Monday February 15, 2010 year: 130 No. 63 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com campus
Dodgeball powerhouse at OSU? sports
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thelantern Semester move awaits vote
University Senate plans on confirming switch to summer start at next month’s meeting CAITLIN O’NEIL Lantern reporter oneil.97@osu.edu Ohio State’s University Senate anticipates conÿrming a resolution to move from quarters to semesters in Summer 2012, ofÿcials said at the group’s meeting last Thursday. The announcement came after the Faculty Council gave overwhelming support for the change, said Christian Zacher, secretary of the University Senate. University ofÿcials approved last year a resolution to launch the semester system no earlier than Autumn Quarter 2012, but ofÿcials realized soon after that a scheduling con° ict made that impractical. If the Summer 2012 term remained on the quarter system, ofÿcials explained, it would overlap into the following Autumn Quarter because summer quarters are three weeks longer than summer semesters. Beginning the transition one quarter earlier “makes a lot more sense,” said Terry Gustafson, executive associate dean of the College of the Arts and Sciences, in a previous interview with The Lantern.
At the meeting last week, Provost Joseph Alutto said the semester change will be a “major change in the way OSU organizes itself,” and that faculty and administrators are working to “refresh and reinvent the core curriculum.” He also acknowledged “how very hard our faculty and college are working” on the semester switch process. TERRY GUSTAFSON JOSEPH ALUTTO In his annual State of Academic Affairs address to the Senate, Alutto laid out OSU’s focuses for the next ÿve to 10 years: the merging of the Arts and Sciences colleges into one college, the switch from quarters to semesters and the “one OSU” framework for the university. Describing his vision of this new framework — a “dynamic, integrated
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YEAR OF THE TIGER A Chinese New Year culture show was held Friday night at Hitchcock Hall. Chinese New Year is the most celebrated holiday in Chinese culture. This year is the Year of the Tiger.
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As usual, Big Ten champs
The Buckeyes are the first team in Big Ten basketball history to be league champs six consectuive times
student voice
Gov’t is too politically correct
4A Dinner as usual, despite food fight plans
KATHY CUBERT / Lantern photographer
thelantern.com
Exclusive multimedia content weather high 26 low 21
DANIELLE HARTMAN Lantern reporter hartman.271@osu.edu Before the ÿrst piece of food could even be thrown, plans for a food ÿght at Ohio State’s North Commons dining hall were stopped cold. Students created a Facebook group to spread the word about a food ÿght that was to occur at 5 p.m. Friday. A reporter from The Lantern, investigating the situation, brought the plan to the attention of dining management, asking if they were aware of the planned ÿght. North Commons management looked for the group on Facebook, but were unable to ÿnd it, said Tim Keegstra, associate director of Dining Services. Management posted signs at the dining hall addressing the rumors of the food
ÿght and stated that students involved in the ÿght would be held accountable by the university. Later, faculty members of OSU’s Ofÿce of Student Life found the Facebook event, despite its private setting. Students who started the group were warned about the punishment they would receive if they carried through with their plan. “The message has gotten through, but I guess we’ll see,” Keegstra said about 10 minutes before the planned time of the food ÿght. In the end, it was dinner as usual. Mark Newton, executive chef of residence dining, credited the snow for the food ÿght idea. “It’s been snowy and [students] are getting rambunctious from being stuck inside,” Newton said. “So I don’t blame them for coming up with the idea.”
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For student with allergy, a winter walk is no stroll in the park
snow
ALEXA ODOM For the Lantern odom.33@osu.edu
TU 28/25 snow/wind WE 28/22 flurries TH 28/24 cloudy FR 30/21 cloudy www.weather.com
When the heat in her car stopped working one day in high school, Brooklyn Ramos’ legs began to itch to point that she could no longer focus on the road. She had no idea why. When Ramos later told her friends that she was diagnosed with an allergy to cold weather, they thought she was kidding. She wasn’t. “It’s an allergic reaction, and I get hives,” Ramos said of her allergy to the cold, known as anti-cholinergic urticaria, or cold urticaria. Winter in Ohio can be an unpleasant time for Ramos, a third-year student at Ohio State.
According to the AccuWeather.com, Columbus, Ohio has an average temperature of 38 degrees between January and February. “It’s really, really bad when I’m walking in the cold,” Ramos said. “It gets to the point that my face is breaking out because I have hives, and it looks like I have acne.” While many students begrudge walking to campus through snow and sludge, the consequences are often too serious for Ramos to risk. “It prevents me from walking to the library because I live off campus, and there’s no way I’m walking all the way over there,” said Ramos, who lives near 13th Avenue and Summit Street. To prevent hives, Ramos now takes a daily dose of Loratadine, a prescription medication. The symptoms appeared suddenly during the winter of her junior year of high school.
“When we went to the doctor, we had to ÿnd what the common trend that caused the hives was,” she said. Symptoms include fatigue and headaches, said Maggie Lopacki, a registered nurse at the OSU Medical Center. But the diagnosis is simple, requiring only an ice cube. “Cold urticaria can be diagnosed by placing an ice cube on exposed skin for several minutes,” according to the Mayo Clinic Web site. “If you have cold urticaria, a raised red bump will form after the ice cube is removed.” In addition to cold weather, cold water can cause serious outbreaks, according to Mayo Clinic, and swimming in cold water is the most common cause of severe, widespread reaction.
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