VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE II • FREE-ADDITIONAL COPIES $1
THE NEWS RECORD THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI’S INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWS ORGANIZATION / THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2013
SG TELLS ALL
Female students get fit and empowered
FITNESS FRENZY PAGE 3
WORD UP
MEN’S SOCCER
Students tell us what it means to be “hot”
PAGE 4
PAGE 4
PAGE 6
President talks safety with UC, community officials University preparing to launch safety initiative. UC President Santa Ono talks policies, strategy. Police work together to reduce crime around campus. BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR
MADISON SCHMIDT CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Robin Engel, director of the institute of crime science, speaks before the President’s Campus Safety Committee Wednesday at University Pavilion.
TOP RANKING BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR
On and off-campus safety has never been more of a priority than it is now for the University of Cincinnati. UC President Santa Ono met with the President’s Campus Safety Committee Wednesday to discuss bringing new, intuitive safety initiatives to fruition for the coming years. The University of Cincinnati Police Department and the Cincinnati Police Department are merging databases to better predict and pinpoint crimes on and off campus, making it easier to plan patrols to prevent crime in the future. The database includes a map of crime hotspots and a calendar of when crimes generally occur. As more data is collected and cross-referenced, officers will be able to prepare to reduce crime in coming years more efficiently and effectively, said Robin Engel,
director of the Institute of Crime Science. “One of the things you can do is you can click on a particular month and then see what it is specifically that is driving that month’s crime,” Engel said. “So you can look back and say, okay well we had a spike in January, well where was it, what was it, how many crimes … so that we can be smarter. So we won’t have to just say, oh it’s because the students are back. We can figure out what’s really driving this.” In the past three years, crime has spiked consistently with the academic calendar, Engel said, meaning certain crimes occur more or less during certain times of UC’s schedule. Simply knowing when and where crimes generally occur isn’t everything. Interim UC Police Chief Jeff Corcoran said patrols could be on every corner and crime would still occur, but having a system like this to focus officers will help. “I’ve been a police officer for over 25 years, this is the first time I’ve ever seen any data to tell me what actually works,” Corcoran said. Ono wants his committee to think about what it will take to sustain this program and said he is willing to increase funding if SEE SAFETY PG 2
Davenport: Building on success
The University of Cincinnati made social media headlines this week after PolyMic, a millennial generation news site, ranked UC as the “best bang for the buck.” The site, which featured a list of 12 colleges, graded each university on starting salaries for graduates, graduation rates and average debt upon graduation. Washington Monthly, however, did a similar analysis and listed 150 universities. UC did not make that list. That site compared graduation rates, default rates, net prices and the number of students who receive Pell grants. PolyMic, however, looked at the return on investment students get upon graduation. While UC’s tuition costs and room and board are above the national average, UC graduates earn more upon graduation and receive more Pell grants — Washington Monthly did not gage. Washington Monthly is a political magazine that’s been around since 1969. It has a searchable College Guide featured on its website that also looks at social mobility, research and service.
UC HEALTH PLAN BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR
In 2014, University of Cincinnati employees’ medical plans will look much different than they do now. Elizabeth Aumann, director of benefits at UC, announced the benefit changes are in response to the current health care environment, mainly because of the Affordable Care Act. She said the changes will ensure that the plans are sustainable. “UC employees and their dependents will continue to receive excellent coverage and the plans will continue to be affordable,” Aumann said. The university will eliminate its Health Maintenance Organization option but will continue its Point of Service plan. The current “First 1000” plan is being replaced by a High Deductible Health Plan, which includes low premiums, an integrated deductible for medical and pharmaceutical costs and the ability to set up a health savings account for future medical bills. UC will begin negotiations with labor organizations where required. The new plans will not affect all UC employees.
PHIL DIDION PHOTO EDITOR
The new chief academic officer at the University of Cincinnati is excited to start her new job. She said she has been blown away by the support and friendliness she has been shown since arriving on campus. Getting to know students and faculty is among the things she is looking forward to, along with working with President Santa Ono.
New provost at UC excited to be a part of university on the rise. Admits continuing growth will be largest challenge, looking forward to tackling challenge, engaging community RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR
Beverly Davenport-Sypher like a challenge. In her new role as Provost at the University of Cincinnati, she said, that challenge will be to continue the momentum the university has enjoyed in the past decade, and she is up to that challenge. She took the position of chief academic officer at a university that has seen enrollment growth nine of the last 10 years with the most academically talented entering class in the university’s history. “What the institution has accomplished in the last three to five years, it’s impressive. “The excitement and the momentum and the upward trajectory … that has been broadly communicated and anyone who looks at the university can see that. And you can feel it,” Davenport said.
“I want to be a part of something on the move, something that has high aspirations.” For Davenport, her job is simple: continue to advance and make the university as academically attractive as possible. Davenport, who served as the vice provost for faculty affairs at Purdue University before taking the UC job, said much of the work is drawing qualified, talented and engaging faculty members. “Our first responsibility is to students and faculty. Faculties are the frontline to our students. We have an obligation to our students and to the state Ohio and a big part of that mix is to recruit the best faculty for our students to work with you and provide you the opportunity to expand your learning opportunities while you’re here. “We can’t do without hiring and retaining faculty and creating an environment were faculty want to be and where students want to be. I will be on that message. I will stick to that message,” Davenport said. While she is focused intensely on improving academics at UC she said it’s important to keep things fun. “It needs to be fun,” she said.“I don’t think we should separate that. We don’t want to go to places that aren’t fun and exciting. We need to continue to build that sense of pride.” Although she is still getting acclimated to her
new job — she admits she still occasionally gets lost — she said she is excited about having the opportunity to jump right in to the job. “I want to be present on this campus. I want to be involved in the fabric of this institution. I want to do all I can to help it move forward and create that success that we all would like to see,” Davenport said. At Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting she thanked President Santa Ono for involving her in the selection of a permanent dean of the College of Pharmacy. Before she took the position, President Ono, her new boss served as provost. After he was appointed president, the university started an extensive national search that Davenport called “exhausting.” She said she is excited to work with her new boss. “You couldn’t have asked for a better partner, a better mentor, a better leader,” Davenport said. While her leadership won’t be as in your face as Ono’s — who has a reputation as a prolific tweeter—she wants to be heavily involved on and around campus. “Managing that impression of being a fun, hot, whatever word you want to use, that’s all of our jobs to do that,” Davenport said.“We need to make that real so it’s not just a tagline.”
Student vets receive faster services thanks to updated program Recently appointed director making changes to previously plagued veteran services, programs. Student veterans welcome changes, faster services. jAMIE MAIER CONTRIBUTOR
FILE ART
New director of Veterans’ Program and Services Jack Johnson is taking steps to expedite veteran registration and make the university more friendly for former service members. Student veterans’ seeing real results.
Since Jack Johnson’s appointment as program director of Veterans’ Program and Services, the program has taken steps to combat previous inefficiencies in the office. In the past nine moths, Johnson has hired program coordinator Anthony Louderback and plans to have a third certifying official on board by mid-September. The program also is fortunate to have Veterans’ Administration representative Jill Cochran who will be working full time on campus starting Sept. 3, Jackson said. Her presence on campus will greatly alleviate the VA application process, as she will serve as a direct contact in the VA — mak-
ing UC the third university in Ohio to have a VA rep on campus and one of only 32 in the U.S. The primary objective “boils down to the veterans and the school getting paid” by creating a veteran friendly program, Johnson said. The average veteran is a non-traditional student — typically in their mid to late 20s and often with a family. Josh Smith, a third-year law graduate student and representative to the UC Board of Trustees, has seen the positive changes first hand. Smith joined the Army in January 2008 during his second year at Ohio University and was deployed in July 2009 to Afghanistan. “Since coming to UC in 2011, I noticed incredible changes in the veterans services program. I came to the campus along with an upsurge of other veterans, and consequently there were backups in processing that caused substantial delays,” Smith said. UC has had difficulty in the past with registering veterans in a timely manner. The problem has been compounded by an inSEE VETS PG 2
Hamilton County Commissioners, UC renew mentoring program for foster children County happy with partnership, pairs students with foster children to increase odds of college attendance. SAM MORREN CONTRIBUTOR
The University of Cincinnati and the Board of Hamilton County Commissioners — on behalf of The Department of Job and Family Services — renewed the Higher Education Mentoring Initiative for another year Aug. 1. HEMI is a partnership between Hamilton County, Hamilton County Job and Family
Services, the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and Great Oaks. The program seeks to bridge the hardships foster children face once they leave state protection, which often consist of increased jail time, homelessness and increased difficulty in obtaining a college education. “Foster kids are really the responsibility of those of us in government,” said Greg Hartmann, Hamilton County commissioner and a founding partner of the HEMI program, which started in 2009. After five years, HEMI helps people like Mariah Maxwell, who graduated from UC in 2012. Maxwell, a first-generation college student,
earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. Maxwell’s achievements — earning two baccalaureate degrees in three years — are of particular significance. She was part of a demographic that has a high dropout rate in high school. She entered the Hamilton County foster care system when she was 10 years old and lived with 11 different foster families. However, in her senior year of high school, her caseworker told her about HEMI. She became the first college graduate out of the HEMI partnership.
CHIEF.NEWSRECORD@GMAIL.COM / 513.556.5908
“The partnership of the University of Cincinnati is critical to HEMI’s success and we’re fortunate to have their ongoing support and commitment to the program,” Hartmann said. HEMI helps prepare foster children for postsecondary education. As UC students settle in to their fall semester routine, the initiative wants to recruit, train and support mentors to establish long term, positive relationships with foster care youth like Maxwell. “Despite the challenges that foster youth face on the path to adulthood, the students in the HEMI program are proving that encouragement and hard work can lead to a successful career and a bright future,” Hartmann said.