Wednesday October 27, 2010 year: 130 No. 142 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern OSU’s hidden treasures revealed
sports
Jenny fogle Lantern reporter fogle.96@osu.edu
6A
gee, smith, ncaa president mull over playoff system
Gordon Gee and Gene Smith are against a playoff system, but Smith could see a change in the future.
campus
Tornado warning on campus
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btw
From a pool in Pomerene Hall to human ashes sealed in the wall of Bricker Hall, Ohio State is littered with hidden treasures. The whispering wall is located behind the Wexner Center for the Arts. What looks like oddly placed steps that slant downward actually holds an architectural secret. “If you whisper down the wall, if you’re in the corner where the stairs meet the wall and you whisper to someone on the same row on the other end of the wall, you’ll be able to hear them,” said Falon Rainer, a fourth-year in political science and criminology and a university ambassador. Near the whispering wall is the Mortar Board Court, tucked away by Weigel Hall. On the ground, surrounded by a low, circling wall, is the Mortar Board seal, laid in the stone. When visitors to the site stand on the circle and speak, they can hear the sound echo in their ears. “If you’re walking by, tell your friends, tell your roommate,” Rainer said. “They’ll think you’re crazy at first, sure, but make them try it.” From the Oval, students can see the building that houses one of the most important men on campus, OSU President E. Gordon Gee. But that is not the only interesting fact about Bricker Hall. It also has an eerie history. In the past, the building used to house the Board of Trustees office, Rainer said. One of the trustees and former OSU cheerleader, Herbert Atkinson, said before he died that he never wanted to leave Bricker. When he died he was cremated, and his ashes were sealed in a wall. The lights in that room stay on day and night. University staff say it’s Atkinson watching over the university, Rainer said. To the left of Bricker Hall is University Hall, known as the “postcard building.” When OSU opened as an agriculture and mechanical school in 1870, University Hall was the only building on campus. During a “Become a Nut”
Hidden Ohio State treasures
What most students unknowingly pass by every day
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Cyclotron Building
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This abandoned, ivy-covered building on Cannon Drive used to house a point of pride for the university: a mini-particle accelerator.
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University Hall
orton rton Hall
Orton Hall is stratigraphically correct, meaning the layered stones that make up the building follow the layers of the earth.
When the university opened, this building housed the entire university, including classes, student housing and animals.
Pomerene Hall
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Originally Ohio State’s Women’s Union and swimming pool, Pomerene Hall is now home to the Campus Dining Services and Disability Services. The pool was last used when the RPAC was being built and has since been abandoned.
Bricker Hall
In 1952 when trustee Herbert Atkinson died, his ashes were sealed into one of the building’s walls. It is rumored that to this day there is always a light shining from the room.
Text Source: University archives Photo 1, 2, 4: Crystal Blakeman / Lantern photographer Photos 3, 5: Joe PodelCo / Lantern photo editor
additional hidden treasures
Whispering wall at the Wexner Center, Mortar Board Court at Weigel Hall, William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, Brick path on the Oval, ROTC Building, Hayes Hall
continued as Treasures on 3A
Hanna kleIn / Lantern designer
Head trauma: Bad to worse in one hit Athletes who play with concussions are at risk for potentially fatal consequences This is the last part of the three-part series on concussions. Today’s story is about Second Impact Syndrome.
How a concussion occurs
Football players can suffer traumatic brain injuries from high-impact, head-to-head collisions on the field.
grant freking and JiMMy oldhaM Lantern reporters freking.4@osu.edu, oldham.29@osu.edu
ok go at newport Music hall
1B
Known for its low-budget viral music videos, the band will play for fans at the Newport on Sunday.
campus
OSU losing to Mich. in contest
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Football is a sport of brain-rattling collisions, and concussions have become common at every level of competition. But an uncommon condition associated with the aftermath of such injuries is often fatal for the youngest players. Second Impact Syndrome occurs while the brain is recovering from an injury and suffers another blow. Because the brain is vulnerable after an initial injury, a relatively weak force can cause irreparable damage. If the brain’s ability to regulate blood flow is obstructed, a patient can die in as little as three minutes, according to sportsmd.com. In 2008, Jaquan Waller, 16, was killed after playing in a high school football game in Greenville, N.C. A medical examiner attributed his death to Second Impact Syndrome. The condition is more common among teenagers and children because their brains have not fully developed. “It doesn’t happen to everyone that’s still symptomatic, but it does happen,” said Richard Rodenberg, a physician at Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Sports Medicine. “And when it does happen, 50 percent of those kids statistically are at risk for death, and 100 percent of them will have a disability or suffer from permanent brain damage.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1.6 million to 3.2 million concussions occur every year in sports and other recreational activities. 100injuries and one Second Impact Syndrome results when athletes sustain head of three things happen: They don’t know they’ve been injured, they refuse to leave the game or they return to competition too soon. The syndrome occurs when “a second head injury is sustained, either that day
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After a blow to the head, energy is transmitted from the helmet to the brain
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The brain moves freely inside the skull, banging against the bone and bruising the brain
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The brain’s soft tissue swells but lacks room to expand, causing pressure in the skull
Symptoms
Second impact syndrome
Headache, dizziness, confusion, nausea, difficulty hearing and seeing, lack of concentration
This can occur when a player sustains a second blow to the head within hours, days or weeks of the initial concussion, before swelling has a chance to heal; the second blow can be fatal
© 2010 MCT Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WebMD, Dr. Michael Terry Graphic: Chicago Tribune
or in the few days shortly thereafter,” said Kelsey Logan, medical director of the OSU Sports Concussion Program. “Some athletes have died.” Concussions can have serious consequences, especially for football players.
2A OSU facilities expansion to cost $290M
continued as Concussions on 3A
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weather high 72 low 48 sunny wind
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www.weather.com
For the third consecutive year, Ohio State broke its record for student population, and the university is spending millions to make room for its growing numbers. To fit those students on campus — along with increasingly larger future freshmen classes — the university plans to spend $290 million expanding and improving campus facilities. OSU plans to complete the South Campus High Rise Renovation and Addition Project by August 2013. The project will connect Park Hall to Stradley Hall and Steeb Hall to Smith Hall, providing room for 360 more students, said Molly Calhoun, assistant vice president for Student Life, in an e-mail. The university also plans to complete the Hall Complex 2 expansion, a new six-story dormitory being built behind the 11th Avenue Parking Garage that will add 526 beds by 2012, Calhoun said. The budget includes completed renovations of Jones Tower and the Lane Avenue Residence Hall
Enrollment numbers from 2005 to 2010 for select Ohio schools 40 Enrollment reports for Miami University, Ohio University and Ohio State from 2005 to 2010.
Ohio State
Percent increase
JUstin conley Lantern reporter conley.325@osu.edu
20%
Ohio University Miami University
0
2005-2006
2006-2007
Source: OSU’s 15-Day Report
and the ongoing renovation at Kennedy Commons, she said. “In addition, we are currently working on a plan that would envision more housing in the north and (Olentangy River) districts,” Calhoun said. “The details have not been worked out, but we have plenty of capacity in those areas to add up to 4,000 additional beds if needed.”
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EMILY COLLARD / Lantern designer
New dining facilities and recreation space are included in the plans. The expansion is driven by one goal: to make OSU a premiere university. “We’re not growing just to grow,” said M. Dolan Evanovich, vice president of strategic enrollment.
continued as Enrollment on 3A 1A