thelantern
Wednesday March 19, 2014
the student voice of The Ohio State University
year: 134 No. 38
www.thelantern.com @TheLantern weather high 56 low 35 rain
New culture for football
5A
Beer to growl into C-Bus
8A
Ohio deserves RNC/DNC bid
4A
Mumps cases at OSU have 100 year history Housing prices History of mumps reported at OSU 1925
1950
1938
The French club performed “Bluebeard” instead of the originally scheduled play, “Thirteen at Dinner,” because the lead of the latter play had mumps.
Ray Hamilton was scheduled to be OSU’s leading hurdler for indoor track until he came down with the mumps, missed too many classes and was forced to withdraw from OSU.
A headline in The Lantern read “Nice epidemic would delight med students.”
up around OSU’s campus KATHLEEN MARTINI Oller reporter martini.35@osu.edu
1928
1909
An OSU student had to withdraw from school because he had mumps.
An outbreak of mumps affected a group of about 40 agricultural students.
1948
Male students in a dorm were afraid another resident was showing signs of the mumps, but he just had swollen glands.
source: reporting
MADISON CURTIS / Design editor
ALEX DRUMMER Lantern Reporter drummer.18@osu.edu Though the number of mumps cases at and near Ohio State continues to rise, some students said they aren’t concerned. The outbreak, however, is only the latest at OSU, where recorded cases of the mumps stretch back more than 100 years. Jose Rodriguez, spokesman for Columbus Public Health, said in an email Tuesday there have been 28 cases of mumps reported as of Tuesday. Of those cases, 23 are OSU students, one is an OSU staff member, one is a family member of an OSU student, staff or faculty member and three have community links to OSU, Rodriguez said. The recent outbreak contributes to a long history of mumps at OSU, according to Lantern archives. Outbreaks have reached student-athletes, agricultural students and clubs in the past, while some student groups studying medicine have hoped for an outbreak, according to the archives. The disease is one Lauren Boyce, a second-year in speech and hearing science and linguistics, said she thought was in the past. “I was very surprised to hear that there was a mumps outbreak. I guess I just assumed that the mumps virus was long dead, and I did not realize there was still the possibility of a mumps outbreak with modern vaccines and technology,” she said. Boyce also said, though, she’s not too worried about catching mumps. “I don’t think the mumps outbreak is too big of a
deal. It seems like every few years there is an outbreak of one disease or another, and it will all go away in due time,” she said. According to the CDC website, the disease can be carried without any symptoms. Those who are affected by mumps might have swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears or jaw on the side of the face, fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite and inflammation of the testicles in men, according to the CDC. The website also says there is no specific treatment for mumps, but it is usually gone in a week or two. Although some current students might not think of mumps as a serious issue, for a student-athlete in 1950, mumps proved to be a bigger obstacle than jumping over hurdles. Ray Hamilton was scheduled to be OSU’s leading hurdler for the 1950 indoor track season until he came down with the mumps. The illness caused him to miss too many classes, resulting in Hamilton dropping out of school in February 1950 with plans to return for Spring Quarter, according to Lantern archives. Hamilton rejoined the team during the spring 1951 season. In 1948, male students in one dorm on campus were afraid one of their fellow residents was showing signs of the mumps. None of them, however, were willing to drive the student to the hospital, but eventually a man who believed he had mumps several years earlier volunteered. “An hour later, the boys were back with the verdict — swollen glands. The sighs of relief could be heard as far as High Street,” the article read. Ten years earlier, in 1938, a headline in The
Fireworks, lasers set to startle geese away
SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
Efforts including fireworks, sirens and lasers are set to take place along the Olentangy River starting March 19 in an attempt to remove geese.
KARLIE FRANK Lantern reporter frank.359@osu.edu Fireworks, sirens, lasers and pyrotechnics. These are the sights and sounds that will permeate Ohio State’s campus lining the Olentangy River in an effort to remove pestering geese. The geese — said to be treating vegetation between Fifth and Lane avenues as an all-you-can-eat buffet — are set to be removed from the area starting Wednesday in order for work on a construction project to be completed. The potential solution: intermittent loud noises, visual deterrents and physical barriers. In August 2012, the Olentangy River renovation began with the partial removal of the Fifth Avenue Dam. About one-third of the structure was removed completely, while along the remaining length of the dam, the top two feet of concrete were removed and the rest was covered with soil. The project was estimated in October to be finished by May 31, weather permitting. George Zonders, a spokesman for the City of Columbus, said previous attempts to deter the geese were unsuccessful, including plastic coyotes and aluminum stakes set up along the river. “(The geese) figured out those are passive restraints and they treated the (vegetation) seeding as their own personal buffet. To get plant life, we need to take more aggressive measure,” Zonders said. “There’s going to be a continuation of things like mylar tape and ground cover that makes it more difficult for them to walk, but there’s also going to be flashing of lasers, some pyrotechnics and some that make firework-type sounds.”
continued as Geese on 3A
Lantern read, “Nice epidemic would delight med students.” The student medical council said in a meeting at the time, they would “consider an epidemic of mumps or measles a great aid,” the article read, in order to have more hospital patients on whom to practice. The president of the council said at the time it was a “blow to the council to discover the patient list has dropped to an appalling low for the year.” An OSU student had to withdraw from school in 1928 because he had mumps. While sick, his father came to campus to ask about his son’s status in school and met a doctor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The father “was so impressed by what the doctor told him and what he saw of the school that he decided to enter school with his son (the following) fall,” the article read. In 1925, the French club performed “Bluebeard” instead of the originally scheduled play, “Thirteen at Dinner,” because the lead of the latter play had mumps. And in 1909, 105 years ago, an outbreak of mumps affected a group of about 40 agricultural students and “prevented (them from) attending classes” that week, according to the archives. Being cautious around sick friends is still a worry for students today because of the current outbreak. Matt Schilling, a first-year in communication, said he has been taking the extra time to sanitize things lately. He said if a friend caught mumps, his concern would increase. “If someone that you know gets the mumps, that should spark the concern that you have for yourself and the people around you because if it is someone that you know, it gives you a high chance of getting it,” he said.
Some students might need to stretch their dollar a little further in coming years, as trends show that Ohio State campus area rent is on the rise. A sample of 14 larger properties within one mile of the university area showed an average increase of 3.45 percent annually between 2003 and 2013, said Brian Gault, vice president and project director of Vogt Santer Insights, in an email Feb. 26. Vogt Santer Insights is a Columbus-based real estate research firm that creates housing market forecasts for clients, according to its website. “Among those 14 (properties), the rents at various properties increased an annual average range of 0.6 percent to 7.4 percent between 2003 and 2013, when we last conducted a thorough survey of the OSU off-campus area housing,” Gault said. The increase in the university district is greater than the average annual rent increase in Columbus overall, which is 2 percent, he said. A one-bedroom apartment in the university area has a median rent of $750, according to a survey conducted by Vogt Santer Insights in 2013. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment goes for a median rent of $1,400 per month, and a four-bedroom, two-bathroom place runs at a median of $1,976 in rent. Gault noted the prices might have increased since the 2013 survey. He said the increases are not surprising, given the increasing demand for housing within walking distance of campus. “OSU undergraduate enrollment alone has grown by almost 6,700 students between fall 2004 and fall 2013,” he said. “This growth, combined with a moderate amount of new apartment development that has not kept pace with enrollment growth, has allowed campusarea owners at higher quality properties to increase rents at faster rates than owners of properties where students have less influence on market demand.”
continued as Housing on 3A
SAE fraternity drops pledging process NICK ROLL Lantern reporter roll.66@osu.edu For the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, pledging is now a thing of the past. The pledge process, which is the time between receiving a bid to join and being initiated as a member into the fraternity as a member and has often been associated with hazing practices, at times fatal ones, has been eliminated on the national level in favor of a new process, the “True Gentleman Experience.” “The True Gentleman” is the official creed of the fraternity. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, more commonly known as SAE, is one of 33 Interfraternity Council chapters at Ohio State. Its pledge process was typically nine weeks long, said Griffin Lahre, president of OSU’s SAE chapter. The new program removes the period of pledging, which can vary in length from chapter to chapter, and instead states everyone receiving a bid to join has to be initiated within 96 hours, according to a document outlining the True Gentleman Experience. “Pledge education” is set to be replaced with an all-inclusive “member education,” and membership requirements and expectations have been formally laid out for all members of the fraternity, according to the True Gentleman Experience document. The changes became effective March 9, the date the fraternity was founded 158 years ago at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. A representative from the national organization of SAE, based in Evanston, Ill., said the timing was purposeful. “We turned 158 (March 9), and in honor of our founders, we made the changes when we did. As drastic as it is, it takes it back to our founders’ values, since SAE didn’t originally have a pledge process,” said SAE national spokesman Brandon Weghorst. Although the pledge process was tradition for the fraternity for many years, it isn’t something that the fraternity was founded on and didn’t become a regular practice until after World War I, according to the True Gentleman Experience document. Lahre, a third-year in finance, said the changes won’t affect recruitment. “Already, we understand that it’s a necessary change and that it’s something that will end up benefiting the chapter down the road. We’re still going to be recruiting the same kind of guys
JOHN WERNECKE / Lantern photographer
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s OSU chapter house is located at 1934 Indianola Ave. The fraternity is ending its pledging process nationwide. — guys who want to be good leaders and true gentlemen,” Lahre said. Weghorst said problems with the pledge process, including deaths and reports of hazing, were only part of the reason the changes were made. “The decision was bigger than that, but that’s one of the elements. One death is too many, one incident is too many. But we have had a number of incidents and deaths, which is regrettable. But the bad incidents gain more attention that the good things our members do, so we’re trying to move away from that perception of being a deadly fraternity,” Weghorst said. SAE was named the “deadliest fraternity” by Bloomberg in December after Bloomberg researched deaths in events related to fraternities. The True Gentleman Experience goes beyond eliminating pledging, Weghorst said, and the biggest benefit is that it removes class structure. “It’s not brother versus pledge. Also, it takes the educational elements and doesn’t cram it into a few weeks anymore. It extends it over several years, so we enhance our members’ experience every year,” Weghorst said. OSU Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs said the changes are welcomed at OSU. “We support the national organization and are pleased that they are taking bold action with this historic change. We will provide whatever support
the local chapter needs as they make this transition,” Isaacs said in an email. OSU’s IFC is set to help ensure the True Gentleman Experience is implemented in the fraternity, said Cole Ledford, second-year in marketing, member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and IFC’s vice president for administration. “IFC relies heavily on the national organizations of each chapter, so we will want to be there for SAE to make sure brotherhood is able to be built despite the changes,” Ledford said. Ledford added the changes might be hard to accept, but he has faith in their execution. “Change is going to be hard for anyone, and a lot of the chapters here are old and based on tradition. It’ll take time to make sure everything is going smoothly, but SAE has some good guys to make it happen,” Ledford said. Although pledging will be eliminated, Lahre said he’s confident the positive elements that came from the pledging process, like getting to know the chapter’s members, can be retained. “(Pledging is) a good way for new members to get to know people in fraternity and develop an understanding of fraternity. We’ve done things very well and haven’t had incidents with hazing. At the same time, without the pledge process, we can still implement the things we got out of the pledge process in the past,” Lahre said. Elizabeth Tzagournis contributed to this article.
1A