TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 THELANTERN.COM
OPINION
thelantern
A student pens a letter discussing her frustrations on the lack of publicity surrounding USG elections. ON PAGE 3
THE STUDENT VOICE OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
ARTS&LIFE
YEAR 136, ISSUE NO. 17 @THELANTERN
SPORTS
Award-winning Spanish architect Borja Ferrater of the Office of Architecture in Barcelona is slated to give a lecture at OSU about being successful without selling out. ON PAGE 5
Ohio State men’s basketball is hoping to score a win against sixth-ranked Michigan State on Tuesday. ON PAGE 8
Humanities enrollment in decline AMANDA VAUGHN News Director vaughn.246@osu.edu Ohio State offers more than 200 majors that allow students to specialize in a myriad of subjects, but that could be in jeopardy as humanities majors have seen an enrollment decline, a trend that some believe could have long-term consequences. When the university published its strategic enrollment plan for 2012 to 2017, it outlined its goals to increase enrollment at OSU at no cost to the academic diversity. After examining enrollment data, the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Advisory Council has drafted a recommendation it believes will help the university fulfill that goal. The chair of the ASC faculty senate, Tom Hawkins, explained the group’s desire for the university to reevaluate the enrollment policies. “The kind of community we want to have here at this university is based on having a rich diversity of intellectual perspectives,” he said. The recommendation that the group sent to University President Michael Drake, as well as Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Bruce McPheron, called for the university “to adjust its acceptance and recruitment practices so that all colleges and divisions of colleges at OSU are supplied with qualified students.” “Changes in enrollment levels in particular disciplines can be due to a variety of complex factors,” university spokesman Chris Davey
DENNY CHECK | MANAGING EDITOR FOR DESIGN
“We’ve been puzzled and concerned that even as the applications are going up, admissions in the humanities are going down, and significantly.” Jill Galvan Associate professor, Department of English
said in an email. “Managing enrollment and admissions at a comprehensive university like Ohio State is a complicated and dynamic process that we are constantly refining and improving, and the faculty are important partners in this.” According to enrollment data compiled and analyzed by Alan
Farmer, an associate professor in the Department of English, the number of university applicants has increased since 2012, including the number of students indicating a desire to pursue a humanities major. However, the number of humanities students admitted to the university has gone down while
natural and mathematical sciences and social and behavioral sciences have increased. This is not an isolated trend at OSU, though. Harvard University’s arts and humanities department published the Harvard Humanities Project in 2013, that found nationally, the number of humanities majors is decreasing. While Harvard projected that its humanities majors would decrease from 24 to 17 percent of its students by 2016, the OSU faculty council projects its trend to be more extreme. Todd Thompson, a member of the Faculty Advisory Council and a professor in the Department of Astronomy, said he analyzed Farmer’s data and projected that there will be no humanities majors at OSU by 2019. “We’ve been puzzled and concerned that even as the applications are going up, admissions in the humanities are going down, and significantly,” said Jill Galvan, an associate professor in the English department and a member of the Faculty Advisory Council who also worked on the report. The acceptance numbers of humanities students has decreased since 2012, despite increasing acceptance numbers across the other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, natural and mathematical sciences and social and behavioral sciences. Overall enrollment in the humanities departments has decreased by 49 percent since 2010, according to Farmer’s report. This could have far-reaching effects beyond just fewer stuHUMANITIES CONTINUES ON 2
MUYAO SHEN | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
A Columbus Planned Parenthood is located at 18 E. 17th Ave.
Kasich signs bill to defund Planned Parenthood Campus-area location expected to remain open ALLISON BUGENSTEIN Lantern reporter bugenstein.4@osu.edu The campus-area Planned Parenthood, located at 18 E. 17th Ave., plans to keep its doors open despite impending cuts resulting from the signing of legislation by Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday to drop state funding for Planned Parenthood in Ohio. The move was part of House Bill 294, which cut off state funding from organizations that provide or promote abortions in the state. The bill passed the Ohio House, with amendments from the Senate companion bill, on Feb. 10, with 62 yeas to 32 nays. The Senate companion bill had earlier passed 22 yeas to 8 nays. The bill also removes funding from organizations that are affiliated with any abortion clinic. The
PARENTHOOD CONTINUES ON 2
Bicchieri discusses research during Mershon Speaker Series CAITLYN SACK Lantern reporter sack.23@osu.edu
CAITLYN SACK | LANTERN REPORTER
Cristina Bicchieri speaks during the Citizenship Speaker Series on Feb. 19.
Trendsetters elude norms and affect change in society, said Cristina Bicchieri, guest lecturer at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. The talk on Friday was part of the Citizenship Speaker Series. Bicchieri defines “trendsetters” as those who are willing to be the first to act on change and “are often peripheral members of society.” Bicchieri is a professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and also serves as the S.J.P. Harvie Chair of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics. Bicchieri, who is also a professor
in the legal studies department of the Wharton School of Business, began her presentation discussing why she became passionate in learning more about trendsetters. “My original interest actually stemmed from my interest in social norms,” she said. Bicchieri said some regularities are behaviors that we adopt and continue to engage in, regardless of what people think. She further shared that there is a sense that everyone ought to behave in an appropriate way. “If we expect this generalized reproach, it will be enough to keep up all obeying the rule,” she said. The presentation then shifted to a discussion about tipping points and the process of how social norms change.
“At some point, a few individuals will be convinced, for example, that beating their wives is not the best way to fulfill deeply held values,” Bicchieri said. “They may decide to abandon the practice, which would cause a gradual change in attitudes. If this minority grows, it will reach a tipping point.” Kristen Darah, a third-year in finance, attended the lecture series and said she believed Bicchieri was informative. “Being a finance major, I don’t usually think about what kind of behaviors it takes to create a trendsetter,” Darah said. “We overlook why we behave the way we do, but Bicchieri’s presentation made a lot of sense.” Bicchieri was born in Milan, where she received her laurea, a
post-secondary academic degree in Italy, in philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Milan. She received her doctorate’s degree in philosophy of science at Cambridge University and also taught at Barnard College, Columbia University, University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon University. Bicchieri has published more than 100 articles and several books, according to the Office of International Affairs website. The Mershon Center Speaker Series hosts a series of different topics every month, including a Globalization Speaker Series, National Security Speaker Series and Global Migration Speaker Series.