Tuesday September 18, 2012 year: 132 No. 100
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern No timetable for Park-Stradley repairs
sports
ben keith Lantern reporter keith.146@osu.edu
6A
Miller for Heisman?
Braxton Miller was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of week for his performance against California.
The 1,200 residents of the renovated Park-Stradley residence hall were still homeless Monday evening after a water main break forced evacuation, and university officials have no timeline for when they’ll be able to return. About 2,000 students from Baker East, Baker West and ParkStradley were evacuated Sunday evening, and the Ohio Union was shut down. The Union reopened and students from the Baker Halls were permitted to return to their residence halls at about 7 a.m. Monday, but Park-Stradley residents were not so lucky. While the evacuation was an inconvenience for many students, some said they were appreciative of the university support. “They were ridiculously conscientious,” said Brenna Gile, a Baker Hall West resident and a second-year in Japanese. “They had basketball courts and volleyball courts, and basically if you wanted to do anything RPAC-y, they had the RPAC open all night for use,” said Riley Debacker, a first-year in linguistics and theater. “They provided us with food and drink(s), they gave us blankets and pillows because some of us didn’t have them, they were extremely good about it,” Gile said. “We clearly look like refugees,” Gile said. “And we got directed to this hallway and we were home again, for a brief time at least, surrounded by comrades.”
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False idols
Displaced Students warned to ‘wrap it’ for RPAC sleepover
4A
Our columnist says the parade of new judges on shows like FOX’s ‘American Idol’ is getting old.
campus
Kristen Mitchell Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu andrew holleran / Photo editor
An estimated crowd of 4,500 people watch President Barack Obama speak at Schiller Park in German Village in Columbus Sept. 17.
Obama visits C-Bus, defends record on job outsourcing Pat Brennan Sports editor brennan.164@osu.edu
2A
Former presidential aides clash
An OUAB-sponsored debate between James Carville and Karl Rove is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30. p.m.
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Trade law and the 2012 presidential candidates’ respective records on outsourcing jobs to China took center stage across America Monday. President Barack Obama was in Columbus to defend his stance on these matters. During a campaign stop at Schiller Park in Columbus’ German Village neighborhood, Obama focused his remarks on his administration’s attempts to prevent the outsourcing of jobs to China. Obama also criticized Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s history of outsourcing jobs. The White House’s latest action against China is aimed at illegal subsidies that encourage companies to ship auto parts and manufacturing jobs overseas, Obama said. He defended his own record of standing up to unfair Chinese trade practices saying that two
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months ago his administration moved to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices that harm American auto makers. “Where folks are breaking the rules, we go after them. We’re not going to let it stand,” Obama said. “American workers build better products than anybody. ‘Made in America’ mean(s) something, and when the playing field is level, we always win. So that’s a choice you’ve got in this election.” In criticizing Romney, Obama challenged his opponent to “walk the walk.” “Now, this is a guy (Romney) whose experience has been owning companies that were called pioneers of outsourcing jobs to countries like China,” Obama said. “Made money investing in companies shipping jobs to China. Ohio, you can’t stand up to China if all you’ve done is send them our jobs. You can talk a good game seven weeks before the election, but you can’t just talk the talk.” In a Monday statement prior to Obama’s stop
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Faculty, students uneasy about mentoring program kayla byler Lantern reporter byler.18@osu.edu
rain
Todd avery / Senior Lantern reporter
A hose in the hallway of Park-Stradley removes water from the basement of the building. About 1,200 students were evacuated from the residence hall after a water main break.
Ohio State is one of the nation’s largest public universities. One program attempts to make students feel more like they attend a smaller school, but not everyone is sure how students will react to the idea. The Office of Student Life will be conducting a pilot project where some first-year students will be given the opportunity to live on campus for a second year and receive a $2,000 stipend in return. The pilot is part of a larger program that would be available to every second-year when OSU requires all second-year students to live on campus, said Molly Ranz Calhoun, associate vice president for Student Life. Students would use the stipend for study abroad, unpaid internships and research assistant positions.
Calhoun said each second-year student would get paired with a faculty mentor to help the student decide how to use the money and spend time within the students’ residence hall. Participating faculty would “come in the evenings, and they would hang out (with the students) and they’d go to dinner with them and help them be engaged,” Calhoun said. Each participating faculty member would have about a 1-20 ratio with the students, and Calhoun said the program would require the participation of 10 percent of the faculty. The stipend alone is expected to cost the university $4 million in cash reserves, but the Office of Student Life has not yet determined how the faculty will be compensated for their time. “We cannot just force this on faculty,” said Jeffory Hattey, assistant dean of First Year Experience and faculty development for the College of
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Jokes about the water main break that displaced about 2,000 students living on South Campus were abundant Sunday night, but some people didn’t think they were all funny. The Ohio State Student Wellness Center is based in the RPAC, where between 150 and 200 evacuated students spent the night Sunday. Tweets from the center’s Twitter account @OSUwellness, documented the event with some advice to students. “Words of advice for RPAC sleepover attendees — 1) Wash your hands. 2) Wrap it. 3) Call us for HIV testing. 614-292-4527,” one tweet said. Monday evening, the tweet had been retweeted nearly 200 times. To clarify the tweet, 23 minutes later the account posted “And for the record — that popular tweet is simply a response to the trends we are seeing on Twitter! Be safe everyone!” The account’s next tweet, “Just because she sleeps next to you at the RPAC DOES NOT mean she wants the D. #consentfirst #besafe,” came nine minutes later and was also retweeted nearly 200 times by Monday evening. The Wellness Center’s tweets have received feedback, both good and bad, from people who thought they were funny and by some who said the tweets went too far. Taylor Stepp, Undergraduate Student Government president, called the tweets “not appropriate” and “ridiculous.” “They were walking a fine line,” Stepp said. However, Stepp said he is confident the message wasn’t meant to offend anyone, and that the person behind the messages was just trying to promote the center’s sexual health testing. The account undoubtedly gained attention. Monday morning, the account tweeted “Shoutout to all our new followers! Clearly the 448 coolest kids on campus. Can we get to 500 today?” The account had 494 followers at about 11 p.m. Monday. Katye Miller, program coordinator at the Student Wellness Center deferred requests for comment to Dave Isaacs, communications and media relations manager of Student Life. “The tweets were in response to social media messages coming from students who were in (the) RPAC, and intended to be similar in tone and spirit,” Isaacs said in an email. “We have received a number of responses, and most have been positive. However, any negative feedback is a good foundation for reviewing our social media efforts in the future.” Tweets directed at the Student Wellness Center Twitter account from a Lantern reporter requesting comment on the subject were deferred as well.
Turn to 3A to see some of @OSUwellness’ tweets 1A