Wednesday January 23, 2013 year: 133 No. 10
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
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thelantern Alleged drug use, drinking dampers ski trip
sports
margaret mecklenborg Lantern reporter mecklenborg.2@osu.edu
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Holding off the Hawkeyes
The OSU men’s basketball held off an Iowa run to defeat the Hawkeyes, 72-63, Tuesday.
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A seven-hour search for drugs wasn’t part of the plan for Ohio State students headed to Aspen, Colo., for their annual winter break ski trip. The trip to Colorado took longer than expected after three buses carrying OSU Ski and Snowboard Club members were pulled over in Indiana on Dec. 14 and searched after a bus driver reported that there was drinking and illegal drug use taking place on the bus. With winter break over, some students who received citations from police in Indiana have returned to OSU, where they might face further consequences. Student Conduct, part of The Office of Student Life, is conducting an investigation on the Ski and Snowboard Club members after several students were charged with citations including minor possession of alcohol, minor consumption of an alcoholic beverage, possession of a false government
document and possession of marijuana when three buses were stopped at a Pilot Flying J truck stop in Spiceland, Ind. “Henry County Deputy Jordan Pruett had three full-size buses stopped,” said Indiana State Excise Police Officer Brandon Dean Reynolds in the Indiana Excise Police Citation Report. “Pruett informed me that the driver of one of the buses had contacted his department and advised of underage alcohol consumption and illegal drug use on the bus. Pruett further informed me that K-9 had given a positive indication of controlled substances on all three buses,” the report said. The K-9 units found marijuana, LSD, psychedelic mushrooms and about $12,000 in cash in their search, according to the police report. Alcohol was also found. There were more than 40 misdemeanor citations. There were 20 individuals, by summons, for various misdemeanor violations, and those individuals were released from the scene after signing a promise to appear. Four individuals were arrested by the Proactive Criminal Enforcement Team and members of the Henry County Sheriff’s Office on felony possession charges according to
(The police) lined us all up and said if you have any sort of drugs and you brought it out you wouldn’t get in trouble. Several people started to come forward and admit, and (the police) started asking for names if they found something in your carry-on. First-year in pre-business student searched by Indiana police on her way to Aspen, Colo., over winter break the police report. The case is still pending at this time. Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs said no university funds were used for the trip to Aspen, and Student Life is investigating further. “Student Life Department of Student Conduct is currently conducting an investigation. The
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Frigid temperatures crowd campus buses Logan Hickman Lantern reporter hickman.201@osu.edu
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Dancers ‘Shifting Focus’
OSU’s Department of Dance’s winter concert has performances scheduled Thursday through Saturday.
campus Logan hickman / Lantern reporter
Students stand in line to board a CABS bus on Jan. 17. With dropping temperatues in the winter months, the number of CABS riders increases.
Looking at a week with temperatures in the upper teens and low 20s, it’s no wonder some students are flocking to ride the Campus Area Bus Service. Temperatures hovered far below freezing Tuesday and dipped into single digits on the thermometer as students returned to classes after a long weekend. While some Ohio K-12 schools got two-hour delays to start the day, class at OSU continued as scheduled. With an expected temperature of 21 degrees and snow showers in the afternoon Wednesday, the cold weather is here to stay — at least for now. But OSU students aren’t new to navigating campus in the cold, and stats from Transportation and Traffic Management show that the number of CABS riders typically peaks in the winter months. Monthly CABS ridership increases by about 15 percent in January and February compared to other months in the year, said Lindsay Komlanc, spokeswoman for OSU’s Administration and Planning in an email. However, regular CABS riders said the increase in ridership has buses fuller, leaving little room to stand. “I’ve definitely had plenty of times when I’ve been standing and the bus driver will make an abrupt stop and everyone is toppling all over each other,” said Rachael Coleman, a third-year in mathematics. Other CABS riders said they are
concerned about the safety of riding crowded buses. “It can be dangerous. I’ve seen times when people have actually gone down the (bus) stairs. If you push on those doors they’ll just open, so you could fall out of the bus,” said Jamie Zumach, a secondyear in food science and technology. Zumach said she is a daily rider of the Buckeye Village, Campus Loop North and the North Express buses. Zumach also said she rarely has room to stand. North Express bus driver and 30-year veteran Central Ohio Transit Authority bus driver, H. E. Ivory, attributes the crowded buses to the colder weather. Ivory said there is no maximum number of people who can ride the bus at one time, and that by law, as long as passengers are behind the line located on the floor by the driver’s seat, it does not matter how many passengers are on the bus. Ivory said he tries to keep his crowded buses safe. “What I do personally, when students get on the bus, if the bus is already seated and I’m really starting to pack them in, I ask students to double up when standing in the aisles so more people can get on.” Even though there are on-board safety measures such as handrails, Ivory said crowded buses are avoidable, especially when riding the CABS North Express route. Ivory said because the North Express leaves West Campus every five minutes during peak hours, there are plenty of buses students can ride if they do not want to ride a crowded one. Peak hours are weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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Steinmetz moves into new role as provost Ally marotti Editor-in-chief marotti.5@osu.edu
Flying high
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The OSU flight team is preparing to compete against more than 30 other teams for a match at the OSU airport.
weather high 21 low 14 flurries
TH 22/21 mostly cloudy F 26/17 flurries SA 26/16 mostly cloudy SU 34/30 mostly cloudy www.weather.com
Moving to an administrative position was always in the back of Joseph Steinmetz’s mind, but it wasn’t until a few months ago when Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee approached him that he began to think seriously about becoming OSU’s provost. “The question is always is this the right time and is this the right place,” said Steinmetz, the executive dean and vice provost of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The answer was definitely yes to both of those.” Steinmetz credits Executive Dean and Vice Provost Joseph Alutto, in part, for getting the university in the position that it is. But after more than six years, Alutto is stepping down. And starting July 1, Steinmetz will step into the role, and he’s looking forward to it. “There couldn’t be a better time to become provost,” Steinmetz said. “This place is hot and people from around the country think this place is going places.” Alutto will leave a lofty legacy that involves leading the university through the switch to semesters, the creation of the College of Arts and Sciences and honing in on student research as part of the educational process. “The purpose of all of these positions ... is really to create that environment in which faculty and students can prosper and you spend all your time doing that and all the rest is just details for how to get there,” Alutto said. Alutto has been with OSU since 1991 and assumed his current position in 2007, making him the second-longest serving provost in OSU history . Prior to that appointment he was dean of the Fisher College of Business. He also holds the title of executive vice president and serves the university as chief academic officer. He plans to stay involved with
Courtesy of OSU
Executive Dean and Vice Provost Joseph Alutto is stepping down from his position on June 30. the university — writing and possibly teaching some courses — and spend more time with his 14 grandchildren, the oldest of whom is 11. “They’re at a good age where they still enjoy spending a little bit of time with their grandfather,” Alutto said. But he won’t call this retirement. “For most academics, it’s hard to differentiate between retirement and work because the work that you do you have a passion for it,” Alutto said. Yet that doesn’t mean he won’t be missed. “He’s been certainly such a strong provost,” said Gayle Saunders, university spokeswoman. In an email sent to faculty at the end of November, Gee said Alutto’s “rigor of thought, clear vision and compassion have provided the ballast that helps keep our university on an upward trajectory.” Alutto said Steinmetz holds one of the same qualities that helped make him a successful provost.
“One of the things that I am good at, and I know Joe is too, is the managing of large-scale change,” Alutto said. “It was having a sense of how to make that work at a large-scale institution that I think set Ohio State apart.” And he’ll have something that Alutto didn’t — a smooth, prepared transition. Alutto was the interim president and provost when he made the transition to provost, and said he had some “unusual sets of responsibilities” that made the move “a lot more complex.” Steinmetz has an advantageous six-month transition period that, like the nationwide search for his replacement, has already begun. “I meet regularly with the provost in addition to the meetings I have within Arts and Sciences,” Steinmetz said. “I’m sitting in on a lot of meetings involving other administrators that normally the provost would go to learning as much as I can, and that’s an advantage that I have.” Gee said in the email that Steinmetz “will continue and expand the effort to move us forward academically and solidify our position in the front ranks of American universities” in the provost position. Despite the preparation, Steinmetz said the unforeseen is still unnerving. “You always become nervous that … something’s gonna happen that you can’t predict. We’re assuming the economy is moving forward, but there’s a lot of things about higher education that you can’t predict,” Steinmetz said. Alutto is currently paid a $554,559 salary and Steinmetz is paid $348,418. Steinmetz came to the university in 2009 to work with the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest college within the university. Before that he served as interim provost at the University of Kansas. JOIN THE CONVERSATION
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