9.4.2012

Page 1

Tuesday September 4, 2012 year: 132 No. 90

the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern Schottenstein: BoT has ‘a lot of work to do’

sports

Ally Marotti Editor-in-chief marotti.5@osu.edu

One last push

6A

OSU is making changes to its goal line offense after failing to convert from the 1-yard line Saturday.

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After what Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Schottenstein called the most “important” day he’s ever been involved with at the Board, he sat down for an interview with The Lantern to discuss new university plans, the upcoming election, parking privatization and the start of the Urban Meyer era. Schottenstein was appointed as a Board member in 2005 for a nine-year term and took over as chairman in April. Les Wexner, CEO of The Limited Brands and former Board chairman, stepped down from the Board in June and gave no reason for his resignation. “He had always intended to once he was no longer chair,” Schottenstein said. “I think it was always in the back of his mind that after being on the Board again for four or five years and his chairmanship expired that he would step off the Board.” But Schottenstein said the Board didn’t miss a beat after Wexner’s resignation. “We don’t rest on our laurels when we know we have a lot of work to do,” he said. North District Residential Plan The Board approved a $396 million plan to

revamp North Campus housing and the surrounding area Friday. The plan looks to demolish Haverfield, Scott, Nosker and Blackburn houses, but will ultimately add about 3,200 new beds, making the North Campus bed total 6,359. Construction is scheduled to begin July 2013 and be completed June 2016. While many buildings, such as Taylor and Jones towers, are expected to remain, Curl Drive will also be removed from campus. These renovations are part of the effort to accommodate a second-year live-on requirement, which President E. Gordon Gee has previously told The Lantern he expects to enforce by 2015 or 2016. Schottenstein said these renovations will give OSU students a “second-to-none experience.” “I think about when I went to school, if I called home and said, ‘Ya know, I really like my teacher,’ my parents liked hearing that,” he said. “Imagine the students calling home and saying, ‘God, I love where I live, you should see this place. You should see the housing the university’s created.’” Students are the “heart and soul” of the university, Schottenstein said, and the Board’s approval of the plan Friday proved that. “Today was probably as important a day as I’ve ever been involved in since I’ve been with the Board in terms of the decisions that we’ve made and the

stake in the ground, if you will, that has been planted to say students do come first,” he said. Parking privatization hiccups “I know it was very controversial,” Schottenstein said. “That was a big, big decision, and to my knowledge, we’re the first public university in the nation to make that decision.” In June, at the first meeting after Wexner’s resignation, the Board approved a deal that would privatize campus parking. The Australia-based investment company QIC Global Infrastructure was the highest bidder for the leasing of parking assets. QIC placed a $483 million bid to enter into a 50-year agreement that would cap rate increases on parking at 5.5 percent annually for the first 10 years of the deal. From almost the time of its proposal, many faculty members and staff were not happy about the deal, signing petitions and staging protests. Schottenstein said this was no longer the case. Now, he said, OSU has money to invest in what it’s good at. “We have the money, we have the parking and now we have the money to invest in what we do best,” he said. “You know, we’re not a parking

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Urban style shines in opening victory Michael Periatt Managing editor for content periatt.1@osu.edu

4A

Cooking up a final chapter

AMC TV series ‘Breaking Bad’ finished the first half of its final season Sunday.

campus

There was only enough time for one play. With just three ticks of the clock separating Urban Meyer from halftime and just one yard separating Ohio State from the end zone, the first-year head coach had a decision to make. Would he take the easy points and kick the field goal, or would he roll the dice and try to punch the ball into the end zone to extend a rapidly expanding 18-point lead? Under previous regimes, OSU was known for being conservative, almost to a fault. Going for it on fourth down — even with just one yard to go — was often a foreign concept when Jim Tressel was at the helm. And after losses, angry callers flooded radio talk shows pleading the former coach to have a killer instinct and be more aggressive. The outcome of the game was not in doubt Saturday, but Meyer showed no hesitation. He was going for it. For one of the few times in the game, sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller lined up under center and aligned OSU in a power formation. Miller handed the ball off to junior tailback Carlos Hyde right up the middle. When the clock expired, Hyde was brought to the ground short of the goal line and OSU jogged into the locker room with nothing to add to its 21-3 lead. But Meyer’s message was clear. Things will be different as long as he’s the coach. After the game, Meyer showed regret, but not for leaving the kicker on the sideline. “Ohio State should be able to knock it in from the 1 (yard line),” he said. “That’s bad. That’s absolutely non-negotiable. Nonsense. And we’ll hit that with a sledgehammer Sunday because that can’t happen … The Ohio State University with a 220-, 230-pound tailback

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2A

International grinds

Crane Cafe, located in Hagerty Hall, is now managed by Campus Grinds, which runs other campus coffee shops.

weather high 85 low 70 t-storms

W 88/70 TH 87/63 F 85/68 S 74/58

partly cloudy partly cloudy mostly cloudy cloudy www.weather.com

Andrew holleran / Photo editor

Urban Meyer sings ‘Carmen Ohio’ following the Buckeyes 56-10 victory against Miami (Ohio) Saturday in Meyer’s OSU debut.

North Campus to see OSU acquires $396M in renovations Gateway housing Kristen Mitchell Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu Ohio State students have expressed mixed feelings after hearing that four residence halls on North Campus will fall after being home to thousands of students for almost 50 years. OSU President E. Gordon Gee told the Board of Trustees they had made “a bold decision” during a Friday meeting where the Board approved a $396 million construction plan aimed to update and improve North Campus housing. Plans for the North Residential District project are under way, and a model of what the area is expected to look like after completion was on display after Friday’s meeting. The project is expected to add about 3,200 total new beds to campus, making the number of beds on North Campus total 6,359. OSU’s Senior Vice President of Administration and Planning Jay Kasey said while many buildings on that side of campus will remain, Blackburn, Haverfield, Nosker and Scott houses will be demolished. Students who live on North Campus have conflicting feelings about the plan.

“I don’t see anything wrong with Scott House as it is right now, and it’s just more construction. It’s just a lot of getting around places and everything is kind of hard. But right now, I think Scott House should stay and, because, like, I think it is fine how it is,” said Hannah Baker, a first-year in international studies and Scott House resident. Others said they think the extra room for students will be worth the inconvenience. “I actually think it’s a good idea,” said Sanchita Dhond, a first-year in neuroscience and Taylor Tower resident. “They had to tell so many freshmen they couldn’t live in dorms, and especially in my dorm, even if you’re supposed to be in a double, they added two more beds and made it a quad and stuff like that, so it’s really crowded.” Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2013, and is expected to be completed in June 2016. Kasey said about 2,200 new beds will be added to the area, and about 1,800 will be added the following year. The project is expected to add new dining and recreational facilities to North

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Kayla Byler Lantern reporter byler.18@osu.edu

An Ohio State official said an operational change in the South Campus Gateway apartments made sense, but ultimately, drove some residents away. OSU’s Office of Student Life assumed operation of the apartments on Aug. 1. OSU previously owned the apartments, but they were operated by Campus Partners, an affiliate foundation of the university. Molly Ranz Calhoun, associate vice president for Student Life, said the change in operation “makes sense.” Housing experts are already employed within the Office of Student Life, and Calhoun said the apartments will maintain a high quality of housing. With the university two-year live-on requirement expected to be enforced before the 2015-2016 school year, the Gateway apartments will contribute to the additional number of beds needed to house all second-year students. All Gateway residents, who had been contracting with Campus Partners prior to the change, had the option to stay in their apartment and contract with the university. Kris Bradley, a third-year in aeronautical engineering, lived in a threebedroom apartment in the Gateway last academic year but chose not to contract with the university. Bradley said his decision not to stay was because “we couldn’t find a third roommate. We didn’t want to play the lottery and get a random person assigned to us.” Under a contract with the university, Bradley said he and his roommate wouldn’t have control over their third roommate. He said OSU would automatically fill any vacancies as it does with other residence halls. In an interview in May, Calhoun said Campus Partners had retained “about 70 percent” of its residences in the Gateway apartments from

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