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THE 132-YEAR-OLD AWARD-WINNING INDEPENDENT STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE LVVVVVVI

Council approves application

The News Record THURSDAY | JANUARY 17 | 2013

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Short Vine entertainment district plans embraced by officials, citizens BENJAMIN GOLDSCHMIDT CHIEF REPORTER NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM To further assist the development and business growth in the Uptown area, Cincinnati City Council approved an application Wednesday to create an entertainment district on Short Vine. Since city council approved the Uptown Consortium’s application, 15 more businesses can apply for a liquor license, said Brad Thomas, a representative for Uptown Consortium. The new district will be known as the Short Vine Community Entertainment District. The amount of liquor licenses available to any given community depends on its population — one license for every 2,000 residents. Creating entertainment districts allows for more licenses to be obtained, Thomas said. “The benefits to Corryville are more jobs, more businesses, increased entertainment destinations,” Thomas said. The project would bring in additional income revenue for the city and additional sales tax revenues for Hamilton County. Thomas said two businesses — Island Frydays and Turophilia Quesadillas — expressed an interest in expanding and attaining a liquor license. Owners of popular food carts in the area told the Uptown Consortium and Cincinnati Councilmember Laure Quinlivan they are looking for “brick and mortar” locations to expand their businesses, and could apply for liquor licenses. Transforming Short Vine into an entertainment district saves money for businesses with liquor licenses, as it would reduce license renewal costs, Thomas said. Quinlivan noted there would not be a change in the application process for liquor licenses. “Still, everyone who applies has to go through the state just like they normally would to get their liquor licenses. It just makes it more affordable,” Quinlivan said. Thomas said several other successful entertainment districts have been created in Cincinnati neighborhoods, including Northside, Over-the-Rhine, The Banks, Pleasant Ridge, Price Hill and Madisonville. “This continuous development along with the Uptown transit district, the streetcar, will really help tie together our urban core and make it a united economic unit,”Thomas said.

LAUREN PURKEY | PHOTO EDITOR

AT THE TOP University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono talks in depth about the issues facing the university, the accomplishments of faculty and staff and his goals during his tenure at UC. Ono stressed UC’s commitment to safety and his administration’s top priorities.

TOP ’CAT CHAT Santa Ono discusses budget, safety and more RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM Since taking office in October 2012, University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono quickly adjusted to his leadership position. Ono identified his top priorities and responsibilities, tackling his new laborintensive position head on. In an exclusive interview with The News Record, Ono discussed his top goals, accomplishments and potential problems facing UC in the future. When officially named president, Ono said his administration had two major priorities that needed to be addressed immediately. The first involved filling the vacant positions in the faculty hierarchy. Currently there are four — out of 15 total — interim deans and four other interim positions in the President’s cabinet. “We have been … taking active steps to stabilize the leadership of the university,” Ono said. The rigorous process for filling leadership positions involves not only rules set by the UC Board of Trustees, but also an order for filling positions. “The important thing is that things have to be done sequentially in an organization of this size when your trying to hire someone … you have to go through a process,” Ono said. Before any hires could be made, the president position had to be locked down, Ono said. Before any deans can be hired, the provost position — for which a search is currently taking place — has to be filled.

“You need to know who your president is going to be before you try to recruit your permanent provost because the provost and the president are really partners,” Ono said. “It’s a sort of staggered kind of approach, and if you don’t follow that — as some institutions do — you get into trouble sometimes.” Ono acknowledges it is not ideal to have any interim positions, but it is inevitable at an institution of this size. “There always will be some interim people because we have great leaders that will be attractive for other institutions to try to recruit away,” Ono said. Ono already appointed several people to his cabinet, and hopes to fill most — if not all — of the interim positions by the end of 2013. “I’d rather take a little bit of time and make the right decision than rush it and bring in somebody who is not qualified or who doesn’t really want to be here,” Ono said. Ono’s other top priority, producing a responsible budget, remains on less stable ground. Questions surrounding the federal budget could impact research funding, and changes to Ohio’s formula for distributing funding to public universities will directly impact how much state funding UC will receive. The new formula is based on the current three-year-rolling-average of completed courses and degrees. Current data has yet to be completely gathered, but simulations using data from previous years indicate UC will be in a strong position when it comes

to state funding. “The good news is that in all those iterations three of those universities have come out looking like they will either stay flat or actually increase in terms of funding in the next biennium and those three universities are Ohio State University, UC and Wright State University,” Ono said. Government funding — along with other sections of the budget — will directly impact how much — if at all — tuition will increase in the 2013-14 academic year. Ono made it a priority to minimize any tuition increases. “In a lot of states the increases have been three to three-and-a-half percent, we want to land well below that,” Ono said. With a new biennial budget being drafted by the state, it is uncertain what, if any, increase is going to be needed, or if there will be a cap on how much tuition can be increased. Last academic year, tuition increased 3.5 percent — the maximum amount it could. “There’s not a final answer on [tuition costs] right now … it will be minimal,” Ono said.

MONEY MAKER State and federal funding only make up a portion of an annual budget that exceeds $1 billion. A large part of the budget is private gifts and donations made to the university. In June, UC will finish its Proudly SEE ONO | 2

AACRC celebrates grand reopening After five months of renovations, center hosts ribbon-cutting ceremony BROOKE BEERY SENIOR REPORTER NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM

LAUREN PURKEY | PHOTO EDITOR

GRAND CELEBRATIONS Eric Abercrumbie, AACRC director, acts enthusiastically while talking to the audience at the grand reopening of the African American Cultural and Resource Center at the University of Cincinnati Tuesday, Jan. 15.

A jubilant celebration with African drums, dancers and a choir marked the grand reopening of the University of Cincinnati’s African American Cultural and Resource Center Tuesday. The event, which included a ribboncutting ceremony, fittingly took place on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. “This is an absolutely magnificent place,” said UC President Santa Ono. “The first time I saw [it] I was simply stunned.” “This renovation gave us an opportunity to refocus the center so that it is of more flexibility for the students, more focused on the students and more focused on the history that brought us here,” said Greg Hand, UC spokesperson. “It’s also meant to inspire us about future possibilities.” At the beginning at the ceremony, Eric Abercrumbie, AACRC director, performed a ritual libation. He poured onto a plant symbolizing good fortune for the past, present and future of the facility. “This is a community center,” Abercrumbie said. “It’s a university center like Greek letter organization houses or the

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women’s center, but this center is focused on African-American life, especially in Cincinnati.” Renovations began in August 2012 and included new furniture, carpet, television and displays of cultural art. “We opened the walls up and added a new student lounge which can fit double the amount of people,” Abercrumbie said. The room contains a large mural with pictures of graduates — such as Tyrone Yates, city council member and vicemayor of Cincinnati, and UC Trustee Rob Richardson — who made their mark in the community. “It’s inspiring to see such proud displays of our culture,” said Taquisha Hutchman, a fourth-year Africana Studies student. The room features two new flat-screen televisions and will be used for student activities including dance classes and choir practices. The center will be open to all members of the UC community. “Even though it is African American in name, it is still, above all else, a student center,” said Chris Allen, an AACRC faculty member. “It’s for students of the campus. We encourage people to come on in and take part in our facilities.”


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