TUESDAY
THURSDAY
DEBATE
P2
Two professors to discuss how the U.S. can stop terrorism at a debate hosted by a student organization.
‘THE FOUNDER’
P4
An OSU alumnus is the producer of a new film which tells the story of the McDonald’s franchise.
MEN’S HOCKEY
P7
The Buckeyes face their toughest test yet as they take on a top-ranked Penn State team.
SCHOTTENSTEIN ATTENDANCE
P8
A Lantern analysis examines why attendance at OSU basketball games has plummeted.
The student voice of the Ohio State University
Thursday, January 19, 2017
thelantern.com
@TheLantern
ANALYSIS
Political-party loyalty hard to judge among millennials MITCH HOOPER Engagement Editor hooper.102@osu.edu
Jon Waters dismisses lawsuits against OSU NICK ROLL Campus Editor roll.66@osu.edu SAM HARRIS Assistant Campus Editor harris.2373@osu.edu
MASON SWIRES Assistant Photo Editor swires.4@osu.edu As a third-year in political science, Merit Godbey described himself as being on-the-fence when it comes to politics. Citing his studies in politics and economics, he sees fiscal responsibility as the most important issue when he votes. Aside from fiscal responsibility, Godbey listed civil rights and same-sex marriage as his other top issues. “I’m a fiscal conservative and a social moderate,” he said. Godbey, like much of the population his age, doesn’t vote like generations past. Instead of strictly supporting the Democratic or Republican parties, he’s in the middle. Every four years, Ohio finds itself in a new competition as a political battleground — 2016 was no exception. For many generations of voters, the 2016 presidential election was another chance to have their voices heard. For millennials — those born rough-
Year 137, Issue No. 3
SAM HARRIS | ASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR
A student watches results roll at an election watch party in the Ohio Union on Nov. 8. ly between 1980 and the mid-tolate 1990s — this was their first, or one of the first, times to have a voice in national politics. A Lantern analysis of Franklin County registered voters database — which compiled information such as registered party affiliation, voter ZIP code and if the individual voted in a general or primary dating back to the year 2000 — shows less people ages 18 to 30 are registering with a specific party affiliation compared to other generations. Millennials: A mixed bag Although millennials as a whole
supported then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, a lower percentage voted for Clinton than they did for President Barack Obama during his 2008 and 2012 campaigns, according to Tuft University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The percentage voting Republican, 37 percent, stayed the same, versus 60 percent for Obama in 2012 and 55 percent for Clinton in 2016. According to MILLENNIALS CONTINUES ON 3
Jon Waters has dismissed his two lawsuits filed against Ohio State after he was fired from his position as the marching band director in 2014, in an agreement reached with the university. “(Waters) has voluntarily dismissed all of his claims against the university, including all appeals, in exchange for the university not seeking to recover its costs from him, as OSU would be entitled to do as the prevailing party,” OSU spokesman Ben Johnson said in a statement. “The decision by Mr. Waters to terminate his two pending cases leaves in place the prior rulings of the U.S. District Court in Columbus and the Ohio Court of Claims, which both found against Mr. Waters. Ohio State is pleased this litigation is now concluded and all parties can move forward.” Waters said that while he is glad the legal processes are over, he finds the conclusion to be “bittersweet.” “From a public relations standpoint the community at large was very much on our side, on my
LANTERN FILE PHOTO
Former OSU Marching Band director Jon Waters directs the alumni band during a Sept. 13, 2014, football game against Kent State.
side, through this whole journey and that was gratifying because we had the truth on our side,” Waters said. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to tell that truth in front of the courtroom and in front of a jury. From the kind of community and reputational aspect of all this I think everybody knows that i was made the scapegoat and that Ohio State was unfortunately wrong in all this.” In U.S. District Court, Waters had argued that OSU had discriminated against him based on his gender and he was fired without due process after a university investigation found he was aware or reasonably should have been WATERS CONTINUES ON 3
Ohio higher-education funding tops Big Ten states Other public schools in conference remain cheaper options than Ohio State EILEEN MCCLORY Assistant Design Editor mcclory.10@osu.edu
Despite Ohio having the highest total state funding toward public higher education among states with Big Ten schools, Ohio State doesn’t have the lowest in-state, undergraduate tuition. With state higher-education funding varying across the country, in-state, undergraduate tuition varies state by state, and also within those states. Ohio residents pay the highest amount of money into the Department of Higher Education among analyzed public Big Ten schools and correlating state higher education departments. The state of Illinois, which is home to private school Northwestern and the public University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was not included in the analysis due to the state’s irregular budgeting. Ohio allocated more than
$2.567 billion to its higher-education budget in the 2017 budget cycle. The next-largest allocation came from New Jersey, which hosts Rutgers University, which was a $2.517 billion appropriation. Nationwide, tuition at public four-year colleges has risen approximately 13 percent between the 2010-2011 and 2015-2016 academic years, OSU spokesman Chris Davey said. Ohio has seen a 3 percent growth overall in tuition rates in the same time period, he said. “The interesting thing is that Ohio has done this while the state support for higher-ed has not kept pace with our peer institutions nationally,” Davey said. In the past 10 years, he said, there have been significant cuts to Ohio’s funding for higher education. Ohio’s spending on public colleges has declined 9.8 percent from 2008 levels, according to a report from State Higher Educa-
EILEEN MCCLORY | ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITOR
tion Executive Officers, an advocacy group. More recently, as schools have begun working more closely with the state legislature, there has been more growth in state funding. From fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2015, there was an 18 percent increase in state spending on higher education in Ohio. However, Ohio still trails the rest of the nation in higher-edu-
cation funding per student. According to the same State Higher Education Executive Officers report, Ohio is slightly below the national average for spending per full-time equivalent enrolled students in public higher-education programs. Each state spent an average of $6,966 per full-time or equivalent student in fiscal year 2015, while Ohio spent $1,918 less per student.
Ohio law also caps the amount public universities can raise tuition each year. In the 2016-2017 academic year, Ohio legislators froze all tuition hikes for the first time. In previous years, increases were limited, and public universities in Ohio were able to raise tuition by 2 percent in the 2014-2015 academic year. OSU has frozen its tuition rate for in-state, undergraduate students for the past five academic years, although out-of-state and graduate school tuitions have not caught the same breaks. Spokesman Ben Johnson noted OSU also has frozen room-and-board fees for its students in the past two years. “We’re looking to freeze tuition where we can, emphasize need-based aid, and push access for middle- and low-income students,” Johnson said. “It’s a commitment to all of those things that allow us to prioritize accessibility TUITION CONTINUES ON 3