Monday October 14, 2013 year: 133 No. 85
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern
OSU officials welcome athletics’ support of academics
sports
Liz Young Campus editor young.1693@osu.edu
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Bucks can’t bounce back The OSU women’s volleyball team struggled this weekend against Big Ten opponents.
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Although two of Ohio State’s highest administrative officials are more likely academics than athletes, the men know a little bit about how a football reputation can influence an academic one. For Joseph Steinmetz, executive vice president and provost, a diminished amount of football chatter is an indication OSU’s academic reputation is on the rise. “Athletics help the university, they really do. They focus our alumni’s attentions on the university, and I noticed this when I go out and I talk to alumni from around the country,” Steinmetz said in an interview with The Lantern Oct. 8. “Not every conversation centers on our alumni around the sports cycle and that’s a shift in the four years that I’ve actually seen.” Steinmetz, who came to OSU four years ago from the University of Kansas to serve as the vice provost and executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences before becoming provost July 1, said he’s had alumni tell him they feel their degrees are worth more now than when they graduated, which he takes as further proof OSU is on the right track. Interim President Joseph Alutto, who assumed the presidency July 1 when former President E. Gordon Gee retired, said the high value alumni place on athletic success is imperative for the university’s next president to understand. “What we look for as a president, we look for somebody who appreciates that, who embraces that, who understands that that’s one of the big advantages of being at Ohio State,” he said in an interview with The Lantern Sept. 23. “It’s not just that we’re big, but that there is this passion for us among our alums, with almost anyone who connects with us that recognizes that this a very special university.” Gee supported OSU’s athletics programs, but on multiple occasions, his sports-related jokes went viral and he faced publicly criticism.
ritika shah / Asst. photo editor
OSU Interim President Joseph Alutto during an interview with The Lantern Sept. 23. He made comments slighting Texas Christian University and other non-BCS schools in 2010 after TCU won the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like a murderer’s row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Gee told The Associated Press Nov. 24, 2010. Gee was also chancellor at Vanderbilt from 2000–07. The Little Sisters of the Poor is an organization based in Toledo that aims to help the poor and elderly. At a March 8, 2011, press conference to announce former OSU football coach Jim Tressel’s suspension related to the Tattoo-gate scandal, when asked about Tressel’s job security, Gee replied, “I just hope he doesn’t dismiss me.” More than two years later, Gee announced his
Shelby lum / Photo editor
OSU Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Steinmetz during an interview with The Lantern Oct. 8. retirement June 4 after controversial remarks he made at a Dec. 5 OSU Athletic Conference meeting became public. A recording of Gee included him joking that “those damn Catholics” of Notre Dame can’t be trusted and that’s why the university was never invited into the Big Ten. He also said Notre Dame’s priests are “holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week.” He also made statements about the academic integrity of the SEC conference. Gee said as a Big Ten president, it was his job is to make sure the conference is comprised of schools that value academics, which is why “you won’t see us adding Louisville,” a Big East school, or the University of Kentucky, an SEC school. Alutto thinks OSU “has to do a much better job
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Speed not enough for running back Dontre Wilson
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daniel rogers Asst. sports editor rogers.746@osu.edu
Band fights for rock ‘n’ roll Rock band Throw The Fight is preparing to open for Bullet for My Valentine in Columbus this week.
campus
2A Group aims to expand ‘Zero Waste’ initiative shelby lum / Photo editor
Freshman running back Dontre Wilson carries the ball during a game against Buffalo Aug. 31. OSU won, 40-20.
Seeing stars
Ohio State freshman running back Dontre Wilson is fast. No one involved with the OSU football program has denied that, but when it comes to playing time, the coaching staff hasn’t been as quick to give Wilson the ball lately. Wilson recorded eight offensive touches in each of the back-to-back games against San Diego State and California. But in the three games since, he only had six offensive touches total and did not see the field on offense at all against then-No. 16 Northwestern. Although still seeing the field as the primary kick returner for the Buckeyes, Wilson’s offensive presence has diminished just as it seemed he was starting to make a significant impact. The return of senior Carlos Hyde from a three-game suspension, stemming from an incident at a Columbus bar in July, has influenced the usage of other running backs, with a lion’s share of the carries going to Hyde, but Wilson’s role as an H-back in coach Urban Meyer’s offense has mysteriously decreased as well.
Meyer said in the Big Ten teleconference last week, though, that pairing Hyde and Wilson could be dangerous for the Buckeyes. “I do like a big back, and boy, (Hyde) ran really hard and physical. I think if you have a Dontre Wilson and a Carlos Hyde as a tag team back there, I think that’s exactly kind of what you’re looking for,” Meyer said. Following Wilson’s biggest game of the season against Cal, where he notched career-highs of 59 and 48 yards rushing and receiving, respectively, Meyer said Wilson was a “breakaway talent.” “Last year our breakaway talent was only (Braxton Miller). And now there’s some other guys that have a bit of a breakaway,” Meyer said. “(Dontre Wilson’s) a guy I have off the top of my head … To have a horizontal threat in this offense, other than your quarterback, that’s a must.” Wilson scored his only touchdown of the season against San Diego State but said after that, despite his success against the Aztecs, adapting to the college game has proven difficult. “It’s a very big difference. Everybody’s fast, even the D-lineman are
A newly renovated planetarium opened at OSU over the weekend.
weather high 71 low 56 partly cloudy
T 77/61 cloudy W 67/45 showers TH 60/42 showers F 62/45 partly cloudy www.weather.com
Alexa Carson Lantern reporter carson.239@osu.edu Ohio State has been recognized for its environmentally friendly program at Ohio Stadium, but one Office of Energy and Environment student assistant said the litter in OSU’s off-campus areas does not reflect a commitment to recycling. “We have ‘Zero Waste’ at the stadium on gamedays, and then we have people throwing cans in their yards just blocks away,” said Kara Federico, a fourth-year in political science. “I feel like it’s a bad reflection on being a Buckeye.” The Zero Waste initiative is a recycling program that has been in place at the stadium since the fall of 2011. Zero waste means at least 90 percent of waste is diverted from landfills by being recycled or composted. To combat litter in the residential areas surrounding OSU, Federico helped form a off-campus recycling task force recently, which is comprised of multiple student and outside organizations. “Our long-term goal is a shifting of the campus culture,” she said. “So creating an off-campus community that’s concerned about the environment as well as their community in general.” After repeatedly seeing litter on her daily walk to work from her off-campus residence, Federico began discussing the issue in her office and decided she wanted to work on a long-term solution. She reached out to Abby Mackey, the sustainability
director for Undergraduate Student Government, and the two developed the idea for the task force. There are currently student representatives from six organizations including USG, the Office of Energy and Environment and environmentally-focused groups like Students for Recycling involved with the task force. It currently has no funding or budget and plans to use events already planned by the individual student organizations as opportunities to hand out informational flyers, Federico said. Mackey, a third-year in environmental policy and decision-making, said the groups were all concerned about off-campus littering, but a “lack of communication” had stopped them from sharing their goal previously. The task force, though, is allowing them to support each other’s efforts, ensure resources are
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not being wasted through overlapping efforts and share ideas and connections. “Each group has their own resources, and brings something to the table. Like USG has a lot of connections with the administration, while (Federico’s) office has a lot of connections with student groups,” Mackey said. Federico said while the task force plans to attend events held by members’ organizations, such as cleanups to pick up off-campus litter, the role of the task force won’t be event-oriented. “We really want to make this a long-term change … and events tend to express more of a short-term change,” she said. Instead, the task force will focus on educating the off-campus community about the downsides of litter, as well as about ways to keep to the area clean. It also plans to help make recycling options more available to students, including encouraging with landlords to provide more recycling bins to their tenants. The task force reached out to RecyColumbus, the city’s residential recycling program through the Department of Public Service that uses tax dollars to provide recycling carts and pickup services to all single-family households, to get more ideas, Federico said. Amanda Amsel, an account manager from the public relations firm MurphyEpson that represents RecyColumbus, does community outreach for the program and recently joined the task force.
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