Thursday January 13, 2011 year: 131 No. 8 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Gee: Tuition increase probable
sports
OSU president talks tuition, campus housing, TCU billboards and music ALLY MAROTTI AND DYLAN TUSSEL Campus editor and Assistant sports editor marotti.5@osu.edu and tussel.2@osu.edu Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee stopped into The Lantern newsroom Wednesday evening to discuss a number of issues that fuel the university, ranging from a likely tuition increase next year to his quick trip to the Sugar Bowl. “When our teams play I get so nervous that I can’t watch them,” Gee said. “I pace and I ponder so I never see any of the plays.” Gee ÿnished his interviews with The Lantern editorial board just in time to watch the last 9.4 seconds of the men’s basketball game.
a reduction in government funding under Gov. John Kasich. But with Ohio’s budget “up in the air,” Gee said, there’s no telling exactly how much money Kasich will allocate to higher education. With the state facing a more-than $8 billion deÿcit, it’s not likely to be much. “I believe that the likeliE. Gordon Gee hood of the university getting additional funds is not high,” Gee said. Though he described himself as “a low-tuition guy,” Gee said increasing tuition probably will be necessary to supplement OSU’s cost-reducing efforts, such as deregulation of university processes. “It’s about deregulation. The more that we can control our own agenda, the more ability we have
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Kanye West has a great album. I don’t like him very much, but he’s got a great album. E. Gordon Gee Ohio State University President
to be able to be ÿscally prudent and to be able to generate our own resources,” Gee said. “We are very cognizant of the cost of education. We’re always going to try to be as fair as we can to families.” Gee spent Wednesday with Kasich in Detroit but said their conversations are conÿdential.
1B 500 tons of salt gone, students still slip Gee: ‘A low-tuition guy’ “There’s a high probability we will increase tuition next year.” Gee said he believes higher education will see
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Ohio State beats Michigan
The No. 2 men’s basketball team remains undefeated, after beating Michigan, 68-64, in Ann Arbor, Mich.
online
For video of Gee, check out thelantern.com
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STOMP
On her way to class Tuesday morning, Jenn Clancy slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk. Later that day, she fell again. “No one laughed at me. I think people know it happens. The icy slush makes the sidewalks slippery and disgusting, so sometimes you just lose your footing and you’re down” said Clancy, a ÿrst-year in dance and biology. The second time she fell, Clancy admits she was in a rush. With backto-back classes, she had 15 minutes to get from Sullivant Hall, near High Street and 15th Avenue, to Jennings Hall, at the intersection of Neil and 12th avenues. As the snow accumulates, Ohio State’s Transportation and Parking Services clears parking lots and the Facilities Operations and Development staff removes snow from roadways, sidewalks, bike paths and other areas on campus. FOD employs nearly 50 people to remove snow and perform other duties, such as mulching, leaf removal, masonry repair and heavy equipment operation, said Sally Blatt, an FOD administrative associate On days when snowfall mounts up, road and grounds workers often work overtime. Two or more inches of snow requires plowing on roads and
High Street gets a Cajun joint
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weather high 26 low 15 flurries
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28/23 flurries 34/23 flurries 26/15 snow 33/32 snow www.weather.com
Facilities Operations and Development Roads and Grounds Division has about 50 employees who work to remove snow from campus. The city of Columbus has 112 equipment operators this season. Columbus has 2,053 linear miles of roads that have to be cleared when it snows.
Franklin County has spent an average of $9,747.09 per year on salt over the last five years.
FOD Roads and Grounds Division oversees all snow removal on campus. The city of Columbus is responsible for snow removal in off-campus housing areas. The medical center, residence halls, RPAC and locations of special events are the major areas of concern for campus snow and ice removal.
sidewalks, said Wes Shinn, an FOD spokesman. But sometimes workers predict snow and take action to pretreat sidewalks. “We want to prevent accidents, so
Briefs
Police arrest serial robber on 12th Ave. JUSTIN CONLEY Lantern reporter conley.325@osu.edu After receiving an anonymous tip Tuesday evening, the Columbus Police Department apprehended a man in connection with eight bank robberies in six Ohio counties. Authorities are investigating James H. Evans the possibility of accomplices. SWAT ofÿcers arrested James H. Evans, 32, at a residence on E. 12th Avenue. Once in custody, Evans confessed to all eight robberies, two of which were in Columbus, according to an e-mail from FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas. Trombitas said authorities are also investigating witness reports that Evans worked with accomplices in at least two of the robberies. Evans began the string of robberies in October 2010, which spanned Franklin, Madison, Delaware, Montgomery, Clermont and Clark counties, according to the FBI. Police apprehended him following his robbery of a Key Bank in Dayton, Ohio, on Monday. Trombitas said Evans would likely be prosecuted on a federal level to avoid trials in all of the jurisdictions involved.
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MOLLY GRAY / Managing editor for design
Source: Reporting
Crime
The garbage can-banging musicians are scheduled to perform at the Palace Theatre this weekend.
campus
Snow removal fast facts...
Two or more inches of snow requires plowing on both roads and sidewalks.
arts & life
NATHAN MCCULLOUGH Lantern reporter mccullough.179@osu.edu
we’re out there putting salt and brine down ahead of time,” Shinn said. Brine is a chemical mixture of salt and water put on streets before a snowstorm. The liquid is effective for up to 48 hours.
Work crews also use rock salt to melt snow and ice. FOD ofÿcials said
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Report: ODOT overpaid nearly $60M for salt ANDREA CHAFFIN Senior Lantern reporter chaffin.47@osu.edu The Ohio Inspector General’s ofÿce released a report last week saying the Ohio Department of Transportation may have overpaid nearly $60 million for salt over the last decade. Former Gov. Ted Strickland launched the two-year investigation in February 2009 after salt prices were found to have increased from 19 percent to 236 percent, depending on the county, from the previous year. The report found that ODOT overpaid between $47 million to $59 million throughout the last 10 years. Anti-competitive bidding and marketing practices created a duopoly between the two major salt suppliers for the state, Cargill Deicing Technology and Morton Salt Company. The report attributes the spike in price to the duopoly, among other reasons, including ODOT’s misinterpretation of the Buy Ohio statute. The statute “gives a ÿnancial preference to companies that do business in Ohio,” according to the report. But ODOT interpreted Buy Ohio to mean companies without Ohio-mined salt would be excluded from a bid, even if their price is lower. This is called “lockout bidding,” and allowed Cargill and Morton, who both supply Ohio-mined salt, to win the majority of bids, the report said. The report also highlights that the two companies did not bid against each other for counties in the state, instead allowing for “primary” clients that Cargill expects to win and “secondary” clients with which the company bids high, and would be “surprised” to win. Morton won the majority of these “secondary” clients. The report also states that it “failed to ÿnd
evidence that the two companies communicated on salt bids.” The OIG’s ofÿce asked ODOT and the Department of Administrative Services to respond in 60 days. Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said the price of rock salt re° ected supply and demand factors, not questionable bidding practices. “During the winter of 2008-09, road salt prices rose in many parts of the country, including Ohio, because of low carryover stocks from the previous winter and extremely high demand for rock salt across the Snow Belt,” Klein said in an e-mail. There was no duopoly in rock salt because Cargill would never talk with its competitors about bids, Klein said. The companies never bid against each other because Cargill does not produce enough salt to supply all of Ohio’s 88 counties. The report also claims there were 115 instances in which Cargill did not actually supply Ohio-mined salt. Klein said there were only two instances when Louisiana-mined salt was used to “make sure our customers had enough salt to make driving safe,” but their records only go back to 2002-03. Cargill said they are disappointed with the report, as the Inspector General ignored the evidence supplied. “We cooperated with OIG for 20 months, produced more than 50,000 documents encompassing virtually every aspect of our business in Ohio from 1999 to the present day, chased down every theory of alleged malfeasance by Cargill, and provided witnesses to answer questions under oath,” Klein said. Morton could not be reached for comment, but issued a press release last week that said it disagreed with the report.
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