by JESSICA HOLLAN
Assistant editor

Broadway, known for bright lights and big voices, veered into an alternate universe on Tuesday, April 4. The night was full of bright lights and big voices, but not the flashy show tunes most musical theatre fans have come to enjoy. No. Flipping her hair to lip-sync her opening number, drag queen Deija D lit up the Marion Center, hosting SPECTRUM’s fifth annual Drag Night.

by NICK BUCHANAN
​Editor​

Tiffin resident Beth Walliser spent March 20 on the corner of Miami and Sandusky streets with a poster board in hand. Its headlining message was blunt: “Shame on TU.”

“I’m here in regards to the lack of response from TU in regards to the deaf issues that the four students on campus are trying to present to the [disability] services director,” she said. “Without discussion or any forthcoming, the director is trying to force the students to discontinue their live interpreters that they have now and making them go to iPads via Skype.”

by BRANDON UTLEY
Staff writer

Are you sick of spending your boring Friday nights in your bed?  Are you constantly wishing there was more fun things to do on the weekend? Well, don’t fret: The brothers of Theta Eta Omicron have you covered! On Friday, March 24, the Omicrons will host a charity concert to support Hope for the Day.

While discussing Hope for the Day, Omicron brother Michael Saliba said, “This is an organization that focuses on suicide prevention and mental health education through self-expression platforms to achieve outreach, education, and prevention.”

by BRANDON UTLEY
Staff writer

Tiffin University’s SPECTRUM is hosting a photography project to coincide with the National Day of Silence, a national event in April to bring awareness to anti-LGBTQ bullying and crimes.

The project consists of students and faculty writing what they do to keep themselves safe that not everyone may think about on a large piece of paper. The goal is to have enough pictures to hang in a large display on campus on the National Day of Silence, which falls on Friday, April 21 this year. 

A Walk to Remember, a 5K event sponsored by TU Health Challenge, the staff assembly, the exercise science club, and Black Students United, is to be held Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, at 11 a.m. in the Heminger Center. It is being held in celebration of Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and American Heart Month, and in support of JoElle Hall.

JoElle Hall, pictured right, is the assistant director of undergraduate admissions at TU. She was recently diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a rare autoimmune disease in which the patient’s immune system attacks NMDA receptors in his or her brain.

According to the Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis Foundation, the disease can be life-threatening. While recovery is a long, slow process, sometimes taking months to years, it is possible.

While Hall’s GoFundMe page reports that her case is severe, her prognosis is postive.

Donations towards Hall’s medical treatment are being accepted online through a GoFundMe page, which raised nearly $10,000 as of Feb. 9, and will be accepted at the Walk to Remember.

Each participant at the event will receive a Valentine’s Day chocolate with a fun fact about Black History Month and a “We Support JoElle” sticker. 

Tiffin University’s student newspaper, The Tystenac, won five awards at the Associated Collegiate Press' annual convention in Minneapolis.

After competing with 200 delegates at the organization's Best of the Midwest College Journalism Convention Feb. 17-19, the campus newspaper won three awards in the categories of best four-year university non-weekly publication; best single page design; best editorial, and two awards for best feature story.

“When Dr. Vallo suggested we rebrand the school newspaper to its original name in the fall of 2015, I had no idea that we’d end up with five regional awards less than two years later,” said editor Nick Buchanan, a senior majoring in journalism. “Under my supervision, the university’s student press has taken on a new life. I’m so proud of what it has become.”

In 1973 The Tystenac was awarded a superior rating in appearance and photography in a contest that, according to an issue from that time, was sponsored by the Associated [Collegiate] Press at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism. The newspaper's name derived from the former business school's focus on typing, stenography and accounting.

“I was reading through the back issues of The Tystenac and saw that the newspaper had received recognition in this contest decades ago when the college was a small business school,” said Tystenac adviser, Dr. Colleen Vallo. “And I thought, ‘Why not now?’ I was especially delighted to discover that the same contest is held today."

Assistant editor Jessica Hollan, a sophomore majoring in forensic psychology, joined the newspaper's staff last year as a freshman. "Now, I can’t believe I am the assistant editor of an award-winning publication. It’s honestly surreal. I could not be more proud of myself, my editor, or my staff,” she said.
In the Best of Show categories, The Tystenac placed 3rd for the best four-year university non-weekly issue; Hollan placed 6th for her editorial, "Females in Trump's America." She placed 7th for her feature article, “Student-made musical Prodigal Hearts to be presented.” Buchanan placed 10th for his feature article, “Feminist poetry duo entertain, call for activism.” The newspaper placed 10th for the best single page design.
 
 
 

by COURTNEY BRANCO
Staff writer

Most students probably don’t know that parking passes are rising next school year, which might be a shock to them. Yes, the rumors are true: the price for parking passes will increase from $25 to $50 per academic year, beginning next year.

Jennifer Boucher, the director of campus safety and security at Tiffin University, justified the price increase with comparisons to other institutions of similar size to TU. The parking charged at those schools, she said, ranged from $50 to $350 per year. 

“We felt the increase to $50 was a fair increase,” Boucher said. “And we thought we would be comparable and not exuberating a massive increase at 50.”

​by JESSICA HOLLAN
Assistant editor

The most exciting time of the year for Greek organizations is upon us: pledging. Interviews for the process begin this week, and to prepare you for what’s ahead we sat down with four* of the six Greek organizations to ask about their pledging process, and what their group is looking for in their future sisters and brothers.

by NICK BUCHANAN
​Editor

​Although the Heminger Center was checkered with plenty of empty seats on the morning of Nov. 11 as Dr. Lillian Schumacher was initiated as the sixth president of Tiffin University, the members of the student body, faculty, staff, and community who did attend filled the venue with welcoming messages of hope for the future of TU.

Sitting beside her father, who opened the ceremony with a prayer, and her husband, Schumacher shared the stage with over 30 close colleagues, peers, community members, and collegiate representatives – many of whom spoke in her support during the two-hour event.

​“It is today that we begin the tomorrows of this institution,” said Melissa Weininger, the dean of student support and the registrar at the university.