4-14-11

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Thursday April 14, 2011 year: 131 No. 52 the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern Ohio could raise its cap to higher tuition

sports

GORDON GANTT Lantern reporter gantt.26@osu.edu Ohio State is likely to raise undergraduate tuition 3.5 percent. Small number. Big questions.

Leading the efforts

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The Leaders division of the Big Ten held a teleconference Wednesday to discuss next year’s football season.

arts & life

Backstage with Bon Jovi

Eight Ohio State students were chosen to work backstage with Bon Jovi at the band’s May 10 show in Columbus

campus

Crime briefs from around campus

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online

College Road to close because of construction weather high 66 low 46 mostly sunny

68/55 showers 58/42 rain 60/49 clouds 66/54 partly cloudy www.weather.com

Meyers said. “If you’re going to charge an extra $20, what is the student going to receive? That is the main question.” Graduate and non-resident costs For graduate and non-resident undergraduate students, things might get more expensive, because the tuition cap is limited to resident, undergraduate students. Chatas said graduate and doctoral instructional fees will go up 5 percent starting Fall Quarter, raising the price of resident tuition by about $520 for the regular school year. “This re° ects the fact that OSU graduate fees are well below instructional fees at our peer institutions,” Chatas said in an email. Chatas also pointed out that graduate programs can charge differential fees, which the individual colleges recommend and are market driven. These fees can increase costs substantially. For example, a resident graduate student earning a master of health administration pays about

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Gee: ‘It’s a big damn deal’ GORDON GANTT Lantern reporter gantt.26@osu.edu

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The dollars and cents of 3.5 percent Base tuition for full-time undergraduate students is $9,420 for the regular academic year. This ÿgure includes an instructional fee, student union fee, general undergraduate fee, program fee, Central Ohio Transit Authority bus service fee, recreation fee and student activity fee. The 3.5 percent increase will only be applied to the instructional, general and student activity fee, so the actual increase would be about $314 for the 2011-12 regular school year. The state budget does not cap the other fees and it is unclear how they will be affected. The Ofÿce of Student Life will recommend any increase to the COTA, recreation and student union

fees, but it is still in the process of evaluation, said Brad Meyers, university registrar. There are also technology and program fees. Certain majors, such as chemistry, music and business, require students to pay extra fees for laboratories and technologies speciÿc to their major. Each college or program recommends these fees, but Geoffrey Chatas, OSU chief ÿnancial ofÿcer, said he plans to limit any increase on program and tech fees at $50. This means fulltime undergraduates in these programs could pay another $300 per year. Daniel Cull, a ÿrst-year in psychology, a major which charges $103 a quarter in lab and tech fees, said the changes will affect his bottom line. “It’s not like I have a full scholarship or anything,” Cull said. “So, anything that goes up is money out of my pocket.” The program recommendations are not binding and they must be approved by university administrators and then by the Board of Trustees at their June meeting. “They have to provide a rationale for those fees,”

Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee arrived to his 5 p.m. appointment with The Lantern staff at 5:15 p.m. Gee repeatedly apologized for his tardiness and said his trip to the nation’s capital put him behind. “I’ve been in Washington all day,” Gee said. “Do I still look alive?” Despite his tardiness, Gee ÿt a lot into 45 minutes, including the semester switch, Spring Commencement, tuition and Charlie Sheen. First on the agenda was the semester switch. The switch from quarters to semesters in the fall of 2012 is no small task, Gee said. “This is like planning the Normandy invasion,” Gee said, gently pounding his ÿst on the desk. “This is a big damn deal.” Despite the scope of the endeavor, Gee indicated there have been no issues related to the switch so far and that students should know if they will be able to graduate on schedule in early fall. Students graduating this spring will hear a commencement speech from U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Gee said he was very involved in the selection process for Spring Commencement and all commencements. The selection has stirred controversy around the university because of Boehner’s role in Pell Grant debates, but Gee countered the suggestion that there was backlash about the choice. “There has been a lot of pro-lash,” Gee said. “The reason John Boehner was selected was not on his politics. He’s the third most powerful person in the country, politically.” Gee also pointed out that Boehner is the ÿrst Speaker of the House from Ohio since the late 1920s. “If we had a litmus test for everyone we asked, we wouldn’t invite anyone,” Gee said. “If they’re doing what they should be doing then they’re making decisions that some people are not going to like.” Gee said he doesn’t think the speech will be political.

“I’ve been in Washington all day. Do I still look alive?”

“There has been a lot of pro-lash.” -Gee on the announcement that U.S. House Speaker John Boehner would be the spring commencement speaker.

-Gee on his trip to the nation’s capital.

“Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.” -Gee on OSU’s aversion to change.

“This is like planning the Normandy invasion... it’s a big damn deal.”

“He looks like a doofus to me.” -Gee on Charlie Sheen.

-Gee on the quarterto-semester switch. KARISSA LAM / Design editor

On tuition, Gee said he is not about making college expensive, but he thinks OSU’s tuition is more than appropriate for the quality of education students receive. “I’m a low tuition guy,” Gee said. “We’ve undervalued this institution for years, in terms of our tuition.” OSU receives about 10 percent of its budget from the state of Ohio and Gee said he thinks the bureaucracy at the federal and state level has

overregulated, but he doesn’t disagree with their decision on tuition. “If there were not a tuition cap, how much would I have raised it? 3.5 percent,” Gee said. Bureaucracy is also an issue within OSU, Gee said. “The biggest bureaucracy we have is our own damn bureaucracy,” Gee said. “Out of the 550 things

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Rain makes Class of 2011’s garden grow CAMILLE TRAVIS Lantern reporter travis.77@osu.edu Students across Ohio State’s campus walk past gifts from Buckeyes past — and they might not even realize it. The tradition of class gifts at OSU began in 1891, when students planted ÿve elm trees on the Oval, according to giveto.osu.edu. Since then, classes from every decade have given back to the university by donating monetary gifts to leave a lasting mark long after graduation. Past class gifts have included: Orton Hall chimes (1906-1914); William Oxley Thompson Statue (1923, 1925-1926, 1928); development fund to build South Campus Gateway (1939-1940); the Victory Bell (1943-1944, 1954); campus entrance signs (1953); the “Long Walk” restoration on the Oval (2004); and the Block “O” Fire Pit outside the Ohio Union (2009). Renee Watts, facilities manager for the College of Public Health, said this year’s gift is the Cunz Hall Rain Garden, which is a continuation of the 2010 class gift. Watts, the overseer of the rain garden, said it is an eco-friendly site that will collect rainwater from the surrounding pavement to be ÿltered. Fifteen bald cypress trees, 200 low-grow sumac plants and 600 grass patches will be planted to absorb the pollutants of the rainwater and replace the groundwater. Located outside of Cunz Hall and on the lawn circle of the RPAC, the rain garden will also feature a walking path, an informational plaque and three years of maintenance. Watts said the gift will be a part of the ÿrst LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) renovation on campus. This is in conjunction with the reconstruction of Cunz Hall. “This is a signature project as far as campus goes right now. Once we get it ÿnished, it’s going to be a very neat place to hang out because we’re going to have a southwest plaza area that’s got trees, benches and tables,” Watts said. She said the project is on schedule to be completed by Fall Quarter and will cost an estimated $40,000. Lexi Killoren, development ofÿcer for the College of Public Health, said she believes students should support the project because of the lasting impact it will have on the university. “It helps make the campus a beautiful place and an environmentally-friendly

LAUREN HALLOW / Lantern photographer

Two previous class gifts are pictured here: the Class of 1988’s gift was the University Seal, and the Class of 2004’s gift paid to update the Long Walk on the Oval, the brick path that runs east to west through the middle of the Oval. place,” Killoren said. “The class gift is the ÿrst step in creating this culture of giving.” The cost to donate to this year’s class gift is $20.11 per student. Like many class gifts, third- and fourth-year students decided on The Cunz Hall Rain Garden, said Tina Thome, coordinator of the class gift. Emails are sent that ask students for suggestions and are compiled and compared with suggestions from the university’s architecture ofÿce. Based on student demand, funding and campus needs, another email is sent to students to vote for their ÿnal choice. She said the cost of the gifts are typically between $25,000-$30,000.

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