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Letters to the editor

Voth response corrects editorial in Friday issue

I first want to express my appreciation to The Miami Student for taking such a prominent interest in my work here at Miami. It has been a tremendous honor for me to serve on the faculty at Miami since 1994. The

students have been the center of my joy in working here. I think it is useful for me to clarify some informative content of Friday's editorial opinion. Most significantly, it is important to understand that Miami did not deny me tenure. In 2000, Miami granted me tenure and promotion based upon my work here. The primary impetus for my decision to accept my new position at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas is two fold: 1) the strong offer and support being offered by SMU for speech and debate at their institution and 2) my family connections to an area I consider home-Dallas.

There are secondary issues arising in the process of discussing this offer with Miami. Some administrators did respond negatively to my record at Miami. That was neither something I was expecting in course of these discussions nor is it a sentiment which I believe is necessarily held by all administrators at Miami. Nonetheless, those negative responses were significant enough to simplify my difficult decision about accepting the position at Dallas. I continue to admire Miami and appreciate the many faculty and administrators who worked to support my efforts.

I do share the concerns of students about educational quality. That sense of affiliation with students was fundamental to me while I was at Miami. The speech and debate programs are, in my view, vital and necessary parts of any collegiate environment. All the support Miami provided for these programs while I was here was

helpful and beneficial to students and the institution. Further and future support of these programs will also be wise actions. The capacity of an individual to have a voice, speak out for vital concerns and offer rebuttal to arguments they disagree with-

it is a necessary and profound component of liberal arts education. As The Student has done with its editorial page, I urge all interested parties to speak to those issues that concern them and argue for that better world that can be had with such advocacy. For me, it was a daily pleasure to make this point every day I stepped on to this campus. Thanks to everyone who made that possible.

Ben VothAssociate professor of CommunicationDirector of Forensicsvothb@muohio.edu

Image of Miami University overshadows alumnae death

I was just curious as to why President David Hodge decided to personally post a notice on Miami University's Web site in regard to the recently deceased alumnae. I state this because just earlier this week another student had passed away as well, yet he figuratively and literally passed away into complete and utter oblivion. Anyone remember hearing about Evan Tiernan die, or even who what when where why and how?

Probably not, and while of course each family has their own wishes for respect, and I will assume the Tiernan family merely wished for less publicity in terms of the death and mourning of their son-that argument in a sense is proved to be invalid. In terms of the fact that of course, why would the Piskura family wish to have a huge amount of attention brought to their issue as well, especially considering how people can and may paint both him and the acting police officer in a negative light. Evan's death as far as I'm concerned is a mystery. Yet the administration of this university has instead painted the death of Kevin as a tragedy. If you don't believe me, go look at the huge disparity in what the administration officials had to say pertaining to these different individuals. So I ask-why?

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It was Susan Mosley-Howard who announced the passing of Evan, and it wasn't even quite as "heartfelt or concerning" as the posting of President Hodge in terms of Kevin. Now you may ask, what are you getting at here? Because I am not saying Mosley-Howard did or didn't care, neither am I implying the same for Hodge, or that any death including this one, isn't a tragedy. Instead, I am essentially showing you how this university works-an alumnus passes away in a now widely publicized case involving tasering. This situation can possibly lead to an upset student body and national populace in terms of how unjust this university and police officers can be in terms of "excessive" force. Notice that I said can, not to imply they don't serve a good purpose from time to time. But as far as I am concerned, President Hodge is more attuned to keeping image of this university as "good and clean as possible" by practically ignoring the death of a Miami Hamilton student, and drawing our attention instead to a past graduate who may tarnish the 'good name' of this university because he was uptown drunk and an officer overreacted.

Many of the administration officials of this school are much more concerned with polishing the name and image of this school, the pretty buildings on campus and Miami's seal itself, than starting at what truly matters and who they should be caring about: the students of all campuses and their education.

Many of us aren't being taken care of in the ways that matter, instead we are being coddled and catered to as children, in hopes we will make better money, not better ideas.

Michael Greppgreppmd@muohio.edu


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