Wednesday October 23, 2013 year: 133 No. 92
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Gee aims to refocus after ‘a couple of tough years’
sports
KRISTEN MITCHELL Editor-in-chief mitchell.935@osu.edu This article is the first part of a three-day series exploring E. Gordon Gee’s role at Ohio State post-presidency. Check out The Lantern tomorrow for continued coverage.
6A
Sights set on Penn State
The OSU women’s volleyball team is preparing to take on ranked conference opponent Penn State Wednesday.
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5A
HighBall on High Street
An annual Halloween-themed bash is set to take over the Short North this weekend.
campus
For the first time in more than three decades, E. Gordon Gee isn’t a university president. He’s traded his ornate Bricker Hall office for a smaller room tucked away across the Oval that’s still awaiting its permanent decor, his grand university mansion replaced by a leased condo in the Short North. The downsize was a long time coming. “I was 36 when I became university president, and one of the things that struck me about this whole thing is when right after I announced my retirement, my daughter came home to visit me, because we were downsizing. I’ve lived in these megahomes for my whole life so I’ve never had to downsize, and we were talking and all the sudden I realized that she’s 36 and she’s the same age that I was when I became university president, and she’s having a wonderful middle part of her life … the truth of the matter is that I never did have that experience,” Gee said Monday in his first sit-down interview with The Lantern since his retirement. In his new role, he aims to be “the academic equivalent of Jack Hanna.” Gee has taken a step back from the top of OSU’s administration and
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OSU President Emeritus E. Gordon Gee speaks during an interview with The Lantern Oct. 21. has done it “joyfully so.” He’s working on three books, one in particular about humor in higher education, teaching at Harvard next semester and working on a state higher education initiative. “My assistant tells me I need to
get a real job because (of) the fact that I’m busier than I’ve ever been in my life and enjoying it and having a wonderful time,” Gee said. But Gee has had a “couple of tough years, starting with our football issues,” he said, spanning from the
time of Tattoo-gate, which led to the resignation of former Buckeye football coach Jim Tressel after some OSU players were found to be receiving improper benefits. There’s never a right time to retire, he said, but when he decided that was what he wanted to do, he wanted to make the change swiftly. “I don’t like the long goodbye, so if I’m going to do something, I want to make the transition and do it,” he said. Gee announced he was retiring from his role as university president June 4, days after controversial remarks he made at a Dec. 5 OSU Athletic Conference meeting came under public scrutiny. Comments about Notre Dame and the Southeastern Conference in particular brought national attention. Gee also made comments about former Wisconsin football coach and first-year Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, claiming Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez thought the coach was a “thug.” Gee apologized in a later email and said his remarks about the coach were “unfounded, inaccurate and unfair.” Gee also said Bielema accepted his apology. A March 11 letter to Gee from Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Schottenstein on the subject of Gee’s offensive comments was obtained by The Lantern. In the letter, it was written that the inappropriate behavior would not be tolerated. “On occasion your words that may be intended to bring a bit of levity
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Common App glitches cause issues for applicants LEE MCCLORY For The Lantern mcclory.10@osu.edu Although the new system Ohio State has been using to gather applications from prospective students has been acting up as of late, an OSU official said the university isn’t planning to offer other ways to apply. Users of the Common Application’s latest updated version have experienced multiple glitches, including a failure to load parts of the application and for some accounts, a failure to submit transcripts and letters of recommendation, an inability to request letters of recommendation, difficulties logging in and problems registering duplicate payments or not registering payments at all. The Common App, a form prospective college students can use to apply to more than 500 colleges, contracted with Hobsons in order to update the program this fall. Hobsons is an academic success company that offers personalized learning, post-secondary enrollment and student support systems. OSU began using Common App Spring Semester 2013. Other schools
that use the program include University of Cincinnati, University of Dayton, Kenyon College, Miami University (Ohio), Denison University and Northwestern University. Robert Reed, the assistant director of Outreach and Recruitment at OSU, said some counselors are also having trouble with the website and haven’t been able to submit students’ transcripts and letters of recommendation. He has also seen complaints from potential applicants. “Students are worried about us receiving the application in time to be considered for the deadline,” Reed said. OSU’s application deadline was Oct. 1 for Spring Semester 2014 and the priority deadline is Nov. 1 for Fall Semester 2014, including Honors and Scholars applications and merit scholarships, according to OSU Undergraduate Admissions. The latest possible submission deadline for Fall 2014 is Feb. 1. It costs $60 to apply to OSU as a first-year domestic student through the Common App, while $70 is the firstyear international fee. Despite the issues, the admissions office won’t be offering other ways of applying, such as faxing in applications
Common glitches with the Common Application
Failure to load parts of the application Failure to submit transcripts and letters of recommendation Inability to request letters of recommendation Difficulties with log in Problems registering duplicate payments or not registering payments at all source: reporting or sending in paper applications, Reed said. “We’re looking at students as they apply. The final deadline is Feb. 1 and students can apply until then. We’ll certainly work with students. It’s outside their control,” Reed said. Reed said the biggest problems he has seen have been with loading the writing supplement for the Morrill Scholars program, a scholarship through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Honors and Scholars writing supplement. A Common App press release said
KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design the company is aware of the problems and is working on fixing the issues. “As we approach the busy deadline season, we are fully committed to ensuring complete and timely review of applications for all Common Application members, particularly those with Nov. 1 deadlines,” the release read. Reed said he still expects plenty of applicants. “I haven’t heard anything of students being so frustrated they won’t apply,” he said.
2A A happy homecoming: Hope for finding stolen bikes
Top honors for support efforts
LOGAN HICKMAN Lantern reporter hickman.201@osu.edu
OSU received an award for its efforts in mental health support and suicide prevention programs.
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Sean Jepsen, a third-year in finance, had his bike stolen in the OSU campus area, but his parents later found it on Craigslist.
When one Ohio State student thought his stolen bike was lost to him forever, a glimmer of hope appeared in the form of a Craigslist post. Sean Jepsen, a third-year in finance, said his parents found the blue 1982 Schwinn Le Tour on Craigslist about a week ago after Jepsen’s older brother, who graduated from OSU with a degree in German in 2009, suggested they check the classified advertisement website to see if they could find the bike. “My parents were Skyping my brother in Germany, and he had got his bike stolen over there, and he said to check Craigslist because people often steal them, then sell them on Craigslist,” Jepsen said. Jepsen said his brother is in Germany looking for employment. Jepsen’s bike was stolen at the beginning of September at the St. Thomas More Newman Center, located at 64 W. Lane Ave. Shortly after that conversation, Jepsen said his mom, who originally
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bought the bike for Jepsen’s father in 1982 while the two were dating, checked Craigslist and found the bike listed as the fourth on the page. “I can imagine there was a little uncertainty because the bike looked just like mine,” Jepsen said. “There was one picture (of the bike) and there was one discoloration on the bike that’s unique to my bike. They were shocked when they saw it, and I was too, because this happened over a month after I had gotten my bike stolen.” Jepsen’s parents had previously documented the stolen bike’s serial number and took it with them to look at the bike, which was being sold for $170 out of the garage of private sellers in Grove City, Ohio. “When they were looking at the bike, my dad asked (the sellers) if he could take it for a ride,” Jepsen said. “When he was out of sight, he checked the serial number and it matched.” Jepsen’s parents left the bike with the sellers, who had bought it for $40 from a pawnshop in Columbus and fixed it up, before going to the police, he said.
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