Wednesday March 27, 2013 year: 133 No. 43
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern OSU moves toward tobacco-free campus
sports
daniel eddy Lantern reporter eddy.80@osu.edu
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Hall sits out again
Urban Meyer said running back Jordan Hall needs to ‘take care of his business’ to participate in spring practice.
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Smoke breaks at Ohio State might require students and faculty to go off campus come Fall Semester. Ohio State is considering a tobacco ban on the entire campus including tobacco chew, snuff and snus – which is a “spitless” moist powder tobacco pouch, according to the American Cancer Society. During a Monday interview with The Lantern editorial board, OSU President E. Gordon Gee discussed the initiative. “We are recommending that we move to a tobaccofree campus, I think that’s very important,” Gee said. “We have a tobacco-free medical center and now we want to have a tobacco-free campus.” The challenge will be how to implement the rule, Gee said, however he didn’t touch on specific methods. Miami University (Ohio) is currently smoke-free and has incentives for people to quit smoking, said Claire Wagner, director of Miami University news and communication. The university has banned smoking since 2008. “We do a reduction in an employee’s premium if you are smoke-free,” Wagner said. “It’s all to promote health ... bad habits cause greatly to the cost of health care.” Employees can receive $15 off their monthly health insurance premiums if they prove they are smoke-free, Wagner said. She said Miami is looking to add a complete tobacco ban to the campus, though regulation of such a ban is a concern.
Justine Boggs / Lantern photographer
A non-smoking sign is displayed outside the OSU Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital March 13. President E. Gordon Gee aims to have OSU’s campus tobacco-free by Aug. 1. “It is not easy to enforce (the smoking ban) at this point,” she said. Enforcing the ban has also been a question on OSU’s campus, and it has been discussed with the Undergraduate Student Government. USG President Taylor Stepp said he would be opposed to the smoking ban if it required pulling public safety officers away from their normal duties of keeping students safe. He said student safety is more of a priority than enforcing a tobacco ban.
“My biggest point, if you want to pass this ban that’s fine, but we’re not going to use any dollars from public safety to enforce this,” Stepp said. “Because those dollars need to be used to keep students safe.” Cole Harrison, a graduate student in cognitive ethnomusicology, said he wonders how OSU will enforce the ban and believes it will be ineffective.
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Orton Hall signatures might be painted over RITIKA SHAH Lantern reporter shah.718@osu.edu
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Jane Goodall’s wish
Primatologist Jane Goodall emphasized that every student makes a difference in saving the environment.
campus
Assault weapons not banned weather
2A Gene Smith: OSU not just a football school An anonymous wall signer
Some OSU student groups have a tradition and history of signing their name within the Orton Hall bell tower.
PATRICK MAKS Sports editor maks.1@osu.edu
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Gene Smith doesn’t mind the notion of Ohio State being known as more than just a football powerhouse. In an interview with The Lantern on March 12, the OSU athletic director said there’s no reason the Buckeyes, known perhaps most for its storied program on the gridiron, can’t be touted as a basketball school, too. Smith weighed in on the men’s basketball team, the Big Ten and more.
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Some Ohio State students are fondly reminded of the history and tradition surrounding the university when they hear chimes coming from Orton Hall as they cross the Oval. Ohio Staters, Inc., and Facilities Operations and Development are planning to preserve this history by repainting the walls of the bell tower, but some students see this as demolishing a tradition. Students involved in some major campus organizations such as class honoraries, Greek organizations and ambassador programs have visited the bell tower to sign their names on the wall. Ohio Staters is the primary student organization that helps facilitate students going up to the tower and manages its upkeep. Scott Boden, faculty adviser to Ohio Staters and associate director of Residence Life, said Ohio Staters recently ended this practice due to concern on the part of Orton Hall maintenance and on the part of the bell tower key-holder. This led to a partnership with FOD to restore Orton Hall to its original state. Boden said the signatures used to be
constrained to the door of the bell tower but have moved onto the brick walls and the bells. “It’s become technically what is defacing property and we don’t want that to happen,” he said. Donna Knisley, assistant coach for the OSU pistol team and retired office associate for the College of Medicine, is the official key-holder and bell-ringer for the chimes in Orton Hall. Knisley said the door of the bell tower was originally signed in the early 1900s due to the lack of security around buildings on the Oval as well as access through tunnels connecting them. “It was an unauthorized act to begin with,” Knisley said. “(Students) have never ever asked permission to sign the walls.” She said the signatures are considered a form of graffiti and should not be tolerated. “No one goes into other buildings on campus and signs their names on walls just because they’ve been there.” Knisley said. Knisley began noticing the signatures straying from the door onto the walls in 2009, but Ohio Staters finally obtained the funds to repaint the tower this year. OSU alumnus Shawn O’Meara, whose
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Gene Smith, OSU athletic director, in an interview with The Lantern on March 12.
Big reasons behind B1G success In the final Associated Press top 25 poll of the regular season, Big Ten basketball found itself with four teams (Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and OSU) in the top 10. Such success has carried over into the NCAA Tournament, too, as those same four squads find themselves making up a quarter of the Sweet 16. What’s behind the conference’s ascent into arguably the most-dominant league in the nation?
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“Well,” Smith said, “I think it’s stability.” That stability, he said, starts with coaching. “I think when you look at the coaches that we have now, a lot of good ones — and hopefully we can maintain that stability — and that says a lot about the institutions. All of us have always been committed to basketball, putting the resources in place,” he said. “We have great fans and creating the atmosphere of the games. So think all of us have tried to do that.” Such resources, inevitably, include money. OSU men’s basketball coach Thad Matta makes $3.2 million annually, according to his new contract. MSU coach Tom Izzo makes almost $3.6 million annually, Indiana coach Tom Crean’s salary is $2.24 million and Michigan coach John Beilein makes almost $2.23 million a year, according to a USA TODAY salary database. Some of it, though, is consistency in player personnel across the league, Smith said. “I think this particular year — if I remember right — there were only two underclassmen that left last year. Jared (Sullinger) and the big guy from
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