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Thursday December 2, 2010 year: 130 No. 161 the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern Gee receives raise, donates bonus Two percent raise for faculty and staff amounts to $16K for OSU president

sports

nathan mccullough Lantern reporter mccullough.179@osu.edu

Sugar, sugar

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BCS experts are forecasting a Sugar Bowl appearance for the Buckeyes after an 11-1 regular season.

arts & life

Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee will donate his nearly $300,000 bonus this year to a scholarship fund for OSU students and other university initiatives. He announced the donation yesterday afternoon immediately after the university’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the bonus and a $16,042 raise for the president, which represents a 2 percent raise approved for all faculty and staff at OSU. “Members were consistently impressed with the president’s brilliant, inspiring, charismatic and visionary leadership,” said Alex Shumate, chair of the Committee of Trusteeship for the Board. Gee maintains his position as the highest-paid

Preacher takes message to ‘turf’

president of a public university in the United States. Last year, he received about $1.6 million, including about $800,000 in public money, according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The bonus comes from privately donated money rather than public funding or tuition. Last year, Gee opted to donate his more than $200,000 E. Gordon Gee bonus and a raise of about $20,000 to a scholarship fund for students. This year, he donated his $296,786 bonus to a scholarship fund and other university initiatives. However, this year Gee did not forfeit his raise, said OSU spokeswoman Shelly Hoffman.

In presenting the evaluation, the board highlighted accomplishments such as improved retention and graduation rates, an increase in research funding, and new university offices in Shanghai, among other accolades. “It is clear, based on President Gee’s achievements against the university’s strategic objectives, that he merits a maximum bonus for exceeding target performance,” Shumate said. “Without a doubt, we would unanimously choose him again as our president.” Alex Swain, the undergraduate student on the Board of Trustees, echoed Shumate’s commentary. “In times of uncertainty, Dr. Gee’s leadership and experience have provided the university with needed certainty,” Swain said in a prepared statement. “He

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Glitter in the air Members of Ohio Staters, Inc. Krysten Bonacci, (left), a third-year in Spanish and sociology, and Andrea Jimenez, (right), a fourth-year in finance, decorate trees and bushes around Mirror L ake on Wednesday evening with lights for Ohio Staters Inc.’s annual ‘L ight Up the L ake’ event.

JUST IN CONL EY Lantern reporter conley.325@osu.edu

Writer’s Block

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Kafe Kerouac hosts the group’s open mic night at 8 p.m. Wednesdays. Poets are invited to perform their works.

campus

OSU to help dogs slim down

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Preacher Tom Short wears a plastic band on his wrist which reads, “Take it to their turf.” The man who brings his religious ministry to students at Ohio State said he lives by that rule and it drives him to step down from the pulpit and reach out to students in a personal way. “Jesus said to go to the people,” Short said, and since 1996 the preacher has made it his mission. Short, 53, visits more than 30 college and university campuses each year, including OSU. His nationwide tours keep him on the road during the week in fall and spring, and he often comes home only for the weekends, said Roz Short, Tom’s wife. His strategy is simple: meet college students on their terms. During his visits to OSU, he sits on the Oval surrounded by students. “People don’t have to come to my building, where I’m comfortable, to hear my message,” he said. “I’m at a place where they can feel safe and comfortable.” While behind enemy lines, Tom has to contend with students who view preachers on the Oval as hateful or crazy. “I would definitely say the vast majority (of preachers who visit the Oval) are like that,” said Samantha Snyder, an undecided second-year. Tom said the preachers he sees using inflammatory language to get attention motivated him to do it differently. “It’s counterproductive,” Tom said. “I would rather have a smaller audience — then have some really beneficial discussion and interaction going on — than a larger audience that I got just by insulting someone.” Tom invites students to tailor his message to their lives by asking him questions. “I think the atmosphere where people ask questions and where we discuss or interact is far

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JOE PODELCO / Photo editor

Off-campus students ‘Light up the Night’ nicol e fr ie Lantern reporter frie.1@osu.edu

weather high 37 low 26 partly cloudy

F 35/26 partly cloudy SA 36/26 snow SU 33/20 flurries M 34/18 flurries

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Off-campus residents are decking the halls for the eighth straight year as part of Off-Campus Student Services’ annual “Light up the Night” holiday house-lighting contest. The contest is hosted by Community Ambassadors, representatives for off-campus streets who put on events such as the May Madness Cornhole Tournament and cookouts during Fall and Spring quarters. “This is by far the largest event we put on,” said Nick Dominique, co-director of the Community Ambassador Student Program, adding the contest draws more than 1,000 students each year. The event started in 2002 as a way to make the off-campus area feel more like home, Dominique said. “We thought, ‘What are things you do at home in

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Joe Podelco / Photo editor

Several members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity stand in front of their house on 15th Avenue, which is decorated for ‘L ight up the Night,’ an annual contest put on by Off-Campus Student Services. FIJI has won the fraternity category of the contest for the past seven years. Michael Cox (far left), a third-year in history, organized the lights this year.

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