5.9.2012

Page 1

Wednesday May 9, 2012 year: 132 No. 66

the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern OSU suspends athlete for sexual misconduct

sports

Steeb Hall resident outraged that former OSU wrestler only received 1-year suspension for 4 violations Jami Jurich and Thomas Bradley Editor-in-chief and Campus editor jurich.4@osu.edu and bradley.321@osu.edu

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No woes for Posey

Former OSU wide receiver, DeVier Posey, was the 10th receiver drafted in the NBA draft, to the Houston Texans.

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Cases involving alcohol charges and sexual misconduct on campus

One Ohio State freshman returned to her Steeb Hall dorm room after a March 2 sorority function hoping to get a good night’s sleep. But the rest of her night, and the two months since, have been a nightmare. While she slept in her lofted bed, a male stranger walked into her room, which was unlocked because her roommate was still out for the night, and climbed into her bed at about 12:30 a.m. March 3. She says he raped her. The freshman, whom The Lantern has chosen to grant anonymity because the case involves an alleged sexual assault and who will be referred to as “Jane” throughout this article, had gone to bed wearing her dress from her sorority event. She said the man put his hand up her dress. After she pushed him off her bed and called for help, he ran out of her room, leaving behind his shoes and baseball cap. Now Jane says she wants OSU to change its policies regarding sexual misconduct after the Student Conduct department within the Office of Student Life issued a punishment she felt was too lenient in the case. “Before this happened, I thought The Ohio State University was prestigious and it was an honor to be there. I’m a fifth-generation here, and now it means nothing to me.” She never saw her assailant’s face but was able to identify him through the clothes he was wearing and the items of clothing left in her room. When Jane’s resident adviser responded to the situation, they found a male student walking around her floor without shoes, visibly intoxicated, Jane said. According to Jane and her father, whom The Lantern has chosen to call “Joe” to protect Jane’s identity, witnesses said the male student had been written up earlier in the evening for being visibly intoxicated. Joe said that according to reports he saw, before the incident, the man was so intoxicated he tried kissing one female RA when she wrote him up. The man later punched another male when the RA asked his friends to help put him to bed, according to the reports. Though The Lantern reached out to the RAs associated with the incident, RAs are prohibited from speaking on the record due to residence hall policy.

source: studentconduct.osu.edu, Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs chRis Poche / Design editor

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Sexual Misconducts

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Alcohol Charges

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* Reporting periods were changed during 2009, from 7/1–6/30 of the following year to 8/15–8/14 of the following year. ** A transfer to a new data system occurred Jan. 2010. It is possible a small amount of data was not translated to the new system. Jane did not immediately press charges, but did file a police report later in the evening on March 3. OSU’s Student Conduct department held an administrative hearing for Jane’s case on May 2 and found former Buckeye freshman wrestler Devin Visconti in violation of four university policies, including sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct involves “physical contact or other non-physical conduct of a sexual nature in the absence of clear, knowing and voluntary consent as defined in the Code of Student Conduct.” Visconti, who has not been criminally charged, also violated the policies on endangering health or safety, disorderly or disruptive conduct and alcohol, which includes “Use, production, distribution, sale or possession of alcohol in a manner prohibited under law or applicable University policy,” according to the final report from the hearing obtained by The Lantern. Visconti received a one-year suspension, through May 3, 2013, during which time he is not permitted to enter or be present on any OSU campus or property, according to the terms of his sanctions. Additionally, Visconti must complete an alcohol assessment course with a licensed substance abuse professional prior to reenrollment and is not to have any contact with Jane, according to the documents.

Prior to his suspension, Visconti was moved to another residence hall. Jane is still living in Steeb Hall. Visconti did not respond to multiple emails. His father Robert Visconti answered the phone Friday at his parents’ house in North Reading, Mass., but directed The Lantern to Devin Visconti’s lawyer. A Tuesday follow-up call to his parent’s house went unanswered. Devin Visconti’s lawyer John Tyack, whose office is located at 536 S. High St., did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails sent Monday and Tuesday. Jane and her family do not think the university handled the case appropriately. They said they are shocked that Visconti was not permanently dismissed from the university and they feel his punishment equates to a “slap on the wrist,” Jane said. “He should have been dismissed, because that’s all the university can do,” Jane said. Joe said he feels the university has failed his daughter by not issuing a harsher punishment and was shocked by the case’s outcome. “We were just devastated. I just couldn’t believe it because every witness, one right after another,

5A Aggravated robber sentenced to prison

continued as Case on 3A

Rap in rain or shine

Alpha Epsilon Pi partnered with the Buckeye Barbeque Qlub to host the World’s Longest BBQ Tuesday through Sunday.

weather

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Crime scene

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Christopher Schwartz / Managing editor

identify who was called right after the robbery,” Dragonette said. “And we identified one of his friends that he had called after the robbery.” Dragonette said University Police then interviewed his female friend. Dragonette said although she would

not say the call was directly from McNair, she said the only person she recalled talking to that day was McNair. “We had recognized the name Levi McNair because during the time, we

continued as Robbery on 3A

Rifle team shoots to top at Buckeyes Got Talent

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The Ohio State men’s rifle team used a YouTube video as inspiration for their act and added a few twists of their own to defeat eight other teams and win the sixth annual Buckeyes Got Talent event Tuesday night at St. John Arena to raise more than $6,000 for charity. Maxwell Snyderman, redshirt sophomore and member of the rifle team, said the idea for their act came from a YouTube video titled, “Matrix Ping Pong.” Team members played a simulated game of pingpong while performing various stunts to different types of music. Snyderman said there were other ideas for the show, but they ultimately fell through, which led them to choose the winning act. “We had a couple of different ideas,” Snyderman said. “We were gonna do a song and then that fell apart, and then we were throwing out a bunch of different ideas. This was the one that people actually wanted to do, so we just went with it and we pulled it off.”

sunny sunny mostly cloudy cloudy Katie Higgins / Lantern photographer

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Andrew Williams Lantern reporter williams.3384@osu.edu

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A 19-year-old man has been sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison for an aggravated robbery that occurred at Neil Avenue and W. 8th Avenue last November. The robbery added to a string of assaults, muggings and robberies that occurred on Ohio State’s campus last fall. Levi McNair, 19, plead guilty to aggravated robbery and attempted receiving stolen property after OSU Police arrested him on Dec. 10. He was sentenced May 1. Emily Huddleston, public defender representing McNair, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday evening. Another 14-year-old was taken into custody on Dec. 10 and arrested in connection with the Nov. 15 robbery. The victim is a graduate teaching associate at OSU, and he declined to comment. According to the Timely Warning Crime Alert OSU Police sent out on Nov. 15, the robbery occurred at

about 7:14 p.m. and it contained a description of the two males. “The suspects were two AfricanAmerican males under 20 years of age. Both suspects were approximately 6 feet tall with a thin build,” the alert states. The alert said the suspects forcibly removed property from the victim, while implying they had a gun. According to the University police report, the victim’s Dell laptop, his cell phone and a computer mouse were taken during the incident. The laptop was valued at $1,400, his cell phone at $300 and the mouse at $25. University Police detective Pete Dragonette said the victim did not get any of his electronics returned, however his cell phone did play a role in tracking McNair down. Dragonette said McNair used the victim’s cell phone after he had taken it on Nov. 15 to make calls and send text messages. The victim had reported his phone stolen to his phone company and had noticed that the phone was still in use after he had it taken, so he obtained those records and turned them over to police. “From there we were able to

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Sarah Stemen Oller reporter stemen.66@osu.edu

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Rapper Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover, performed Monday as part of his Camp Tour at the LC Pavilion.

Members of the Boys and Girls Club pose with a check for $6,413 from Buckeyes Got Talent.

Dan Chapman, redshirt sophomore rifle team captain, said winning the event was a great feeling because his team worked hard and wanted to win. “It feels good. We really took this seriously,” Chapman said. “Not putting other teams down, but some people just come out and blow it off. We really came into this hoping we could win. Not expecting to win, but we’re really happy we did win. It feels good.” The judges for the Buckeyes Got Talent were Scoonie Penn, former OSU men’s basketball player; Antonio Smith, member of 2002 National Championship football team; Mindy Drayer, NBC 4 weekend anchor; Clayton Funk, assistant professor in art education; and Elijah McKnight, a 13-year-old member of Boys and Girls Club of Columbus. They judged the talents on costume, talent, crowd participation, originality and creativity. Eric Dates, a junior middle blocker on the men’s volleyball team, placed second with his guitar playing and singing of a country song he wrote titled “Six Shots.” Dates said he has been singing and writing his

continued as Talent on 3A 1A


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5.9.2012 by The Lantern - Issuu