131 years in print Vol. CXXXI Issue XXXXVIii
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWS ORGANIZATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI | WWW.NEWSRECORD.ORG
THE NEWS RECORD THURSDAY | APRIL 7 | 2011
KEEPING CRONIN
K.D. MILLER
sports | 6
FACE OF LGBT
spotlight | 5
East Cincinnati may get train Proposed Oasis Commuter Rail from downtown to Milford Scott Winfield | Senior Reporter
In the face of Cincinnati rail projects that have been halted for indefinite time periods, one may still chug its way into existence. The Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District is proposing the Oasis Commuter Rail as an alternative to the streetcar and high-speed rail projects to alleviate dense traffic from Cincinnati’s second Anna Bentley | Senior Photographer
WHO’S ON BOARD Stops would include downtown Cincinnati, Lunken Airport Wooster Pike, Newton Road and Red Bank Road .
Student arrested in Oxford james sprague | News Editor
An inebriated University of Cincinnati student thought he was still on spring break in Florida when he was arrested for breaking into a residence. Lucas De Caroli, 20, a secondyear student in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, was arrested and charged Saturday with felony burglary for breaking into a residence in Oxford, Ohio. De Caroli entered the home by removing the front window and was found asleep on the couch by the residents, who did not know De Caroli. De Caroli was taken into custody by Oxford police, who noted in their police report that he had “the strong smell of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, heavily slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and poor motor skills.” De Caroli also urinated on the bed of the jail cell, according to the police report. While in custody, De Caroli asked police if their patrols went all the way to Tampa, Fla., because he said he believed he was visiting his brother in Saratoga, Fla. during spring break, according to the police report In addition to the felony burglary charge, De Caroli was charged with offenses involving underage persons, a misdemeanor. IN BRIEF
Rowing team capsizes in little Miami river Members of the University of Cincinnati rowing team found themselves in cold water Tuesday morning when their rowboat capsized on the Little Miami River near California, Ohio. The boat held nine members of the rowing team. Two coaches who rode in motorized boats along side of the rowboat also fell into the water. Some were able to swim to shore, and the Cincinnati Fire Department rescued four who floated on a log. No one involved was seriously injured, but all nine students and both coaches were taken to hospital for a procedural exam for hypothermia.
Dean Named as finalist for VP of University of Florida Carlo Montemagno, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati, was named as a finalist for the position of provost and executive vice president for the Florida State University Monday. Montemagno was one of nine interviewed by an FSU search committee last Thursday and Friday. The Tallahassee Democrat reported finalists Tuesday. Montemagno has been dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences since 2006. He currently makes $290,000, according to UC spokesperson Greg Hand.
leading contributor of commuters. The Oasis Commuter Rail is a planned $411 million commuter rail system comprised of 10 separate rail stations running through the eastern Greater Cincinnati area. Locations for the rail stations would include downtown Cincinnati, Columbia Tusculum, Lunken Airport, Newtown Road, Adams Crossing, the East End, Beechmont Avenue at Wooster Pike, the Ancor/Broadwell Road area, Red Bank Road south of Fairfax and Milford. The project is part of a larger $1.4 billion plan approved by the federal government five years ago to improve transportation. The development also calls for further highway expansion, improved bus transportation and
an extended 17-mile bicycle trail. While it has yet to receive federal funding, Oasis promoters are seeking state and local funding while the private sector will rely on developer investments in the area around freight railroads that already operate on the rail lines, which the project will arrange to adopt. While federal funding remains to be seen The Oasis Commuter Rail, unlike competitor projects, is seeing bipartisan support. U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Miami Township, a member of the House Transportation Committee is fighting alongside local officials to acquire federal funds for railway construction.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Students pledge to stop campus violence JAMES SPRAGUE | NEWS EDITOR
eamon queeney | Photo Editor
WHO”S ON BOARD Stops would include downtown Cincinnati, Lunken Airport Wooster Pike, Newton Road and Red Bank Road clude downtown Cincinnati, Lunken Airport Wooster Pike, Newton not only to students but faculty, advisers and parents. “[The campaign] is aimed at creating a culture of understanding on this campus for at-risk students,” Ono said. “I encourage all of you in the audience to rise to the call and encourage others to join you.” Those signing the pledge — in addition to an “Enough is Enough” wristband — received information concerning national and statewide campus crime statistics. The statistics, provided by the United States Department
of Education, illustrated the national and state numbers for serious crimes reported on campuses from 2007-2009. The United States had 22,416 serious crimes reported during that timeframe, while the state of Ohio’s total was fourth highest in the country with 1,036. Cummins closed the ceremony by encouraging those signing the pledge to wear the wristband“as a sign of solidarity that we, as Bearcats, will not take violence anymore.”
HOW DO YOU FLY THIS THING? Sam Greene | Online Editor
IN THE AIR Members of the UC Hang Gliding and Paragliding club attract new members on McMicken Commons, Wednesday. The UCHPC is in the process of gaining accredidation from the university. FORECAST
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Dept of Ed. combats violence James Sprague | News Editor
T
he University of Cincinnati pledged to accept the charge of eliminating campus violence during a ceremony Monday at the Tangeman University Center. The event marks the beginning of a week of events at UC — such as a self-defense seminar and a question-andanswer session with UC Police Division Chief Gene Ferrara — supporting the nationwide “Enough is Enough” antiviolence campaign. The campaign was spurred by a call to action from Zenobia Lawrence Hikes, vice president of student affairs at Virginia Tech, during a 2008 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators conference. Hikes was addressing the issue of campus violence in light of school shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. Despite no such incidents having happened at UC, it is still a subject that needs to be broached, said Daniel Cummins, director of UC’s Office of University Judicial Affairs and chair of the UC effort. “The kind of violence that results in campus tragedies begins — and therefore must be addressed — long before it reaches our schools,”Cummins said. The ceremony featured speeches from UC Provost Santa Ono and Undergraduate Student Government President Drew Smith and a pledge for individuals to commit to fighting campus violence. “It’s a long overdue campaign,” Smith said. “It’s the right thing to do.” Ono paid homage to the victims of the Columbine High School, Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech shootings at the beginning of his speech. “We are here to remember those victims,” Ono said. One of the goals of the campaign, Ono said, was to create a web of support and collaborative strategies on campus for students to make UC a safer campus and the charge to end violence extends
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In an effort to stem sexual violence in the nation’s schools, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released explicit guidance Monday to establishments across the country on how to combat it. The information clarifies the obligations of Title IX — a federal civil rights law prohibiting sexual discrimination in education — and the responsibility of schools to protect students from sexual violence as well. Sexual violence is included under sexual discrimination in the Title IX law, which applies to schools that receive funding from the federal government. The guidance is the first of its kind for schools in the U.S. The new procedures will be helpful, said Amy Howton, sexual assault response coordinator for UC. “I’m hopeful it will provide guidance on questions we’ve been working to get clarified for some time,” Howton said. “Such as the need to train staff and faculty on reporting obligations and the responsibility to take action on any report of sexual harassment.” The direction comes in the wake of a U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights investigation at Yale University for violating Title IX by failing to eliminate a hostile sexual environment on campus. Sixteen Yale students and alumni filed the complaint alleging the university provided inadequate responses to incidents such as one involving Yale’s Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity in fall 2010. The incident involved initiates of the fraternity walking through an area of Yale’s campus where females were housed, shouting derogatory and sexually explicit slogans. “Today we are strengthening our response to sexual assault in schools and on college campuses,” Biden said. “Students across the country deserve the safest possible environment in which to learn.That’s why we’re taking new steps to help our nation’s schools, universities, and colleges end the cycle of sexual violence on campus.” Recent data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that approximately 20 percent of women will be victims of attempted or actual sexual assault upon entering college. Six percent of men are also included in the statistics. In 2009 alone, approximately 3,300 forcible sexual offenses were reported on the nation’s campuses, according to statistics collected from the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crimes Statistics Act — also known as the Clery Act. Yet those statistics don’t reveal the severity of the situation due to sexual offenses being severely underreported, Duncan said. Educational institutions share in the responsibility of eliminating sexual violence with law enforcement authorities, Duncan said, and the new guidelines — which require schools to take immediate action to investigate possible sexual violence once it becomes known — allows schools to investigate such incidents without the conclusion of a criminal investigation. “Every school would like to believe it is immune from sexual violence but the facts suggest otherwise,” Duncan said. “Our first goal is prevention through education.”