2-23-11

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Wednesday February 23, 2011 year: 131 No. 30 the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern

USG to OSU: Hold off on tuition credit cap

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all Y MarO ttI Campus editor marotti.5@osu.edu

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As potential budget cuts loom over Ohio State, officials look at ways to bring in extra money. But the Undergraduate Student Government says paying extra for taking more credit hours won’t be a factor until after the semester switch. “(The cap is) just another piece of this puzzle,” said university CFO Geoffrey Chatas. OSU charges each full-time student for 12 credit hours, regardless of how many credits the student is taking. Full-time, in-state tuition for Autumn Quarter, including instructional, student activity, student union, COTA, general and recreation fees, was $3,140, said Wayne Carlson, vice provost of undergraduate studies and dean of undergraduate education. If OSU decided to cap credit hours, students

would be charged $280-$300 per credit hour for any hour exceeding 17, Carlson said. “From the financial point of view, what we’re trying to do is balance all the competing needs here,” Chatas said. “We know that we’re looking at potentials for tuition increases.” Based on the amount of students who have enrolled in more than 17 credit hours Autumn Quarter, Carlson said OSU could expect this cap to bring in about $10 million a quarter, not accounting for human behavior. “Obviously from a financial impact, the lower point you start charging, the more money you earn, but the lower you charge, the fewer students would take extra credit hours,” Chatas said. “So it’s hard to predict what the financial impact would be on the university.” But Carlson said increasing revenue was not the driving force for capping credits. “We received quite a bit of input from our Committee on Academic Misconduct,” Carlson said. “In many cases, students were over-committed in

terms of credit hours they were taking and did some things they probably wouldn’t have done otherwise.” In the tuition credit cap proposal, Carlson said he and his colleagues considered how many hours students needed to graduate. The typical arts major, Carlson said, needs about 195-199 credit hours for graduation, while some engineering degrees require more than 200 hours. This was only a proposal, Carlson said, and several options are under discussion as to how and when the cap would be implemented if approved. As of late last week, Micah Kamrass, USG president, said Provost Joseph Alutto had told USG that if this cap did go into effect, it wouldn’t be until after the semester switch. “The only commitment we’ve received right now is that it won’t be next year,” Kamrass said. “If it was going to happen, it shouldn’t happen until after semesters.” Alutto is traveling and unable to comment.

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Buckeyes rebound again

The No. 2 OSU men’s basketball team beat Illinois, 8970, Tuesday at the Schottenstein Center.

arts & life

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Blue Jackets fashion show

Columbus Blue Jackets players will trade the ice for the runway to raise money for pediatric cancer on Thursday.

thelantern.com

Go online for video of the Statehouse protest campus

MItCh andreWS / Lantern photographer

Ohio State student natalie Mauser-Carter, whose father works as a teacher in dayton, Ohio, holds signs in protest of Senate Bill 5 outside the Ohio Statehouse on t uesday. Protesters gathered at the third Street entrance of the Statehouse. the bill would eliminate collective bargaining for state employees.

Statehouse protesters: ‘Let us in’ Thousands swarmed Statehouse protesting plan to end collective bargaining dYlan tUSSel Assistant sports editor tussel.2@osu.edu Thousands of protesters flooded the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday, but many were left out in the cold. For hours, Statehouse doors remained locked, guarded by Ohio State Troopers. Crowds protesting Senate Bill 5, which would eliminate collective bargaining for state employees, gathered outside, attempting to enter the building. “It’s outrageous that they would lock people out of the People’s House,” state Rep. Vernon Sykes,

D-Akron, told The Lantern inside the packed Statehouse. “I’ve been here since 1983; I’ve seen all kinds of demonstrations. Never have I seen people locked out of the Statehouse, highway patrol on the doors, prohibiting them from coming in.” State Rep. Ronald Gerberry, D-Youngstown, one of three Democrats in the general assembly who were there in 1983 when collective bargaining was passed, had a similar reaction. “I was appalled this morning, early this afternoon, when I came to the Statehouse and the doors were locked,” Gerberry told The Lantern over the roars of protesters inside the

Statehouse. “In my career — this is my 23rd year in the House — I have never seen the doors locked.” The crowd outside the Statehouse was gathering about 1 p.m., when the doors were locked, and at 3:30 p.m. the doors remained closed as protesters stood outside chanting, “Let us in!” “We are willing to stand out here to talk,” said Steve Nash, a firefighter from Solon, Ohio, standing in 27-degree weather and light snow. “And if (Kasich is) not willing to come out, then that proves why we need collective bargaining.” Nash, 46, traveled about 160 miles from Northeast Ohio with others from

the Solon Firefighters Association, Local 2079, to protest Senate Bill 5. State Rep. Denise Driehaus, D-Cincinnati, called the protest “democracy in action.” “People want to participate in what’s being done,” Driehaus told The Lantern. “They want to have a voice, and so they came to the People’s House to make sure their voice is heard.” Driehaus said a smaller protest took place at another Senate Bill 5 hearing Thursday and that the chants were so loud it was difficult to hear the deliberations.

Fingerhut resigns from McLovin. Screech. Ohio? Nerds united post

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43/38 partly cloudy 40/25 rain 38/32 mostly cloudy 37/35 snow www.weather.com

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Utah

South Dakota

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Dumbest Binge drinking

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Porn usage Robbery

Arizona Alcoholism Source: pleated-jeans.com

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Napoleon Dynamite. McLovin. Steve Urkel. What do these characters have in common? The pocket protector? The calculator in the pocket? The best grade point average in high school? They’re all nerds. In a Jan. 25 article, Time Magazine rated Ohio the “Nerdiest State” in the United States. It compiled a list titled, “Why your state sucks: The great American map of fail,” which highlighted one thing each state in the U.S., well, sucked at. “We totally judge people based on where they’re from,” Time Magazine said in its article. Does this mean that the rest of the country views Ohioans as a state of nerds? Lamonte Hose, a fifth-year in political science, said he is surprised by Time Magazine’s claim. “Ohio is basically a sample of the rest of the U.S.,” Hose said. “I tend to disagree with that claim.” Arguably across the entire list of states, Ohio’s “worst feature” is the only one that can be taken as a compliment. North Dakotans certainly aren’t

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What is your state the worst at?

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thOMaS BradleY Lantern reporter bradley.321@osu.edu

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Obesity

Rhode Island Drug use EMILY COLLARD / Lantern designer

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