Monday April 25, 2011 year: 131 No. 57 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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thelantern Opposing budget proposals, same goals
sports
GOrDOn GanTT Lantern reporter gantt.26@osu.edu $4 trillion is a lot of money. A stack of 4 trillion U.S. dollar bills would reach from the surface of the Earth to the far side of the moon and beyond. That is how much two proposals claim to reduce the federal budget over the next 10 to 12 years, but each achieves that goal in a different way. President Barack Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, proposed separate plans that claim to get the country’s fiscal house in order. No matter which proposal wins, $4 trillion will impact every American. Obama’s plan reduces the deficit by $4 trillion through a blend of spending cuts and tax increases for America’s top earners. Ryan has proposed a plan that reduces the deficit by $4.4 trillion with spending cuts alone. In fact, it goes further than that: Ryan’s plan reduces revenue by cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans.
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only cost more but also drive up the cost of tuition. With that in mind, his plan would return Pell Grants to 2008 levels and target the awards to students who need them most. “This budget takes the necessary next steps to ensure Pell spending is brought under control and targeted to the truly needy instead of being captured in the form of tuition increases,” Ryan wrote in his proposal. Goolsbee said Ryan’s plan would cut off aid to 9 million college students and force more than 100,000 to drop out of school. “Not only does it hurt students to do that, but it also, in the end, costs money to the government because people are going to make less for the rest of their lives,” Goolsbee said. Obama’s proposal would keep the Pell Grant maximum at $5,550, but students would still endure some painful cuts. The extra costs would be paid for by eliminating Pell Grant awards for summer coursework and graduate student in-school loan subsidy. The federal in-school loan subsidy pays the
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Freshman quarterback Braxton Miller made a strong case for the starting spot during Saturday’s scrimmage.
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Hundreds lined up to see flower, which smells like death, come to life DanIelle HY amS Lantern reporter hyams.2@osu.edu
arts & life
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Celebrating ‘The Dude’
Lebowski Fest came to Columbus Friday and Saturday to bowl, socialize and salute ‘The Big Lebowski’ film
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Globally Chic emphasizes diversity
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“It smells like rotten meat, it looks like rotten meat, so it’s going to attract things that like rotten meat,” said Cynthia Dassler, program coordinator and curator of non-vascular plants and fungi. But in spite of the odor, people lined up Sunday around the Ohio State’s Biological Sciences Greenhouse waiting to get a glimpse, and maybe a whiff, of the Titan Arum, also known as the Corpse Flower. “Everyone wants a good stink once in a while,” said engineer Scott Roe, who waited with his family for a chance to see the famed flower. “It’s once every 20 years. You can’t miss it,” added his wife, Jennifer Roe, a teacher. Besides its pungent smell, the Titan Arum drew visitors who came to marvel at its remarkable shape and size. OSU’s Titan stands at 5-feet-6-inches tall and boasts a deep red color, or, as Dassler said, that of “rotten meat.” Titan Arums are extremely rare and considered to be a flagship species for gardens and greenhouses, according to a flier the Greenhouse gave to attendees. In fact, there have only been about 134 documented cases of the flower blooming in captivity, said Joan Leonard, coordinator of OSU’s Biological Sciences Greenhouse. Even in its natural habitat in the rain forests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the flowers are endangered. “Over 70 percent of its native area has been destroyed due to illegal logging and agriculture use, so a very small percent of its native habitat is still in existence,” Leonard said. Eric Renner, a third-year in agricultural systems management, was one of the hundreds of people who lined up to witness the Corpse Flower. “The fact that Ohio State has something that’s not from this continent here is pretty cool,” he said. The Titan Arum’s odor can be attributed to its reproductive habits. “The central part of the flower emits that rotting, road-kill kind of odor in order to attract pollinators,”
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AfricanAmerican heritage
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In a conference call on Thursday, White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee said these budget decisions will affect Ohio State students directly. One way students will be affected is through the federal Pell Grant program, which offers financial aid to millions of students, including some austan Goolsbee 15,000 students at OSU. Over the last few years, the program has outgrown its funding. According to the U.S. Department of Education website, just under $14 billion in Pell Grants was available in 2007. In 2008, roughly $16.5 billion was available. In 2010, the federal stimulus program pushed that to more than $32 billion. Obama and Ryan agree the rate of growth in the current system is not sustainable. They disagree, however, on how to fix the problem. Ryan argues that increases in Pell Grants not
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anDY GOTTeSman / Multimedia editor
The Titan arum, the world’s largest unbranched floral structure, on display at OSu’s Biological Sciences Greenhouse Sunday afternoon.
Cosby: Owens’ impact greater than gold aDam Ha WkInS Senior Lantern reporter hawkins.326@osu.edu As Ohio State remembers Jesse Owens’ feats at the 1936 Olympics 75 years later, comedian Bill Cosby said he remembers watching Owens on TV as a kid in the projects. OSU continued its celebration of Owens Thursday with the Jesse Owens scholarship dinner. The dinner helped raise funds for the Ruth and Jesse Owens Scholars Program and was held in the Archie Griffin Grand Ballroom in the Ohio Union. OSU is honoring the 75th anniversary of Owens’ remarkable performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he won four gold medals with German dictator Adolf Hitler looking on. The master of ceremonies for the dinner was ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, who wrote a book titled “Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics.” The event packed about 800 people into the ballroom, said Liz Cook, the university’s assistant director of media relations. “Seventy-five years ago this
summer in Berlin, while much of the rest of the world kowtowed to the Nazis, Jesse Owens stood up to them at their own Olympics, refuting their venomous theories with his awesome deeds, and tonight we pay tribute to the ‘Buckeye Bullet,’” Schaap said. The keynote speaker of the event was Cosby, who ran track at Temple University. Cosby spoke highly of Owens and the racial pressures he faced in his time. Schaap called Owens the “ultimate Olympian.” Cosby walked on stage in a red OSU sweater with a white block “O,” in honor of Owens’ time at the university, and a black OSU baseball cap that Cosby said he got for free. “I’m 73 years old,” Cosby said. “Born in 1937. Jesse had done all his work, then my mother decided to have me.” Cosby was not shy when it came to race and Owens’ contributions. “Jesse Owens was not a part of Hitler’s dream,” Cosby said. “He was the wrong color, but Hitler chose the wrong venue to prove this, that the black was inferior. If it was going to
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JOe PODelCO / Photo editor
members of Jesse Owens’ extended family, including his grandchildren who unveiled the statue, pose with his likeness on Thursday afternoon.
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