Wednesday November 30, 2011 year: 132 No. 47
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern
Buckeyes burn Blue Devils
sports
Pat Brennan Sports editor brennan.164@osu.edu
5A
On the Urban side
After Urban Meyer accepted the position to be OSU’s 24th football coach, some are skeptical of his arrival.
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The arena was full and the stars were out for the No. 2 Ohio State men’s basketball game Tuesday against No. 3 Duke. All the Buckeyes needed to cap the memorable night was a win, and they got it. The sophomore trio of forward Jared Sullinger, forward Deshaun Thomas and guard Aaron Craft combined for 56 points for the Buckeyes and senior guard William Buford added 20 points of his own to help OSU (7-0) cruise to an 85-63 win against the Blue Devils (7-1) at the Schottenstein Center. “I thought Ohio State played a great game against us,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game. “They played with great verve and, obviously, were most deserving of the win.” OSU coach Thad Matta said he was curious to see how his young team would perform on a big stage against Duke, and was pleased with the outcome. “I think this team … is still so young. There’s a lot of uncertainty going into a game like tonight. I was kind of excited just to see how we played,” Matta said. “The guys really played to their strengths tonight, which is huge for this team.” With former OSU players Evan Turner, Scoonie Penn, Michael Conley, Jr., Greg Oden and Daequan Cook looking on, the Buckeyes jumped to an 11-0 lead just more than four minutes into the game. Buford scored four points and Craft scored five points to key the early lead. Craft, who notched 17 points and eight assists in the game, said the team knew it had to come out ready to play regardless of Duke’s reputation. “Any time you play a big time program like that, you have to come out ready,” Craft said. “Our guys did that today.” With the Buckeyes leading, 13-2, Duke went on a 12-3 run to narrow its deficit to 16-15.
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1B
Bringing soul Uptown
The soul band from Chicago, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, is scheduled to perform Friday at The Basement.
campus
Dance fundraiser begins
2A
cody cousino / Photo editor
Jared Sullinger (0) drives to the basket against Duke defender Ryan Kelly (34) on Nov. 29, 2011, at the Schottenstein Center. OSU won the game, 85-63.
Semester switch to affect tuition payment Sarah Stemen Oller reporter stemen.66@osu.edu With Ohio State preparing for a switch to semesters starting Summer 2012, OSU has looked at how another Big Ten school handled the same switch. OSU officials told The Lantern the university has looked to University of Minnesota to learn how to help students and faculty transition from quarters to semesters. Officials from UM said the biggest impact on students during its semester conversion in 1999 was differences in tuition payments. Sue Van Voorhis, director of academic support resources and registrar for UM, said the biggest underestimated impact the university saw was the change in the division of tuition. “Students obviously had to pay tuition twice a year instead of three times, but it was the same amount,” Van Voorhis said. “I think that was what affected students the most, at least from what we’ve heard.” OSU officials acknowledged this change during an interview with The Lantern. Melinda Nelson, assistant provost and search coordinator for the Office of Academic Affairs, said university officials are aware of this problem in the conversion. “You will be making payments twice instead of three times so instead of having that chunk divided into thirds, it’s going to be divided into halves and we want students to be aware and careful of that,” Nelson said. “The timetable for these payments will be different as well.” Sean Fitzpatrick, a member of OSU’s Undergraduate Student Government and of the
Semester Conversion Coordinating Committee, said USG has been working with Geoff Chatas, OSU chief financial officer, to prepare for the change. “So we asked questions like how we figure out how to make these fee payment deadlines really acceptable for students. And we’re working on a temporary monthly plan,” Fitzpatrick said. “Nothing is official on exactly how the months will work out. But at least for the short term, it will allow students to be able to take a look and plan their finances out over time.” Van Voorhis said UM did see an increase in enrollment right before the switch, but did not experience much of a drop-off after, as some universities do. “We did see that burst in enrollment right before, with students trying to finish their degrees
before the conversion,” Van Voorhis said. “However, we formed a committee that reviewed students’ degrees after. So say a student only needed one or two more courses to complete his or her degree, the committee would decide to make an exception for the student.” Van Voorhis attributed the committee to aiding in the expected drop right after the conversion. “I know this is a usual trend, but we really didn’t see much of it,” Van Voorhis said. Steven Fink, co-chair of the Semester Conversion Coordinating Committee, said university officials have examined UM and its trends and used them as tools for OSU’s switch. “Being that we did see those trends with other universities like University of Minnesota, we will
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T.k. Brady Lantern reporter brady.1366@osu.edu
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Alcohol may not cause risky behavior
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Having too much to drink is no longer an excuse for that irresponsible one-night stand. Studies done by researchers at the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions, as well as a study by an Ohio State graduate, show that binge drinking and risky sexual behavior have no relation. The study at the University of Buffalo, Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief Interventions to Reduce College Students’ Drinking and Risky Sex, surveyed 154 heavy-drinking college students, 91 women and 63 men, whose sexual behavior put them at risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. Students were subjected to counseling on the amount of alcohol they consumed and their risk for HIV. Counseling for HIV-risk sexual behavior led to a decrease in unprotected sex. However, the counseling on alcohol consumption did not reduce unprotected sex. Kurt Dermen, lead investigator of the study, said the results were surprising. “It was somewhat surprising that reducing
Courtesy of MCT
A new study suggests that there is no relation between binge drinking and risky sexual behavior. drinking did not lead to a reduction in risky sex,” Dermen said. “However, it is clear from other research that many factors affect students’ decisions about condom use and partner choice.” Daniela Faloon, a June 2011 OSU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, completed research for her honors thesis on binge drinking, self-esteem and sexual activity among women. Her thesis, “The
Relationships between Self-esteem, Binge Drinking and Sexual Risk Behaviors among Young Women” showed no correlation between binge drinking (defined as four or more drinks in one sitting) and risky sexual behavior. However, higher levels of self-esteem were related to higher levels of binge drinking, according to Faloon’s findings. “Women with higher self-esteem may be more confident and therefore, be more likely to go out and socialize,” Faloon said. According to Faloon’s research, almost half of all sexually transmitted infections each year are among people ages 15 to 24. “As a student at a large university I saw firsthand the prevalence of binge drinking and how it affects decision-making,” she said. Both Faloon and Dermen acknowledged that there are other studies that show alcohol does play a role in sexual activity. Amy Bonomi, a professor of human sexuality at OSU specializing in domestic violence and assault, cited a pilot study done by researchers at OSU showing that any alcohol use, including binge
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