The News Record 09.05.13

Page 1

VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE I • FREE-ADDITIONAL COPIES $1

THE NEWS RECORD THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI’S INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWS ORGANIZATION / THURSDAY, SEPT. 5, 2013

BEARCAT VICTORY

OBAMA BACKS RED LINE WITH UPRISE IN SYRIA

CONFLICT ENSUES PAGE 2

FILMS TO SEE

CATS ON THE RUN

PREVIEWING THE MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIES

PAGE 6

PAGE 3

PAGE 4

students and employees. The first is the UC Metro Card. It costs $53 for students and $160 for employees upon registration and covers every ride that one takes each semester within Cincinnati city limits. The second is the EZ Ride Card. It is free to register for but requires each rider to pay $1 per ride within all Metro zones. With the EZ Ride Card, transfers cost the usual 50 cents. “Understanding that the bus isn’t for everyone, we want to make sure people at least have the knowledge to make that choice, if this is something that fits with their lifestyle and the way they want to commute,” Lahman said. She works with companies and universities to figure out how metro could better serve different communities and reach riders on a personal level. Student body vice president Jaclyn Hyde suggested that Metro utilizes visual marketing to attract students on campus.

Other SG members said it could be beneficial to inform student riders how to use the metro system and to make fare cards available at freshmen orientation programs. “The numbers show that we have about 1,500 students that have signed up for cards,” Lahman said. “So out of 41,000 students, we’ve got a ways to go.” Metro hopes its new enhancements will gain students’ attention. The bus system began construction on a new uptown district that will include four transitboarding areas in May. The boarding areas will provide increased access to the area surrounding UC and direct access to popular destination locations like the Kenwood Towne Center. Metro will also launch a new smartphone tracking app in early 2014. “We’re almost there. We have all this fancy

Metro calls on SG to increase student ridership Cincinnati Metro wants to increase in student awareness of discounted public transportation prices, improved stops around campus ALEXIS O’BRIEN CHIEF REPORTER

MADISON SCHMIDT CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Student body president Joe Blizzard listens to a presentation at the student senate meeting Wednesday.

Cincinnati Metro sought University of Cincinnati student government suggestions to make more students aware of university fare cards Wednesday. “We want to be visible so that there aren’t any students on campus walking around saying ‘I don’t know about this program,’” said Kim Lahman, Metro ridership development manager. Through the current university-funded program, Metro offers two fare card options to

SEE SG PG 2

Concern builds after fatal fires

EVACUATION RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR

Volatile fumes caused a brief evacuation but no injuries at the University of Cincinnati’s Rieveschl Hall Wednesday. The building was evacuated shortly after noon due to a strange odor on the seventh floor, said Casey Rabong, a UC facilities management employee. Crosley Tower was also evacuated. The odor was caused by construction on the west end of the building. Construction crews were working on the exterior of the building when chemicals started seeping into an air duct. Theresa Culley, assistant professor of biology, said people could smell the odor. Culley described it as the scent of nail polish on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors. Heather Wischer, program coordinator in the biology lab, said it smelled like spray paint. Culley and several other people in the seventh floor lab began to feel dizzy shortly after noticing the smell. Some people started exiting the building before the alarm was pulled, Culley said. Responders quickly cleared the building and determined the odor was not toxic. Nobody was injured, said Greg Hand, UC spokesperson. An announcement that the building was safe to enter was made through the emergency system around 1 p.m. While the worst of the odor has been removed construction will continue during the next several days. Crews have taken all possible steps to minimize the disturbance caused by the odor, Hand said.

TOP UNIVERSITY

Safe housing program created after city officials, students push for action BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR

MONROE TROMBLY CONTRIBUTOR

The University of Cincinnati was recently recognized by The Washington Center for its outstanding work in experimental learning. UC will be known as “Public University of the Year” when the award is accepted Oct. 7. “This award recognizes UC’s dedication to experiential learning, specifically the institutional support for various forms of experiential learning at UC and the emphasis placed on it at all levels,” said Zach Osborne, program director of the Division of Professional Practice and Experiential Learning at UC. Osborne will accept the award on behalf of the university. He cited UC’s co-op program, academic internship program, service learning and undergraduate research as examples of the university’s commitment to experimental learning. The award, which is given out annually, is one in a group of awards given by The Washington Center — also known as the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. The center is an independent, nonprofit organization that gives selected students the chance to receive academic credit while working and learning in Washington D.C. “I think the most innovative things that UC is doing when it comes to experiential learning is working to make it a part of every student’s UC experience, which makes us quite unique,” Osborne said.

FILE ART

Maurice Vassar, a Cincinnati Fire Department captain, and Fire Specialist Edwina Lyttle point out improperly stored paint cans as a potential fire hazard.

Fire prevention is at the forefront of safety initiatives coming from the City of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati since the deaths of four local students in the past decade. UC and Cincinnati officials worked together and launched the Cincinnati Safe Student Housing program Aug. 7 to increase fire safety for off-campus rental properties. Since the university has no control over how landlords manage their properties, UC and the city created the program in hopes of

giving an incentive to landlords to be more mindful of fire safety. The program includes a list of properties that have passed a fire inspection. Students and parents can and are encouraged to access this list when deciding which property to rent, said Cincinnati City Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan. Fire inspections are reactive in nature, which means the fire department needs a request to do an inspection. This program allows anyone to request an inspection free of charge. UC is urging students and parents to call — anonymously or not — and have their rental unit inspected. Once inspected the property will stay on the list for two years. “If [the property] passes, if there are no violations, that landlord gets their property added to the

SEE FIRE PG 2

ANNUAL NUMBER OF FATALITIES

CAMPUS FIRE RELATED DEATHS IN OHIO 2001-2012

JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY - 1

list,” Quinlivan said at UC President Santa Ono’s Campus Safety Committee meeting Aug. 28.“We hope eventually to grow this list, so it includes properties all over the city.” Quinlivan has a special interest in safety for UC students, as her daughter recently started at UC. UC student body president Joe Blizzard plans to have his rental property inspected in the Fall semester and student government has made a push to bring fire safety to the minds of students. Blizzard passed out free smoke detectors to students and has worked with the UC Parents Association to advocate for safer housing. Uptown Rental Properties is the first major stu-

BY ACADEMIC YEAR

20 16

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY - 5 UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON - 1 MIAMI UNIVERSITY - 3

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI - 2 CINCINNATI STATE - 1

12 8

OHIO UNIVERSITY - 2

4 2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

HEATHER OBRINGER DESIGNER

2007-08

2008-09

2009-102

010-11

2011-12

KATE DAVIS DESIGNER

UC bridging gap between free online courses, earning credit Massive Open Online Course, free for everyone, to begin early October with possibility for credit BEN GOLDSCHMIDT NEWS EDITOR

MADISON SCHMIDT CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Engineering professor Jim Tappel talks about the Massive Open Online Course he’s teaching with marketing professor Drew Boyd, which will focus on bringing innovative ideas to life without losing practicality.

Students in several countries will have access to a small portion of the education available to University of Cincinnati students. UC is offering a free Massive Open Online Course, called Innovation and Design Thinking, beginning Oct. 7. Anyone with Internet access can enroll in the graduate-level class free of charge. While more and more MOOCs are becoming available worldwide, UC is making huge advances bridging the gap between simply offering the course and offering the course for college credit, said Jim Tappel, an engineering professor who is teaching the course. The course is free for anyone, but credit will only be given to those who are either enrolled or plan on enrolling, which requires the student pay tuition. Graduate students in the Linder College of Business and the CHIEF.NEWSRECORD@GMAIL.COM / 513.556.5908

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences must pay the normal tuition rate to receive credit for the course. UC and non-UC students will have to pass the course and enroll in a master’s program in LCOB or CAES by Jan. 1, 2015. Once enrolled, students who passed the class, which requires a score of 75 percent or higher, will receive two graduate credits free of charge. The course lasts seven weeks and will operate like any normal online class. There are assignments and tests, but they are only required if the student who is taking the course wants to receive credit. The class is aimed at bridging the gap between creating ideas and bringing them to life — much like the actual MOOC at UC is doing, Tappel said. “We’re kind of practicing what we preach in the class,”Tappel said. “That’s really the methodology that we’re teaching. You create the ideas, you prototype the ideas and then you go out there and somewhat test those ideas.” UC’s MOOC is as experimental as it is practical, Tappel said. There are no other MOOCs scheduled, but that may change SEE MOOC PG 2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.