Tuesday November 13, 2012 year: 132 No. 132
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Gee’s 3% raise draws some students’ ire
sports
KRISTEN MITCHELL Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu
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‘Chip on their shoulder’
Defensive end John Simon expects Wisconsin to try and avenge the Badgers’ loss to OSU in 2011.
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Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee has been awarded a salary increase and a bonus, extra money that some students worried about rising tuition aren’t happy about. The Board of Trustees approved a $25,036 salary increase, a 3 percent addition that will raise Gee’s base pay to $859,566. Along with Gee’s annual performance evaluation, he was awarded a $333,812 bonus, 40 percent of his former pay rate. According to university documents detailing Gee’s compensation package, his deferred compensation for fiscal year 2013 is $225,000. Gee’s compensation also includes $641,301 as part of a supplemental retirement plan to be paid after “completion of required terms of service.”
Gee is the highest-paid public university president in the nation, a title he doesn’t apologize for. “You know I’m the highest paid university president in the country and I feel it’s a privilege to be a president here and I want to earn that salary every day. I think that I do,” Gee told The Lantern during a Sept. 10 interview in response to a question about a Dayton Daily News article that reported he had spent nearly $8 million in travel since October 2007. In fiscal year 2011, Gee earned a nearly $2 million compensation. Gee’s total compensation of $1,992,221 was comprised of a base pay of $814,157, $881,278 in ANDREW HOLLERAN / Photo editor
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Apartment fire displaces 30 off campus ANNA DUEE Lantern reporter duee.1@osu.edu
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Photographer captures prize
Annie Leibovitz received the Wexner Prize, an award given to an outstanding contemporary artist, Saturday.
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Mars rover landing explained
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When Matthew Sass and his roommates first heard their fire alarm early Monday morning, they weren’t too worried, but by the time the ordeal was over, about 30 tenants had been displaced from the complex. At about 3:30 a.m. Monday, tenants in the apartment complex at 2135 Iuka Ave. were disturbed by a fire alarm and shortly after, they noticed smoke in the hallway. “At first we didn’t think it was going to be anything big, so we just took a few things and left, but as we got outside, we noticed the side of the complex. There was a big blaze coming from the side of the building,” said Sass, a fourth-year in electrical and computer engineering. Sass lived on the third floor, down the hall from the apartment where the fire started. While firefighters have not yet determined how the fire spread within the complex, they speculate that it was caused by a grill located on the balcony. A representative from the Columbus Division of Fire said Monday afternoon that the cause of the fire is still under investigation. 10TV reported the fire likely started on a balcony and will likely be ruled accidental. It also reported that damage is estimated near $200,000. Sass’ parents came to pick him up after the incident, but he said other tenants were not as fortunate. They were displaced somewhere else, since the damage was too severe for them to return to their apartments. Sass said they were told that they wouldn’t be able to move back any time soon, and definitely not before the end of the semester. “It’s upsetting that this had to happen and it’s unfortunate, ‘cause now I have to arrange to replace things that are damaged, finding a new place to live, everyone has to do that now,“ Sass said. Eric Schultz, a fourth-year in mathematics, lived on the second floor of the apartment. He sought refuge at a friend’s house for the indefinite amount of time before
ANDREW HOLLERAN / Photo editor
An apartment building at 2135 Iuka Ave. caught fire early Monday morning, displacing several OSU students. Unable to return to the building, affected students have had to find other living arrangements. The cause of the fire was still unknown Monday evening.
Sandy ‘didn’t hurt president’ in election
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THOMAS DOOHAN Lantern reporter doohan.4@osu.edu
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worked with the Red Cross to provide emergency housing. Isaacs said it will “be working on behalf of the residents” to help with immediate needs such as notifying professors about the incident. Most students have short-term housing lined up, and Isaacs said “Student Life will work with them as needed for long term assistance.” At about 3:30 p.m. Monday, Isaacs said all student residents had been taken care of, and Student Advocacy was attempting to provide assistance and housing to those who might have been out of town for the weekend. Schultz said he had received a few emails from his landlord that said the extent of the damage was still unknown and they weren’t sure when tenants would be allowed to move back in. Steve Moberger, the complex’s landlord, did not return requests for comment.
he’s allowed back into his apartment, which he said didn’t receive as much damage as some units on the third floor. Despite the inconvenience, life goes on. “It’s kind of just like disbelief that our entire apartment building caught on fire last night,” he said. “It’s kind of a big deal, but still got things to do.” Schultz said he had gone home for the weekend but came back Sunday night, just hours before the he was awoken by a ruckus upstairs. “I thought it was people having a party at first, but it sounded really panicked,” he said. “You could hear the smoke alarm going off upstairs and I just grabbed a few things like my backpack and my computer and got out … There was probably only about 15 of us in the building at the time, and we just sat outside and watched it go up.” OSU Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs said in an email that Student Life’s Student Advocacy Center was on the scene of the fire Monday morning and
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With ballots counted and results called, it’s unclear what influence Hurricane Sandy had on the outcome of the election. Ohio State political science professor Paul Beck said it’s hard to tell what role the storm had in the outcome of the Nov. 6 election. “I am not sure if I can answer that question well, or if anyone can,” Beck said. Matt Hitt, a political science graduate student, said the outcome of a presidential election is influenced by many variables, making it hard to determine the role the storm played. “It was the campaign, it was debate performance, it was his (President Barack Obama’s) advertising, it was response to Hurricane Sandy, it was Osama bin Laden, it was the auto industry,” Hitt said of Obama’s re-election. “It was probably all of those things.” Hitt said the hurricane probably did influence voter turnout in the states significantly affected by the hurricane, such as New York,
President Barack Obama speaks to a crowd at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus on Nov. 5, the final day of campaigning before the presidential election.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. FREE dental exams and two free dental x-rays, provided by students under faculty supervision.
Dental Exams & X-rays STUDENT BOARD SCREENING DAY
No appointments are necessary, and no fees will be charged
1st floor dental clinic (room 1038 A) Postle Hall, 305 W.12th Avenue (Columbus, OH)
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THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Questions? Call 614.450.0018 Go to www.dent.osu.edu for directions and parking information.
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