Monday April 19, 2010 year: 130 No. 92 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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Landslide victory Kamrass and Pyle named USG president and VP KELSEY BULLER Lantern reporter buller.10@osu.edu Micah Kamrass and Brad Pyle are Ohio State’s new Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president. With 7,583 OSU undergraduate votes cast, Micah Kamrass and Brad Pyle came out on top, beating president and vice president hopefuls Jordan Davis and Ashley Sinram by 1,032 votes. Kamrass and Pyle took 55 percent of the votes, and Davis and Sinram took 41 percent. The remaining 4 percent were write-in votes. This year’s election represents a 22 percent increase from last year’s total voting number of 6,216, and it is the highest total since 2003’s election with 7,706 undergraduate votes. This election was about all the students who voted and went out to have their voices heard, and that is something OSU should celebrate, Kamrass said. Bryan Rybak, the USG Election Governance Board director, e-mailed the results to the candidates at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Davis and Sinram team gathered at Woody’s Tavern in the Ohio Union to read the campaign results, while Kamrass and Pyle met at their fraternity house, Alpha Epsilon Pi, with a group of 20 friends and family members. After reading the results, an emotional silence fell
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ALEX KOTRAN / Lantern photographer
Micah Kamrass embraces his running mate Brad Pyle at their party at Alpha Epsilon Pi Sunday night celebrating their victory in the April 15 and 16 USG Presidential Elections. Laura Christobek, a third-year in mechanical engineering and a USG Senate victor, looks on.
OSU Senate: vote for research money KAILEY LATHAM Lantern reporter latham.45@osu.edu The University Senate approved a resolution Thursday that endorses university support for State Issue 1, a renewal initiative for the Ohio Third Frontier program. The initiative proposes a state constitutional amendment that will authorize the State of Ohio to issue the program up to $700 million in bonds over four years. The money
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would be used to provide ÿnancial assistance for research, product innovation and commercialization in support of Ohio industries and businesses in the areas of advanced materials, agbiosciences, alternative energy and fuel development, biomedical imaging, improved diagnostics, treatments and cures for cancer, heart disease and other diseases. Susan Shockey, chair of the Government Affairs Committee, presented the resolution to the Senate. She said Ohio State’s
partnership with Third Frontier has helped contribute to the creation of 48,000 jobs. OSU has also led or collaborated on 60 projects funded through the program that have developed 200 business and industry partnerships across the state, she said. The partnership has also helped the creation or attraction of 26 companies and the ÿling of 125 patents. President E. Gordon Gee spoke to the Senate members, urging them to spread the word on this initiative. “We need to put a lot of energy
11 Ohio State specialty programs rank in the top 10 of their respective fields LAUREN HALLOW Lantern reporter hallow.1@osu.edu A recent report ranked eleven of Ohio State’s graduate programs among the country’s best. U.S. News & World Report released its annual list of America’s Best Graduate Programs, with Fisher College of Business, the College of Education and Human Ecology, the College of Engineering and the Moritz College of Law all ranking best in Ohio. The College of Medicine and the College of Arts and Sciences also made the list. Eleven of OSU’s specialty programs ranked in the top 10 of their respective ÿelds — part-time masters in business programs, supply chain/logistics, dispute resolution, legal writing, paleontology, administration/supervision, counseling/personnel services, curriculum/instruction, elementary education, secondary education and vocational/technical education. “These graduate-program rankings conÿrm the University’s excellence across a broad range of academic endeavors, from K-12 teacher education to law, business and so many other ÿelds,” said
OSU President E. Gordon Gee in a press release. “Equally important, however, is what numerical rankings cannot measure: Ohio State’s profound commitment to expanding educational opportunity and improving our communities.” The Fisher College of Business showed the most improvement, jumping from 26th place last year to 21st this year. However, it fell almost 7 percent from last year to 90.3 percent in the proportion of graduates employed after three months. Karen Wruck, associate dean for graduate programs at Fisher, said the school’s success comes from a “team effort.” “We have great students, world-class faculty, terriÿc staff, wonderful facilities and are part of a great university,” Wruck said in an e-mail. “This is a powerful mix.” The College of Education and Human Ecology had the most programs represented, with six of its programs ranking in the top 10 of their respective ÿelds. The vocational/technical education program, which has consistently been ranked at the top since the magazine’s survey of graduate programs began, regained the top spot after falling to second last year. Cheryl Achterberg, dean of the College of
into this,” he said. “We worked hard to get this on the ballot.” The Ohio Legislature approved the placement of State Issue 1 on the May 4 ballot. Gee said he is not usually in favor of supporting initiatives, but he feels that this initiative goes “directly to the heart of the university.” He said an important part of this initiative is that there will be no tax increase. “This is about turning the economy in a different direction,” Gee said.
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OSU graduate programs ranking in the Top 10 in their field Part-time MBA program, Business – 10th Supply chain/logistics, Business – Eighth Dispute resolution, Law – Fifth Legal writing, Law – Ninth Paleontology, Arts and Sciences – Ninth Administration/supervision, Education – Eighth Counseling/personnel services, Education – Eighth Curriculum/instruction, Education – Fifth Elementary education, Education – Sixth Secondary education, Education – Eighth Vocational/technical education, Education – First Source: US News and World Report
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Education and Human Ecology, said the school is proud of its consistently high ratings and the fact that the school has jumped three spots among public universities in the last three years. John Ryan, director of assessment for education and human ecology, while also proud of the rankings, said he believes there’s more to the school than just great ratings.
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25 protesters arrested for blocking crosswalk on High Street
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BEN BROWN Lantern reporter brown.2959@osu.edu
TU 67/45 partly cloudy WE 69/47 partly cloudy TH 68/53 partly cloudy FR 72/58 t-storms www.weather.com
Twenty-ÿve people were arrested for sitting on the crosswalk in front of the Ohio Union’s east entrance Thursday afternoon in protest of what they consider unfair labor practices of an OSU-contracted food-service company. In addition to the 25 people on the crosswalk, 50 additional protesters ° anked High Street with signs and bullhorns. “We were here waiting for them,”
Columbus Police ofÿcer Christopher Bowling said. “Each of the students arrested will be reported to OSU Judicial Affairs.” The protesters consisted of members of the Service Employees International Union and employees of the multi-national food-service giant Sodexo, which made more than a half-billion dollars in proÿt last year. OSU has a contract with Sodexo to provide food-service workers for the Ohio Stadium, Schottenstein Center and other venues. Campaigning for better wages and affordable health care, these workers sought help from President E. Gordon Gee.
Sodexo employees and union members sent an e-mail to request a meeting with Gee that said, “through OSU’s contract with Sodexo, you have the ability to ensure that OSU subcontracted employees are able to organize and collectively bargain without fear of intimidation or discrimination.” “Gee e-mailed us back and said he would allow no more than four students to meet with him,” said Meghan Day, a third-year in computer science and a Sodexo employee. “We expected Gee to be polite and then do nothing about it. But he was rude and hardly let us talk.”
As such, protesters held three large signs with caricatures of Gee drawn over the words “Silent on Sodexo Abuses,” “Refusing to Hear Our Voices” and “Turning a Blind Eye to Campus Workers.” Each of the students that met with Gee volunteered to be arrested in what the Union’s website called “the largest act of civil disobedience Columbus has seen since the Vietnam War era.” “These employees wanted to alert the community of the Sodexo working conditions they face every day,” Union
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