4.26.2012

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Thursday April 26, 2012 year: 132 No. 59

the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern

Mutual aid: OSU Police quest to cross High

sports

Thomas Bradley Campus editor bradley.321@osu.edu

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Comes with the territory

Football coach Urban Meyer has recently recruited several big name, out-of-state players for the 2013 season.

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Ohio State officials want to increase cooperation, and expand a mutual aid agreement between OSU Police and the Columbus Division of Police. But union negotiations and interpretations in contracts could prevent University Police cars from protecting students in the off-campus neighborhood. University Police and Columbus Police have a mutual aid agreement in place, but the agreement does not allow each department to act independently on the others’ territory. “They can request assistance from us, and we can request assistance from them now,” said Commander Terry Moore of Columbus Police. University Police Chief Paul Denton said the agreement, which was last updated in 1992, does not allow University Police officers to patrol the off-campus neighborhood. Denton said examples of good mutual aid and joint jurisdictional agreements could be seen across the state and country. “When I look across the state of

Abby Sweet / Lantern photographer

OSU officials are calling for an updated agreement between OSU Police and the Columbus Division of Police. Ohio and the country, I see examples of mutual aid agreements and jurisdictional agreements between campus agencies and their city counterparts that are very broad and open ended,” Denton said. Denton said the recent push to increase the mutual aid agreement, prompted after increased awareness

of off-campus crime in late 2011, was a student-driven idea. “The students themselves asked, ‘Why couldn’t University Police officers patrol their neighborhoods,’” Denton said. “And I think that speaks volumes to the relationship that we have with our students, the trust that they put in us, our level of service

that we give to the students. So that relationship they would like to see expanded to the areas that they live off campus.” One of the students at the front of this initiative is Undergraduate Student Government President Nick Messenger. Messenger said in order to make campus a safer place, there needs to be more of a proactive approach to policing the off-campus neighborhood. “Your ability to be proactive depends on your ability to actually have authority in that area,” Messenger said. “Right now, the line is High Street. One side is OSU PD, the other side is Columbus PD, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense from a proactive perspective of the university, that (University Police) can’t go in and have any kind of real authority.” While Messenger said both the university and the City of Columbus want to get a jurisdiction deal done, one party and one contract could be holding up negotiations to update the 20-year-old contract. “The unique situation we’re in is the city is renegotiating their contract

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Gee contrasts ‘modern’ Meyer, ‘old-school’ Tressel Pat Brennan Sports editor brennan.164@osu.edu

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Documentary to bank on

“$uperthief,” is a documentary filmed by an OSU alumnus, and premieres at Gateway Film Center Friday.

campus

Obama to kick off campaign in Ohio

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Almost a year after former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel’s departure from the university, President E. Gordon Gee still considers Tressel a friend. An old friend. Times have changed at Ohio Stadium and the new blood of OSU football — Urban Meyer — is a rare breed; He’s one of few who Gee considers more intense than himself. Having completed OSU football’s spring season, the Meyer era is well underway. Meyer’s conscious efforts to usher change into the once-embattled OSU program aren’t lost on the president, former OSU All-American Chris Spielman or the coach himself. Gee recalled the struggles of the university’s athletic department a year ago during his Monday meeting with The Lantern, saying, “we were in serious trouble.” “Last year at this time … we had this NCAA investigation,” Gee said Monday. “We were taking on all sorts of water because of (Jim Tressel).” In December 2010, five OSU football players — Terrelle Pryor, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams, Daniel “Boom” Herron, Solomon Thomas — were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season after selling Buckeye football memorabilia in exchange for improper benefits in the form of tattoos. Linebacker Jordan Whiting also received a one-game ban. Pryor departed the university June 7 to pursue a professional football career. Tressel was forced to resign as OSU coach May 30 after it was discovered he was aware of the players’ violations, failed to report them and fielded

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ineligible players during the 2010 season, which was later vacated. “Jim Tressel is a good friend of mine and a graceful man, and he did great deeds for this institution,” Gee said. “He’s from a different era too. He’s from kind of the old-time coach school.” Gee said that Meyer, by comparison, “is a young man with a modern view.”

It might be Meyers’ modern view that has resulted in recruiting success, as well as a concerted effort to unite with the OSU community. After focusing on recruiting during his first months in Columbus — which resulted in a 2012 recruiting class ranked No. 4 in the country by

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Romney backs Obama’s student loan proposal

high 67 low 39 am showers

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Brittany Schock / Asst. photo editor and Lantern file photo

President E. Gordon Gee considers former coach Jim Tressel a good friend, but said coach Urban Meyer brings youth and a spark of energy to the OSU football team.

Sarah Stemen Oller reporter stemen.66@osu.edu

mostly sunny few showers partly cloudy sunny Lantern file photo and Courtesy of MCT

www.weather.com

President Barack Obama and Republican hopeful Mitt Romney agree action is needed about student loan debt.

Don’t miss the FREE daytime fun!

The issue of student loan debt has started to become the main focus of campaigns, as President Barack Obama and Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney agree to keep interest rates low on federal student loans, and are campaigning to do just that. Obama spoke Tuesday at the University of North Carolina and Colorado University about pressuring Congress to not raise interest rates on federal student loans, and preached college affordability for the middle class. “When a big chunk of every paycheck goes towards loan debt, that’s not just tough on you, that’s not just tough for middle-class families, it’s

not just tough on your parents, it’s painful for the economy, because that money is not going to help businesses grow,” Obama said in Chapel Hill, N.C. The federal student loan interest rates will double, effective July 1, if Congress does not pass legislation reducing the rate. The official White House Twitter account is evidence of Obama’s opposition to this rate increase, creating hashtag trends such as #dontdoublemyrate. The phrase is also displayed in the White House Twitter profile picture. But Obama is not the only one who is taking notice of the student loan debt in this country. Romney agrees with Obama. Before a campaign event in Astor, Penn., Monday, Romney voiced his support to continue

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April 30 - Union Ballroom

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