11 26 13 lantern

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Tuesday November 26, 2013 year: 133 No. 112

the student voice of

The Ohio State University

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Fences fall: OSU fans swarm Mirror Lake early AMY MACYNSKI Lantern reporter macynski.3@osu.edu Some Ohio State fans knocked down chain-link fences and jumped in Mirror Lake Monday night after new restrictions on the Mirror Lake jump were announced Sunday. OSU officials had announced there would be increased safety and security efforts for the Mirror Lake jump, originally planned for Tuesday night. Fences were installed surrounding Mirror Lake with one designated entrance spot and multiple exits. Students, whether jumping or watching, were set to be required to wear a wristband issued to those with BuckIDs only for admission to the area Tuesday, causing some students to take to social media and plan an alternative event. Jumping in Mirror Lake before the OSU football game against the University of Michigan is a university tradition, though it is not officially university-sanctioned. A Facebook event and Twitter page were created, encouraging others to jump Monday at 11:45 p.m. instead of Tuesday. More than 800 people had responded that they were going to attend as of 12:30

a.m. Tuesday, while more than 8,000 were invited on Facebook. Police officers did not stop people from entering the area at about 11:45 p.m. Monday. A University Police officer said at its peak, there were an estimated 1,500 people at the lake Monday night. There were no injuries or arrests reported as of 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, said officers from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Police forces present included Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and University Police, the officers said. It was 32 degrees and snowing as of 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Weather Channel. Representatives of OSU’s Student Life were not available for comment Monday night about what would happen with Tuesday’s scheduled jump. OSU Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston said Sunday she was unconcerned with students’ negative reactions to the announced university restrictions. “I have great faith in our students, I know that change is difficult and people have the right to have views about that change, but I also know that our student population is one that is spirited and not disruptive,” Adams-Gaston told The Lantern.

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RYAN ROBEY / For The Lantern

Some OSU fans jumped in Mirror Lake despite new restrictions on the Mirror Lake jump, at about midnight Nov. 25.

Cheer coach fired 6 months after sexual harassment investigation DAN HOPE Oller reporter hope.46@osu.edu Ohio State fired head cheerleading coach Lenee Buchman Monday, more than six months after two of her former assistant coaches were fired “for cause” following a sexual harassment investigation. “We can confirm that, this afternoon, Director of Athletics, Gene Smith, terminated Lenee Buchman as head coach of the spirit program,” OSU athletics spokesman Dan Wallenberg told The Lantern in an email Monday. Steve Chorba, one of two assistants hired in August to replace former assistant coaches Eddie Hollins and Dana Bumbrey, has been named interim head coach, Wallenberg confirmed. Buchman’s firing came less than two weeks after The Lantern first reported upon an OSU investigation that found “sufficient evidence” Hollins and Bumbrey had violated the university’s Sexual Harassment Policy. KAILY CUNNINGHAM / Multimedia editor OSU’s Sexual Harassment Policy defines Then-OSU cheerleading coach Lenee Buchman stands on the sexual harassment as “unwelcome sexual sideline during an OSU football game against Illinois Nov. 16.

advances” and “requests for sexual favors,” and includes “other physical or verbal conduct of a sexual nature” when, among other conditions, it creates an “intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for working, learning or living on campus.” Buchman did not immediately respond to The Lantern’s request for comment. Smith has not been made available for comment since The Lantern’s first report. Buchman’s updated employment records were not immediately provided upon a request from The Lantern. A sexual harassment complaint was received April 6, when OSU received the anonymous complaint via EthicsPoint, OSU’s anonymous reporting line, that Hollins and Bumbrey had created a hostile environment by sexually harassing cheerleaders, according to investigation records obtained by The Lantern. The report alleged Hollins had specifically harassed male cheerleaders, while Bumbrey had specifically harassed female cheerleaders. Hollins and Bumbrey were both terminated “for cause” May 23, according to letters to each coach from Kim Heaton, the director of human resources for the OSU athletic department. When interviewed April 24 as part of OSU’s investigation, Buchman confirmed a male cheerleader reported to her sometime around July 2012

that he had received “inappropriate text messages” from Hollins. Buchman told investigators after receiving the report from the cheerleader, she addressed Hollins directly and requested he cease sending any personal text messages to students. She did not, however, report the complaint to OSU’s Office of Human Resources. A June 20 letter to Buchman from Heaton said Buchman “did not follow the proper channels” of reporting the initial complaint from an OSU cheerleader and instead tried to resolve the issues on her own. The letter stated OSU coaches are “required to report any complaints that a reasonable person would believe to be sexual harassment.” Buchman, who had been OSU’s head coach since July 2009, was retained by the university at the time. She was required to attend a sexual education harassment session with her team, which OSU spokesman Gary Lewis said was completed July 26. She also received a 1 percent salary raise Aug. 23 to $43,003 from her former salary of $42,577. The initial complaint Buchman received came from former OSU cheerleader Cody Ellis, whose attorney, John Camillus, confirmed Ellis received inappropriate text messages from Hollins July 14, 2012.

continued as Coach on 2A KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design

Off-field battles facilitate blood donations, canned food drives MARIO ROBERTSON Lantern reporter robertson.328@osu.edu The yearly Ohio State-Michigan clash on the gridiron is a classic rivalry in college football, but the stadium isn’t the only place fans fly their colors. Thousands of OSU students, staff and faculty participate in community service activities each year in an attempt to best the Wolverines. OSU versus Michigan Blood Battle The OSU versus University of Michigan Blood Battle, which began in 1982, has been raging between the two universities for more than 30 years, said Rodney Wilson, the communications manager for the Central Ohio Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross. The Blood Battle at OSU is coordinated by the Central Ohio Blood Services Region, Wilson said. Wilson, though, said while he isn’t sure of the origins

of the Blood Battle competition, the impact OSU can make in the community through the event is enormous. “Each school has a goal of reaching 2,500 blood donations,” Wilson said. “When you split the blood through donation into three products like we do into platelets, plasma and red blood cells they have the potential to save three lives. One school alone in the battle has the potential to impact 7,500 patients … The impact is enormous.” The blood donated by OSU students and faculty is distributed to Columbus residents as well as other counties in the Central Ohio region, Wilson said. November can sometimes be a problematic month because of a decline in blood donations during the holiday season, but the Blood Battle helps to motivate students to donate, Wilson said. “This competition … generates a lot of excitement so it helps us at a time where we know blood donations would be decreasing otherwise,” Wilson said. The American Red Cross Club at OSU also

contributes to the planning and success of the Blood Battle on campus. “We supply volunteers for all of the blood drives, help market them and help reach out to other organizations that might want to partner with us,” said Edward Zitnik, a fourth-year in molecular genetics and president of the American Red Cross Club. “When we have more than 60 drives in the month of November, it is really hard to supply volunteers at all of them with our club alone.” Zitnik said he is glad the drive is able to make a positive impact based on the OSU-Michigan rivalry. “Regardless of how the Blood Battle ends every year, both schools celebrate tremendously because we collected upwards of 5,000 units of blood in just a month and that can save up to (15,000) lives,” Zitnik said. “Either way, our impact is very strong. It’s really fun to win the trophy and be the ones who take home the victory, but we know that both schools are winning in a sense because we are making that impact on our communities.”

OSU is currently losing the Blood Battle to Michigan with about 1,800 donations compared to the nearly 2,400 donations collected by Michigan. OSU won the competition last year, as well as winning the football game, 26-21. Zitnik said there’s still time for OSU to win again. “Last year, for instance, we were down for the entire blood battle, I actually don’t think we were ever ahead,” Zitnik said. “We are really counting on all the staff and students here to come out like they have in the past and help us pull out a win again.” Some students donated because they heard OSU was losing to Michigan. “I know that Michigan has a lot more people donating right now so we wanted to help out the OSU cause and donate,” said Taylor Fante, a firstyear in exploration. “I saw the advertisements in my dorm that showed that Michigan was ahead of us by about 300.”

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