Thursday October 28, 2010 year: 130 No. 143
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the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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Local vendors haven’t kicked the can Some U.S. retailers have stopped selling Four Loko after student hospitalizations Jami Jurich Senior Lantern reporter jurich.4@osu.edu Some retailers across the country are pulling the heavily criticized drink Four Loko from their shelves, but some stores near campus don’t seem so quick to kick the cans created by three Ohio State alumni. “It’s gotta be the third most popular item in our store,” said Zach Willz, an OSU graduate and employee at Tobacco International on Woodruff Avenue, which sells the drink. “People just love it.” Others don’t. The state attorney general in Washington is lobbying the FDA to ban the stimulant-infused alcoholic beverage after nine college students who drank it at a party were hospitalized earlier this month. The FDA has reportedly asked the company that sells the drink — Phusion Projects — to prove its product is safe. Though no decision has been announced, retailers in Denver and along the Northwest have already stopped selling the drink. But Willz said that regardless of whether his store sells the drink, students will find a way to get it. The three OSU graduates who created the drink in 2005 were
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Joe Podelco / Lantern photographer
Cute Halloweenies Amiah Crisler, 3, shows a balloon animal to her mother Wednesday evening at Haunt the Halls, a trick-or-treat program at Royer Activity Hall.
Annual HighBall Halloween to hit Short North this weekend For $5, visitors can drop down the rabbit hole at the Alice in Wonderland-themed extravaganza.
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Lids a new addition to High sports
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Giovana Covarrubias / Lantern photographer
Despite the Blue Jackets’ 5-3 record, the team has not filled more than 12,000 seats since opening night.
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Ohio State officials don’t know much about graduation requirements after the conversion to semesters, but they do know one thing: Students will graduate on time. In less than two years, current underclassmen will be settling into their first semester at OSU. But many still do not know what to expect. “I actually don’t know that much about it,” said Zach Devier, a first-year in biology. “I just hope that credits aren’t messed up too much.” OSU made a pledge to undergraduate students that academic advisers “will understand how the changes in courses and curricula may affect
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students’ degree programs … and will be prepared to assist students in planning their remaining semesters to graduation,” according to the Office of Academic Affairs website. But Todd Bitters, administrative director for Arts and Sciences Advising and Academic Services, said semester advising is still in the “planning stages.” “There’s a lot of planning that’s going on without knowing exactly what the programs are going to look like,” Bitters said. “That’s still got to go through the process of approval, so we’re planning as best we can.” The university set aside about $1 million for extra advising but has not determined how to allocate the money, said John Wanzer, assistant provost of the Office of Enrollment Services and Undergraduate Education. Because the money will be distributed among the
Percentage of women on OSU’s faculty up to 33 percent in 2010 andrea chaffin Lantern reporter chaffin.47@osu.edu
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lauren hallow and dylan tussel Lantern reporters hallow.1@osu.edu, tussel.2@osu.edu
Ohio State women faculty are increasing in number, but are still lagging behind men. About 33 percent of OSU’s 3,741 faculty members are female, up from 27 percent a decade earlier, according to the 2010 Status Report on Women. Broken down by rank, about 43 percent of assistant professors, 37 percent of associate professors and 21 percent of professors at OSU are women, according to the report released earlier this month and prepared by the President’s Council on Women and the Women’s Place. In 1998, those percentages were 42, 29 and 12 percent respectively.
The Women’s Place, a university office that focuses on changing policies related to the workplace climate for women, has helped establish programs to hire more women, retain them and help them gain confidence with skills. The report is based on data from Autumn Quarter 2009. Statistics for the 2010-2011 school year have not been compiled yet. Hazel Morrow-Jones, associate provost for Women’s Policy Initiatives and director of the Women’s Place, attributes the increase to several factors. When women become faculty members, they go through programs that help them understand how the university works, Morrow-Jones said. Those programs include
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colleges at the main campus, as well as the regional campuses, Wanzer said $1 million “is not a huge amount.” Officials hope to integrate more online programs — including an updated degree audit service, enhanced university notes and transitional advising — into the advising process, Wanzer said. Those services are meant to ease the transition from quarters to semesters. Many colleges plan to increase their advising staffs to accommodate an expected increase in students seeking guidance. “We’ve already added, in 2010-11, three advisers in anticipation of the conversion,” said Jackie Elcik, executive director of the Fisher College of Business. “In 2011-12, we’re bringing on two more advisers.”
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Percent of women faculty on the rise The number of women faculty has increased 100 steadily since 1998, but men still hold the majority of the positions. 80 60 Percent increase
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40 20 0
42% 43%
42%
42% 29%
29%
30%
27%
12% 20%
17%
12%
35%
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2007 2008 2009
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Source: The President Council on Women and The Women’s Place
EMILY COLLARD / Lantern designer
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