Thursday April 16, 2015 year: 135 No. 27
@TheLantern weather high 63 low 54 showers
thelantern
Spring Game: Who to watch
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OSU’s take on Coachella
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Technology store opens
Turf to Track
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All varsity sports cut at Newark campus Decision meant to balance budget AMANDA ETCHISON Campus Editor etchison.4@osu.edu For Chelsea Dobson, a fourth-year in art at Ohio State’s Newark campus, basketball games are a time for the campus to get together and share in one experience of fandom. “The main sport that I feel like gets the most attention is the basketball team. Usually, those are the best crowds,” said Dobson, who works as a student athletic assistant at OSU-Newark. “They will cheer, they yell crazy things when we have the ball and things like that.” But students at OSU-Newark will not get the chance to cheer on their team next year after it was announced on April 10 that varsity sports will no longer be offered beginning in the fall, because of budget reduction initiatives by the school. The school announced the decision as part of an email sent out to faculty and staff that said, as part of the budget planning for fiscal year 2016, the varsity athletic teams will be discontinued, effective June 30. OSU-Newark offers six varsity
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After years of being just a student, senior Malcolm Branson was offered a walk-on spot with the OSU track team and joined the Buckeyes in September. Branson was discovered by coaches after competing in the fastest-student race at halftime of the 2014 football Spring Game.
Student race standout becomes varsity athlete JAMES GREGA, JR. Asst. Sports Editor grega.9@osu.edu About a year ago, senior Malcolm Branson was racing against fellow students, including Ohio State football players, at halftime of the 2014 Spring Game at Ohio Stadium. Now, Branson is racing toward a new finish line. Just months after taking on then-OSU football player Doran Grant in the fastest-student race on April 12, 2014, Branson was contacted by OSU associate head track coach Rosalind Joseph to gauge his interest in trying out for the track program. “I was shocked if anything, and she said, ‘Do you wanna
give it a try?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’” Branson told The Lantern. “I definitely wanted a shot to be an athlete again. I had to jump on it.” Branson tried out in August, but didn’t exactly impress the coaches right away. Karen Dennis, the director of track and field and cross country at OSU, said she wasn’t sure if Branson was going to make an impact at all at first. “I didn’t know if he was going to be able to be a contributor or not,” Dennis said. “He just had no coordination in terms of just being more fluid with his running. He was extremely weak, but he kept coming every day.”
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MICHAELA GOOD Senior Lantern Reporter good.241@osu.edu While William Shakespeare’s “Richard II” might not be adept at handling finances — wrongfully taking money from his subjects to finance a war — Ohio State’s English department has managed to
produce four sold-out performances of the play with a single donation. Last academic year, an alumni couple anonymously gave $50,000 to the department with the stipulation that it go toward two major projects within the department, said Hannibal Hamlin, a professor in the Department of English. Since spring 2014, plans for the production have been in the works, Hamlin said. “It’s an interesting process. A lot of students are involved,”
Hamlin said. “I’m actually acting in it.” He will be playing the role of the gardener in the play along with working on promoting it. Although the play has a majority of male characters, the director, Sarah Neville, an assistant professor in the English department, has adapted it to be more “gender blind,” and both of the leads will be played by women so as to give them equal representation in a male-dominated play.
JUDY WON Lantern Reporter won.69@osu.edu
Ellie Rogers, a third-year in theatre, will play Richard II. “I don’t really play it any differently than I would any other role because I don’t think that should be important,” Rogers said. “I think the importance should be his character, not his gender.” The production has come together through the help of students of the course, Special Topics in Shakespeare. Lord
Ohio State student Harley Skorpenske walked out to the CVS parking lot on Thursday morning to see a stranger placing Harley Skorpenske a note on her car. After quickly making eye contact with Skorpenske and exchanging a friendly smile, the stranger shuffled away as she approached her car. At first, Skorpenske said she assumed the note was a club invitation or a coupon, but was surprised with the content of the note, which stated:
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Students put their own spin on ‘Richard II’ English Dept. play abolishes gender bias
‘Invisible illness’ garners online attention
Knots brings a mix of influences to jazz roots HANNAH HERNER For The Lantern herner.12@osu.edu
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nots isn’t your grandparents’ jazz — if you can consider it jazz at all. ¶ The duo’s mindset when it comes to music can be summed up in one statement: “Forget it. Do it all.” ¶ “That’s the radio edit,” said percussionist Troy Kunkler of the motto. ¶ The audiences at the duo’s shows are filled mainly with young people, Kunkler said. ¶ He and keyboardist Caleb Miller draw influence from diverse genres, jazz and hardcore, which both influence their sound and mentality. continued as Knots on 4A
Courtesy of Knots
Caleb Miller (left) and Troy Kunkler of Knots
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