Wednesday September 25, 2013 year: 133 No. 74
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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OSU affiliate COTA ridership up 21.3 percent
sports
BRANDON KLEIN Senior Lantern reporter klein.340@osu.edu
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Old teammates reunited
Two soccer players who were teammates in high school are reunited as walk-ons for the OSU men’s team.
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Ohio State community members are riding city buses more and are, as a whole, paying more for it, according to data provided by the Central Ohio Transit Authority. OSU affiliate ridership increased by roughly 21.3 percent from 2009 to 2012, according to COTA data emailed to The Lantern by Marty Stutz, vice president of communications, marketing and customer service for COTA. In 2009, OSU riders used the COTA nearly 1.3 million times to get around the city. Two years later, ridership peaked at about 1.9 million rides in a year. The numbers then went down, decreasing by almost 17 percent in 2012 to approximately 1.5 million. Meanwhile, OSU students’ COTA fees stayed the same, despite the overall revenue increase — students paid a $9 quarterly fee to ride COTA buses when OSU was on the quarter system. On the semester system, students pay a $13.50 fee per semester to ride. Both total
OSU member ridership increased by 21.3 percent from 2009 to 2012 OSU ridership was at its highest in 2011 with almost 1.9M rides Ridership decreased in 2012 by almost 17 percent to about 1.6M rides source: reporting
KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design
a fee of $27 per academic year. Stutz said the 2012 decrease in riders was likely due to a new swipe system, which allows OSU affiliates to swipe their BuckIDs when they get on the bus as a form of payment, introduced in February 2012. Prior to the change, students paid a fee for unlimited use of the COTA bus system and simply showed their BuckIDs to the bus driver to gain access, Stutz said. “We speculate that the swipe requirement eliminated a lot of people taking advantage of the BuckID-COTA program even though
they were not actually enrolled (in classes),” Stutz said. COTA spent $2 million for the enhanced farebox technology, he said. Some OSU students said they have adjusted to the swipe system since it was implemented. Richard LeMaster, a fifth-year in Japanese, uses COTA as his mode of transportation to campus. “I didn’t see it as a big deal after they fixed the initial bugginess of the system,” he said. “I’m guessing they moved to it to keep people from using just any BuckID to get on the bus for free.”
On the other hand, some students said the old system would have benefited them long-run. “It kind of sucks you can’t use it after you graduate,” said Sophia Eyerman, a fifth-year in English. BuckID director David Anthony said the vast majority of denied rides are due to non-students attempting to swipe an invalid BuckID. “Occasionally, we will see students attempting to swipe on the buses prior to the start of the academic term. That issue resolves itself since students can swipe the week classes begin,” he said. “The other issue we see occasionally is damaged cards that won’t swipe. We replace worn or damaged cards at no cost. The only requirement is the old card needs to be turned in to our office.” Stutz said the new swipe system was partly implemented to keep riders honest. “The program protects the integrity of the partnership so that students are getting the value for their fee, and not subsidizing non-students to ride for free,” he said.
Ohio Lt. Gov. talks insurance career opportunities CAMERON RODA Lantern reporter roda.7@osu.edu
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How OSU met Josh Radnor
When the star of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ spoke at OSU, he said he is different than his character, Ted Mosby.
campus
Courtesy of the Ohio Lieutenant Governor’s Office
OSU alumnus honored for research
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weather high 75 low 53 partly cloudy
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Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor talked to college media outlets via videoconference Tuesday about the insurance industry.
Man pulled from Mirror Lake dies LIZ YOUNG Campus editor young.1693@osu.edu
Some Ohio State students may soon want to start looking at careers in insurance. Ohio insurance companies may have more job openings by 2020 than people to fill the openings because of retiring older workers and the expansion of insurance companies in Ohio, according to the Insuring Ohio Futures campaign website. Gov. John Kasich’s office partnered with the Ohio Department of Insurance to promote the Insuring Ohio Futures Campaign, which is aimed at educating college students on the increasing job availability in the state’s insurance industry. According to Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, Ohio ranks seventh in the nation for the number of insurance jobs with more than 250 insurance companies based in-state, contributing to roughly 100,000 jobs within the industry. The Insuring Ohio Futures campaign was formed in March 2013, according to its website. In a Tuesday videoconference with The Lantern and other college media outlets, Taylor, who is also the director of the Ohio Department of Insurance,
said the insurance industry will face big changes in the coming years. “As we face the impact of retiring baby boomers, there will be a lot of turnover in the industry,” Taylor said. “These are stable, good paying jobs that include a number of professions, professions not everybody thinks about when they think about the (insurance) industry.” Taylor said there are a variety of jobs in the insurance industry that pay above the median income in Ohio and offer college students opportunities to move up the ladder and gain promotions. “There is more to insurance than just sales. Insurance companies in Ohio need accountants, actuaries, adjusters, attorneys as well as physicians,” Taylor said, adding that customer service and marketing positions are also becoming available. Some Ohio State students like Zeina Hidmi, a second-year in pharmacy, are unsure of the purpose behind the Insuring Ohio Futures campaign, though, and think the governor’s office might be overstepping its boundaries. “I think it is too out of line for the state governor’s office to get involved. Maybe it should come from the student government at universities, but the state
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Columbus Police Department evacuated after explosion reported An officer walks by caution tape after an explosion was reported at the Columbus Division of Police Department. Details of the incident were still not known at the time, Officer W. Morrell told The Lantern Sept. 24. Todd Blackstone, a crane operator near the police department, said he heard a bang and could smell gunpowder a few moments after the noise. No injuries were reported.
The man who was pulled from Mirror Lake in August died after spending roughly a month in critical condition. Tushar Shriram Kabre, age 28, died Thursday at 11:15 a.m. at the Wexner Medical Center. His cause of death was near drowning, Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak said. His manner of death was still undetermined as of 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, Gorniak said. While cause of death refers to why a person died, manner of death explains how the person died, whether it was accidental, natural, a suicide or a murder, according to Oracle’s ThinkQuest. Kabre was taken to the hospital in critical condition Aug. 18 and was placed in the Intensive Care Unit. A Medical Center spokeswoman told The Lantern earlier this month Kabre had been removed from the ICU but remained in critical condition. Kabre was pulled from the lake after a 911 call reporting a “person in distress in Mirror Lake” was received at approximately 5 p.m. Aug. 18, and other bystanders approached the
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SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
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