September 25 2014

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Thursday September 25, 2014 year: 134 No. 71

@TheLantern weather high 80 low 53

thelantern

OSU gets pass defense ready

sunny

Ohio Union undergoing $1M repairs

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‘Glass Castle’ author visits

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Craft roomies stay in touch

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Meet the man behind the football schedules

LAUREN EVERY Lantern reporter every.5@osu.edu Four and a half years after it opened, the Ohio Union is in the process of getting repairs expected to cost $1 million, a Student Life spokesman said. And the most dramatic repairs are right below students’ feet. “The largest renovation project is the repair of the terrazzo (floor tiles) in parts of the Ohio Union,” Student Life spokesman David Isaacs said in an email. The renovations began in May and Isaacs said Sept. 10 that they are expected to be complete within the month. Isaacs did not immediately respond to a Sept. 24 email asking for an exact completion date. As for the floor, Isaacs said there had been issues. “We were not happy with the installation of the original terrazzo and how it was wearing,” Isaacs said. The university is currently working with the surety company to determine how much of the repair cost will be covered by insurance, Isaacs said. In recent years, a roof repair was needed and the cost was entirely covered by the surety company, he said. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website, a surety company makes sure the contractor on a project fulfills their obligations and compensates the project owner if it was unsuccessful. The tile renovations led to a section of the Ohio Union being blocked off. The caution tape around the newly-repaired tile made the main staircase, which leads to the basement and second floor, unaccesible.. Flagpoles are also being added to the front of the building, Isaacs said in an email on Sept. 10. Some students said they were not affected by the repairs. “I just noticed the floor at the beginning, but it didn’t affect me at all,” Brenna Fellows, a second-year in industrial engineering,said. Lizzy Nix works at the front desk of the Ohio Union and said she saw that some passersby noticed the renovations and seemed curious. “They’ve asked what’s going on but I haven’t seen any positive or negative reactions. They’re just asking,” said Nix, a second-year in business. With the amount of activity at the Union

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HAYDEN GROVE / Lantern TV Sports director

OSU executive associate athletic director Martin Jarmond highlights future OSU football schedules Sept. 21 at the Fawcett Center.

Martin Jarmond’s plans are years in advance HAYDEN GROVE Lantern TV Sports director grove.157@osu.edu On the outskirts of campus, high above Ohio State’s sprawling array of athletics facilities, sits the office where the gridiron contests held at Ohio Stadium are dreamed up years in advance of when fans will take to the stands. This office — this epicenter of Buckeye football imagination — houses Martin Jarmond, the executive associate athletic director at OSU, and a series of whiteboards, where current and future OSU football schedules are written out in black marker. Jarmond’s position doesn’t necessarily require him to be responsible for each of those schedules, though. Instead, he specifically asked to create them when he was hired in 2009 at the athletics administration department. “Quite honestly, I think I probably asked (vice president and athletic director Gene Smith) if I could do that. I think I did,” Jarmond said, a

half-smile on his face. “(Football scheduling) was something that was really important to me, that I said I really wanted to do and tackle and help him accomplish the vision he wants to accomplish.” So far, Smith said he has been more than pleased with his decision to allow Jarmond to handle the scheduling, along with his other responsibilities as an athletic administrator. “Martin has developed into an outstanding athletic administrator. He continues to differentiate himself as a leader,” Smith said in an email. “His background as a collegiate athlete, and various roles in athletic administration strengthens his opportunity to reach his goal of becoming an athletic director.” Jarmond played basketball while attending the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. While his boss might understand the daily grind that Jarmond goes through to put the Buckeyes’ football schedule together, not all OSU or college football fans do. Jarmond said there are many variables and challenges that are presented in creating

Experts review rise in fecal matter, other Mirror Lake jump concerns

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Martin Jarmond is the executive associate athletic director. He schedules OSU football games based on ratings, conference and other factors. Jarmond negotiates with other schools based on availability.

a football schedule, and he calls planning for the Buckeyes “the process.” It begins with Smith and the desires he spells out for Jarmond. “His (scheduling strategy) that he’s outlined is at least trying to have a top 10-team opponent every year, then a top 25, top 30-type opponent and then maybe a top 50 or what you can

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BuckeyeThon dances toward $1 million fundraising goal “Everything just kind of fell into place for us this year,” Venigalla, a fourth-year in biomedical science, said. “We were like, why would we not do ($1 million) this year?” She said, though, there were initial BuckeyeThon is setting the stage hesitations. for its first $1 million campaign. “We did debate for a while,” The 14th annual 24-hour dance Venigalla said. “It is a big jump marathon at Ohio State, which raises compared to last year’s jump,” which money for Nationwide Children’s raised about $159,000 more than the Hospital, raised more than $767,000 previous year. in the spring when more than 3,000 But after becoming registered people participated. It’s raised a total through Student Life last year, of $2.5 million over the past 13 years. Venigalla said This year, it the resources, wants to recruit support and 4,000 student other partnerparticipants and ships were in encourage them place to go for to pledge $250 the big bucks. each, adding The only up to $1 million. major change The minimum amount students - Poornima Venigalla this year is that dancers will be must fundraise to BuckeyeThon spokeswoman offered more partake, however, opportunities is the same, at and initiatives, and overall more help, $100, BuckeyeThon spokeswoman to fundraise, she said. “It is difficult Poornima Venigalla said. to fundraise. We completely agree,” The average dancer last year she said, adding the initiatives should raised $250, BuckeyeThon vice presiprovide the support they would need. dent of advancement Vick Chhabria If BuckeyeThon reaches its goal, said. OSU wouldn’t be the first school to Venigalla said while the fundraiser hit $1 million raised through a dance typically aims for about 20 percent marathon. Penn State’s Thon raised growth each year — translating more than $13.34 million this year. into what would’ve been a goal of more than $920,000 this year — the organizers decided to set their ambitions higher. continued as BuckeyeThon on 3A

LIZ YOUNG Editor-in-chief young.1693@osu.edu

JEREMY SAVITZ Lantern reporter savitz.3@osu.edu Water loaded with ammonia and fecal matter. Injuries and assaults fueled by alcohol. These were just a few of the concerns experts discussed on Wednesday during the third and final Undergraduate Student Governmenthosted Mirror Lake jump forum. Speakers with expertise ranging from water quality to sexual assault sat down with members of the Ohio State community to talk about the future of the Mirror Lake jump following backlash surrounding last year’s jump and uncertainty about this year’s. Tyler Gorham, a graduate fellow at the College of Public Health, talked in-depth about the water quality of Mirror Lake on the night of the jump. Gorham said the levels of ammonia and fecal matter in the lake on the night of the jump can be expected to make at least eight out of every 1,000 students sick in some capacity. The rise in the ammonia levels is directly attributed to students urinating in the lake, Gorham said. “Students should be encouraged to go to the jump earlier than previous years to avoid the lake when the levels of toxins

QUICK LOOK

MARK BATKE / Photo editor

OSU’s Mirror Lake on Aug. 24. are the highest,” Gorham said. “Some other ways to not get sick would be to not submerge your head, get out of the water as soon as possible, and possibly if some rinsing stations were set up, that would help immensely.” On top of the amount of students getting sick because of the water quality, between 20-30 students are seen at the Wexner Medical Center the night of the jump, which is about four times higher than the typical night, according to Michael Mandelkorn, security director for Wexner Medical Center. “We see students with

lacerations, broken bones, and on years where the weather is cold, hypothermia is one of the main concerns,” Mandelkorn said. Of those 20-30 students seen at Wexner Medical Center the night of the jump, nearly all of them intoxicated to some degree, Mandelkorn said. That statistic led all of the panelists to agree on what they think would be the best way to make the jump safer for students. STORY CONTINUES AT:

www.thelantern.com

“Everything just kind of fell into place for us this year.”

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