Thursday November 8, 2012 year: 132 No. 131
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern OSU student activity fee generates $4.48M
sports
emily tara Oller reporter tara.3@osu.edu
53.2
percent 12.75
% %
8.65
%
6.45
%
5.2 %
BUCK-I-SERV
13.3
Signature events
[ a+e ]
OUAB
Student government
Turn to the Sports page for a preview of OSU’s basketball team, including its game on a battleship.
Ohio State students pay a $37.50 student activity fee every semester to be distributed among services for students. The money’s allocation and the decision behind the process, however, is a conversation that keeps many students in the dark. In the fiscal year 2012, the student activity fee generated $4.48 million, said Office of Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs. He said it usually generates about $4 million. “The amount distributed is a little less because of things like staff salaries and resources (such as the student resource room in the Union),” Isaacs said. In 2012, the amount of the fee that was distributed between the Ohio Union Activities Board, the Discount Ticket Program (D-Tix), student organizations, student governments, Signature Events, Buck-I-SERV, and Pay it Forward was $3.97 million. OUAB receives more than half of the student activity fee funds. Mia Grube, president of OUAB, said the group received 53.2 percent, or $2 million, of the money generated from the student activity fee for the 2012-2013 academic year. OUAB is the group behind Flicks for Free at the Union, craft nights at the Union, the live music series in Woody’s Tavern, movies on the Oval and more. “Other than those set events, we have a lot of freedom and are not required to do the same types of things each year,” Grube said. Grube said OUAB spends as much of its allotment as possible during the year, and the organization keeps detailed records to stay on track.
Student organizations
Basketball on a battleship
The $4.48M breakdown
Discount ticket program
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Student activity fee:
The remaining 0.45 percent went to Pay It Forward. Source: osu.edu christopher braun / Lantern designer
“Every year, we spend as much of the funds we are allotted as possible, which requires meticulous planning and bookkeeping,” Grube said. Grube said the group has never gone over budget. Members of OUAB tend to overestimate the cost
for events to make sure they will have enough to cover every activity, Grube said. The percentage of the funds OUAB receives has fluctuated over the last 9 years. “When the student activity fee was created in 2003, OUAB received 55 percent. When the (student activity fee) increased in 2010, OUAB’s portion changed to (about 52.7) percent. Last spring was a scheduled review year for how the fee is allocated, and OUAB’s percentage increased slightly to its current levels,” said Grube in an email. Grube could not give the reason behind the percent fluctuation. Some OSU students feel that there should be more awareness made about the fee that is tacked onto regular tuition fees each semester, while others feel that the amount OUAB receives is high, but possibly worth it. “It seems like it’s a lot of money, $2 million,” said Eric Clemens, a third-year in computer and information sciences. “I would like for it to go down, but I find it worth it every now and then,” Alexxa Kuhn, a third-year in communication, said she didn’t even know that such a large percentage of the fee went to OUAB. “I don’t mind it, but I guess I would like to know a little more about it just because you are paying money for it,” Kuhn said. “I don’t really have that much money, but I’m not opposed to paying for it for the extra stuff, but maybe (with) a little more awareness.” The Council on Student Affairs, a subcommittee of the University Senate, makes decisions about the structure of the student activity fee, according to the Ohio Union website. CSA is a representative group of undergraduate, graduate and professional students and faculty and staff members.
continued as Fee on 3A
Not voting was the only choice for some chayton nye Lantern reporter nye.87@osu.edu
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Bond to blast onto screen
The new James Bond, ‘Skyfall,’ is slated to hit theaters Friday.
campus
Oval fences annoy students
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weather
President Barack Obama’s re-election was for many college students, a part of history they could be involved in and their first chance to vote for president. But some OSU students still chose not to cast their ballots. “Honestly, I couldn’t justify voting for either of them,” said Lauren Granchie, a third-year in forestry, fisheries and wildlife. “I didn’t feel strongly enough about either candidate to feel comfortable voting for them. “If one of them would have won and it was the one that I voted for and things went downhill, I’d feel like I contributed to it,” she said. “I didn’t feel either of them would do the best job running our country.” Li Mei, a fourth-year in logistics management and marketing, is working in a co-op program in New York City. She said that even though she could have voted by absentee ballot, she chose not to request one because she didn’t think either candidate was suitable for office. “To be honest, I’m not that educated in either of their policies and what they believe in enough,”
Mei said. “I just feel like we are picking the lesser of two evils because as someone who is about to get a job under (the Affordable Care Act), it’s not fair because all of our hard-earned money is going to people who need it, which is great, but at the same time I don’t want my hard-earned money going away,” she said. Along with candidate indecision and problems with location, some students just didn’t register on time. “I didn’t realize I wasn’t registered to vote until it was too late,” said Dave Grudzinski, a fourth-year in psychology. “But I wasn’t really a fan of either candidate. If I had to pick, I guess I would have given Obama my vote.” Some students said they believe voters aren’t taking the necessary actions to educate themselves in their political decisions. “People are not informed, they are just making these decisions based on what other people say just based on the fact that they are not educated at all,” Mei said. “I know for a fact that unless you are a poli-sci (political science) major, no one keeps in tune with everything that goes on with the government.” Granchie added that the problem with general voters is where they get their information.
“I definitely don’t think that most voters are informed,” Granchie said. “I think they get a lot of their information from very biased sources, so they are making their decisions based upon that, but they are not really making well-informed decisions, they are just forming their own opinions based on what they hear from the media and other people.” Other students think that some voters rely too heavily on their personal ideas.
“People tend to vote based on their own beliefs,” said Grudzinski. “I’m not saying everyone does, but people who strongly support one candidate or the other don’t listen to what the other person has to say.” Mei said that if citizens were really passionate about the direction of the country, they would pay attention to politics all year. “I think people just become political (on Election Day),” Mei said.
Schott renovations over budget, delayed
high 51 low 33 sunny
F 58/43 SA 64/48 SU 65/53 M 62/33
Andrew Holleran / Photo editor
President Barack Obama speaks to a crowd at Nationwide Arena Nov. 5 during his last stop in Columbus before the election.
fawad cheema Senior Lantern reporter cheema.21@osu.edu
sunny partly cloudy partly cloudy t-storms www.weather.com
Lantern file photo
The OSU Board of Trustees is set to discuss the Schottenstein Center constrution project this week.
A two-part construction project to renovate the Schottenstein Center is over budget and behind schedule. The Ohio State Athletics Department began the project in June to renovate the locker rooms, expand the strength and conditioning training room and build a new practice gym for the men’s and women’s basketball teams near the northwest rotunda of the center. The Lantern reported in May that the project was originally expected to cost $13.7 million, but will be more because of unexpected construction delays and costs. Ben Jay, senior associate athletics director for finance and operations at OSU, said the project will end up costing $19 million in total. “Due to unanticipated construction issues causing
delay and higher costs, higher than anticipated construction bids coming in and the need to add funds to our construction contingency safety net, we will be going to the Board of Trustees next week to increase the project to $19 million,” Jay said. The Board is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday to discuss several university matters, including the approval of $1.5 million more for the basketball practice facility. According to the meeting agenda, $1.25 million of the $1.5 million total is to establish “a final guaranteed maximum price (GMP) amendment.” The remaining $250,000 is for “differing subsurface conditions that were encountered during excavation on the interior renovation portion of the project,” according to the agenda. Mike Gatto, general manager at the Schottenstein Center, said the delay of the renovation is due
continued as Schott on 3A
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