4 1 14 lantern

Page 1

Tuesday April 1, 2014

thelantern the student voice of The Ohio State University

year: 134 No. 47

www.thelantern.com @TheLantern weather high 71 low 43 partly cloudy

Tennis perfect since 2003

4A

Monster truck rally in C-Bus

6A

City cleanup of cigarettes

2A

OSU aims to increase retention rates New group to look at university’s

handling of mumps outbreak

have recieved at least 1 dose 18 students of the MMR vaccine since Feb. 1

Liz Young Campus editor young.1693@osu.edu

Regina Bonfiglio Lantern reporter bonfiglio.20@osu.edu Ohio State boasts an average 93 percent first-year retention rate, compared to the national average of about 66 percent, but one OSU official said the university can do more. “We want to be A-plus. We want to be even better,” said Dolan Evanovich, vice president for strategic enrollment planning. Evanovich said although OSU’s first-year retention rate as a whole is in the 90 percent range, the retention rates of commuter students and transfer students are typically about 84 to 85 percent. “Although it’s still a very high rate, it’s pretty clear there’s a gap,” he said. Evanovich said commuter students often have a harder time getting involved at OSU with the commute to and from classes and not automatically being on campus on evenings and weekends, and transfer students who have already gone through orientation at a different university can struggle to feel connected to OSU. Andrew Hile is a fourth-year in mechanical engineering from Worthington who transferred from Michigan State after his first year. He said one of the challenges he experienced was getting involved in activities outside of classes. “Coming in as a sophomore, I sort of thought I couldn’t get involved in things. I thought that you had to start as a freshman or it wasn’t worth it,” he said. “My friends (from high school who attended OSU) didn’t do very many clubs, so I didn’t really put

myself out there to meet random people I had never met.” Hile said, though, the combination of his friends and his adviser helped him transition. “The engineering department was probably the biggest help in terms of feeling supported. My faculty adviser was helpful in terms of understanding what I can do as an engineering student,” he said. “(But) I wouldn’t say they played a significant role in helping me adapt to the school.” Instead, Hile said his friend group and background as a Buckeye fan, having grown up in the Columbus area, helped him feel more like a part of the OSU culture. Others said OSU actively tried to get them involved after transferring. Taylor Bracale, a second-year in special education who transferred from University of Kentucky after her first year, said OSU did an “awesome job” contacting her about lunches and get-togethers with other transfer students. “I really didn’t take advantage of these opportunities, but I know it helps others,” she said. Instead, Bracale affiliated with the OSU chapter of the sorority she had joined at Kentucky and became involved in her major. She said those were the groups that helped her feel connected to campus. Evanovich said research has shown that retention rates are tied to students’ ability to get involved and stay connected, starting with the first six to eight weeks at a university. Whether students make a connection with their adviser, or in

continued as Retention on 2A

With mumps cases on the rise, some Ohio State students are heading to the campus health center. OSU’s interim president, meanwhile, said the university is forming a group to better handle future outbreaks. Student Health Services interim director John Ford said there have been an increased number of students going to the Wilce Student Health Center because of the mumps outbreak, according to a Monday email from Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs. The email also said 18 students have received at least one dose of the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine since Feb. 1. OSU students interested in the MMR vaccine are able to receive one through health services after a screening. An MMR immunization costs $124, according to the OSU Student Health Services website. Columbus Public Health has encouraged anyone who has not received two doses of the MMR vaccine to get vaccinated, but Jose Rodriguez, spokesman for Columbus Public Health, said in March those who have received two doses of the MMR vaccine still have a 10 to 20 percent chance of being infected. As of Monday afternoon, 111 mumps cases had been reported in Franklin County, eight more than Friday’s count. Eighty-nine of the 111 cases were linked to the OSU outbreak, with 72 OSU students, nine OSU staff, seven people with OSU links and one family member of someone with OSU ties affected, according to a Columbus Public Health release. The onset of the first case connected to the Franklin County outbreak was Jan. 7, while the first case connected to OSU was Feb. 10. Mumps is a viral infection of the salivary glands, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. It can spread through coughing, sneezing or contact with saliva or mucus. 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

representing roughly

0.03% of the 55,354 students on the Columbus campus. source: reporting and OSU spring enrollment report lee mcclory/ Lantern designer 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. Alutto said the outbreak isn’t out of the norm, but the university is responding to it. “It seems to be following the normal pattern that we see for these kinds of outbreaks, you can never stop it,” he said in an interview with The Lantern Monday. “We as an institution need to think more carefully about what we can do. Now an outbreak has occurred, you can try very easily to keep people apart, but there’s a limit to what you can do in that regard, so I think we need to learn from this because there’ll be other problems with infectious diseases. “We’re in fact creating a group that will look at not only how we’ve responded but how we might respond differently in the future and we’ll do that as aggressively as we can.” Alutto said OSU is also working with authorities about how to better handle the situation. “We’re working really closely with all kinds of health authorities and trying to examine more

continued as Mumps on 3A

Gas leak at OSU ‘HIMYM’ draws to long-awaited close leads to evacuation opinion

gregory hriczo Lantern reporter hriczo.2@osu.edu

leisa decarlo / Lantern photographer

The Schoenbaum Family Center at Weinland Park, located at 175 E. Seventh Ave. was evacuated because of a gas leak March 31.

kristen mitchell Editor-in-chief mitchell.935@osu.edu A campus gas leak led to the evacuation of one Ohio State building Monday afternoon. The incident occurred at the Schoenbaum Family Center at Weinland Park, located at 175 E. Seventh Ave. OSU spokesman Gary Lewis said “staff were safely evacuated and moved to an adjacent location and continued to perform their day-today operations.” Lewis said there was no damage to OSU facilities as a result of the incident, which took place at approximately 1:30 p.m. Lewis said an investigation on the incident is being handled by the Columbus Division of Fire, however, attempts to reach Columbus Fire officials late Monday afternoon were unsuccessful. Attempts to reach representatives from Columbia Gas were also unsuccessful.

Just when it seemed like viewers knew exactly what would happen in the “How I Met Your Mother” series finale, writers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas threw us one last curveball. After giving details over the course of the series about the fateful meeting between Ted Mosby and his future wife on the Farhampton train platform, it appeared fans already knew everything that would happen in the final episode. Spending the first 22 episodes of the final season over the course of three days on the show, the double-episode finale skimmed over many years to catch us up with Future Ted and his children in the den of his Westchester County house. After 208 episodes over the course of nine seasons, America finally saw exactly how Ted Mosby met the mother of his children in the two-part series finale Monday night. Viewers first joined Penny and Luke Mosby on the couch as Future Ted, voiced by Bob Saget, began his incredibly longwinded tale when “How I Met Your Mother” in September 2005. Over the years we had watched Ted, played by Columbus-native Josh Radnor, stumble through many failed relationships that somehow all led to him meeting his future wife at the wedding of Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky, played by Neil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders, respectively. Viewers had already met the mother, played by Cristin Milioti, who was first seen in the season 8 finale. Ted’s best friends Barney, Robin, Lily Aldrin (played by Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall Eriksen (played by Jason Segel) had also all met her throughout the ninth season. In fact, we had already seen Future Ted and the mother’s first date, one-year anniversary and various other future family events in several flash-forwards woven throughout this season. “HIMYM” creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas had agonizingly stretched the three days leading up to Barney and Robin’s wedding over the first 22 episodes

Courtesy of MCT

Josh Radnor as Ted (right) and Cobie Smulders as Robin in ‘How I Met Your Mother.’ The show’s final episode was March 31. of the final season, using an overabundance of flashbacks and flash-forwards to fill each half-hour time slot. As every plot point introduced throughout the series had been resolved, from Robin finally being reunited with the locket she buried in Central Park to the ring bear strolling down the aisle, the only thing left to be exposed was the actual meeting of Ted and his yet-to-be-named future wife. I’m sure I’m not the only longtime fan who was looking forward to the series finale just to bring an end to the disappointment of the past few seasons. Although there had been a few occasional bright spots in recent seasons, the past three or four seasons were generally bland and featured far too many boring and pointless subplots. The intrigue of the first six seasons centered on whether or not Ted’s girlfriend at the time would eventually turn out to be the mother. The series began to lose the

continued as HIMYM on 3A

Courtesy of MCT

Cristin Milioti as ‘The Mother’ in ‘How I Met Your Mother.’

1A


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.