Thursday April 3, 2014 year: 134 No. 49
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New commencement Student-athlete union movement ‘complicated’ speaker committee to include 3 students ERIC SEGER Sports editor seger.25@osu.edu
2014-15 commencement commitee The new committee is set to be comprised of 3 students, 6 faculty and 4 staff members. Students will be represented by: (1) Undergraduate Student Government (1) Council of Graduate Students (1) Inter-Professional Council Faculty will be represented by: (1) Senate (1) Honorary Degree Committee (3) at-large (1) non-tenure track Staff will be represented by: (1) Special Events and Commencement (1) Student Life (1) Advancement (1) Government Affairs source: reporting
KELSEY WAGNER / Lantern designer
MICHELE THEODORE Copy chief theodore.13@osu.edu After no students were involved in the most recent commencement speaker selection, a new committee has been created to select the lineup for the 2014-15 academic year. Ohio State Provost and Executive Vice President Joseph Steinmetz said the committee will include three students. The spring speaker, Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” was selected by Steinmetz and others in the Office of Academic Affairs — a list he said included “all the vice provosts and all the vice presidents.” Steinmetz said the choice was made without the traditional use of the selection committee because the university is in a transition period as it prepares for newly appointed president Dr. Michael Drake to take over in June. “It turns out in so much transition that was going on, the selection of a speaker came rather later than normal,” he said in a Tuesday interview with The Lantern. “To get a prominent national figure to campus, you must have a nine to 10 month minimum lead time to make the arrangements, to make
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Steps have been taken to scale what has for years seemed like an insurmountable mountain in college athletics — the debate over college athletes becoming school employees and getting paid — but don’t expect to see Urban Meyer offering his support any time soon. Although the National Labor Relations Board’s Chicago district gave Northwestern University football players the right to formally establish a union on March 26 — thus considering them school employees — Ohio State’s football coach does not see eye-to-eye with the ruling. “I don’t feel that at all,” Meyer said Tuesday after OSU spring practice when asked if he saw student-athletes as employees. “What I do feel is that I’ve always been a pro-student (guy) … students should get more than what they get. But it gets so complicated.” The complications that come with the decision move across the college football landscape as a whole to the current members of the Northwestern football team, some who showed support for the unionization movement and who also dodged questions from the media after their first spring practice Tuesday, according to The Chicago Tribune. “I am focusing on football and football only right now,” Wildcat senior running back Treyvon Green told the Tribune, going on to say he didn’t have a comment on whether or not he feels the same way he did in January when players — including former quarterback Kain Colter, who is the face of the movement — signed on in support of the right to join a union. Meyer and the rest of the coaches in the Big Ten, however, won’t have to immediately worry about their players doing the same, as the ruling only applies to private institutions — Northwestern sits as the lone private school in the conference. Meyer, however, said he has not “immersed” himself in the situation and is unable to give a full and informed response. But when it comes to money, the coach did say potential student-athletes should be able to visit campus free of charge. “I think students, athletes, parents should
Columbus will not host RNC
Columbus is out of the running to host the Republican National Convention in 2016. Originally one of eight finalists for the convention, Columbus was eliminated along with Phoenix Wednesday. Cincinnati and Cleveland are still in the running, however, and are set to have visits from RNC representatives later this spring. Mayor Michael Coleman tweeted from his personal account, @MichaelBColeman, at 2:25 p.m. Wednesday stating the city was no longer in the running. “We are out of the running to host the RNC but will now focus our efforts on @Columbus2016DNC,” he said. Columbus is planning to submit a bid to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, but the Democratic convention has not yet opened its bidding process. Dan Williamson, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said Coleman first found out about the
come on visits and shouldn’t have to pay for it,” Meyer said. “They should get a stipend.” Anything beyond that? No way. “But to say they should go out and get their own shoe contracts and things … I start hearing that and I’m like, ‘Whoa. What could that do for this great sport?’” Meyer said. “And really, what would that do for college athletics as a whole?” OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Joseph Steinmetz joined Meyer as another OSU employee who wasn’t “really knowledgeable” on the happenings in Evanston, Ill., but he said he has concerns about its repercussions. “My concern, I think, is two-fold for situations like that. One is, it will affect the major sports and I hope it just doesn’t damage the ‘non-revenue’ sports that are extremely important, which are a majority of the athletes that we have,” Steinmetz said in an interview with The Lantern Tuesday. “The other concern I always have when there is a shift in the economics, in this particular case, is, one of the things we’re really proud of at Ohio State is that our student-athletes do really well academically. They’re among the
top in the country, not only in the Big Ten, but in the country. I really am concerned, again as the chief academic officer, about anything that would damage the ability for those students to do well, and for us to assist those students through athletics because a lot of their budget goes to the academic assistance of the students that are there.” Northwestern plans to start appealing the decision by the NLRB by April 9, and issued a statement about its opinion on regional director of the NLRB Peter Sung Ohr’s decision. “While we respect the NLRB process and the regional director’s opinion, we disagree with it,” the statement read. “Northwestern believes strongly that our student athletes are not employees, but students. Unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concerns raised by student athletes.” While Meyer, Steinmetz and Northwestern have reservations about players unionizing, one Ohio lawmaker — Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown — supports Colter’s cause,
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BoT to review study abroad tuition cost KARLIE FRANK Lantern reporter frank.359@osu.edu Ohio State students studying abroad might soon be able to save thousands of dollars as the OSU Board of Trustees looks to discuss a tuition waiver this week. The Board of Trustees is also set to discuss establishing the Brazil Gateway as a new university affiliate and the status of the “But for Ohio State” fundraising campaign at its meetings Thursday and Friday. Interim President Joseph Alutto is also set to present a “presidential transition update” during the governance committee meeting Friday.
CAITLIN ESSIG / Managing editor for content
Columbus is out of the running to host the Republican National Convention in 2016. The city is planning to submit a bid to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
MICHELE THEODORE Copy chief theodore.13@osu.edu
SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
Then-senior Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter (2) avoids OSU defenders during a game Oct. 5 at Ryan Field. OSU won, 40-30.
decision at about noon while he was at an event, so he did not know as of Wednesday afternoon why Columbus was no longer being considered. “We’ll be talking to the Republican National Convention to get a better understanding of why,” he said. “We haven’t taken the opportunity to talk further of their view of our bid.” He said he did not think having three cities in Ohio going for the same spot was part of the reason Columbus was removed from the finalists. “In our mind, if there are three cities in Ohio going for it and they just wanted to pick one, we think we’re the best,” he said. Williamson added that being eliminated from the RNC should allow the city to focus more on only one convention. “We can focus solely on it without trying to do two things at once,” he said. “It takes a lot of time and effort to go after one of these conventions and if we were trying to do both at the same time, that would be difficult and so we’ll be able to focus solely on the DNC.”
Study abroad tuition waiver The Board’s finance committee is set to discuss a proposed tuition waiver for OSU students who enroll in university-approved third-party providers or direct enroll study abroad programs, which would allow the students to pay a $400 program fee instead of the full cost of tuition, according to the meeting schedule. If approved, the change would be effective for Fall Semester. Students currently have to pay OSU tuition and tuition at their host institution while they study abroad. According to the schedule, that system “results in students either paying in essence two tuition payments for the term in which they are enrolled in such programs or dis-enrolling at the Ohio State University to reduce the financial burden.” By dis-enrolling, students then become off OSU’s “radar,” the schedule said, and they’re at risk for “travel-related situations such as manmade or natural disasters and medical emergencies.” The $400 fee would be to cover services like risk management and administration. To receive approval for the waiver, the Board of Trustees must submit a waiver request to the Ohio Board of Regents. Establishing Brazil Gateway as an affiliate The establishment of the Brazil Gateway to facilitate OSU’s activities and operations in Brazil is set to be discussed at the audit and compliance committee meeting Thursday. The gateway offices “allow the university to forge new partnerships with a multitude of
constituencies, recruit international students, aid curriculum development with international themes, implement dual degree programs, facilitate faculty research and reconnect with a growing international alumni base,” according to the schedule. Currently, OSU has gateway offices in Shanghai and Mumbai, India. The board is set to approve the gateway office to launch in São Paulo in early fall 2014 as a university affiliate, funded by the Office of Academic Affairs. “But for Ohio State” progress The “But for Ohio State” campaign raised more
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