Thursday October 24, 2013 year: 133 No. 93
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thelantern Meyer makes impression with player discipline
sports
DAN HOPE Oller reporter hope.46@osu.edu
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Leaders Division test
Braxton Miller and OSU are preparing for a well-rested in-conference rival that is coming off a bye week.
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The Ohio State football team has seen nothing but success on the field under coach Urban Meyer, winning all 19 games since Meyer became head coach before the start of the 2012 season. Whether or not Meyer has run a similarly flawless program off the field at OSU, however, is open to interpretation. Before OSU returned to playing and winning football games this season, Meyer’s team made headlines this summer when it announced discipline for five players, including senior running back Carlos Hyde and redshirtjunior cornerback Bradley Roby, for various violations of team rules, prompting reactions from Big Ten coaches and sports analysts nationwide. Hyde was suspended for the first three games of the season for his involvement in an altercation with a woman at a Columbus bar in July. The incident was reported as an assault and Hyde was tagged as a “person of interest” in the case. Although charges were not filed against him at the alleged victim’s request, he was still disciplined by OSU for his involvement. Roby was suspended for OSU’s season opener against Buffalo for
his involvement in an incident at a bar in Bloomington, Ind., in July. Initially charged with misdemeanor battery, his charge was downgraded to disorderly conduct and then dismissed in August, but Meyer said Roby was suspended for one game “just because there (was) an issue.” Only two of the five players disciplined, freshmen tight end Marcus Baugh and defensive lineman Timothy Gardner, were actually charged with crimes. Baugh was suspended one game following a July arrest for underage possession of alcohol and displaying
fake identification, while Gardner was removed from the team after a July arrest for obstruction of official business. Redshirt-junior running back Rod Smith was also suspended one game for an unspecified violation of team rules. OSU athletic director Gene Smith said he believes Meyer has “created an environment of accountability” through the disciplinary actions taken this summer. “His strategy to create that culture is one of the best I have seen,” Gene Smith said in an email to The Lantern. “He continues to improve upon it.” The stance Meyer took in disciplining players prior to the 2013 season might be contrasted with his discipline against linebacker Storm Klein, tight end/wide receiver Jake Stoneburner and left tackle Jack Mewhort prior to the 2012 season. Then-senior Klein was initially dismissed from the football team in July 2012 when he was charged with domestic violence, but was reinstated in August 2012 with a two-game suspension after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and the domestic violence charge was dropped. Then-redshirt
photos by: SHELBY LUM / Photo editor photo illustration by: KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design
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Gee’s ‘magnetism’ draws continued support
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Soul of Columbus
Local band Nick D’ & The Believers creates a selfdescribed ‘new soul’ sound for its fans.
campus
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Lock up lamentations
Some students have trouble finding a place to lock up their bikes, but they can be fined for choosing certain spots.
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KRISTEN MITCHELL Editor-in-chief mitchell.935@osu.edu This article is the second 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. A white T-shirt that read “Party On Gordon” was spread on the back of the chair Ohio State President Emeritus E. Gordon Gee sat in during a Monday interview with The Lantern. Complete with a cartoon version of Gee wearing his signature round lens glasses and bow tie, the shirt embodied the emotional attachment many Gee admirers have expressed in the months since the former president retired. “It’s great to be on this campus. You know, I love Ohio State, I love the energy of the place, I love having the chance to continue to be with students and with faculty and with staff and an opportunity to hopefully make a difference from a different platform,” Gee said. In his retirement, Gee will be working on a statewide higher education initiative that was announced by Gov. John Kasich Monday, continuing work on his three books and teaching classes at Harvard next semester. For him, though, OSU is home. “I love the fact that students still invite me out to their parties and a variety of other things, and I’ll go when I can … that does not detract from either me or the new (president), what it is is the fact that I hope in some ways I can contribute to a continuously joyful culture of this institution,” he said. Gee announced June 4 he was retiring from his role as university president, days after controversial remarks
SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
OSU President Emeritus E. Gordon Gee looks at a shirt during an interview with The Lantern Oct. 21. he made at a Dec. 5 OSU Athletic Conference meeting came under public scrutiny. Comments, which he later called “inappropriate,” about Notre Dame and the Southeastern Conference in particular brought national attention. With Gee on the sidelines, OSU is searching for a new university president. A shift in power has changed Gee’s role in the administration, and while Gee is no longer leading the charge, his admirers still look to him as the face of the university. How this will influence OSU’s next president has yet
to be seen, but Interim President Joseph Alutto said it will be a challenge to overcome. “There is an issue here, which ultimately a new president is going to have to face, and that is the brand of the university has to be the brand of the university and not the brand of the president,” Alutto said in a Sept. 23 interview with The Lantern. “And I think it’s really important for us as we make a transition. You know, Gordon is such a special individual and a unique presence. But ultimately, this is about Ohio State, not about who is the president.” Gee said he is close to Alutto, who took office July 1 — the same day Gee retired — despite the role reversal, which he admitted can at times be “a little awkward.” “It is very difficult for both of us in one sense. I’ve never been on a campus in which I haven’t been in charge. So the question is, do you disappear and go into the woodwork or do you remain active?” Gee said. “He worked for me. So all the sudden I’m working for him.” Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Steinmetz said Gee’s “magnetism” has lent him a strong following of supporters, but Steinmetz is confident the OSU community will find a way to rally around a new university president. “The institution is bigger than any of the personalities ever that’s inside of it,” Steinmetz said in an Oct. 8 interview with The Lantern. “Presidents come and go, provosts come and go, the institution has been here a long time, and I’m really confident that we’ll move on.” Gee said he hopes to have a “wonderful” relationship with the next president, but said he
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33 registered sex offenders living in 1-mile radius of Union KATHLEEN MARTINI Lantern reporter martini.35@osu.edu Thirty-three registered sex offenders currently live within a mile radius of the Ohio Union, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s office. Crimes range from gross sexual imposition, a tier I offense, to rape, a tier III offense. All of the offenders are male. Ohio Law defines gross sexual imposition as sexual contact in which the offender purposely compels the victim to submit by force or threat of force, the offender impairs the judgment or control of the victim or knows the victim to be impaired, the victim is less than 13 years old, or the ability of the victim to resist or consent is impaired because of a mental or physical condition or advanced age. Although the sex offender registry is under the jurisdiction of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, University Police does everything it can to keep students safe, said University Police Deputy Chief Richard Morman in an email. “The Ohio State University Police Division works to aggressively deter crime as well as investigates any crime reported to the police division,” Morman said.
KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design
The circle represents a 1-mile radius centered at the Ohio Union. University Police offers a link to the Franklin County Sex Offender Registry on its website, free self-defense classes for women and safety tips for students, Morman said. It also runs the Student
Safety Service, a public safety program that reports criminal activity and provides rides for students. Some students are not surprised at the amount of sex offenders living in
the campus area, but understand why University Police do not have a more active role in regulating the situation. “Once you go off campus, that isn’t really their (University Police) place to do anything,” said Mei Jeung, a fourthyear in animal science. “You can’t really change the fact that the community around OSU isn’t the best.” The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office does not patrol the University District, said Amanda Trump, executive assistant to Sheriff Zach Scott. “Any regulations on sex offenders are through the parole or probation department from court orders and not through the Sheriff’s Office,” Trump said. The Sheriff’s Office encourages “Stranger Danger” techniques to deter crime, such as not talking to strangers and using the buddy system when walking from place to place. Offenders check in with the Adult Probation department of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas as often as the severity of their crimes require, said Gayle Dittmer, chief probation officer at the Court of Common Pleas. “We conduct an assessment, and that assessment determines whether they’re on intensive supervision or basic
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