Tuesday February 5, 2013 year: 133 No. 17
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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thelantern COTA considers removing 6 campus stops
sports
KRISTEN MITCHELL Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu Barbara Hare likes to take the Central Ohio Transit Authority bus from her Hilltop home to see performances at Weigel Hall, however after hearing about the pending closure of a southbound stop at High Street and 15th Avenue, she isn’t sure how she will be able to get there anymore. The 71-year-old from Columbus’ west side Hilltop neighborhood said she usually has to leave her home at 6:15 p.m. for a 8 p.m. curtain, making a transfer downtown to board COTA’s line 2 that runs down High Street. However, after taking the bus to a percussion performance last week, she noticed a sign on a pole indicating the stop was being considered for removal — a decision that Hare said would be a hassle. “That’s a horrible stop to eliminate. I don’t know why they would do that,” she said. But Hare isn’t prepared to go down without a fight. “I basically told everyone there (at the bus stop) and everyone I knew,” she said. In a Wednesday interview with The Lantern, Hare said she had been making calls to figure out why the stop was being considered for elimination. She said she posted her own sign on the pole, warning travelers to register a complaint with COTA before Feb. 8. A commuter bulletin COTA posted on the pole listed the same date, and gave a phone number and mailing address where riders could file complaints. The stop near 15th Avenue isn’t the only one under investigation. Several other stops, including the northbound stops at High Street and Woodruff and Northwood avenues, are also being considered for removal, said COTA spokesman Marty Stutz.
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B1G challenges await
The OSU basketball team enters a tough stretch of its conference schedule beginning Tuesday against Michigan.
[ a+e ] Courtesy of COTA
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OSU spends $80K yearly to test athletes CAROLINE KEYES Lantern reporter keyes.64@osu.edu
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Beyoncé steals the show
Our columnist said the big winner of the Super Bowl was Beyoncé for her halftime show performance.
campus
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Preaching acceptance
The OSU men’s hockey team held a pride night Friday against Notre Dame advocating acceptance of gay athletes.
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In the aftermath of famous cyclist Lance Armstrong’s doping confession, the Ohio State athletic department vows to remain firm on their drug testing procedures for student-athletes. “I think that as it has played out, you’re seeing the lengths that he went to in particular to not get caught, and it highlights the need for why we test,” said assistant athletic director Janine Oman. “Our policy is really based around testing and we will continue to test for those very reasons.” Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs in each of his seven straight Tour de France victories in a January interview with Oprah Winfrey, and was stripped of all titles he won from 1999 to 2005 after a United States Anti-Doping Agency investigation. Oman said every sport is subjected to illegal drug testing in order to protect the integrity and honesty of both the athletes and the university. “On a whole, we do test usually anywhere from three to four times a week,” Oman said. “We do team-based testing so we have testers on campus every week.” OSU contracts Aegis Laboratories based in Nashville, Tenn., to conduct the testing. Typically about 2,200 student-athlete drug tests are administered each year, costing the university about from $80,000 to $85,000 annually, Oman said. Oman would not disclose how many positive tests were returned between 2010 and 2012 due to “privacy issues.” According to OSU Department of Athletics policies, any use of illegal performance enhancers “gives a student-athlete an unfair advantage and their use constitutes cheating.”
Student-athlete drug testing If an athlete tests positive for performanceenhancing drugs: In the first incident, the athlete will be suspended for the next 25 percent of their competitive season play. After the second occurance the student will lose all eligibility and any athletic grant-in-aid.
If an athlete tests positive for other drugs or alochol abuse: In the first incident, the student-athlete will undergo a supervised management plan to address the issue. Second and third positives could result in a suspension of anywhere from two-weeks to one calendar year and the possible termination of athletic aid.
2,200 $80,000 Annually drug tests cost the university at least
student-athlete drug tests are administered each year
source: reporting While a student-athlete at the university, individuals might be subject to OSU testing as well as NCAA testing and Big Ten testing. For the testing conducted by the university, “zero notification is the norm,” according to policy guidelines. The OSU policy further states that if an athlete does test positive for performance-enhancing drugs, he or she will be suspended for the next 25 percent of their
KAYLA BYLER / Design editor
respective competitive season play. Upon a second positive testing, the student-athlete “will lose all remaining eligibility and loss of athletic grant-in-aid,” according to the online policy listed online. In addition to testing for performance enhancers, OSU also tests student-athletes for evidence of other
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Kasich caps college tuition in budget plan KRISTEN MITCHELL Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced a higher education tuition cap and a new way state funds will be distributed to universities as part of this two-year budget plan. In a Monday press conference in Columbus, Kasich laid out Ohio’s budget during the rest of his term as governor, which detailed a Medicaid expansion, a 20 percent income tax, and cutting the sales tax to 5 percent from 5.5 percent. His roughly $1.8 billion higher education plans include capping tuition increases at 2 percent for public colleges and tying graduation rates more with state funding as opposed to enrollment. Kasich talked about how to approach education in Ohio during a September meeting with higher education leaders, including OSU President E. Gordon Gee. Kasich said at the meeting he believes that the new funding system should reward institutional graduation rates, instead of just enrollment figures. Kasich said in September that he asked Gee to “kind of lead the effort,” but said it wouldn’t be an OSU-centric process. In a Monday statement, Gee stated his approval of the budget plan. “At a time when other states are reducing critical funding for higher education, the governor has once again affirmed the importance of an educated workforce to our state’s economic well-being by providing an increase for a new funding formula that rewards degree and course completion,” Gee said.
DANIEL CHI / Asst. photo editor
Gov. John Kasich (left) and OSU President E. Gordon Gee (right) attend a meeting at the Statehouse on Sept. 17 to discuss a budget plan for higher education. Gee said the planned change would reflect a “renewed focus on student success” and would “establish a new standard for the nation.” The 2 percent public tuition cap comes after a 7 percent tuition increase over the past two years.
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