Tuesday February 1, 2011 year: 131 No. 17 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern OSU worker hoping to finally exhale
sports
Almost two years after illness, woman back at work but legal issues continue mOlly grAy Managing editor for design gray.557@osu.edu
Down, but not out
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The Ohio State women’s basketball team is looking to move up in the Big Ten standings, but will need some help.
arts & life
professor eminem
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The Lantern examines the possibility that people can learn more from hip-hop than from other genres.
arts & life
Mason jar, sweat, fresh butter campus
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Halal food available on campus
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39/13 rain 23/14 partly cloudy 28/17 mostly sunny 31/25 partly cloudy www.weather.com
More than a year after Olga Stavridis originally took sick leave for what became a months-long illness that required surgery to remove parts of her lungs, she is breathing easier. A workers’ compensation board ruled in her favor in December, finding Ohio State responsible for Stavridis’ illness. The university’s lawyers have appealed the results of the Ohio Industrial Commission hearing, which involved testimony from Stavridis and others, as well as last-minute documents presented by OSU. A second hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. An OIC staff hearing officer will rule on a workers’ compensation claim filed in March 2010. Stavridis is seeking undetermined lost wages and medical costs for her battle with histoplasmosis, an illness she believes she contracted at her workplace, Hitchcock Hall on Neil Avenue. Stavridis contracted histoplasmosis in 2009. The infection is caused by histoplasmosis spores that, when airborne, can infect the lungs. Stavridis had surgery in June 2009 to remove parts of her lungs. An administrator with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation allowed Stavridis’ claim in August. OSU filed an appeal, which led to the Dec. 9 hearing. OIC handles all Bureau of Workers’ Compensation appeals. The district hearing officer found
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It’s frustrating to think that my place of employment, the place I graduated from and have been a supporter of for decades would think, for a moment, that I would be pursuing this for anything but what it is,” she said. “And that is, I was subjected to a bad work environment.
Olga Stavridis
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Instructor in the College of Engineering
that Stavridis “has met the burden of establishing that she sustained an injury in the course of, and arising out of, her employment, when she developed (histoplasmosis) as a result of exposure to airborne histoplasmosis spores in her workplace,” according to the hearing record. What Stavridis and her lawyer, Ron Koltak, have tried to prove in the hearing process is that Stavridis was infected after a bungled clean-up job following a flood in her office in March 2009. After the flood, building
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Facebook ‘friending’ a tough pill to take for pharmacy profs
March 2009
Hitchcock Hall floods, leaving an odor in Olga Stavridis’ workplace.
April 2009
Building officials use fans and open ceiling tiles to try to rid the office of the odor.
May 2009
Stavridis takes sick leave.
June 2009
Stavridis has lung surgery after being diagnosed with histoplasmosis at Mayo Clinic.
Aug. 2009
Stavridis has ceiling tiles tested. They come back positive for histoplasmosis spores.
Oct. 2009
Stavridis’ coworker, Amy Franklin, has surgery and is diagnosed with histoplasmosis.
March 2010
Stavridis and Franklin file a torts lawsuit against Ohio State. Stavridis files for Workers’ Compensation Benefits.
May 2010
Stavridis resigns from position in the College of Engineering to take a position teaching in the college.
Aug. 2010
Ohio Industrial Commission allows Stavridis’ claim for compensation.
Sept. 2010
OSU files appeal of commission’s decision.
Dec. 2010
District hearing officer affirms and allows Stavridis’ claim for compensation. OSU files second appeal of decision.
Feb. 2011
Third hearing is set for Feb. 2.
Source: Reporting
MOLLY GRAY / Managing editor for design
Poppin’ good time Brutus sits covered in bubble wrap on monday in the Ohio Union for the 51st anniversary of bubble wrap. James Degraw, a second-year in international relations and real estate, pops bubble wrap as he travels down the stairs in the Ohio Union.
THOmAs BrADley Lantern reporter bradley.321@osu.edu A new study in the Ohio State College of Pharmacy said 100 percent of professors who responded would not send a Facebook friend request to current students. Senior author of the study, Jim McAuley, an associate professor of pharmacy practice and neurology, said he accepts friend requests from students, but does not send them. “I don’t think that it is very fair for me to reach out to a current student in one of my classes,” he said. “If I ask one student, then I should ask every student so that there is a fairness perspective. So I don’t reach out to current students.” McAuley said about half the respondents in the study owned a Facebook profile and half of those professors said they would gladly accept a friend request from a student, including himself. “If a student requests, I’m not going to turn them away,” McAuley said. “We just had a student-faculty night out in the College of Pharmacy not long ago and the students organized an event. … They told faculty to invite their families so it was a social gathering. I don’t really view that a whole lot different
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eric BeiersDOrFer / Lantern photographer
OSU research project out of this world miKe HUgHes Lantern reporter hughes.1217@osu.edu
Ohio State student engineering project aboard International Space Station
Ohio State students Michael Snyder and Stephen Levine’s most recent research project is sitting aboard the International Space Station collecting data. Snyder, a graduate student in aerospace engineering, and Levine, a third-year in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, worked with students in the chemical and biomolecular engineering department to make the project safe for space exploration. The project will test a substance used in fuel cells and jet engines. The device, which fit into a 10-cubic-centimeter container, launched on a Japanese space vehicle on Jan. 22, and arrived at the ISS on Thursday. Snyder said the project is the first by OSU students to make it to the ISS. “Watching the launch live was my favorite part of the experience,” Snyder said. The experiment will observe the effect of gravity on the growth of ceria nanoparticles. Joan Slattery Wall, OSU engineering department spokeswoman, said ceria is used in jet engines and fuel cells for next-generation vehicles. The experiment will help determine whether reduced gravity allows ceria to act as a better catalyst. “It was great doing something completely different from class,” Levine said. “Testing is much better than solving problems.” The experiment, to be conducted on the ISS, involves bending capsules containing cerium nitrate and sodium hydroxide. The process is much like
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Graduate student Michael Snyder and junior Stephen Levine designed an experiment that is already aboard the ISS aboard a Japanese cargo transporter (pictured right).
• The experiment tests gravity effects on engine and automobile coatings • Set to arrive at ISS on Feb. 3 • Will return to Earth aboard Russian spacecraft in March • Cincinnati-based company Belcan Corp is underwriting the $25,000 project • The experiment is contained in a 10-cm cube
Source: College of Engineering
EMILY COLLARD / Lantern designer
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