April 12 2016

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CAMPUS T

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Stay safe! Check out the crime map for more information on assaults that took place this past week.

OPINION

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A student penned a thank you letter to Undergraduate Student Government.

ARTS&LIFE

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An outdoor festival featuring art from the OSU community is set to take place on Friday.

SPORTS

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The OSU baseball team is looking to change its luck after a four-game losing streak on the road.

The student voice of the Ohio State University

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

thelantern.com

@TheLantern

Year 136, Issue No. 33

#RECLAIMOSU SUPPORT SWELLS

Trustees pass tuition freeze, Faculty, staff continue to sign letter in solidarity with student activists construction M H “The sense that I get from the contracts ichael

uson

Campus Editor huson.4@osu.edu

More than 400 faculty members, graduate students and staff have signed a letter of solidarity with #ReclaimOSU students at Ohio State, which began being distributed the day after a student-led sit-in in Bricker Hall on Wednesday. Students protesting in Bricker Hall were threatened with physical removal, arrest and possible expulsion. At the sit-in, which began as a rally outside Thompson Library, participants were demanding more transparency from university administration. University Police stood guard at all of the administration building’s doors to keep additional students from entering. Faculty joined students at Bricker Hall on Thursday to deliver a press statement about the previous night’s sit-in. At that time, a group of faculty read sections of the letter supporting the #ReclaimOSU protesters. The letter claimed that the university and its police department handled the protest poorly and in a way that contradicted the goal of the university. “To deal with a peaceful student protest with police is shameful,” the letter stated. “To try to starve students out of a building is an embarrassment. To threaten expulsion for civil disobedience is unethical. These intimidation tactics are in direct conflict with what we try to teach our students every day: to be engaged citizens in the world.” The letter went on to say the university should allow students to peacefully assemble and said

MITCH HOOPER | FOR THE LANTERN

Ohio State students join together in front of Thompson Library during a protest on April 6. the actions of the university were in line with those of powerful institutions who are fearful in the face of change. The majority of signees are faculty members and graduate or doctorate students. The letter was sent to University President Michael Drake on Friday. “We absolutely support the right of free expression, and we encourage vigorous dialogue,” university spokesman Ben John-

son said. “Everyone has to follow the law and the student code of conduct. We were not regulating speech; we were regulating conduct.” Leslie Alexander, an associate professor in African-American and African studies who co-authored the letter, said she feels the threat of physical action against protesting students was excessive, and the letter of solidarity, which acknowledges that, can help bring more attention to the issue.

email correspondence when people are writing in and saying they want to be added is that they just want to make their voices heard to make it known that they don’t feel that the administration’s threats and intimidation were an appropriate response,” she said. Alexander said she and faculty present at Bricker Hall on Wednesday asked University Police multiple times if the students would be allowed to stay, even overnight, and peacefully protest, and that they were assured that the students could stay without ramification. “That, for me, is really what motivated my participation,” she said. “We asked numerous times, and we were essentially lied to about what the potential consequences were for the students.” At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, University Police tweeted that “accommodations (have been) made for #ReclaimOSU students already inside to stay overnight” and that they “can leave at any time.” However, by the time faculty members had left Bricker Hall later that evening, Jay Kasey, senior vice president for administration and planning, told the students that any of them still in the building at 5 a.m. on Wednesday would be cleared from the room and arrested. “Our police officers will physically pick you up and take you to a paddy wagon and take you to be arrested,” he said after a student asked Kasey what he meant by “clear the room” in a video posted to YouTube. Kasey later said he was “fairly confident” students still in the

The Ohio State Board of Trustees has approved a proposal to freeze fees for in-state students while hiking the prices for out-ofstate and international students for another year. Additionally, residence hall fees remain frozen for school year 2016-17, despite an initial proposal to increase them. In-state tuition and fees have been frozen since the 2012-13 school year, and since then out-ofstate tuition has steadily increased. The Board of Trustees approved another 3.2 percent hike for outof-state undergraduate students’ tuition, making the total $28,229 per academic year from $27,365 per academic year. Additionally, currently enrolled international students will see a 3 percent increase to tuition, raising it from $28,365 per academic year to $29,229 per academic year. International students enrolling with OSU in Autumn Semester 2016 for the first time will pay an extra 2.9 percent from those who enrolled last year, now set to pay $30,169 per academic year instead of $29,305 per academic year. The university decided not to recommend 2 percent raise in residence hall room rates after University President Michael Drake

#RECLAIMOSU CONTINUES ON 3

BOARD CONTINUES ON 2

Ashley Nelson

Social Media Editor nelson.1217@osu.edu

Robert Scarpinito Copy Chief scarpinito.1@osu.edu

Michael Huson Campus Editor huson.4@osu.edu

USG to host safety town hall on Tuesday Caitlyn Sack

Lantern reporter sack.23@osu.edu

COURTESY OF NATHAN LOOS

Sunder Sai, a second-year in neuroscience, shows the Student Safety Packs, which will be available during the town hall on April 12.

Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government is set to address current issues revolving around student safety during a town hall panel consisting of public safety professionals from across campus and Columbus at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The event will provide students with a way to interact with the University Police Department’s Acting Chief of Police Craig Stone; Columbus Division of Police Deputy Chief of the Patrol North Subdivision Thomas A. Quinlan; OSU’s Director of Emergency Management Bob Armstrong;

Columbus Public Safety Chair Councilman Mitchell J. Brown; and OSU Off-campus and Commuter Student Services’ Community Ambassador Student Supervisor Ezra Baker. Sunder Sai, deputy director of health and safety for USG and a second-year in neuroscience, said he noticed the need for more open lines of communication within student-safety services. After discussing his ideas with public safety employees, Sai proposed a plan for this town hall meeting. OSU Department of Public Safety agreed and began the planning process with Sai a couple months ago. “I saw the events of last semester, and I took it as an alarm, and a lot of students

aren’t aware of how everything works with safety,” he said in reference to the Mirror Lake incident, a stabbing off campus and the shooting at the Wexner Center for the Arts. Sai expressed his concern that OSU did not have a student-safety town hall meeting and after researching several other universities and noticing various, frequent crimes occurring last semester at other institutions, he began planning a town hall. Gerard Basalla, president of USG and a third-year in communication, said he is excited to see the town hall efforts impact students. “It is incredible that we have the oppor-

SAFETY CONTINUES ON 2


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April 12 2016 by The Lantern - Issuu