TNR 10.29.12

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THE NEWS RECORD

132 YEARS IN PRINT VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE LVVVVII

MONDAY | OCTOBER 29 | 2012

A MILE IN HER LOSING SHOES THE KEG life & arts | 5

sports | 6

Romney visits Cincinnati, promises change BENJAMIN GOLDSCHMIDT | CHIEF REPORTER With only 12 days until the presidential election, Mitt Romney visited Cincinnati to highlight his manufacturing platform during a rally at Jet Machining Thursday, promising big change for Ohioans if he wins the election. In the warehouse of the company, approximately 4,000 supporters gathered to hear Romney and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) speak. To open the rally, three local business owners presented their reasoning for wanting Romney in office and President Barack Obama out. “The last four years, my tax rate has increased 21 times,” said Kelly Hollatz, owner of First Star Safety in Lockland, Ohio. “With the amount of money that I pay in taxes, I could employ a large handful of people. In the last four years, we’ve only experienced a small amount of growth.” Hollatz said she endorses Romney because she believes he will cut down on taxes and stifling regulations, which would allow her to expand her business. In his speech, Romney addressed these regulations and what he thinks they should be. “[I’ll] get our regulators to see that their job is not just to catch the bad guys — and that’s an important

task — but also to encourage the good guys,”Romney said. While much of Romney’s message hasn’t changed since the Republican National Convention, he included new rhetoric by promising “big changes” from the previous four years. “The path of status quo the President represents will take us to $20 trillion in debt by the end of the next four years,” Romney said. “I’ll put us on a new path — a big change path, which gets us to a balanced budget.” Romney promised to change our health care system to act “more like a consumer market.” He also promised to implement school choice, which would allow parents to choose which school they want to send their kids to, regardless of what district they live in. Protesters from Progress Ohio held signs outside of Jet Machining that said, “I am the 47 percent, I am a veteran, not a victim.” Portman spoke before Romney, asking the ALEX SCHROFF | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER audience if Obama’s policies are working. “Barack Obama’s been in this state also, and PROMISING BIG CHANGE Republican presidential candidate Mitt do you know what he says — he says re-elect me Romney held a rally at Jet Machining in Cincinnati Thursday. Romney because my economic policies are working,”Portman promised “big change” to the 4,000 attendees at the rally. SEE ROMNEY | 2

UC awarded $500K for degree grant DANI KOKOCHAK | SENIOR REPORTER

LAUREN PURKEY

| PHOTO EDITOR

PURCHASING POWER

Trustees, Faculty members lead Ohio in donations JASON M. HOFFMAN | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND KARA DRISCOLL | NEWS EDITOR

W

hile the University of Cincinnati is the second-largest university in Ohio, its employees rank No. 1 in political contributions. Political contributions, which are tracked by the Federal Election Commission when more than $200 is given to a political entity, are expected to reach all-time highs this year, with an estimation of more than $4 trillion to be spent nationwide by the end of the presidential election cycle. “Money is absolutely important to any election outcome,” said Patrick Miller, associate professor of political science at UC. “But the two things that matter are, first, to spend enough money to be competitive, and, second, to spend that money strategically in a manner that maximizes its impact with the optimal message.” A high number of donors does not indicate potential election outcomes as much as it indicates grassroots support, Miller said. The Board of Trustees led all members of the UC community with

$95,625

TOTAL AMOUNT DONATED TO POLITICAL PARTIES FROM INDIVIDUALS EMPLOYED BY UC AS OF OCT. 28, 2012

$245,532

TOTAL AMOUNT PERSONALLY DONATED TO POLITICAL PARTIES FROM UC’S BOARD OF TRUSTEES

6

26

NUMBER OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN OHIO THAT DONATED TO DEMOCRATS BY MAJORITY NUMBER OF UC PROFESSORS WHO DONATED MORE THAN $1,000 TO A POLITICAL PARTY OR CAMPAIGN

}

INFO COMPILED FROM FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION FILINGS

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$245,532 in contributions — $237,000 of which went to Republicans. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who began his term in 2010, has appointed board members Thomas Cassady, William Portman III and Geraldine Warner during his time in office. The correlation between trustee appointments and hefty political donations is very strong, Miller said. Political figures often reward their financial supporters with appointments. Of the trustees who donated thus far in the 2012 election cycle, Gary Heiman leads the way with $133,300. Warner donated a total of $69,800 to various Republican candidates and organizations while Stanley Chesley gave $26,800, splitting the sum between opposing political parties. “Many individuals and organizations give to both sides, to both parties, to opposing candidates,” said John Bryan, vice provost at UC. “I can only speculate that such contributors really want access to the powers in both of those parties, to whichever candidate wins. Is that cynical opportunism — or just good business?” Portman III is the forth-largest donor on the board, spending $24,500 on political contributions in this election season alone. “Political appointments, like trustee positions, are often nothing more than political patronage, or spoils for the supporters of a winning candidate,” he said. Ideally, a governor will appoint a person who has an interest in education and an unbiased view of how the university should work, Miller said, but this is not always the case. Trustees, however, are not the only members of the UC community doling out cash this election season. Employees of the university, professors and administrators alike also exercise their right to donate political capital to politicians and interested parties. The amount of contributions given by UC employees totals $95,625 — with $56,050 going to Democrats — more than the contributions made by employees at the University of Toledo, Kent State University, Ohio University and Miami University combined. The Ohio State University ranks No. 2 behind UC with a total of $83,835 in political contributions made by its employees. Although professors and educators at the university donate large sums to political entities, Miller said it is not necessarily unethical. “Professional people are typically capable of separating their personal, political selves from their professional selves,” Miller said. “Just because I have political preferences as a political science professor and contribute to candidates I prefer, that does that mean I teach from my political perspective.” Professors instructing students on political ideologies should promote students’ independent, critical thinking, not a particular party or candidate, Bryan said. Bryan, who gave $5,750 to the campaigns for President Barack Obama and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), said professors who contribute to campaigns are not acting unprofessional. However, political proselytizing in educational capacities crosses an ethical boundary. SEE DONATIONS | 2

The University of Cincinnati is collaborating on a multi-state initiative to give transfer students from two-year institutions the option to receive an associate’s degree while working toward a bachelor’s degree. UC and the Ohio Board of Regents are working to implement initiatives using a grant awarded to the board by the Lumina Foundation. “This is a relatively easy way for a student to ensure that they have that degree in their hip pocket as they continue on working toward a bachelor’s degree,” said Kim Norris, spokeswoman for the Ohio Board of Regents. “If for some reason life gets in the way and a student does not immediately complete a bachelor’s degree, they have something of labor-market value to put on a resume and show to an employer.” Ohio is one of 12 states awarded $500,000 to support the initiative commonly known as “reverse-transfer,” said Jim Applegate, vice president of program development for the Lumina Foundation. “In Ohio, all 23 community colleges and all 13 public universities are working in this program,” Applegate said. “We are hoping this will create a really active partnership between fouryear and two-year institutions that will improve transfer processes in general.” UC provided letters of support to the board during application for the grant to indicate the university’s participation, said Caroline Miller, vice president for enrollment management at UC. The university receives many students from two-year campuses who transfer before being awarded the associate’s degree. “This program will provide mechanisms to be able to identify students who have completed enough credit hours to receive an associate degree, if they had stayed on the two-year campus, and then credential them appropriately,” Miller said. SEE INITIATIVE | 2

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