Thursday January 24, 2013 year: 133 No. 11
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Rape suspect dismissed from university
sports
LIZ YOUNG Senior Lantern reporter young.1693@osu.edu
5A
Regrouping at the finish
The OSU hockey team is returning to full strength and hopes to finish the season stronger than it started.
[ a+e ]
The case surrounding an alleged rape on Oct. 12 in Park-Stradley Hall has been closed because the “victim refused to cooperate,” according to the Ohio State Police logs. The rape was reported by the victim, a female 18-year-old Park-Stradley resident. She told police she had gone to a downtown bar on the night of the alleged incident and had met a fellow Park-Stradley resident who was a “friend of a friend.” The victim and the suspect later took a taxi together back to their dorm. They both got off at the suspect’s floor to use the co-ed bathroom, where the suspect allegedly raped the victim in one of the private stalls, according to the police report. Park-Stradley bathrooms have the same setup as six other halls on campus: Mack Hall, Canfield Hall, Bradley Hall, Paterson Hall and Scholars East and West. The co-ed bathrooms have a common sink area with multiple separate rooms off that area that
It’s a question of safety over privacy. If (Park-Stradley residents) think the doors removed make them safer, that’s great. In exchange for a little bit of privacy, I guess that’s up to them. Gabrielle Smith first-year in neuroscience, Haverfield House resident each hold a toilet and a shower, OSU spokesman Dave Isaacs told The Lantern in a Jan. 8 interview. When Park-Stradley residents returned to OSU after winter break, they found the doors to the common sink area had been removed from the bathrooms. The doors were taken off due to feedback from residents who said they would “feel more secure if there was no divider between the hallways and that area,” Isaacs said in a Jan. 8 email.
Single Game Ticket Price
13%
2013 Season general public - $79 2012 Season general public - $70
1B
Chronicling the country
OSU’s Athletic Council will propose a ticket price increase for the 2013 season and potentially designate two games as premium, with higher ticket prices at the next Board of Trustees meeting which begins on Jan. 31. KAYLA ZAMARY / Design editor JACKIE STORER / Managing editor of design
campus
continued as Rape on 3A
Buckeye football ticket prices likely to rise Ohio Stadium tickets might rise for the 2013 season
The ‘More American Photographs’ exhibit opens Sunday at the Wexner Center.
However, that was not the only change the university decided to make after the alleged rape was reported. The victim said in a statement to University Police she heard the suspect “had been removed from the building and suspended for 10 days.” The suspect was “dismissed from OSU beginning Nov. 29,” according to the report. The victim was “happy with the Student Judicial hearing,” according to the police report, and did not press criminal charges. The case was then closed, according to the report. Moving a student to a different on-campus residence hall, removing him or her from on-campus housing and removing him or her from the university are among the disciplinary actions that can be taken in response to any nonacademic misconduct, said OSU Student Conduct director Andrea Goldblum in a Friday interview with The Lantern. Goldblum could not discuss the specifics of any case because of the Family Educational Rights and
Photos by ANDREW HOLLERAN / Photo editor
DAN HOPE Senior Lantern reporter hope.46@osu.edu The stakes will be higher for Ohio State football next season, as the Buckeyes will no longer be banned from the postseason and will be able to pursue a national championship. The price to watch a game in Ohio Stadium will likely be higher as well. OSU’s Athletic Council will propose a football ticket price increase at the next Board of Trustees meeting Jan. 31 through Feb. 1, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The Dispatch reported Wednesday that the general public ticket price could be raised from $70 to $79, an increase of nearly 13 percent. The Board will also vote upon the proposal to designate as many as two games per year as premium games, which would have higher ticket prices than other games. Student and faculty ticket prices could also increase, according to The Dispatch. In 2012, student season tickets cost $272 for all eight home games and $136 for four Big Ten home games ($34 per game), while faculty season tickets cost $448 for the full home season ($56 per game). An OSU athletics spokesman said Wednesday it was “premature” for the athletic department to comment upon the proposal at this time but said the Board will release information on its upcoming meeting Friday.
Event plays Steam line leaves brown strip on the Oval off ‘Hunger Games’
2A
weather high 22 low 18 partly cloudy
F SA SU M
27/22
snow showers
29/21
partly cloudy
35/34
mostly cloudy
42/41
showers www.weather.com
DANIEL EDDY Lantern reporter eddy.80@osu.edu
There is a strip of dormant brown grass on the east side of the Oval, but the root of the problem runs deeper. A utility tunnel runs under the surface of the Oval, affecting the grass on top and leaving a distinct mark on the lawn. The tunnel itself does not affect the grass, but the steam line housed inside the tunnel that keeps the utility lines warm causes the problem, said Lindsay Komlanc, spokeswoman for Administration and Planning in an email. Karl Danneberger, a professor of horticulture and crop science with an area of interest in turfgrass science, said in an email that the brown turf is a warm season turfgrass, and when the steam escapes the line it warms the soil temperatures. In the summer, the soil warms to a point where a cooler season turfgrass cannot survive. The reason the grass is brown is because once temperatures reach 50 degrees and below, the grass will go dormant, Danneberger said in the email. Komlanc said the steam from the lines assist in keeping the buildings warm on campus. “The steam is what goes into the buildings and is actually part of the heating system for the buildings, as well as, in some cases, domestic heated hot water,” she said. McCracken Power Plant is the main generator that heats most the buildings on central campus, and that is why the utility system is needed, Komlanc said. These utility lines connect most buildings between 12th and 19th avenues, she said.
DANIEL EDDY / Lantern photographer
A brown strip of grass on the Oval indicates that a steam line housed below is releasing warm steam and heating the soil. Once temperatures reach 50 degrees and below, the overlapping grass will go dormant. In the summer, the tunnel’s effects are less visible since OSU irrigates the lawn, but in the winter, when the grass is not irrigated, it dries out, Komlanc said. Joe Keller, a second-year in business administration, said he thinks the university should be proactive about the dormant grass instead of continuing to let it look brown. “I definitely don’t think it looks good,” he said. “Maybe make a stone path instead of grass.” The underground tunnel dates back more than 100 years, Komlanc said. “We actually have a system of utility tunnels that have existed since the original Brown Power Plant was built in the late 1800s,” Komlanc said. “Not all the tunnels are from the 1800s — we have upgraded them.”
Some of the tunnels are big enough for a person to walk through since they need workers to traverse the area. The tunnels range from 10 square feet to 2 feet by 4 feet, depending on the location and date they were installed, Komlanc said. The tunnels’ locations and details could not disclosed for security reasons, she said. Bojana Duric, a second-year in marketing, said she thought the tunnel’s details should be disclosed to the public. “If people are asking about it, they should know the full story,” she said. Komlanc said that only a specialized maintenance crew that monitors and maintains the utility tunnel is authorized to enter the tunnels.
1A