COMMENCEMENT EDITION 2017 - 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW The student voice of the Ohio State University
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
thelantern.com
@TheLantern
Year 138, Issue No. 27
PUBLISHED APRIL 18
Where Buckeyes come from
Ohio residents account for smaller portion of freshman enrollment OWEN DAUGHERTY Assistant Campus Editor daugherty.260@osu.edu MATT DORSEY Engagement Editor dorsey.215@osu.edu
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Meyer meets Michigan Urban Meyer is greeted by Wolverine fans upon his entrance to the field prior to the game against Michigan on Nov. 25 in Ann Arbor. Ohio State won 31-20.
Gates Foundation CEO returns to Columbus as Spring Commencement speaker SUMMER CARTWRIGHT Campus Editor cartwright.117@osu.edu Sue Desmond-Hellmann knows what it feels like to be unprepared for a pop quiz. Like the surprise tests many students at Ohio State might not be prepared for, the most recent exam she failed was in finance. But the pop quiz wasn’t in a class. Or in college. It happened in her adult life, around the time she began acting as the chief financial officer for one of the largest cancer technology companies in the country. That feeling she and so many felt going into a test unprepared in a subject that should’ve been known stays with her as a lesson, she said — and as a bit of comedic relief. “It was horrifying,” Desmond-Hellmann said laughing while recalling one of her biggest F’s. “I could talk about science and medicine all day long, but I kept hearing words like ‘earning for share’ and ‘MPD.’ You just have a whole grasp of new acronyms that I’ve never even heard of.” Desmond-Hellmann has a few acronyms of her own, though, including CEO, MD and MPH. After failing the test, she asked members of the finance department to come up with a list of financial terms and practices she could learn to improve as a leader. Now the CEO of a $40-bil-
lion-endowed charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Desmond-Hellmann knows her way around finance, especially when the money she manages can save thousands of lives. The gig came in 2013 on Halloween — the only night Desmond-Hellmann, then-chancellor of University of California San Francisco, and the Gates’ could work in their schedules. Although she did not see Bill Gates dressed as a Pokemon or as Eleven from “Stranger Things,” she did see something that made her want to take charge of the finances for the richest people in the world’s organization. She saw a family. “When I first got to the house, nobody was there. They were all out trick-or-treating,” Desmond-Hellmann said. “I remember sitting down on the couch and chatting with Bill and the whole evening being populated by kids coming in and out, and trick-ortreaters coming in and out. It just had this atmosphere that in retrospect was just right, as a family business.” That welcoming atmosphere also came paired with a passion Desmond-Hellmann has had since she was a college student. Since she was in her 20s entering the world of medicine, Desmond-Hellmann has always wanted to help people, especially when the means aren’t there for them to find help alone. She began her work as a docCOMMENCEMENT CONTINUES ON 4
Ohio State enrolls fewer students from the states Appalachian counties than it did a decade ago. It also enrolls fewer students from the 10 most populous counties combined. The university’s in-state enrollment has remained stagnant over the past 10 years as Ohio State takes in a growing amount of out-of-state and international students. A Lantern analysis of Ohio State’s past 10 years of enrollment data shows Ohio high school graduates represent nearly 12 percent fewer incoming firstyear students in 2017 than they did a decade before. In 2008, almost 82 percent of freshmen came from the Buckeye State, but in 2017 that number dropped to 70 percent. Over the same period, this dip is paired with firstyears from outside the U.S. doubling from 4 percent to more than 8 percent. Out-of-state freshmen jumped from 14.5 percent to almost 22 percent. Keith Gehres, Ohio State’s director for outreach and recruitment, joined the university as an in-state recruiter in 2003, and while he said he has noticed several changes in the student body, none of them particularly alarm him.
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He was instructed in 2015 by Ohio State’s Board of Trustees and University President Michael Drake to follow a strategic enrollment plan, which he called “the North Star in our recruitment efforts.” That “North Star” is guiding his office farther and farther from the state of Ohio. “As the flagship institution and also with being charged with meeting all the various university enrollment goals, there’s a balance where we can’t only focus on in-state students,” Gehres said. “We’re focusing on out-of-state and students from around the world.” The goal is for out-of-state and international students to account for 35 percent of the university’s incoming first-year class by 2020, Gehres said. In 2017, non-Ohio residents comprised 29.9 percent of the freshman class.
From Orton Hall to Mirror Lake
A look into some of Ohio State’s most beloved traditions TERESA CARDENAS Senior Lantern reporter cardenas.53@osu.edu Imagine walking across The Oval to class when someone you dislike crosses your path, yanks something out of your hand and breaks it. This act — what some would call a “mugging” — doesn’t necessarily happen in 2018 at Ohio State, but it was actually a tradition of sorts near the time of this university’s beginning. Like most universities in the late 1800s, Ohio State had a strong sense of seniority and class comradery. Each class donned its own set of colors. Each class lived every day to compete against each other. Most of the competitions were focused around sports and academics, where classes tried to score more points or get better grades than the others. Sometimes, the formalities fell apart and upperclassmen chose to haze freshmen on campus. This mugging of sorts is only one of hundreds of traditions that have settled into the lives of Ohio State students, but traditions can be fleeting. Sometimes, only few
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Students in 1955 competing during May Week, an Ohio State tradition that included tug-of- wars, eating contests and chasing oiled pigs. get the introduction or farewell they deserve. Generally, each tradition is recognized at its best but is almost always forgotten at its worst. The origins of a tradition The word “tradition” takes on many forms. Kevlin Haire, assistant university archivist suggested this can include events and gatherings, but also songs like Ohio State’s alma mater “Carmen Ohio,” physical representations such as Ohio State’s first building, University Hall, or the football team’s long-standing rivalry with the University of Michigan.
The definition varies depending on the experience and the time period, but the central theme of a tradition is to connect students, alumni and the university. Commencement is one example of a university-driven tradition, which is also one of the oldest and most consistent that students over the years have witnessed. A set of bells were first introduced by the class of 1915 as a means of reflection. Following a decade of student fundraising, Orton Hall was topped with the TRADITIONS CONTINUES ON 3