The Lantern – Nov. 4, 2019

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TUESDAY

FOOD ALLIANCE

THURSDAY

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

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Buckeye Food Alliance opening second location to increase student access to nonperishables.

TRANSIT ARTS

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Program offering access to artistic and creative experiences throughout Columbus community.

MEN’S SOCCER

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Ohio State marks another stop in Bennati’s soccer journey from Italy to the US.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

THE LANTERN thelantern.com

@TheLantern

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Wesson and Carter make connections on and off the court.

@thelanternosu

The student voice of the Ohio State University

Year 139, Issue No. 48

Fired professor claims ‘toxic’ culture at Fisher KAYLEE HARTER Editor-in-Chief harter.830@osu.edu SAM RAUDINS Campus Editor raudins.3@osu.edu A fired Ohio State professor has filed a lawsuit against the school and some of its employees, claiming gender-based discrimination and painting a picture of a “toxic” and discriminatory environment in the Fisher College of Business. The suit was filed Sept. 19 by Deborah Mitchell in the Southern District Court of Ohio after her termination was approved by the Board of Trustees Aug. 30 for conflict of interest. According to Mitchell’s complaint, the university has allowed male employees to engage in similar activities without investigation or termination. Mitchell, who worked at the university for seven years, is president and founder of a consulting business called CypressTree Corp. She was found to have committed “grave misconduct” and fired for improperly steering a $1.6 million project with the Ohio Department of Medicaid to

CASEY CASCALDO | MANAGING EDITOR FOR MULTIMEDIA

University President Michael V. Drake speaks at a full Board of Trustees meeting at the Secrest Welcome and Education Center at Ohio State’s Wooster campus on Aug. 30. The Board voted on the termination of Deborah Mitchell at the meeting.

her company, University President Michael V. Drake said at the full Board meeting. “By deciding to continue a relationship and enter into a contract with ODM without reporting it to the chair, dean, or others in authority within Fisher Executive Education, Professor Mitchell elected to pursue a matter in her

role as President of CypressTree that competed directly with the interests of the Fisher College of Business,” Drake said in a letter to the Board recommending Mitchell’s termination. Mitchell said she does not believe she was guilty of misconduct. “I have complete confidence

in this litigation. And you know, I have zero doubt about the strength of my case. I do not wish that I had done anything differently,” she said in an interview with The Lantern. Additionally, Drake; Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce McPheron; Paul C. Velasco, former executive director of

Executive Education at Fisher; Anil Makhija, dean of Fisher; and Walter Zinn, faculty member and former associate dean of graduate students at Fisher, are also named as defendants in the suit as of an Oct. 23 amendment. The individuals held leadership positions during the time of Mitchell’s complaints and were involved in her termination and removal from teaching duties “with a motivating factor being her sex and in retaliation for making good faith complaints of discrimination.” Ben Johnson, university spokesperson, said the university is aware of the suit and reviewing it. Zinn said he could not comment on the suit. Makhija and Velasco did not respond to request for comment by the time of publication. Mitchell also wrote in her letter to the Board that the conclusion of the investigation and her pending termination would provide her a sense of relief. “I am almost free. I will no longer have to go to sleep at night with the weight of Ohio State holding me down, its bureaucratic hand over my mouth. This PROFESSOR CONTINUES ON 3

Walk wisely on Woodruff Most on-campus pedestrian accidents occur on North Campus avenue

OWEN MILNES | FOR THE LANTERN

A second-year in engineering physics, Nick Pater’s accident was the fifth involving a person struck on West Woodruff Avenue in the past five years.

OWEN MILNES For The Lantern milnes.12@osu.edu A white van came to a screeching halt as it collided with Nick Pater while he crossed West Woodruff Avenue. Pater hit the

ground, and the driver leapt out of his vehicle. “Oh [expletive], I killed this kid,” Ivan Aponte, the driver of the vehicle, said of his first thoughts of the incident. Pater, a second-year in engineering physics, sustained minor

injuries from the Sept. 6 accident and was cited by Ohio State police for entering a crosswalk that doesn’t have a signal outside Schoenbaum Hall and into the path of Aponte’s vehicle. The accident was the fifth involving a person struck on West Wood-

ruff Avenue in the past five years. During the same time period, there have been 14 on-campus car accidents involving pedestrians and vehicles. According to gmap-pedometer. com — a website used to measure distances — the immediate on-campus area of West Woodruff Avenue runs 0.45 miles through North Campus from North High Street to Tuttle Park Place. Along this stretch, approximately 36 percent of all on-campus accidents involving pedestrians and vehicles have occurred. Neil Avenue and the intersection of Tuttle Park Place and Ives Drive are the next most frequent locations for on-campus accidents. In the past five years, each location had three instances of pedestrians being struck by vehicles. The two combined locations account for about 42 percent of

on-campus accidents, while West 12th Avenue accounts for 14.3 percent, with two accidents in the past five years.

“It’s made me more mindful.” NICK PATER Second-year in engineering physics

Dan Hedman, university spokesperson, said West Woodruff Avenue is particularly dangerous because it has a high volume of cars and pedestrians, runs parallel to Lane Avenue, connects to High Street and is close to the North Residential District. Hedman said the university advises everyone to share the road responsibly. He advised people to avoid distractions by removing earbuds and looking up from their cellphones. Hedman added that Share the Road is an educational university ACCIDENTS CONTINUES ON 2


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