Thursday September 19, 2013 year: 133 No. 70
the student voice of
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thelantern Internet becoming a place for confessions
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BROOKE SAYRE Lantern reporter sayre.128@osu.edu
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Meyer making gameday calls Football coach Urban Meyer said injured quarterback Braxton Miller will have a ‘limited role’ on Saturday.
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The video of Matthew Cordle confessing he killed a man while drunk driving has gripped the nation. With more than 2.1 million views on YouTube, the Columbus man’s video was the first confession video for the non-profit Ohio organization “Because I Said I Would.” BISIW’s purpose is to restore the faith in humanity by making people accountable by staying true to their word and keeping promises, said Grant Smucker, the director who filmed the Cordle confession video. Smucker, an Ohio State graduate in biomedical engineering who now works as a freelance director and editor, has also filmed previous videos for BISIW. “After hearing the cause and everything, I was on board,” said Smucker. “It sounded like a great cause.” Cordle pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in court Wednesday. Smucker said Cordle’s desire to confess was sincere and aimed at shedding light on the issue of drinking and driving. “(While) filming it, Matt wanted to get the point across to make sure people don’t drink and drive,” said Smucker. “It was Matt pouring out his
Courtesy of YouTube
Matthew Cordle posted a video on YouTube Sept. 3 confessing to killing a man in a drunk driving hit-and-run in June. story and what all happened, what went down and expressing his guilt. He had a lot of guilt to let out. He wanted a way to release that.” Some OSU students who have heard about Cordle’s confession video have conflicting opinions. “I’m kind of glad his conscience got the best of him, although online wasn’t the way to do it,” said Becca Lawrence, a third-year in international studies.
Some said it was a stunt for attention. “I appreciate that he did admit to it, but I feel like if you were going to (admit to it), just fess up,” said Haley Maynard, a second-year in early childhood education. “(It’s an) attention thing that has alternative motives.” Although some students, like second-year in sociology David Powers, hadn’t seen the video, they
heard about it through friends and the media. Something that stood out to Powers was Cordle’s courage and honesty, but he said he feels there is “a lack of interpersonal community” when posting on social media. “I’d like to be optimistic and say that… I choose to be hopeful and believe his desire is genuine,” Powers said. “But a lot of people said he did it for attention.” Recently, some Internet users have taken to posting secrets anonymously and publicly through sites such as PostSecret, Whisper and Reddit’s OffMyChest forum. According to PostSecret’s website, more than 629 million people have visited the blog. The blog is part of “an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard,” according to the website. On Aug. 31, PostSecret posted a postcard reading “I said she dumped me, but really I dumped her (body).” There was an arrow on the card pointing at a location on a picture of a map, later identified by Reddit users as a spot in Chicago. Authorities later said they had found no reason to believe there was truth to the apparent murder confession, according to CBS News. On June 20, someone posted a confession titled “I should be in
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OSU student remembered for her ‘positive spirit’
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Comic Con goes green
Lou Ferrigno, who played The Incredible Hulk on TV, is set to visit Columbus for this weekend’s Comic Con.
campus
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Canine circovirus discovered
KRISTEN MITCHELL Editor-in-chief mitchell.935@osu.edu An Ohio State student died as a result of a Tuesday evening car accident in Hilliard. Maria Tiberi, 21, from Dublin, Ohio, was a student in communication, according to the university directory. “We are deeply saddened to hear of this tragic accident, and our hearts and thoughts are with Maria’s family and friends. The departments of the Office of Student Life, including Student Advocacy and Counseling and Consultation Service, are making themselves available to be of whatever assistance may be required,” said OSU Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs in a Wednesday afternoon email. According to the Hilliard Division of Police, officers discovered a semi-tractor trailer struck from behind by a Toyota Corolla. The report said the “initial investigation indicates that the semitractor trailer was stopped in heavy traffic on the interstate at the time of the accident.” Tiberi was the only occupant of the Corolla at the time of the accident, and she was transported to Grant Medical Center where she later died. The 30-year-old female driver of the semi-tractor sustained no injuries. Grant Medical Center representatives did not return requests for comment Wednesday. Tiberi was a 2010 Graduate of Dublin Coffman High School, and principal Mike Ulring said in an email she was a “wonderful young lady” with a positive spirit. “Maria was a tremendous asset to Dublin Coffman High School and we are all shocked and devastated to learn about her loss,” Ulring said. “I will never forget and can still picture her
SAM HARRINGTON Senior Lantern reporter harrington.227@osu.edu
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amazing smile that she so effortlessly blessed us with each day. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tiberi family as they remain great friends of Coffman High School and the Dublin Community.” Tiberi is the daughter of Dom Tiberi, a sports broadcast journalist with WBNS-10TV. Director of News at 10TV Elbert Tucker said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tiberi family,” in a Wednesday email. 10TV established an “In Memoriam” page on their website for commenters to leave notes of condolences for the Tiberi family. The page had
more than 10 pages of comments by 11 p.m. Wednesday. Dom Tiberi covers OSU athletics for the TV station. OSU athletic director Gene Smith tweeted from his account @OSU_AD, “My heart goes out to Dom Tiberi and his family. Dom please feel this love I am sharing,” Wednesday at about 7 a.m. According to 10TV, a public showing will be held Sunday at St. Brigid of Kildare Catholic Church at 7179 Avery Road and a funeral Mass will be held Monday.
Thompson Library’s steamy secret: ‘Playboy’ mags among the racks
While a new virus in dogs was discovered in Ohio, one OSU vet says it is not cause for concern.
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Courtesy of 10TV
Maria Tiberi (left), a 21-year-old OSU student in communication, with her father, Dom Tiberi. Maria Tiberi died after a Sept. 17 car accident.
MICHELE THEODORE / Copy chief
OSU has 640 ‘Playboy’ magazine-related materials, including original magazines, microform editions and various clippings in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.
Among the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of William Oxley Memorial Library lies one of Ohio State’s largest collections of scandalous material: stacks of “Playboy” magazines. OSU has been cultivating its “Playboy” collection for decades and has amassed 640 “Playboy” magazine-related materials, including original magazines, microform editions and various clippings, according to the OSU library catalog. The collection does not exist for the sexually deviant, but instead is provided as a source of scholarly research, said Karla Strieb, OSU’s associate director of Library Collections. “Including the publication in our collection provides scholars with a resource on popular culture they may choose to review in the course of their research,” Strieb said in an email. The inclusion of “Playboy” in the library system helps further the library’s mission of preserving diverse material. “The mission of an academic library is to preserve information for the purposes of scholarship, research and teaching. University Libraries strives to provide a collection that presents diverse perspectives, points of view and opinions,” Strieb said.
While OSU’s library system does have “Playboy” magazines, they are not immediately accessible. The microforms, which are reproduced editions in a reduced size and are stored in the book depository, are available for order online and paper magazines are available, for viewing only, in Thompson’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. Without directly ordering them from the online catalogue or asking a librarian for access, students, faculty and staff cannot view the collection. OSU’s collection isn’t unique among academic institutions — the other 11 schools in the Big Ten have “Playboy” magazines, according to their respective library catalogues. Some OSU professors said the notion of an explicit magazine having some academic value is legitimate. “I can imagine different kinds of research that might use a collection like this, including research on changes in cultural representations of masculinity and femininity,” said Cynthia Burack, a professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, in an email. She added that she has cited “Playboy” in her own research. Burack said, however, she understands why “Playboy” offends some people, but said storing the magazines is important, even for just a historical record.
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