E H TT RANSCRIPT Ohio Wesleyan University The Oldest Independent Student Newspaper in the Nation Delaware, OH Thursday, October 19, 2006 Volume 144 No. 6 Homecoming: New twist on old tradition By Lainey Cullen attracted to free things, but the hill is cen- Staff Reporter trally located that students can easily come from the soccer game to the fi re.” Homecoming weekend is here and As a student organization, SHO’s bud- campus will be bustling with activities. get comes directly from WCSA’s general A sampling of tomorrow’s homecom- allocation fund. Although the total cost of ing events include: Ross Art Museum Ex- SHO’s “Homecoming on the Hill” event is hibits “Lost and Found” and “Acts of Un- not yet fi nalized, Rymut said she expects remarkable Bravery” at 10a.m.; a “Munch the event to be in the range of $5000 to and Mingle” offering students career net- $7000. She said now that the President’s working opportunities with OWU alumni Club no longer exists; SHO is able to use at noon in the Benes Room; and the Dis- money previously earmarked to that orga- tinguished Alumna Artist exhibit at 3p.m. nization because both clubs share a similar followed by an Artist reception at 4p.m. purpose. The festivities tomorrow night include After Homecoming, SHO will disband men’s soccer against Earlham at 7:30p.m. and will not start up again until next se- followed by “Homecoming on the Hill”, a mester when the organization will begin new event hosted by the Student Home- planning for Homecoming 2007, Rymut coming Organization (SHO) at 9p.m. said. Theta Alpha Phi will present the Red and SHO has not yet determined an evalua- Black Revenue, a variety show featuring tion process allowing students to offer con- current students, at 9p.m. in Chappelear structive criticism. But Rymut said SHO Drama Center. may look into doing an e-mail survey. Senior Marie Rymut, president of “As we prepare to plan for next year, I WCSA, said SHO was implemented at the would also encourage students to be pro- beginning of the academic year by WCSA active and come and join the SHO plan- in an effort to make Homecoming more ning committee in the spring,” she said. student-oriented. “As president, it was my goal to make 5K run Saturday Homecoming an event for students,” she Saturday’s highlights include the early said. “At the WCSA summer retreat, all morning Homecoming/Delaware Pump- the class offi cers and executive members kin Run 5k at 8:30a.m., book signings by were disappointed in OWU’s past Home- Michael Flamm, professor of history and comings, so we decided to get involved. Sean Kay, professor of politics and govern- More importantly, we wanted all the di- ment, at 11a.m. in the Bookstore and a Mu- verse groups on campus to unite for one sic Faculty Gala at 8p.m. in Grey Chapel. weekend and share the one thing that we Roughly 1,000 alumni are expected to Photo by Ryan Kim all have in common: Ohio Wesleyan.” attend at least one homecoming event this SHO includes members of WCSA, weekend, said Brenda DeWitt, assistant Junior Dan Freed-Pastor takes a hit in a rugby match against Kenyon Satur- SUBA, Horizons International, PanHel, director of alumni relations. day. The team gave up a 12-0 half-time lead to take the loss 24-17. IFC, CMF, Sisters United, and Rafi ki Wa According to a connect2OWU article, Africa, she said. DeWitt said the Homecoming 5K Pumpkin Run has joined with the City of Delaware’s Bonfi re tomorrow night Pumpkin Run. SHO will kick off the weekend with “I think the race is going to be huge be- Mild winter balances budget a bonfi re on the hill tomorrow night af- cause it will involve the traditional home- with a $1.65 million defi cit. This defi cit ter the soccer game. In addition to the coming runners but also the traditional By Phil Salisbury was dealt with by a $2 million withdrawl bonfi re, the Homecoming court will be city runners and people from the central Staff Reporter from the quasi-endowment fund, as re- announced and there will be a band, Ohio community,” DeWitt said. “So we’ll President Mark Huddleston announced ported in the Nov. 10, 2004 edition of The free food, and free Homecoming 2006 t- get a lot of new people on campus for that the budget for Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Transcript. shirts, Rymut said. homecoming this year that would normal- was “essentially in balance”. At the October 2005 Trustee meeting, “This [bonfi re] will just be a time ly come up for the race and then take off George Elsbeck, vice president for Busi- the Board approved to remove $900,000 where students will be able to get to- afterwards.” ness Affairs, said Ohio Wesleyan ended FY05- from the quasi-endowment for rising en- gether and enjoy OWU,” Rymut said. “We The traditional pre-game barbeque will 06 with a balanced budget. ergy costs. [SHO] came up with these ideas basically occur on the lawn beside the Sulfur spring “For the 2005-06 year, the University Elsbeck the University’s balanced bud- by brainstorming events that we had en- at 11:30a.m. prior to the football game ended the year with budget results of positive get was two-fold: more revenues than ex- joyed in the past, both at OWU and in against Wittenberg in Selby Stadium at $6,462,” he said. “On a budget of over $52 pected and less expenditures than antici- high school. We then narrowed the events 1p.m. During halftime, nine alumni million, this is ‘essentially balanced’.” pated. down to the bonfi re idea which was both will be inducted into the Ohio Wesleyan In the Thursday, Oct. 6 edition of The “The major contributing factors were practical and fun. We choose events that Athletic Hall of Fame and honored with Transcript, University offi cials said they were net tuition revenue and room and board all students could relate to such as free the University’s highest athletic award. projecting a $1.3 million defi cit for FY 05-06. fees,” Elsbeck said. “The actual student food and music. Not only are students See Homecoming, page 2 For FY 04-05, the University ended the year See Budget, page 2 OWU ranks in top 100 liberal arts schools in the country thy of their consideration given of a decision because, as a college, Walkuski said what really able and who had the best pro- By Miranda Simmons that they have chosen the guide to you want to stay in the student’s caught his eye was the Wesleyan grams,” she said. “The only rank- Staff Reporter help them cull through options.” consideration set as long as pos- in Washington program. Knowing ings I paid attention to were the The numbers are in and Ohio Drugovich said she thinks sible, so that the student and the before he came to school that he top 25 usually, but I didn’t really Wesleyan has been ranked 95 on rankings help students thin their family can become more familiar wanted to study politics, Walkuski care. It wasn’t something I con- the U.S. News and World Report pool of schools, but don’t neces- with what you have to offer, and said he was free to consider all the sidered. But when it comes to law “America’s Best Colleges 2007.” sarily heavily weigh on their fi nal truly assess whether you are a options universities were offering school, that’s what’s going to mat- “Being ranked within the top decision. ‘good fi t,’” she said. him. ter because that’s what employers 100 liberal arts colleges in the “Surveys tend to show that stu- Senior Ben Walkuski said the “By far the greatest thing Ohio will look at.” country is an important distinc- dents use ratings guides early in process he went through in choos- Wesleyan gave me was studying Four other schools from Ohio tion, and one we certainly deserve the process to help narrow their ing OWU was much like the one off campus…Four years later, has were included on the top 100 given the quality of the education- consideration set,” she said. “Lat- Drugovich described. Ohio Wesleyan gotten you con- list. They were Denison Uni- al experience OWU provides,” said er they spend lots of time online “I did use rankings, but rank- nections? It’s gotten me connec- versity (48), College of Wooster Margaret Drugovich, vice presi- researching specifi c schools, and ings were only a part of what I tions. It’s gotten me a job after (67), Oberlin University (22) and dent of Strategic Communica- then move to the now ubiquitous looked at,” he said. “Going to graduation.” Kenyon College (32). Of the fi ve, tions and University Enrollment, college campus visit. campus and sitting and classes Sophomore Amanda Thomp- OWU placed last on the USNWR in an e-mail. “Being one of the top “In practice, this tendency is and doing overnights were more son said she didn’t really consider ranking. Drugovich mentioned, 100 schools telegraphs a message consistent with my experience. important. I knew Ohio Wesleyan college ranking in her search for though that in other rankings, to students who are scrutinizing So, at the front door of the pro- was ranked a lot higher than a lot schools. OWU is placed higher than many these guides that we are deserving cess, ratings guides can have an of other schools.