Thursday April 4, 2013 year: 133 No. 49
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Police investigate source of shooting threat
sports
dan hope Oller reporter hope.46@osu.edu
Moving up
6A
Sophomore forward LaQuinton Ross could be the focus of the basketball team’s offense next season.
[ a+e ]
Although Ohio State University Police believe the initial threat of a shooting on campus has ended, they have not yet identified the source of the issue and an investigation is pending. “Ohio State University Police have been investigating postings to fantasy, role-player game sites which referenced a potential public safety threat of a shooting at OSU,” said University Police Chief Paul Denton. “We continue to investigate and are taking this seriously.” University Police released a public safety notice via email and text message to faculty, staff and students between 11:30 a.m. and noon Wednesday, warning the university community of the threat, which Denton said was “specific to a cafeteria at The Ohio State University.” “We felt it important to notify the university community to heighten awareness and to stress the importance of ‘if you see something, say
Pat brennan / Senior Lantern reporter
An Ohio State Highway Patrol Canine Unit vehicle (left) and an OSU Police vehicle parks outside William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library April 3 after a public safety notice was sent to students warning of a potential threat on campus. something,’ and report suspicious activities or individuals to the appropriate authorities,” Denton said. Denton said University Police received information Tuesday about potential threats being made across multiple fantasy game websites, and “immediately initiated an investigation.” He said it was initially unclear
whether threats toward “OSU” referenced Ohio State, until receiving more information Tuesday “just before midnight” from a chat room moderator on one of those websites. “I want to recognize the efforts of the responsible users, players and moderators of these sites for making us aware so we could begin investigating,”
Denton said. “We worked through the night to assess the information and the credibility of the threat.” Vernon Baisden, OSU’s assistant vice president for public safety, said the efforts of the site users played an important role in initiating the investigation. “They were certainly concerned also about the community here at OSU, and they did the right thing by contacting us,” Baisden said. Denton said police will continue to monitor the situation until they are certain the threat is over. “We have expert police and security presence on or around campus dining facilities,” Denton said. “Although we have moved past the window of concern, we will continue to have additional resources and presence for as long as necessary. The safety of our campus is our top priority.” Denton said University Police is confident there was a “specific window of mention” for the threat, but did not disclose when that window was due to the pending investigation. “The assessment that was
continued as Threat on 3A
No hate task force makes progress in year 1 Caitlin Essig Arts editor essig.21@osu.edu
Wary of zombies
1B
Max Brooks, who has written 2 books about zombies, is scheduled to speak at the Ohio Union Monday.
campus
Gay marriage support grows
The words “Long Live Zimmerman” spray-painted on the side of the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center on Ohio State’s campus caused a ripple effect. A task force was formed to combat hate on campus, and a year later, it has accomplished some of its goals. The painted words were discovered the morning of April 5, 2012, on the west exterior wall of Hale Hall. Roughly a month earlier, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla. Officials said the words were likely spray-painted on Hale Hall in response to the incident. The act of vandalism on Hale Hall was dubbed a hate crime by campus officials, and in response, the No Place For Hate Task Force was formed. In an April 16, 2012, Lantern article, No Place For Hate chairwoman and vice president of Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston said the task force’s goal was to “hear what concerns are to ensure Ohio State is no place for hate, and to come up with potential solutions to present to a diversity workgroup.” Some concerns of students following
the hate crime were expressed in an April 5, 2012, meeting of the Board of Trustees. A group, which dubbed itself the OSU Stand Your Ground Movement, attended the meeting and presented its demands, which included hate crime alerts, increasing diversity in students and faculty and for policies and programs promoting inclusion, rather than simply tolerance. In a March 25 interview with The Lantern President E. Gordon Gee called the students’ presentation a high point for the university. “It was a high point in the fact that rather than in particular our minority students, our African-American students in this particular instance, instead of them just reacting and overreacting, or underreacting, however, what they did is they got together, they had a conversation, they came in mass, a large group of them came over to the Board of Trustees meeting the next day, they came in, they made a wonderful presentation, very persuasive, and then they left,” Gee said. The task force, led by Adams-Gaston and Valerie Lee, vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion and chief diversity officer, met five times throughout last April. As a result, it made short- and long-term recommendations in the areas of awareness, climate and recruitment/retention.
Lantern file photo
The walls of Hale Hall were vandalized with the words ‘Long Live Zimmerman’ either late April 4, 2012, or early in the morning April 5, 2012. The task force defined short-term recommendations as within one year and long-term recommendations as within two to five years. In the area of awareness, some short-term goals have been met, such as the implementation of hate crime alerts. The most recent hate crime alert was issued April 16, 2012. Adams-Gaston said the university
has also implemented at least one of the short-term climate goals. “We’ve also created the opportunity for OSU students to select a preferred name (in OSU student systems such as BuckeyeLink),” Adams-Gaston said. “There were students who would like to have the ownership of what they’re
2A Tennis looks to finish decade of dominance
weather
mark batke Lantern reporter batke.3@osu.edu
high 56 low 37 partly cloudy
F 55/35 sunny SA 62/52 mostly sunny SU 61/55 showers M 64/55 showers www.weather.com
Only one match stands between the Ohio State men’s tennis team and a decade-long home win streak. The No. 5 Buckeyes (21-2, 5-0) hold a 163-match home win streak dating back to an April 5, 2003, loss against Illinois. Should OSU secure a victory against Big Ten foe Wisconsin (10-7, 1-4) on Friday, the team will officially cap off a 10-year journey of remaining unbeaten in Columbus. “(The players) are excited … I’ll be happy when Friday comes and hopefully we can win, because for the past few weeks, thinking about it and talking about it puts a little bit of stress on everybody,” said OSU coach Ty Tucker. “It’s a mark you want to achieve, and being one match away from it, it’ll be nice if we can get the win … it’ll be nice to be done with it.” Redshirt senior captain Devin McCarthy said the team is finding it difficult to ignore the high stakes surrounding the looming achievement.
“(The record) is definitely in our heads a lot more than it has ever been before any match, just because we want to get to that 10 years. But at the same time, we are still thinking about Big Ten season and wanting to stay undefeated in the Big Ten,” McCarthy said. One of the largest challenges the Buckeyes will face against the Badgers will be the transition from the indoor courts at the Varsity Tennis Center to the outdoor courts at Varsity Tennis Courts, where the match is scheduled to take place. “I haven’t remembered it in a while being this cold (in Columbus),” Tucker said. “Knowing that we haven’t had a ton of outdoor practice and knowing that it’s going to be very windy … it’s hard to reach your best level when you haven’t had that much practice outside.” Tucker said in the case of temperatures dropping below 50 degrees, the match would be moved inside. It is expected to be a partly cloudy, 55 degrees with 12 mph winds on Friday, according to weather.com. With a decade-long win streak and an
continued as Tennis on 3A
continued as Hate on 3A
Lantern file photo
OSU men’s tennis coach Ty Tucker will lead the Buckeyes on April 5 as they attempt to complete a 10-year win streak at home.
1A