MULTIMEDIA

PostProduction: Reviewing the week that followed the West Union fire

Ride Board to see changes in 2015

Ohio University’s Ride Board, the web service that allows students, faculty and staff to find and offer rides, is getting revamped and won’t go away, according to Student Senate and OU officials.“Senate started the Ride Board 10 years ago and it’s been on that same server since,” Senate Vice President Caitlyn McDaniel said. “That server is about to die, like, according to the OIT director, it’s being held together with gum and paper clips.”Prospective passengers post their travel plans and arrange carpools. Access to the Ride Board requires an OU ID and password.The Ohio University Information Technology department presented the Ride Board initiative to senate “back in the day” McDaniel said, and the service has remained a senate project ever since.“While they were waiting on us to talk about it, they put up that message that it’s going to be taken down,” McDaniel said, clarifying that while the old system will be removed, a new one will be replacing it. The service itself isn’t going anywhere, she said.The current Ride Board server will be discontinued at the end of this calendar year. A new Ride Board, run by senate and funded by OIT, should “switch over to the new server” and “shouldn’t be down at all.”But “it’ll look a little bit different,” she noted.OIT recommended that Student Senate sign up for a cloud-based forum service to replace the old Ride Board application. Sean O’Malley, the information technology communications manager, said this service will cost OIT an estimated $2,000.At least hundreds of students have used the service even though it hasn’t been updated in a decade. “I think Ride Board is a great service because as a freshman, I don’t know too many people with cars,” said Rebecca Cain, a freshman studying journalism. “If I want to go anywhere, either home or to visit other friends, the only other option is the GoBus. The GoBus has specific times that are not always convenient and it can get kind of expensive as well. Ride Board is more convenient and a great way to find a ride to other colleges.”Allison Schengber, a sophomore, says she uses Ride Board as much as possible when traveling home.“It’s trustworthy because I know I’m getting a ride with someone who is a student at OU,” Schengber said.@mayganbeelermb076912@ohio.edu

TOP-SEED BOBCATS UPSET IN MAC TOURNAMENT

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Shows, donations help raise money for Union Street businesses

For many, The Union Bar & Grill was the heart of the Athens music scene.After the building’s destruction in the Union Street fire Nov. 16, numerous fundraisers have emerged in an effort to assist the recovery of the employees as well as the building itself. “The Union just meant music to me,” said Kevin Bednar, bassist for William the Accountant. “It was the foundation where music happened that was bigger than Athens. It felt like The Union was your chance to maybe reach a larger audience. We were always very thankful and extra excited when we got the chance to play music there.”Bednar, an Ohio University alumnus, performed at the venue throughout his time in Athens. At William the Accountant’s album release show Saturday night at Casa Nueva, the Columbus-based band donated its cut of the cover along with proceeds from the album sales to “Rise of the Phoenix,” a benefit fund and music event focused on rebuilding The Union. The combined album proceeds and door charges accumulated to $180.Bednar attended a Black Keys concert at The Union before the band received national fame.“It was really exciting to see an Akron band still in Ohio, playing here in Athens,” he said. “Patrick Carney (The Black Keys’ drummer) was actually taking the door charge.”The Hip Hop Shop, which was hosted at The Union for six of its nine years, was temporarily relocated to the Theta Chi fraternity house for the show on Thursday. Admission was free, but donations were accepted and encouraged. The show raised about $100. “I always associated The Union with the Hip Hop Shop in my mind, which makes this so difficult to see The Union literally going up into fames,” said Peter “MC Freeman” Vilardi, a junior studying music production and one of the planners for the show. “When I was a freshman I was not sure how far I was going to take the rap thing but The Union was a space for me to do that. … I might not even still be rapping if it weren’t for The Union.” Apart from local benefit shows, online efforts have seen success as well. A GoFundMe fundraiser titled “Union Street Fire: Employee Relief Fund” has accumulated $42,745 of the $50,000 goal at press time.The funds generated will be given to Union Street employees affected by the fire. The amount given to individual employees will be “directly proportional to his or her loss as compared to the total loss of all applicants,” according to the fundraiser’s description. Dominic Petrozzi, the founder of the Athens-based music festival #Fest, donated all proceeds from 13Fest ticket sales from Thursday through the event’s website to the employee relief fund. “When I heard about the fire Sunday morning when I woke up, I instantly started churning ideas in my head about how could we help,” Petrozzi said. “Unfortunately, it’s one of those cases of such a profound scenario and tragedy that it only makes sense to leverage our brand and give back to help out students and business owners.”Ticket sales generated $1,085 in proceeds, which fest organizers increased to a $2,000 donation to the GoFundMe fundraiser and the Ohio Parents and Family Endowment.Fundraising efforts extended even from outside Athens — Ohio-based clothing company Homage donated all proceeds from OU apparel sold on Thursday to the employee relief fund. The founder of the business, Ryan Vesler, attended OU with Petrozzi. “It’s pretty outstanding the amount of relief and donations accumulated already,” Petrozzi said. “It’s a good feeling that the community I spend time in and went to school in really holds this Athens and OU community near and dear to their hearts.”@sean_wolfe23 sw399914@ohio.edu

Merle Haggard, St. Vincent among acts at Nelsonville Music Festival

The Nelsonville Music Festival is coming up fast and artists announced include both legends and up-and-comers.

Emeritus professor died Friday

A former Ohio University professor and local mainstay was killed Friday night after being struck by a car near his home in rural Athens County. Richard Syracuse, 80, was struck by a van at roughly 9:30p.m. while he was crossing Radford Road on foot, according to a news release from Ohio State Highway Patrol. The driver of the van, Sarah Harkins, of Athens, was not injured as a result of the crash. The crash is pending investigation, according to the release.Doctors pronounced Syracuse’s death at OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital later Friday evening. The professor emeritus taught keyboard classes in OU’s School of Music and served as an artist-in-residence."We are deeply saddened by the news of the sudden passing of Richard D. Syracuse, emeritus professor of music at Ohio University,” said OU President Roderick McDavis in a statement. “His long-standing dedication to Ohio students and to the study of music has made an indelible mark on his field and on our community. Our hearts are with Professor Syracuse's family and friends during this difficult time."Syracuse played piano for diners at the Ohio University Inn’s Cutler’s Restaurant on a weekly basis. “He was an absolutely magical man. He will definitely be missed,” Pete Holey, manager of the restaurant, told The Columbus Dispatch. Holey said Syracuse was performing for a private party at the inn as recently as an hour before his death.Management at the OU Inn wasn’t available for comment Sunday afternoon. Brandon Thompson, a music producer and resident of Athens, frequented the restaurant with his family from an early age. “He was just always there… he would come over and ask how I’m doing. He was just a really nice guy,” Thompson said. “It was always something kind of cool and special about Athens.”Thompson got to know Syracuse well while he worked for the Ohio University Inn. He said his death “hits everyone so hard” because he was so well-known by Athens’ older crowd.@jeremyhtweetsjh082913@ohio.edu

New group connects and empowers first-generation students

More than 25 percent of OU students are the first in their family to attend college, and a new group hopes to connect them

PostPop: Post culture staffers discuss Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

Swimming-Bobcats stumble, finish sixth at H2Okie Invitational

Ohio’s struggles in the pool continued this past weekend, as the Bobcats finished in sixth place out of a field of seven at the H2Okie Invitational in Christiansburg, Virginia.The Bobcats finished the three-day meet over 1,000 points behind host and victor Virginia Tech in their final competition of 2014. Ohio’s finish is two spots worse than when it placed fourth at the event last year.The Hokies dominated the weekend, finishing atop the pack at the end of all three days of competition and went into the Saturday, the final day of competition, with a 422-point lead on No. 24 Alabama in second place. Despite two top-10 finishes on Saturday, the Bobcats couldn’t improve on their sixth-place position and finished the meet in that spot with 270 points overall. Sophomore Laura Dawson finished in fifth place in the 200-yard backstroke and redshirt junior Bianca Hauzer took eighth place in the 1,650-yard freestyle.On Friday, senior Tori Bagan set a new school record in a 100-yard breaststroke prelim by finishing with a time of 1:02.75.The Bobcats only finished in the top-ten in six events all weekend and the strongest element for Ohio, the medley relay team consisting of junior Addison Ferguson, senior Tori Bagan, Dawson and junior Haley Clark took home two of the top-ten finishes. Ohio’s biggest problem, depth, continued to and it them potential points. The Bobcats missed out on points throughout the weekend, especially in diving where the team only has one healthy diver. The small roster of Ohio and some of the other teams that competed in the events lead to some events, such as the platform diving event, having only athletes from Virginia Tech and Alabama competing.The Bobcats will be getting extended rest and time away from the road as the H2Okie Invitational was the last event for the team until Jan. 9. Ohio hopes to continue to get healthy and improve on performing for an entire meet as they have just four meets left before the Mid-American Conference Championships. The Bobcats had their worst performance at the MAC Championships in 10 years last season.Rest and time off could help the Bobcats refocus and rebuild their roster to full strength so it has enough healthy student-athletes to field all events.@PAULHOLDEN33ph553412@ohio.edu

Uptown Athens has had its fair share of fires in the past

Uptown Athens has had its fair share of fires in the past

Wrestling-Ohio finishes third at Navy Classic; Claxton remains undefeated

The Bobcats placed third overall at Saturday’s Navy Classic, putting seven wrestlers in the top-five of their weight classes with two champions.

Hockey-Bobcats sweep Lakers, remain undefeated at home

Michael Harris powers Ohio’s offense to a pair of wins against Mercyhurst with four goals on the weekend.

Organizers say Halftime Fest is “extinguished” but hope for new event to arise.

Halftime Fest is gone, leaving open an opportunity for a different fall music festival to step in.

Gamer Girl: Video game releases prove to be tempting

In the past few weeks, a variety of popular video games have been released. None of which, may I say, I’ve purchased. I’ve been trying to put myself on a spending ban, which is considerably hard this time of the year. Here are the recent releases I’m itching to check out: Even though I played it for the Xbox 360, I want to check out Grand Theft Auto V for the next-gen consoles. From what I’ve read, there will be more first-player options and other features not in the original version.I’m a huge fan of the Assassin’s Creed series. Assassin’s Creed Unitywas plagued with problems after it was released — something pretty common for Ubisoft games — but the overall plot seems interesting. The game is set in Paris during the French Revolution.I also love the Call of Duty franchise — it’s my guilty pleasure video game. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the 11th primary installment of the series. While I don’t know about all the changes the series has made, I’ve heard many Call of Duty fans say it’s one of their favorite titles from the game (at least recently) and that it’s worth checking out.I’m a little sad to admit that I’ve never played any of the Far Cry games, but I plan on picking up Far Cry 4. I also want to check out Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I’ve never been a Lord of the Rings fan, but the game seems interesting and I’m a big fan of open-world games, so it would probably work really well for this title.Embarrassingly, I’m not a big Super Smash Bros. fan, but I’ll probably check out the new 3DS version of the game. I’m a big fan of the new Mario Kart 8 so it’s only fair to check this one out too. I still haven’t even invested in a next-gen console, but I’ve been considering it for a long time, and if I ever do, which is inevitable, it’ll be the PS4. I love my Xbox 360, but the PS4 shows more promise and the exclusives are more appealing for me. I also like that the network is free and you don’t need to purchase a membership just in order to connect to Netflix on the device. Sophie Kruse is a junior studying journalism. What games do you want to check out? Email her at sk139011@ohio.edu or find her on Twitter at @kruseco

Nurturing OUr Nature: Bottle ban could enact change

A new student-led campaign will be officially launching next semester to help spread awareness about the current state of the environment. Environmentally conscious Ohio University students Christie McFarland and Leah Wilson have been working on their Take Back The Tap campaign this semester. The campaign started in their SOUL Environmental Studies 4900 class and is dedicated to keeping water a public service rather than a corporate commodity. As outlined in McFarland and Wilson’s proposal, they want to ban water bottle sales on OU’s campus by first targeting campus markets, Baker University Center and vending machines.TBTT joined Food & Water Watch, a non-profit organization of environmental activists and advocates for social justice that has worked with 60 universities across the country to try to end plastic water bottle sales. Food & Water Watch helped set up a stipend for McFarland and Wilson to use each semester for supplies to help organize and educate other students interested in the campaign.“They’ve taught me how to organize a campaign and how to be in contact with administration, and to work with the university on our project,” McFarland said about the training she’s done with Food & Water Watch.According to an article from Business Insider, water bottle sales in 2012 reached $11.8 billion in the United States. Food & Water Watch has stated that in 2009, 48.7 percent of bottled water was actually municipal tap water. McFarland said that fact “is ironic because you’re paying for water provided to you, and the companies selling it advertise that it is safer than tap water. Worldwide sales total over $100 billion per year, which is more than enough to provide every person in the world with clean water.”“It would be a big statement for the university to ban the sales of bottles,” McFarland said, adding that 90 college campuses have banned bottles in one form or another. Not only does this issue have an environmental impact, but it also delves into social justice with how water has turned into a product instead of a right for people. It is estimated to cost $0.02 to provide water for every person.TBTT will officially launch next semester and hopes to gather more students to further awareness of this issue at OU. McFarland and Wilson plan to have screenings for documentary films, including Tapped and Flow, while continuing to table and petition to students outside of Baker Center. They also plan to have water taste tests to show the lack of difference between the taste of bottled water and tap water.“Mindlessly consuming things affects not only one single person, and through buying water bottles, we treat water as a privilege instead of a basic human right,” McFarland said.McFarland and Wilson both demonstrate what it takes to be an activist and I wish them the best of luck with their campaign.Grant Stover is a sophomore studying English and a concerned environmentalist. Email him at gs155412@ohio.edu

Editorial: ‘Cats should be in NCAA Tournament

It was our pleasure to chronicle the Ohio volleyball team’s 17-game winning streak and undefeated Mid-American Conference campaign this year, and we’re sad to see that the Bobcats bowed out of the conference tournament too early.As you can read on our front page today, the Bobcats lost to Western Michigan in five sets — falling in the final three sets before a stunned Convo crowd.Historically, the MAC has been a conference that has had only one representative in the NCAA Tournament: its postseason tournament victor. Given Ohio’s pedigree, we believe that it should be considered for an NCAA at-large bid — or an NCAA Tournament invitation extended to a team that didn’t win its conference tournament.Ohio has a 23-5 record and has topped major-conference teams such as Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Syracuse this season.Thirty-one of the 64 NCAA Tournament teams receive bids for winning their respective conference tournaments, while the remainder receive at-large bids.Although Ohio’s conference schedule wasn’t as challenging as some other teams that are seeking NCAA at-large bids, we believe the Bobcats have what it takes to stand up to some of the nation’s best teams.It would be a shame to see Friday’s nonconference game against Dayton be the Bobcats’ final bout of the season. Our fingers are crossed for an at-large bid.Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.

Op-Ed: OU taking measures to fix Netflix for students

Have you had trouble streaming Netflix on the Athens Campus recently? If so, you’re not alone.A few weeks ago, students started complaining on Twitter — and even calling the Service Desk — about poor Netflix performance. At roughly the same time, The Post ran a story that helped raise campus awareness about the issue.In response, we dug into our network traffic statistics to figure out what exactly was going on. What we discovered was enlightening, to say the least.In the past three years, Netflix bandwidth usage has quadrupled, with a whopping 20 percent of that increase coming in the past three months. During that same period, the amount of bandwidth the university allocates, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for Netflix traffic, has remained the same.That daytime allocation was designed to preserve some bandwidth during the week for research, academic and administrative uses at the university, not to completely disable Netflix. No wonder students thought we had started blocking access to the service. When demand gets too high on an Internet connection, things grind to a halt.Bandwidth is not cheap. The university currently spends $175,000 per year for our main Internet pipeline. We can’t just let Netflix have as much of that capacity as it likes. If we did, movie and TV streaming would make the entire campus network unusable – something that actually happened in spring 2011 during the last week of classes.  Can you imagine not having Internet and trying to study for finals?We are not trying to take away your Gilmore Girls re-runs.As a first step, we have quadrupled the bandwidth available for Netflix and will be watching closely to see if that alleviates the problem without slowing things down for other users. We also are looking into creative ways to manage our bandwidth that will make the most efficient use of our pipeline during the day.It’s too soon to tell if the measures we have taken are enough. If you are a Netflix user, you can help us out by reporting performance problems, either by calling 740-593-1222 or by putting in a help request at www.ohio.edu/oitech. You can tweet @OhioIT if you like, but it’s much easier to troubleshoot when we can work with you in chunks bigger than 140 characters.Talk to us: we listen.Sean O’Malley is the IT Communications Manager at Ohio University

OU grad raising money to help LGBT scholarships, F--kRapeCulture

Graduate Travis Brown started an online donation page to be donated to LGBT scholarships, F--kRapeCulture and events such as Take Back the Night. 

OU professor emeritus dies in car strike

A former OU professor was killed Friday night after being struck by a car near his home in rural Athens County.

Sheriff’s office concealed carry training not preferred route

Not all those who have concealed weapon licenses in Athens have had their training in the county.