Thursday September 27, 2012 year: 132 No. 107
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Board created for semester switch issues
sports
michael burwell Lantern reporter burwell.37@osu.edu
Big Ten debut
7A
OSU coach Urban Meyer will coach in his first Big Ten game Saturday.
[ a+e ]
Students with problems relating to the semester conversion have a new place to turn to for help. A semesters appeals board was announced in a Wednesday Undergraduate Student Government meeting. The board was created to give students an opportunity to address problems they might face as a result of the semester conversion, including damage to academic progress, delay in completing their degree and increased costs in completing their degree, according to a document distributed at the meeting. Taylor Stepp, USG president, said the board was necessary, but hopes “no one needs to use this.” “It was something that was needed but it wasn’t something that we needed to rely on,” Stepp said. “I wanted to make sure this was put in place because there could be a lot of students with a lot of issues. There could be students who don’t graduate on time, and having this mechanism in place is very valuable.” In contrast to the university’s “Pledge to Undergraduate Students,” which promised students the
daniel chi / Asst. photo editor
Students gather at a Sept. 26 Undergraduate Student Government meeting where a new semester appeals board was announced. semester conversion would not harm their academic progress, the board was created so students can appeal to the board if they feel their academic advisers or individual college hasn’t helped them enough.
However, Stepp said he suggests students go to their college before applying to the board. “It’s quicker to go to the college first, just immediately hearing things,” Stepp said. “This is the last-ditch
option, but it’s something students wanted.” Stepp also said the board “will continue until we no longer see any need for it,” and since some sophomores might become fifth-year seniors, there is potential for appeals to be made in the next three or four years. “I’m really glad to see this done because, again, this is one of those student-driven processes,” Stepp said. “This idea was pitched to students, and the students loved this idea because it’s formal.” Stepp said while nothing is set in stone yet, the board is likely to be made of four or five students, members of the office of academic affairs, and other staff. Who makes up the board will also likely fluctuate meeting to meeting, but how frequently the board will meet will be determined by the number of appeals. “There will be two students that will be appointed,” Stepp said. “There’s some other places where we have other input, but the bottom line is there’s going to be two students that will be physically on the actual committee that hears this, and those are yet to be determined.”
continued as Semesters on 3A
Candidates conflict on national debt size
12A
Thrown for a loop
Filmmaker Rian Johnson’s ‘Looper’ is scheduled to be released Friday.
campus
Evacuated students’ grades suffer
2A
weather high 71 low 53 showers
F 72/47 SA 70/48 SU 68/45 M 71/47
partly cloudy partly cloudy mostly sunny sunny www.weather.com
kristen mitchell Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu This is the sixth story of an 11-article series leading up to the Nov. 6 presidential election that will break down the issues dominating political debates. Check back next Thursday for our segment on health care. Former President Bill Clinton’s administration balanced the national budget in 1998, an achievement looked back on with nostalgia in the years following an economic downturn in 2008. More than a decade later, America is roughly $16 trillion in debt, and
politicians have conflicting opinions on how to regain financial stability. With massive national debt hanging over the 2012 presidential election just about six weeks away, the issue of where spending cuts can and need to be made has been heavily debated by President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who agree that the national deficit needs to be addressed, but have radically different plans on how to do so. According to data from the White House, at the end of Clinton’s second term as president, the U.S. was on track to eliminate debts and have a national surplus of $2.3 trillion by 2011. During former President George W. Bush’s administration, policies enacted added $7 trillion to the
national debt, including a $3 trillion tax cut, a $300 billion prescription drug plan for seniors, $1.7 trillion in domestic and defense spending, and $1.4 trillion on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since Obama took office in 2008, policies enacted under his administration have added $1.4 trillion to the national debt. Those policies include $800 billion for the Recovery Act in response to a declining economy, $700 billion in debt for government financing and $250 billion for middle-class tax cuts, among other contributions. According to Romney’s website, the amount added to the debt under Obama is $6.5 trillion, much higher than number recorded by the White House. In a Wednesday speech at
Westerville South High School in Westerville, Ohio, Romney reflected on the raising debt, and predicted that the national debt would reach $20 trillion if Obama is re-elected for a second term. The White House reported in 2011 the public held $10.4 trillion in national debt, a long way from predictions made at the close of Clinton’s presidency. Romney said to a crowd of about 1,700 on Wednesday that as president, he would make sure the U.S. doesn’t suffer from the crippling debt problems of other nations. “We’re on the road to Europe, we’re on the road to Greece, and I’ll get us off that road,” he said.
continued as Debt on 3A
Romney: ‘We can’t afford 4 more years’ Kristen mitchell Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu Job creation and the growing national debt were some of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s talking points during a Central Ohio campaign event on Wednesday. Romney returned to the Columbus area for the first time since Aug. 25 to speak at Westerville South High School in Westerville, Ohio, about 20 minutes from Ohio State’s campus. The event was scheduled to start at 8 a.m., but Romney didn’t take the stage until about 9:10 a.m., where he spoke for about 20 minutes to the 1,700-person crowd in the school’s gymnasium. An overflow crowd of about 350 was set up in another room. Romney talked about his experience with the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the importance of balancing the budget. In a series of
questions, Romney asked the crowd if they wanted four more years of job loss and trillion dollar deficits. “We can’t afford four more years, we must do better,” Romney told the crowd, who responded with applause. Throughout parts of his speech and the hour that the crowd was in place prior to Romney taking the stage, a calculator was running on the side of the stage counting additions to the roughly $16 trillion national debt as the seconds passed. Referencing the calculator, Romney said the growing national deficit needs to be addressed, or else they will be passed on to the next generation. Romney said the government needs to control its spending or it will collapse. “We’re on the road to Europe, we’re on the road to Greece, and I’ll get us off that road,” he said. From the time Romney began his speech to when he left the stage, the debt calculator had gained almost $35 million. About halfway through his
Kayla byler / Lantern reporter
Mitt Romney speaks to a crowd of 1,700 at Westerville South High School in Westerville, Ohio, Sept. 26 at about 9:10 a.m. 20-minute speech, a few individuals began heckling Romney before they were escorted out of the gymnasium, and drowned out by chants of “USA.” Even with the event’s early morning start, some OSU students made a point to attend the event.
“I’ve never really done anything like this before. This is a really important election so I want to be more involved,” said Kaitlin Watterson, a fourth-year in communication.
continued as Romney on 3A
1A