Monday March 3, 2014 year: 134 No. 32
www.thelantern.com @TheLantern weather high 23 low 7 partly cloudy
thelantern the student voice of The Ohio State University
Buckeyes fall to Hoosiers, 72-64
6A
The Arnold rolls into C-Bus
4A
Eyes ought to be on Syria
5A
USG elections begin, 6 campaigns compete
Ahart, Aukstuolis, Hedrick, Mohamad, Warnecke and Wright running for president Campaigns are listed in alphabetical order by presidential candidates’ last names.
Ahart and Tripi
Aukstuolis and Macek Hedrick and Spaetzel
MATT HOMAN Lantern reporter homan.94@osu.edu
BRANDON MERRIMAN Lantern reporter merriman.65@osu.edu
CHAHINAZ SEGHIRI Lantern reporter seghiri.1@osu.edu
Undergraduate Student Government candidates Josh Ahart and Jen Tripi said they hope Ohio State students consider experience when voting for the next USG president and vice president this week. “Experience is one of the big things. You have to have institutional knowledge to run this organization not only internally, but externally,” said RITIKA SHAH / Asst. photo editor Ahart, a fourth-year in public Jen Tripi (left) and Josh Ahart pose for a affairs. photo after the USG candidate debate Feb. 25 at the Ohio Union. Ahart is currently the USG vice president, and has served as USG senator in multiple positions, the senate slate coordinator for USG President Taylor Stepp and the budget and finance chair. Ahart’s runningmate Tripi, a third-year in psychology, said she thinks Ahart’s experience is a major advantage. “I see (running with the incumbent vice president) as an absolute advantage because of Josh’s experiences. He has done incredible work with USG and he has created the relationships with faculty, staff, students,” Tripi said. Tripi, too, brings USG experience to the table. She has served as deputy director for the health and safety committee for two consecutive years, is a member of the allocutions committee and served as a senator for social and behavioral sciences this year. Both candidates said knowledge they’ve gathered from their involvement sets them apart from the other five campaigns. “Josh and I both have the experience that certainly gives us the tools to lead this organization and be leaders of the student body. Josh, of course, is the current vice president of USG and I am the only vice presidential candidate that has senate experience, so I’ve learned, as a part of that system, how to be able to run the general assembly next year,” Tripi said. The USG vice president is tasked with running the general assembly. Ahart listed his top three concerns as safety, affordability and overall student wellness. “USG should be a representation of Ohio State,” Ahart said. “That’s why we’re running.” Ahart and Tripi also aim to increase handicapped access to campus buildings, expand the Campus Area Bus Service options and work to
An Undergraduate Student Government campaign team is bringing a variety of experience in its slate — but little of it originated in USG. Vytas Aukstuolis, a third-year in public affairs, is running for USG president with Nick Macek, a third-year in geography, running for vice president. Both have served as alternates for the USG senate, selected by the person who RITIKA SHAH / Asst. photo editor was elected, but have never Nick Macek (left) and Vytas Aukstuolis been elected. pose for a photo after the USG candidate Only one person on their debate Feb. 25 at the Ohio Union. ticket, Dan Marchese, who is running for West Campus senator, has been involved in USG previously. This was deliberate, Aukstuolis said, because the team wanted to find people with an “understanding of the student body outside of USG.” “What we’re trying to describe with our campaign, and our slate, and ourselves even, is that the leadership experience required to sit as an elected member of USG doesn’t necessarily have to be from USG,” Macek said. Aukstuolis used Vince Hayden, a third-year in political science who is running for social and behavioral sciences senator, as an example. Hayden is a veteran of the Iraq War. “He understands a lot of the concerns that the large veteran’s community has at Ohio State,” Aukstuolis said. Aukstuolis and Macek said they know the needs of student organizations on campus because of their participation in them. Aukstuolis gained leadership experience as a chief founder of the Multi-Partisan Coalition, which aims to allow for debate along political ideological lines, and Macek is the political director of College Democrats and was a president of Model African Union. Macek also created and managed a network of almost 300 volunteers in a presidential campaign and is an Eagle Scout. Macek said their slate is designed to avoid “the cycle” of USG members returning to the organization, and “inefficiencies” not being addressed. Macek said he and Aukstuolis have been identifying issues with USG since they first decided to run in September, including budget transparency.
Ohio State Undergraduate Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates Ryan Hedrick and Nicole Spaetzel are seeking to renew USG’s relationship with students. Hedrick, a third-year in linguistics and political science, said he was inspired to run for president while interning with the Canadian Parliament during summer RITIKA SHAH / Asst. photo editor 2013. Nicole Spaetzel (left) and Ryan Hedrick Hedrick met other OSU pose for a photo after the USG candidate students during his internship, debate Feb. 25 at the Ohio Union. some of whom told him about USG, he said. “I didn’t know much about USG, and the more I (learned) about it, I didn’t see how students wouldn’t be intimidated by it,” Hedrick said. Hedrick and Spaetzel’s campaign slogan, RenewOSU, was inspired by the first initials of their first names, R and N, and their goal of making USG more approachable for OSU students, Hedrick said. “It’s really the culture. USG acts very exclusive when it should be an inclusive organization. People don’t feel comfortable going to USG,” Hedrick said. Campaign manager Tori Mahoney, a third-year in political science who interned with the Canadian Parliament with Spaetzel and Hedrick, said she thinks the campaign can change USG’s current course. “It’s about serving the students and the more open and accessible that can be, I think we can turn around the impression and get some good work done,” Mahoney said. Along with wanting to be an approachable candidate, Hedrick said he would also like to change the campaigning process. “The campaign spending limit is $4,000, which is absolutely incredible because you have to raise that on your own and spend it on your own, and the average student doesn’t have that kind of money lying around to spend on this. They can barely afford tuition,” Hedrick said. Hedrick said the campaign would also like to shorten the campaigning time from two weeks to a one-week process. “Students don’t want to talk to you, especially two weeks before, so if you shorten the time, you might actually be able to engage with students,” Hedrick said. Based on Martin Luther’s 95 theses which led to the Protestant
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Mohamad and Crowe Warnecke and Recker Wright and Lacure DANIEL BENDTSEN Senior Lantern reporter bendtsen.1@osu.edu
EMILY SPALLA Lantern reporter spalla.10@osu.edu
DANIEL BENDTSEN Senior Lantern reporter bendtsen.1@osu.edu
Undergraduate Student Government candidates Sean Crowe and Mohamad Mohamad aren’t trying to play it safe. “We’re not afraid to say that we’re for a bunch of students jumping into a freezing cold lake,” Crowe said. Crowe, a second-year in chemical engineering and vice presidential candidate, is running alongside Mohamad RITIKA SHAH / Asst. photo editor Mohamad, a third-year in Mohamad Mohamad (left) and Sean Crowe chemical engineering and pose for a photo after the USG candidate engineering physics. debate Feb. 25 at the Ohio Union. Their campaign, Mohamad said, is founded on being a channel for average students’ voices and pushing the university on issues like the recent increased regulations of the Mirror Lake jump. “I think Mirror Lake is the greatest tradition by students for students. With anything like that, there’s bound to be issues, but the way it works now is great and I don’t think it needs to be messed with,” Mohamad said. “When you put up gates and have only one way in and one way out, that causes more problems.” Jumping in Mirror Lake before the OSU football game against the University of Michigan is an OSU tradition. It took place Nov. 26 this year, but after OSU officials announced students would be required to wear wristbands and pass through fences for admittance, some students took to the lake a night early to show their disapproval of the regulations. Mohamad and Crowe are the only ticket that doesn’t include either a public affairs or political science major. “We’re not politicians. We’re both in engineering, so we like to focus on problem-solving,” Mohamad said. Mohamad has been involved in USG since he was a freshman and said he’s learned that many people use the organization for self-gain and to “put their names on things.” Mohamad said USG candidates tend to focus on addressing issues that are too big for them to actually make a difference, like lowering tuition. “It’s a nice idea, but you can’t do it, and we don’t want to win based off of false notions,” he said. Instead, they said they want to work on fighting against the “nickel-anddiming” at the university when it comes to issues like meal plans, textbook prices and the impending second-year live-on requirement.
One Undergraduate Student Government presidential hopeful wants to make several changes if elected, one of which would include calling the position something different. Andrew Warnecke, a thirdyear in political science, said he would focus on a different aspect of the job for its title. “I don’t even like calling it president of USG because I feel like if you say that you’re only RITIKA SHAH / Asst. photo editor representing the interests of Andrew Warnecke poses for a photo after USG. I like calling it the student the USG candidate debate Feb. 25 at the body president because I want Ohio Union. Logan Recker was not at the to represent the interest of the debate. students,” he said. Warnecke was not a part of the complaint filed by three other tickets against the Josh Ahart-Jen Tripi campaign. Three of the opposing campaigns recently accused the Ahart-Tripi campaign of falsifying campaign expenses. The website “voteceliaandleah. com,” which includes the names of an opposing campaign, was registered in the name of the Ahart-Tripi campaign manager, though the campaign had not reported the expense. The USG judicial panel, though, reached a unanimous decision that the team had not committed a violation. The opposing campaigns who had brought the complaint forward – Celia Wright and Leah Lacure; Vytas Aukstuolis and Nick Macek; and Mohamad Mohamad and Sean Crowe – said they were not planning to appeal. Warnecke said he chose not to participate in the case. “I was left off of the thing, I’m actually glad about that — if they just want to go at each other that’s fine. My focus is the people of Ohio State. I don’t want to play around with petty politics,” he said. Warnecke said he hopes to create a student government in which every student can have a voice. “I feel like most people think, you know, ‘What’s the point of student government? It’s not doing anything for me.’ So, I just want to get more people involved. I feel like these USG people, they’re too much of an insider, and maybe they don’t know what really affects the average, everyday student at Ohio State,” Warnecke said. If elected, Warnecke plans on running a “more visible student government.” Warnecke’s solution would include a video blog that would explain USG’s decisions to students.
Ohio State has had about 50 Undergraduate Student Government administrations in its history, but none have had a female president and vice president at once. Celia Wright and Leah Lacure are hoping to change that. It’s also something that Wright, a third-year in public health, said scared her when she asked Lacure to be her runningmate. RITIKA SHAH / Asst. photo editor “It actually brought me a little Celia Wright (left) and Leah Lacure pose bit of worry,” Wright said. “USG for a photo after the USG candidate debate has never had two females win Feb. 25 at the Ohio Union. an election together, and it was an intimidating prospect, but students are generally pretty supportive of it. The great thing is that if we won, it would be a historical election. That’s not the reason why we’re running, and it’s not the reason people should vote for us, but it is a cool fact about this election.” Their partnership was a natural fit, Wright said. Wright and Lacure were both interns in USG as freshmen, and have moved up together, including working on the student affairs committee at the same time. They now both sit on senior staff. Wright is the senior internal affairs director and Lacure, a third-year in public affairs, is the deputy chief of staff for USG President Taylor Stepp and Vice President Josh Ahart. “When I was a freshman, I was intimidated by the leadership of the organization, and I could never see myself being qualified enough to run. But when I did some self-reflection this year, I realized that I really did believe myself to be qualified and more so than any other candidate that is participating,” Wright said. Geoff Nugent, a third-year in strategic communication and Spanish who is running to be a social and behavioral sciences senator, said the high level of involvement of people on the campaign’s slate is a big asset. “What separates our slate from others is that we come up with ideas. All of our senators have things they want to do. They’re not running just to run,” he said. Wright’s platform also includes plans to further expand the joint jurisdiction agreement between OSU and Columbus police. That agreement was passed during current USG President Taylor Stepp’s first term and gave University Police the authority to intervene in off-crimes crimes they witness
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