Thursday August 22, 2013 year: 133 No. 63
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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thelantern OSU pays church not to build housing
sports
SALLY XIA Lantern reporter xia.82@osu.edu
Roby in the clear
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The charge against redshirt junior cornerback Bradley Roby has been dropped.
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A church’s plans to build a nine-story residential apartment on Woodruff Avenue were halted after Ohio State promised nearly $13 million in exchange for scrapping the project. OSU is paying St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, located at 30 W. Woodruff Ave. across from Ramseyer Hall, more than $12.8 million to withdraw the church’s proposed project, according to an agreement released by the university in June. Other items in the agreement grant the university right of first refusal if the church, which has been at its current location for more than 80 years, decides to sell its property and permit the university to weigh in on any of the church’s future projects, OSU spokesman Gary Lewis said. The proposed project, which was originally being called the Lofts at St. Stephen’s, would have housed somewhere between 250 to 280 students, according to Rev. George Glazier, rector of St. Stephen’s. “We were ready to break ground on building and the university did not want us to do that,” Glazier said, who added the housing was meant to “pull students closer in to this area.” The church will receive a one-time payment of $7.5 million from the university with the remaining $3 million to be payable in 25 years at an interest rate of 5 percent, which is nearly $213,000 a year, according to the agreement. In addition to the money, the church will get 100 parking spots inside Arps Garage on Sunday
SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
OSU is paying St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church more than $12.8M to not build an apartment building. mornings, which will ease parking difficulties for churchgoers, Glazier said. Lewis said the church’s project was not consistent with the university’s plans for the North Residential District. “The university felt that the previously proposed high-density housing project would be a potential functional and aesthetic detriment to an important gateway into the campus and the North Residential
District, which is now moving forward in support of our Second-year Transformational Experience Program,” Lewis said in an email. The Board of Trustees approved the Second-year Transformational Experience Program in April 2012, which prompted a $396 million North Campus Renovation Project that will provide more student housing as OSU looks to have all second-year students living on-campus by 2016. Glazier said it’s going to take a while for the church to figure out what exactly to do with the money, but first off, it’s going to simply pay its debts. “We are paying all our bills. I would be lying to say more money doesn’t help us maybe do more,” Glazier said. St. Stephen’s, which is dependent on member donations, has a congregation of about 200 people with about 100 to 125 people showing up on an average Sunday mornings, Glazier said. Both Lewis and Glazier said the deal is a demonstration of cooperative relationship between the church and the university, and Glazier called it a “win-win” situation. “This is about mission and it is about connection with Ohio State University,” Glazier said. “So the money wasn’t what we are after at any point. Not that the money was not nice, it’s not the point.” David Soland, who works at the gallery inside the church, said the money will allow the church to do more student outreach. “We are looking at this as more of a partnership with the university and the money is actually going to go to enrich students’ lives,” Soland
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1,000 students STEP into dorm program KAYLA BYLER Managing editor of design byler.18@osu.edu
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Go crazy for concerts
Our editor picks which concerts around Columbus are worth checking out in the following month.
campus
The Ohio State Second-year Transformational Experience Program has begun, but that doesn’t mean everyone on campus is thrilled about it. While some participants and leaders of STEP are enthusiastic about the year ahead, others have expressed concerns about some elements of the potentially temporary program. Students participating in the Student Life program will be given a $2,000 stipend, placed in large group clusters and smaller group cohorts and paired with a faculty mentor. Each cluster will have a ratio of 100 students to five or six faculty members and each cohort will have about 20 students per faculty member, Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for Student Life, said in an interview with The Lantern. “It’s $2,000 for an experience and that is guided by the faculty. So the faculty will work with students around the experiences,” she said. Some students, however, are apprehensive about STEP. “I was going to participate (in the STEP pilot) but I ended up not signing up,” Brennan Hall, second-year in political science, said. “I was kind of confused as to what exactly the program was and I didn’t know how
much time I would have to put into it.” Brittany Kahn, a second-year in public affairs participating in STEP, said while living on campus was a good fit for her, she can understand why it’s not for everyone. “I’m very comfortable here,” she said. “I think it was the right move for me. I think some people don’t exactly like the campus life and I understand why a lot of people choose to not live on campus.” The OSU Board of Trustees approved the program pilot, which will cost the university more than $2 million in cash reserves, in an April 2012 meeting. The university hopes to have programs and housing to accommodate every second-year student by 2016, a point that was discussed at the August 2012 Board meeting where a $396 million North Campus renovation plan was approved. Though second-year students will eventually be required to live in residence halls, they will not be required to participate in STEP, Adams-Gaston said. “The point of (students living in residence halls) is to have an experience and STEP is that experience at this point, we’ll know better as we go along if that is the only experience,” she said. David Stetson, faculty director of STEP, echoed similar ideas for the future of STEP. “I can’t imagine that we would ever require a student to do STEP.
STEP program breakdown 1,000 total students X 54 faculty X
$2,000 each $5,000 each
$2,270,000
=
A total of 100 students and faculty are combined to make a house. A cohort consists of 20 students and one faculty member. Source: Reporting What we hope is that we can build a program that every student wants to participate in,” he said. One thousand second-year students and 54 faculty members are participating in the pilot of STEP. Originally 2,000 students were to participate in the pilot, but the scope was eventually narrowed, AdamsGaston said. She did not provide more information as to why. About 1,400 first-year students applied for the program last spring and 1,000 were randomly selected, she said. Faculty members were nominated by members of the faculty committee, self-nominated or nominated by students, Stetson said. They come from disciplines across campus and range in age and experience level. Faculty will be given a $5,000 discretionary fund for their participation, he said, and can use this money in any way they see fit. The money for the faculty’s compensation will come
KAYLA ZAMARY / Design editor
from the same cash reserves as the student’s stipend. “The faculty can use this money at one extreme to support themselves and at another extreme to pay for the program that they’re giving the students,” Stetson said. Adams-Gaston said STEP is meant to be similar to the First Year Success Series offered to freshman students with added emphasis on connection with faculty. Students can spend their stipends on any combination of six experiences: study abroad, service learning, research, leadership, internships and creative arts endeavors, Stetson said. “We’re asking the students to develop a project that will further their progress toward their future, however they want to define that,” he said. Kahn said she wants to use her stipend for study abroad or research. “My initial thought was study
2A Blocks, crowds part of semester switch
Facelifts on South Campus
Smith-Steeb and Siebert halls were renovated over the summer.
weather
The shift from quarters to semesters during the 2012-2013 school year brought change throughout Ohio State’s campus. From planned adjustments to unforeseen issues, there were more changes to OSU than just the academic calendar, and some of those differences caused problems for students.
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DAN HOPE Oller reporter hope.46@osu.edu
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partly cloudy www.weather.com
Meal plan switch One of the changes OSU made last year to accommodate for the additional length of semesters was a change in the campus meal plan. OSU changed from “swipes” under the quarter system to “blocks” with semesters, initially offering plans of 450 and 600 blocks. These block plans, however, left many students with an excess of blocks during the Autumn Smester. In response to students having excess blocks, OSU gave students a $3 refund per block in BuckID cash for Autumn Semester only, while also adding a 350-block plan option for Spring 2013. The university changed meal plans again for the 2013-2014 school year. OSU eliminated the 600-block plan and added plans that offer weekly block allotments of either 25 or 20. OSU also split the “unlimited” meal plan into two options, giving students the choice of a meal plan that offers either
10 or four blocks per week in addition to unlimited access to the three Traditions dining locations on campus. Kelly Hogan, a third-year in theatre, said she thought the original meal plan options last year were “terrible.” “There were no options, you had to pick the huge meal plan and I have a small appetite so that didn’t work for me,” Hogan said. “When they switched it (in Spring Semester) and gave us more options, I think it’s way better now, although it’s still too expensive.” Hogan said she had many excess blocks at the end of Autumn Semester, and thought the refund was “kind of silly.” “It wasn’t a real refund,” Hogan said. “We only got $3 back (per swipe), and it was only on our BuckID.” Effie Wang, a third-year in accounting, said she liked the change from swipes to blocks last year. “I think it’s actually good that they changed it to blocks,” Wang said. “With swipes, it’s not that convenient, since you can’t just buy a cup of coffee, but now with the blocks, you can actually do that, so I think it’s a good change.” Seemingly crowded campus Another issue some connected to the semester shift was a different and seemingly more crowded flow of foot and vehicle traffic throughout campus during the school day, which caused some challenges for campus transportation.
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Lindsay Komlanc, spokeswoman for OSU Administration and Planning, said research by OSU’s Traffic Safety Task Force showed the crowds of students are not actually larger on semesters than they were on quarters, but with most students taking five semester classes as opposed to three quarter classes, there is a more sustained volume of students traveling to and from classes throughout the day. “That was actually one of the things that the task force looked at because they had heard a lot of comments about the campus seeming more crowded,” Komlanc said. “It is actually comparable between semesters and quarters, but the additional class load results in sustained volume throughout the day and the week.” Hogan said she thought that the campus streets were more crowded during semesters, but Wang said she hasn’t noticed a difference in the amount of people on campus. “I feel like the amount of people (didn’t) really change that much,” Wang said. Ben Crawford, a third-year in finance, agreed, but said he tries to avoid crowded streets by getting to class early. “As long as you just walk when you should and give yourself at least five minutes to walk across campus,” Crawford said. Visit thelantern.com for the rest of the story.
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