stretching from Dearborn to Los Angeles, activists advocated for more protections for factory workers and their families.
In this case, a section of the altar was dedicated to 13-year-old Darnell Julien Paton, who died due to complications with asthma and air pollution.
“Symbolic objects-like muted papel picado, a black heart, lung and hourglass-reflect the human toll of pollution, while the tree offers a new vision of clean air from a revitalized and decarbonized industry,” Alexa Arriaga, co-creator of the altar, wrote in the description. “This altar honors Detroiters harmed by air pollution and uplifts a shared vision for cleaner air and a more accountable and environmentally friendly industry.”
As students in the Spanish Club prepared to make ofrendas of their own during Día de Muertos, they reflected on the value of reimagining the altars and the different ways to immortalize collective memory.
“Viewing the different ways in which the artists created their ofrendas, it was necessary to look two and three times to find small details that increased the significance and individuality of each ofrenda,” Carmona-Almanza said. “Ofrendas hold the unique stories of our ancestors.”
Misty Copeland retires, closing a historic chapter in ballet
SARAH WASIELEWSKI Arts Reporter
On Oct. 22 legendary ballerina Misty Copeland hung up her ballet slippers, marking the end of an extraordinary chapter in dance history. After a trailblazing career, the dancer is ready to step into a new phase in her life. Copeland spent twentyfive years with the American Ballet Theatre, where she became the company’s first African American principal dancer.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in Los Angeles, Copeland did not grow up in the traditional world of ballet. Unlike Russian and French ballet dancers who begin training as toddlers, she was captain of her middle school’s drill team. Her coach noticed her natural grace and encouraged her to attend the free ballet classes offered at the local Boys and Girls Club. At thirteen, Copeland attended her first ballet class, spending afternoons at the Boys and Girls Club until her mother finished work.
Her ballet instructor, Cynthia Bradley, invited Copeland to train at her small ballet school. Before long, Bradley was picking Copeland up from school and taking her to ballet classes. When Copeland’s mother was no longer able to afford her training, Bradley offered to sponsor her. Copeland moved in with the Bradley family and began homeschooling in tenth grade to dedicate more time to dance.
By 1999, Copeland earned a spot in the American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive Program. While Copeland was asked to join the Studio Company
afterwards, her mother insisted that she return home and finish her senior year of high school.
The following summer, Copeland returned to the summer program, and out of the 150 dancers, she was one of only six offered a spot in the ballet company’s junior dance troupe.
In 2015, after fifteen years of dancing with the American Ballet Theatre, Copeland was promoted to principal dancer. She was the first African American principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theatre, and one of the very few African American ballet dancers to reach that rank in any major ballet company.
Shortly before the pandemic, Copeland suffered a back injury that led her to step away from the stage. She has since focused on raising her son, born in 2022. In October of 2025, she performed at the American Ballet Theatre’s fall gala to commemorate her retirement from the company.
Additionally, Copeland has danced in Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” and performed at the 2019 American Music Awards and the 2020 Grammy Awards. She served on the President’ Council of Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from New York University in 2023.
Throughout her career, Copeland has been a passionate advocate for accessibility and diversity in dance. For much of her career, Copeland was the only African American dancer in the American Ballet Theatre. Her Misty Copeland Foundation aims to make ballet more inclusive and affordable. While she may have taken her final bow, Copeland continues to inspire, ensuring that ballet’s future is as diverse and dynamic as the legacy she leaves behind.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE
The design of monstrosity in del Toro’s Frankenstein
ADRIAN JIMENEZ MORALES
Campus Editor
With almost 25 years in the making, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro released his reinterpretation of Frankenstein on October 17, 2025, bestowing the creature with a foul conception story that takes Mary Shelley’s creation into the realm of body horror. Thus, the iconic monster in del Toro’s Frankenstein is constructed through exploiting the creature’s physical torment over the loathsome abandonment portrayed in the book.
In finding what makes a monstrous creature, del Toro’s version focuses more on the creature’s torturous conception, something Shelley describes vaguely in favor of exploring the moral implications of assembling life from corpses in an arrogant effort to play God.
“I wanted to detail every anatomical step I could in how he put the creature together,” del Toro said in an interview with the New York Times. “There is a personality to the way he put together this creature.”
Roughly an hour is dedicated to the multifaceted process of building the creature, a journey that changes in character from intimate sketches of muscles to the almost erotic sorting of a nervous system.
Del Toro gives depth to both Victor and his creation during this building process, characterizing Frankenstein as an almost cannibalistic butcher who is willing to scout battlefields and public execution lines to amass a surplus of limbs and brains. The creature thus starts as a torso nailed to a wooden board, reminiscent of taxidermized animals — only this animal has exposed
ligaments, a skinned torso and screams in agony every time it is reanimated.
“With some earlier Frankenstein monsters, if you saw them in the flesh, you would think, ‘this guy’s had an accident and someone’s patched him back up,’”
Mike Hill, prosthetics and creature designer, said in an interview with Polygon editorial. “When you see our creature, I wanted you to think, ‘Oh, this has been made from a pattern. This has been man-made. Somebody planned this out.’”
The creature thus accumulates the torment of the wartorn men that make up his patched-up body while he experiences a martyrdom of his own, feeding Victor’s repulsion for death. It is in this interplay between the brutality of science and the sensitivity of life that the creation changes in character. Frankenstein becomes
more methodical with his sculpting of the creature, pulling from obscure medical practices to create a baroque Adonis of decaying matter.
“The head is patterned after phrenology manuals from the 1800s,” del Toro said in an interview with NPR. “So they have very elegant, almost aerodynamic lines. I wanted this alabaster or marble, statue feel, so it feels like a newly minted human being.”
In this matter, the director moves away from the stream of thought that constructs the monstrosity in Shelley’s book. As a good adaptation to the big screen language, he favors visceral body horror over the poetic prose of gothic terror — this being the clearest difference between the film and the novel.
Thus, the monster’s journey is also a point of stark contrast. While the book is marked by the creature’s asphyxiating loneliness — which turns into biting revenge — the film takes that initial frustration to create a more empathetic monster.
“It was written by a teenager [who] was full of questions and rage and rebellion,” del Toro said in an interview with CBS. “You know, it’s the same questions we have now: What are we? Why am I human? Why am I here?”
While both novel and film explore the philosophical implications of arrogantly creating life to later discard it with revulsion, the film conveys this theme through a conception tale like no other in the long repertoire of Frankenstein interpretations.
More than two centuries later, del Toro reanimated Shelley’s creature under an industrial gothic veil, bound to become a masterclass in the creation of horror films for years to come.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Art, justice and restitution: The Met’s latest controversy
SARAH WASIELEWSKI
Arts Reporter
Nine heirs of the Stern family are suing the Metropolitan Museum of Art, claiming a painting in the museum’s past collection was stolen by Nazis and rightfully belongs to them. The plaintiffs are accusing the Met of failing to realize the painting’s looted origins, and are requesting its return, as well as payment for damages in excess of $75,000.
The painting, Vincent van Gogh’s “Olive Picking,” was painted in 1889 and depicts three women harvesting olives in van Gogh’s signature post-impressionist style. Over the past century, the painting has passed through numerous hands.
Originally, Fritz and Hedwig Stern bought the painting in 1935 while they resided in Munich. When the Sterns were forced to flee Nazi Germany to escape persecution a year later, the painting was seized and declared German cultural property. Over the following years, “Olive Picking” was sold multiple times before being acquired by the Met in 1956 for $125,000.
According to the lawsuit, the Met failed to properly investigate the painting’s provenance and sold it to Greek collectors Basil and Elise Goulandris in 1972. The artwork now resides in a museum in Athens run by the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation. The Stern heirs alleged that since the sale, the Goulandris family have hidden and obscured the painting’s ownership and location, preventing rightful restitution.
The Met denied wrongdoing, stating it had no knowledge of the painting’s looted history. The museum emphasized its ongoing commitment to addressing Nazi era claims and ensuring that all artworks in the museum were lawfully acquired. Meanwhile, the Goulandris Foundation has dismissed the lawsuit as an attempt to sully its reputation.
This is not the first time the Stern heirs have pursued legal action. In 2022, they filed a similar suit against the Goulandis Foundation and Metropolitan Museum, which was dismissed after the California court ruled they lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
The case echoes earlier restitution battles. In the early 2000’s, Maria Altmann sued Austria for possession of five Gustav Klimt paintings. The paintings belonged to Altmann’s aunt, who bequeathed them to Maria in her will. However, during World War II they fell into German possession and by the 1990s they were hanging in an Austrian museum. After nearly a decadelong legal battle, Austria returned the paintings to Altmann. Collectively, they are worth $150 million.
The looting and forced sales of many artworks during World War II remain one of the darkest chapters in art history. Many museums display works of art with problematic provenances that were likely stolen. Countless masterpieces were stolen from Jewish families, while more abstract paintings were confiscated because they were considered degenerate under Nazi ideology.
Today, museums face pressure to address these historical injustices while ensuring that claims are legitimate. With Vincent van Gogh’s “Olive Picking” potentially worth $70 million, the case underscores both the moral and financial complexities of restitution in the modern art world. A struggle between heritage, history and ownership continues to play out nearly a century after the end of the war.
Golden film recommendations: To live and to learn
MARIA MAGNOLI
Addison Koch
Documentaries are a great way to learn in a passive way while often uncovering raw and emotional stories about real people or events. The four films that follow each tell the tale of real people — some famous and some tragic.
“The Perfect Neighbor” (2025)
When a seemingly minor neighborhood dispute in Florida escalates quickly into deadly violence, the family and community affected grapple with their grief and confusion. On June 2, 2023, in Ocala, Florida, Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz.
“The Perfect Neighbor” is a 2025 American documentary film, directed and produced by Geeta Gandbhir. The victim, Ajike Owens, was the best friend of Gandbhir’s sister-in-law. The film impacts audiences because of the deeply human storytelling and the director’s actual familial connection to the story.
The documentary is shot almost entirely through body camera footage, allowing viewers to see how the story truly unfolded. Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws are heavily mentioned and debated throughout the documentary. Other major talking points within the documentary are racism, systemic failures and racial bias.
“Martha” (2024)
America’s renaissance woman, Martha Stewart, shared her story on Netflix almost exactly a year ago on Oct. 30, 2024. Produced and directed by R.J.
Cutler, she does not hold back on what it took to become one of the first influencers before it was even a title.
Renowned for perfecting cooking, cleaning, entertaining and gardening, she shares the details behind her homemaking empire. Galivanting through several marriages and divorces, with time she could tell that her heart was in her career.
Being the only female stockbroker on Wall Street in her time and being sentenced to prison for lying and obstruction of justice related to stock trading back in 2004 were certainly obstacles, but Stewart was able to rebuild her life and become the first female billionaire in the United States. This documentary is perfect for the Martha Stewart fans but also for those interested in entrepreneurship, marketing or public relations.
“Evelyn” (2018)
“Evelyn” is a documentary film, directed by and starring Orlando von Einsiedel. When 22-yearold Evelyn von Einsiedel kills himself, his three siblings and the rest of their immediate family try to bury and ignore their pain for years. Ten years later, they decide to go on a hiking trip and visit the places he liked to walk along in the English countryside while documenting the whole journey.
The hope of the trip is to allow them to contemplate their brother’s life and finally talk about the things they never did, helping Evelyn’s memory live on. They meet with many strangers along their journey who mention their loss of loved ones to suicide, bringing up their own ways of grieving.
Suicide is now the single biggest cause of death of
young British men. The hope is that by telling more stories like this one it might help break the code of silence that tends to surround the tough subject, especially in young men. The film is visually beautiful while the story is deeply and emotionally moving.
“Audrey” (2020)
One of the biggest stars the world has ever known, a protagonist in films like “Roman Holiday,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “My Fair Lady”, was the one and only Audrey Hepburn. Known for her ladylike grace, kindness, beauty and activism, this documentary directed by Helena Coan depicts her life behind the silver screen.
Before becoming an actress, she was a ballet dancer and a child enduring the horrors of WWII. With her nazi-supporting parents and other family members killed, she became accustomed to living in hiding and began acting for money.
Hepburn’s long-standing relationship with fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy is described in depth, her granddaughter shares personal anecdotes and her life beyond her exquisite gowns and glamour is exposed. Audiences get a glimpse of the hardships which shaped her into the person the world loved so dearly.
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE MET
OU establishes designated public forum zones on campus
SOPHIA CURRAN Political Editor
While walking across campus at Oakland University, you may have come across signs reading “Designated Public Forum Zone.”
The signs refer to OU’s recent policy change under OU AP&P #415 Freedom of Expression and Assembly.
Issued in October 2024, the policy specifically outlines the appropriate time, place and manner set for those who wish to speak, assemble and engage in “expressive activity,” found under the First Amendment, on campus.
Expressive activity refers to “communicative conduct or activity” that is legally protected under the First Amendment, specifically public speeches, demonstrations, marches, protests, picketing and the distribution of literature, as defined to the OU administration.
However, the administration includes that this activity does not include ordinary communication among members of the OU community or commercial speech or activity.
Submitting a request for the designated forum
While not required, to reserve campus locations (and avoid reservation conflicts) for expressive activity, any member of the campus must submit a Grounds Reservation Request Form. The form must be submitted to the Oakland Center Administration at least 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) in advance of the planned engagement.
The request must include:
• The requested campus location
• The date and time of the activity
• The name and contact information of the individual submitting the request, in addition to the contact information and names of others involved in the engagement. At least one individual must be present at all times during the event
• Whether written materials will be distributed, including a copy and description of the provided material
• Estimated number of participants and expected size of audience
• An acknowledgement and agreement to comply with OU’s policy of Expressive Activity on campus
In cases of a denial, one of these reasons are typically at cause: the requested location is temporarily unavailable for their requested time; the application fails to comply with time, date, or location rules set within the rules set forth by OU; the form is not fully completed; or the University concludes that the request involves a third party not permitted to make the request.
The time frame in which members of the OU community can engage in expressive activity on these designated forums is between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
As for “spontaneous expressive activity” (engagement without submitting a request), members involved must adhere to the same rules as requested applications for the designated forum. However, no less than 10 persons must be involved in the engagement unless immediate notice is given to the OU Center Administration during their business hours (Monday through Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.). If the spontaneous activity occurs after normal business hours or on weekends, then immediate notice must be provided to the Oakland University Police Department (OUPD).
Time, place and manner regulations
Those who wish to engage in expressive activity
must adhere to the rules set and defined by the OU administration below.
Expressive activity must not:
• Significantly disrupt University activities inside or outside the buildings (including classes)
• Significantly disrupt previously scheduled campus events, including other expressive activity
• Block or obstruct entrances or exits to buildings
• Block or obstruct vehicular or pedestrian traffic
• Take place less than 25 feet from any buildings
• Constitute unlawful activity
• Represent or create a threat to public safety
• Use any amplification devices unless approved by Oakland Center Administration in writing
• Include soliciting or accepting donations
• Include camping or the use of temporary shelters (e.g., tents) as such as activities are prohibited on University property
• Affix items to any permanent structure (e.g., building, fences, trees, etc.) or use temporary signage attached to a structure, planted in the ground or otherwise outside the immediate control of the individual and/or group engaged in the expressive activity.
• Involve the temporary or permanent defacement
or alteration of University building , sidewalks or other property, including painting, graffiti or chalking, except as expressively permitted by OU AP&P #486 University Posting Policy
• Involve the use of open flame devices, bonfires or lighting of any material on fire. Small, handheld candles may be utilized with permission from Oakland Center Administration in writing if reasonable safety concerns are satisfied.
• Violate the Michigan Campaign Finance Act
Non-university affiliated speakers
Non-university affiliated speakers must adhere to the same rules and regulations set forth for OU members. However, non-campus speakers must only set foot on campus or its buildings for the sole purpose of expressive activity defined earlier and approved by the Oakland Center Administration.
Additional considerations and provisions applicable to expressive activity
Additional information regarding rules and regulations, such as content-neutrality and responsibility of damages, can be found under Oakland University’s Administrative Policies and Procedures.
PHOTO BY GARRY GILBERT
OU students speak at MPSC hearing
CLAIRE SANDERLIN
Photographer
On Oct. 27, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) held a hearing at Oakland Community College to provide information regarding the parameters of the Michigan Integrated Resource Planning Parameters (MIRPP) draft report, to receive public comments and to answer questions regarding the MIRPP review process.
MIRPP is a document that includes the rules, scenarios and sensitivities for Michigan’s electric utilities to utilize when developing energy plans that are long term. The Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) make it so utilities have to assess its consumers electricity needs for the following five, ten and twenty years in order to decide on the most well-advised mix of resources such as power plants and renewable energy to meet the reliability, affordability and needs overall.
Currently, MIRPP is being adapted in regard to new clean energy laws and updated requirements for utility companies, and MIRPP is currently developing the final updates.
A major concern covered in the meeting for the MIRPP for Oakland University students is the possibility of a data center being built on Oakland University’s campus. A data center stores IT infrastructure for services needed to process, store and distribute data.Oakland University released a “ Data Center Request For Proposals (RFP) and Pre Development Services Agreement” in June of this year. In this request Oakland University details the proposal for the data center including the proposed location.
The data center would be located at 253 Pioneer Drive, Rochester, on the current parking lot P-35, just north of Oakland’s Native American Heritage Site and across the street from Hillcrest Hall. Oakland University released a “request for proposals and pre development services agreement” in June of this year regarding the project.
The hearing was a chance for members of the public to express their opinions on the MIRPP directly to the commission. A number of Oakland University students attended the hearing, and several students, including Deneva Staples and Summer Lawrence, shared their comments regarding MIRPP during the hearing.
“My whole life is centered around the outdoors and putting these data centers especially on my campus will affect me and everyone around us. I am terrified to see what will happen from the fossil fuels being burned and greenhouse gases emissions that will
come from those fossil fuels being burned and the usage of water that these data centers will be using,” Staples said.
“I am deeply concerned at the concept of having any number of these large data centers erected in my home state,” Lawrence said.
Allison Drzewiecki was in attendance at the hearing and expressed her concerns regarding the possible interruption to student life.
“The noise population would probably be the worst thing for student life, [a data center] right next to Hillcrest, that would be insane hearing that in your dormitory. I’m sure there will be problems with water by Hillcrest. It would ruin our beavers’ habitats by the Native American Heritage Site, there are just endless negatives to this,” Drzewiecki said.
The updates MPSC is currently doing to the MIRPP should conclude by the end of the year.
PHOTO BY CLAIRE SANDERLIN
One of the NFL’s best will finish the decade in Detroit
JAMES ELLING Sports Editor
Aidan Hutchinson didn’t just sign a contract — he signed a statement. On Oct. 29, the Lions’ defensive end signed a four-year, $180 million contract extension with $141 million guaranteed.
Giving Hutchinson the most guaranteed money that a non-quarterback has ever received in a contract, the Detroit Lions have made their belief in No. 97 loud and clear.
$45 million per year.
45 million of anything is significant. Even some things that seem entirely worthless on its own become significant when it’s accompanied by 44,999,999 others.
A single strand of hair might be lucky to get plucked off a sweater someday; 45 million strands of hair is enough to get about 500 bald men’s swagger back. One grain of rice means essentially nothing; 45 million grains of rice could feed thousands. A lonely brick hardly has a purpose; 45 million bricks could construct the entirety of a neighborhood.
But with 45 million of something as significant as the almighty dollar? There’s little that can’t be accomplished with that kind of money — superyachts, Beverly Hills homes or the funding of entire business or philanthropic ventures.
For the Lions though, $45 million means another year of one of the NFL’s best defenders wearing the Honolulu blue — and Lions fans should be stoked.
At face value, Hutchinson is an elite player at one of the most important positions in football and his impact on the team is overwhelmingly positive. Any fan in their right mind would want that impact to have a home in Detroit through at least 2030.
The 25-year-old superstar was the betting favorite to be named the NFL’s defensive player of the year before breaking his leg a year ago and is positioned top three in the 2025 race.
But the money, as it often does, complicates things.
Of course, Hutchinson is valuable — there’s no argument about that — but the dialogue begins by asking if he’s “$45 million a year” valuable.
Off the field, Hutchinson is charismatic, philanthropic and a role model. He’s the type of guy fans are happy to see get paid — and the type of guy the Lions were going to make sure got paid.
“We had all the conviction in the world that Hutch is here to stay,” Dan Campbell, head coach of the Lions, said, “he’s everything we’re about.”
Hutchinson is the heartbeat of Detroit’s defense — the emotional engine of a locker room that has flipped the script from laughingstock to powerhouse.
The Lions were going to bring Hutchinson back whatever it cost, and that cost was determined by his elite play.
“Hutch is a pillar for us. He’s a complete football player,” Campbell said. “He sets edges in the run game, disrupts QBs in the pass game, and has awareness and feel in coverage when asked to drop.”
Campbell isn’t just blowing smoke.
Hutchinson is elite at rushing the passer, leading the NFL in pressures. Many star pass rushers make themselves vulnerable against the run game in order to perform against the pass — not Hutchinson who also plays the run as good as any defensive end in football.
There is not a situation, personnel set, formation or play call in which Hutchinson is not of immense
value. Most star pass rushers, in order to stay fresh and play to their strengths, play between 75 to 80 percent of defensive snaps — Hutchinson plays over 90 percent.
From a money-focused perspective, the NFL is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and Hutchinson is one of its biggest stars. He brings loads of money to the league and to the Lions — he stars in ads, sold the third most jerseys of any NFL player during the 2024 season and is a key reason that the Lions find themselves playing in prime time as much as anybody — and he has been appropriately rewarded in his new contract.
However, it’s important to note that the NFL’s hard salary cap means that the $45 million allotted to Hutchinson cannot be given to anyone else. The Lions will have to make other personnel sacrifices going forward.
Yet, there’s temptation to argue that this deal was not only wise, but perhaps even a bargain for the Lions.
Consider this: a season ago, the Atlanta Falcons gave a four-year, $180 million contract — similar to Hutchinson’s — to a man who now serves as their backup quarterback.
It’s also important to understand how the NFL market works. Contract records are broken all the time — a great player signs a record-breaking deal, another player gets up for extension, that player one-ups the previous record, and the cycle repeats.
In August, Micah Parsons signed a four-year extension with the Green Bay Packers worth $47 million a year.
Considering that Hutchinson is roughly the same talent-level and position as Parsons — while being younger, more deeply rooted in his franchise and chronologically poised to one-up Parsons — many thought Hutchinson’s inevitable extension would come with an annual price tag of at least $50 million, so perhaps Hutchinson gave the team a $5 million a year discount.
The Lions have set a precedent for getting ahead of their extensions and taking care of their own.
These contracts have raised questions when they were signed but have aged quite well for the Lions.
In April 2024, the Lions gave Amon-Ra St. Brown a contract extension that made him the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history by average salary.
Just a year and a half later, St. Brown has already dropped to seventh on that list, and he will continue to drop as more extensions are signed, all while theoretically continuing to perform at a top five level.
Jared Goff has a similar story, signing an extension in March 2025 that made him the second-most handsomely paid quarterback at the time — he has already since been passed by five other quarterbacks. Aidan Hutchinson’s extension is poised to age just as well.
It looks expensive now, but if the salary cap continues to increase each year, the market continues to reward pass rushers and Hutchinson continues to dominate — as they are all expected to do — Lions fans will look back at today from their seats in 2030, grateful that No. 97 has spent his career in Detroit.
North America prepares for largest World Cup ever
MARYANNE SANFORD
Sports Reporter
The FIFA World Cup is the sporting biggest event — not just in soccer — in the entire world, pulling in billions of viewers.
And now it’s coming close to home. Unfortunately, that might not equal the possibility of watching a live match for many fans, as ticket prices are poised to hit record numbers.
The 2026 finals are set to be the largest in the tournament’s history, with matches held in three countries for the first time, moving across North America. It will also feature a record 48 teams competing. This expansion aims to give more countries the chance to play on the world’s biggest stage.
There will be a total of 16 host cities: 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The tournament will begin June 11 in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca and conclude July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, lasting 39 days. The decision to hold the opening match in Mexico City carries symbolic weight, as Estadio Azteca is one of the most historic venues in World Cup history, having hosted the finals in 1970 and 1986.
U.S. host cities include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle. Mexico will host matches in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. Canada will host in Vancouver and Toronto.
The 2026 World Cup marks the tournament’s return to North America for the first time in 32 years, since the United States hosted in 1994. That year, Brazil secured a nail-biting victory over Italy after a 0-0 draw. Roberto Baggio famously missed his penalty kick, sealing Brazil’s 3-2 win in the shootout.
Due to the World Cup’s popularity, tickets are rarely cheap. In the 2022 finals held at Qatar’s Stadium 974, the most expensive ticket sold for around $1,600. Tickets for 2026 went on sale in mid-September and have reached record highs. Fans expressed shock at the prices, with many calling them “unrealistic” and “exclusive to the wealthy” on social media.
For the opening match in Mexico, ticket prices range from $3,000 to $110,000. For matches leading up to the final, prices are more modest, ranging from $300 to $15,000. These costs make it nearly impossible for many die-hard soccer fans to attend what would be their dream match.
It would be a mistake to assume the final match tickets couldn’t be more expensive. Tickets for the final at MetLife Stadium range from $6,000 to $1 million, highlighting concerns that the event caters to the rich and fortunate, rather than the die-hard fans.
When factoring in flights, hotels and food, the cost of attending the final with the most expensive ticket could total nearly 14 times the average annual household income in the United States. While the tournament is expected to generate billions in tourism revenue, it also raises questions about affordability, economic inequality and corporate influence in major sports events.
As the tournament approaches, prices may drop, though how much remains uncertain. There’s also a chance prices will rise again due to resellers seeking maximum profit.
Until then, fans will look forward to seeing defending champion Argentina return to the pitch, aiming for back-to-back titles — a feat only achieved by Brazil and Italy.
With stars like Lionel Messi possibly making his final World Cup appearance, anticipation is high. Soccer fans around the world are counting down the days until kickoff, ready for what could be the most incredible World Cup yet.
Oakland Cross-Country teams bring home some Horizon League hardware
MATT LEWAKOWSKI
Sports Reporter
The Oakland University men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Fort Wayne for a chance to win gold in the Horizon League Cross Country Championship. On Saturday, Nov. 1, the Oakland men and women ran for a shot at cementing their teams in Horizon League immortality.
The race — an 8K for the men and a 6K for the women — was hosted by Purdue Fort Wayne. Unfortunately, no gold was captured by the Golden Grizzlies, but there were podium results.
The Golden Grizzlies women’s team placed third with 79 points in the championship race, behind Youngstown State in first and just five points behind Purdue Fort Wayne, which finished second.
Freshman Eliza Bush placed fourth overall in 20:59, followed by her senior counterpart in 11th, Haileigh Bissett, who completed the 6K in 21:31.
Hannah DeRoeck (13th, 21:33), Ava Alicandro (22nd, 21:53) and Anne May (29th, 22:11) brought in the rest of the points for the Grizzlies.
The Golden Grizzlies’ third-place finish was accompanied by some awards.
Bush was named to the Horizon League Women’s All-League First Team and was honored as the Women’s Freshman of the Year — incredible achievements to round out an impressive rookie season.
Bissett was named to the Horizon League Women’s All-League Second Team, a fitting end to her senior season and career. DeRoeck, just a
freshman, received the nod as well, pointing to a promising career ahead.
The men placed second overall in the championship. Youngstown State captured the sweep by winning the men’s championship as well (54 points), but the Golden Grizzlies finished runner-up with 92 points — their best finish since 2019.
Senior Wesley Hollowell and graduate student Anthony Hancock led the team by finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Hollowell finished in 24:04, and Hancock was just one second behind.
Tristan Brandenburg (14th, 24:31), Carter McCallister (18th, 24:32) and Joe Shaya (45th, 25:13) rounded out Oakland’s scoring five. Their strong performances were just enough to edge out IUPUI, 92–99.
The men’s team left with some hardware as well. Hollowell was named to the Horizon League First Team. Hancock earned Horizon League All-League Second Team honors.
Head coach Paul Rice, in his 24th season, received the Horizon League’s Men’s Coach of the Year award — a testament to his team’s consistent success throughout the season. Rice will return for his 25th year of coaching the Golden Grizzlies cross country teams.
With Coach Rice at the helm, the Oakland cross country teams should continue to compete at the highest level in the Horizon League.
This year, the men’s team can hang its runner-up performance — the best Horizon League finish that anyone on the roster has seen.
The women’s third-place finish is nothing to scoff at either, and they have a bright future ahead, with a top five that included three freshmen — two of whom received all-league honors.
The Golden Grizzlies’ cross country teams are not done with their season quite yet. Both teams will head to the Great Lakes Regional round in Evansville, Indiana, to continue their postseason on
PHOTO COURTESY OF LWOS
PHOTO COURTESY CASSIE BUCHHOLZ
Golden Grizzlies edge out scrappy duel vs. Rochester Christian
MIKE OKORONKWO Sports Reporter
On Thursday, Oct. 30, the Golden Grizzlies faced off against Rochester Christian in a matchup that was heavily predicted to sway Oakland’s way.
However, the matchup against the NAIA school was anything but easy. Although the Golden Grizzlies came out victorious, it was a gritty, unconvincing performance.
The final 99–90 margin felt more like a great escape than a statement victory, especially with Rochester Christian outscoring the Golden Grizzlies 46–45 in the second half.
The resilient Warriors made this a much tougher affair than most expected, reminding the team that effort and execution must be consistent, regardless of the opponent.
Defensive and Rebounding Woes Magnified
The most glaring area of concern heading into the nonconference slate — a brutal trifecta of games against AP Top 10 teams Michigan, Purdue and Houston — was the team’s defensive effort.
The transition defense was inconsistent and below par throughout the night. Multiple possessions saw the Golden Grizzlies score a nice bucket on one end, only to lose focus immediately. This led to messy transition defense, where the tenacious Warriors simply took advantage, resulting in late or poor closeouts, which they attacked to score seemingly at will.
These types of opportunities cannot be afforded against the likes of the three AP Top 10 teams, as it will likely put Oakland out of the game before the first half even ends.
Furthermore, Oakland was badly exposed on the boards and inside the paint.
The team gave up a lot of second-chance opportunities and was ultimately outrebounded on the offensive end 18–15.
Anticipation and effort were visibly absent on several key possessions, as poor boxing out and positioning by Oakland’s bigs allowed Rochester Christian to win the paint battle, outscoring Oakland 46–42 near the basket — deeply concerning given the NBA-caliber frontcourt talent they face next week, including seven-footers like Michigan’s Aday Mara and Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr.
Even more troubling: Rochester Christian capitalized on Oakland’s mistakes, racking up 20 points off turnovers compared to Oakland’s 17 — an area where the favored Division I team should have had a clear edge in execution.
Ineffective Post Play and Perimeter Struggles
Individually, the performance of the post players was a major factor in the rebounding deficit.
Isaac Garrett, who had a masterful game against Alma College, looked flustered, struggling to box out and contribute consistently. Similarly, Nate Deer also struggled to rebound, leaving Oakland without a reliable presence inside.
The lack of interior effectiveness was compounded by the surprise performance of Rochester Christian’s Tymias Williams, who looked like a true Division I player. Williams was arguably the best player on the court, dropping 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out eight assists. His contested midrange shots were simply phenomenal and demonstrated the kind of high-level threat Oakland must be prepared to defend.
On the perimeter, the Golden Grizzlies struggled to find any rhythm, shooting an unusually low 29% from 3-point range. Even more worrying than the percentage
itself was the fact that the team often failed to capitalize on open catch-and-shoot opportunities.
This poor perimeter efficiency directly resulted in a lower offensive ceiling for the night. The inability to convert open looks or generate better ones will be crippling against defenses like Houston’s, where every possession must be maximized.
Bright Spots
Despite their issues, Oakland did win the game for a reason.
Tuburu Naivalurua was, simply put, a special player on Thursday, scoring a team-high 28 points.
The preseason Player of the Year candidate looked incredibly smooth and comfortable, operating as the primary offensive engine. He displayed an impressive ability to play with his back to the basket, knocking down multiple tough fadeaways while playing through contact.
This kind of dominant, reliable interior scoring from the combo forward is precisely what Oakland will have to rely on to generate points against highmajor programs.
Brody Robinson showed the kind of aggression and playmaking instincts the team needs.
While his shooting percentage was low (4-for-12), his mindset was perfect. He was relentlessly attacking open lanes and getting to the rim, leading to numerous trips to the free-throw line.
Beyond offense, Robinson also contributed defensively, adhering to schemes and impressively recording three steals — proving he can be a solid twoway lead guard for this squad.
Brett White emerged as the team’s most reliable perimeter threat. He looks like the guy who can instantly light it up from deep, especially late in the shot clock when the team desperately needs a contested bailout 3. He knocked down three key perimeter shots against Rochester, signaling his potential as a crucial spot-up and late-clock shooter.
Sophomore Warren Marshall IV’s effort and physicality are unquestionable. He had a nasty poster dunk that was so impressive it was featured on SportsCenter, and his entire approach is that of a gritty competitor.
Although his rebound count (three) was low, his willingness to fight for boards and steals — and constantly get into passing lanes — speaks to a defensive intensity that the rest of the team needs to match.
Looking Ahead
The Golden Grizzlies got the win, but the exhibition against the resilient Rochester Christian Warriors revealed significant, fundamental flaws that must be addressed before the regular season tips off. The nine-point victory was a messy, unconvincing performance that lacked the defensive discipline and interior toughness required of a Division I program.
The team has clear individual talent in players like Tuburu Naivalurua and the aggressive Brody Robinson, but individual brilliance will not be enough to overcome the massive step up in competition.
The Golden Grizzlies cannot afford the same porous transition defense or rebounding deficits when facing NBA-caliber frontcourts like those at Michigan, Purdue and Houston.
This exhibition was a valuable lesson learned — a harsh reminder that effort and execution must be consistent, regardless of the opponent’s affiliation. The challenge is immediate and immense, and it carries major implications for the entire season.
The opening trifecta of games against AP Top 10 opponents is essential for Oakland’s at-large aspirations. For a team in the Horizon League, the only way to earn consideration for an NCAA Tournament bid outside of winning the conference tournament is to bank quality wins or, at the very least, secure highly respectable, close losses.
If Oakland can pull off a signature upset — or even keep all three games competitive — it dramatically boosts their NET ranking and gives the selection committee a reason to view the team favorably in March.
The performance against the Warriors suggests a major adjustment in focus and execution is needed immediately, as the first three games will define Oakland’s national profile for the rest of the season.
