Wednesday February 1, 2012 year: 132 No. 17
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thelantern lantern Meyer’s mastery on the recruiting trail PAT BRENNAN Sports editor brennan.164@osu.edu
Full speed ahead
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Track and field runner Cory Leslie broke his own school record for the indoor mile with a time of 3:56.85.
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Offerman goes H.A.M.
Nick Offerman, star of NBC’s “Parks & Recreation,” spoke at the Ohio Union Monday in an OUAB event.
campus
Depression levels up in Ohio
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New Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer has rebuilt Buckeyes football, at least in part, on a foundation of air mattresses. Returning players await Meyer’s instruction, but the coach’s focus on recruiting has mostly left time for pursuing the best young, football talent from across the nation. Meyer and his fellow OSU coaches will see the fruits of their efforts on Wednesday — National Signing Day. In his first exclusive interview with The Lantern, Meyer said he and his staff have overcome NCAA penalties and a recruiting class that was described by one national recruiting expert as “struggling.” Meyer and members of his staff will convene Wednesday with members of the media to discuss his new recruit, which comprise one of the top-rated classes in the nation. As of Tuesday, Rivals.com rated Meyer’s incoming recruits as the No. 3 class in the country. Only top-rated Alabama and No. 2-rated Texas have bested OSU on the recruiting trail. Meyer’s new crop of talent is also the top-rated class in the Big Ten and currently boasts 23 commits, two of which are five-star recruits and 13 of which are four-star recruits, according to the website. Meyer told The Lantern that recruiting progress hasn’t come easily, though.
In the middle of a two-month stretch where Meyer nabbed nine of the top 250 recruits in the country, the NCAA handed down a Dec. 19 ruling that said OSU would lose nine scholarships and receive a one-year postseason ban after six OSU football players were found to have exchanged Buckeye football memorabilia for improper benefits in the form of free tattoos. “I’ve never been banned from a bowl game. This is all new for me,” Meyer said during a Jan. 22 interview with The Lantern. Meyer was facing an uphill recruiting battle long before he arrived in Columbus, Ohio, though. OSU was experiencing uncommon difficulties on the recruiting trail, said Josh Helmholdt, the Midwest recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “(The class) was struggling, no doubt about it,” Helmholdt said. “They hadn’t recruited as successfully as they’re used to and a lot of their Big Ten foes were jumping in and grabbing kids from the state of Ohio. That definitely was a trend we had not seen in past years.” Meyer reversed that trend, but the NCAA’s Dec. 19 announcement that OSU would lose scholarships and also receive a postseason ban for the 2012 season could have interrupted the positive energy around OSU’s recruiting resurgence. Helmholdt said that while some recruits place high value on postseason eligibility,
BRITTANY SCHOCK / Asst. photo editor CHRIS POCHE / Design Editor CHRISTOPHER SCHWARTZ / Managing editor
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Chinese New Year celebrations spark off AMANDA PIERCE Lantern reporter pierce.343@osu.edu Blowing an air horn and ringing cowbells outside of Drackett Tower was how Monica Qian, a first-year in business administration, brought in the Chinese New Year. “We didn’t have firecrackers or fireworks, so we just made a little noise,” Qian said. Fireworks are traditionally used to ward off spirits of the year before and begin the 15-day celebration of the Chinese New Year. Jan. 23 marked the beginning of 2012, the year of the dragon, on the Chinese calendar. Though some Chinese students are far from home, student organizations and residence halls are hosting events to help students of all ethnicities bring in the New Year. “It’s just a window into different cultures to learn more about them and celebrate their holidays,” said Karen Mancl, professor of food, agricultural and biological engineering and adviser to the student group Chinese Culture Connection.
Dumplings, dragon dances and traditional music are just a few of the things that will be featured in the lobby of Hagerty Hall at a walk-through Chinese New Year celebration sponsored by Chinese Culture Connection Feb. 6. The number of Chinese students at Ohio State make the Chinese New Year an important holiday to celebrate on campus, Mancl said. “It’s like the biggest holiday in China,” she said. “So it’s an extremely important event in Chinese culture.” OSU enrolled 1,758 students whose nationality is Chinese in Autumn Quarter, said Marco Chavez, interim senior assistant director for international recruitment. Mancl compared the Chinese New Year to the American Thanksgiving. Both holidays consider family to be an important part of the celebration, she said. “Most Chinese try to return home for the New Year,” Mancl said. “If you’re far away from your family, it can be just like … an American not being able to go home for Thanksgiving.” Qian spent most of her childhood in Michigan with her family but also lived in Shanghai, China, for four years.
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ANNA URSU / Lantern photographer
Students at Drackett Tower celebrate the Chinese New Year at an event commemorating the 15-day celebration on Jan. 29.
Petition accuses former senator of bribery BRANDON ROSIN Lantern reporter rosin.7@osu.edu A petition on the White House’s “We the People” website is calling for the Motion Picture Association of America chairman and CEO Chris Dodd to be investigated for “blatant bribery.” The petition, started on Jan. 21, has gained 31,034 signatures as of Tuesday evening, which warranted an official White House response. The petition accuses former Sen. Dodd of bribery for comments made on Fox News warning President Barack Obama about his opposition to the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA). “Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake,” Dodd told Fox News on Jan. 19. “Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.” The petition argues the comment was an “open admission of bribery” and Dodd was flouting an “above the law” status. After the signatures were taken, the White House released a statement that they would not comment on the matter. “Thank you for signing this petition. We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on Whitehouse.gov. However, consistent with
Courtesy of MCT
Chris Dodd, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, is the subject of a petition submitted to the White House because of a comment he made to Fox News. the We the People Terms of Participation and our responses to similar petitions in the past, the White House declines to comment on this petition because it requests a specific law enforcement action,” the White House said. “I think the man is an a--hole,” said Wright Fong, a fifth-year in English. “The idea that he can flaunt his money and blatant bribery of politicians in front
of the American people is plain offensive.” Paul Beck, a professor of political science at OSU, said no court in the world would take the case. “There’s nothing actionable there,” Beck said. A spokesperson for the MPAA released a statement regarding the claim of bribery.
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