Thursday May 3, 2012 year: 132 No. 63
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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thelantern Students assess Obama’s OSU kickoff
sports
Caitlin Essig and Jennifer Jung Asst. multimedia editor and Lantern reporter essig.21@osu.edu and jung.335@osu.edu
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On the run
The OSU baseball team makes its run for the Big Ten tournament in a three-game weekend series starting Friday.
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Marvel to behold
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The first stop on President Barack Obama’s campaign tour is Ohio State, and students are full of opinions about his visit. Obama will speak at the Schottenstein Center at 1:25 p.m. Saturday, with the doors opening at 10:30 a.m. First lady Michelle Obama will join her husband in support of his campaign. The public event on OSU’s campus is the official beginning of the 2012 election, and Obama has a rally planned at Virginia Commonwealth University later Saturday. This rally marks Obama’s second visit to OSU’s campus in about two months. Obama spoke to about 2,600 people about his energy policies in the RPAC’s Tom W. Davis Special Events Gym on March 22. Prior to that, on Oct. 17, 2010, Obama spoke to about 35,000 people on the Oval about his movement of change. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has also been in Central Ohio in the past week. Romney spoke at Otterbein College last Thursday about the economy and his plan to bring the nation back to a world leader. Thara Nagarajan, a second-year in anthropology, said she is not surprised Obama is coming to campus. “I have always been a huge supporter for Obama and I campaigned for him in 2008,” Nagarajan said. “I am not very surprised that he is coming to the Ohio State just because we are a swing state. If he wins in Ohio, he has a really good shot of winning in the whole election.” Obama won Ohio when he claimed the presidency against Sen. John McCain in 2008. Tara Besancon, a first-year in pre-medical dietetics, agreed that Ohio is an important state for Obama. “I think his campaign is looking for projecting the young generation,” Besancon said. “Ohio is obviously a big state for voting. We are the perfect school for him to come to because we have pretty much the biggest Ohio student populations.” Nagarajan also commented on the importance of appealing to the young generation.
Lantern file photo
President Barack Obama shakes the hand of Vijay Gadepally, president of the Council of Graduate Students, March 22. Obama announced he would be kicking off his 2012 campaign with a speech on OSU’s campus. “I figure he realized that young college-age kids are one of the most important demographics,” Nagarajan said. “He also realized college campuses have more liberal students, so it makes sense he is coming.” Some students, like Lisa Rausch, a third-year in dental hygiene, are not so excited about Obama’s visit.
KAtelyn pruchnicki Lantern reporter pruchnicki.5@osu.edu
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High protest
Some OSU students and faculty protested on High Street Tuesday against the university’s plan to privatize parking.
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Katelyn Pruchnicki / Lantern reporter
Many students are able to transfer into OSU with significantly lower admission standards than they would have straight out of high school.
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Some Ohio State students who spent their high school years working toward a high grade-point average and ACT score might be surprised to find out that for transfer students with at least 30 credit hours of college or university experience, high school records don’t matter. Stephanie Sanders, interim director of admissions operations at OSU, said the factors considered for entering freshmen differ from those considered for transfer students. “Certainly admission is more competitive for entering, first-year students than it is for transfer students,” Sanders said. “Clearly the admissions criteria speaks for itself.” Students who choose to enroll as first-years without any college or university experience are evaluated based upon three principles: successful completion of a college prep curriculum, high school rank and/or GPA and performance on the SAT or ACT. Students transferring from a college or university with less than 30 semester hours are evaluated based upon a combination of their high school and previous collegiate performances, but students with more than 30 semester hours are evaluated solely on their college or university record. “You can’t tell everything you need to know based upon a grade-point average,” Sanders said. “But sure, it’s likely that a
student who has a (3.0) or better is going to do a little better than the student who just has a (2.0).” Tressa Casey, a third-year in athletic training, said she anticipated coming to college throughout her high school years and strived for a solid high school record. She enrolled at OSU as a first-year in 2009. “(Coming to college) was definitely a big goal of mine,” Casey said. “I knew I wanted to come to Ohio State because I enjoyed the camaraderie of Ohio State.” Casey said that although some students might not perform well in high school, she understands that coming to college might prompt changes. “I understand that some people will do a lot better in college than they will in high school, so I get where they’re coming from, but then again, you could have just taken the bullcrap classes and gotten a 4.0 your first semester in college,” Casey said. “I don’t know how I feel about it.” The majority of transfer students who enroll at OSU have more than 30 semester hours at their time of transfer, Sanders said. “For most of our transfer students we don’t have any idea how they did in high school because we don’t see their records and we don’t see their ACT scores,” Sanders said. “For many students, their performance in high school doesn’t really matter anymore.” Jerry Mancino transferred to OSU for Autumn Quarter 2009, and after a year of trying to get into the health sciences
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NJ mayor shares advice on power, diversity Caitlin Essig Asst. multimedia editor essig.21@osu.edu
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Admission rules differ for transfer students
Check inside for The Lantern’s review and coverage of ‘The Avengers,’ scheduled to hit theaters Friday.
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“I’ve been annoyed by all of the campaign workers who keep asking me if I’m going, and I’m not interested in going,” Rausch said. “Then when you ask them questions, they don’t know the
Speaking from first-hand experience, which includes saving his neighbor from a burning building, Mayor of Newark, N.J., Cory Booker offered his thoughts on empowerment and making a difference. Booker spoke to an audience of almost 300 Ohio State students and community members Tuesday. Booker’s speech was part of the First-Year Distinguished Speaker series hosted by the offices of Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience. Booker said his message for students was one about power. “It’s all about understanding that you have the incredible power to make change in your world, and you shouldn’t let anyone take away that power,” Booker said. In his speech, Booker touched on politics, but focused more on an individual’s importance in the world. “Never let your inability to do everything undermine your ability to do something,” Booker said.
“Life is not about the big act, the big speech, the big election. I know we’re in election season and it’d be nice to think, ‘If you just elect this person the world will change.’ No. The world won’t change unless you do.” Julie Richardson, the coordinator for the event, said selecting Booker to speak was the right choice. “He embodies everything we want our firstyear speaker to be,” Richardson said. “He’s a young, dynamic leader who can bring inspiration to students and the community.” Booker has earned media attention recently for helping to save one of his neighbors from her burning home. He was also named one of the most influential people of 2011 by Time Magazine. Booker’s influence was not lost on some students who attended the speech. Ally Mooney, a first-year in public affairs, said introducing Booker was “an honor.” “I don’t think I’ve ever met a more engaging, humble person,” Mooney said. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.” Booker made an OSU connection when he touched on recent hate crimes on campus.
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Caitlin Essig / Asst. multimedia editor
Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., spoke to students about empowerment and making a difference May 1.
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