thelantern
Tuesday March 4, 2014
the student voice of The Ohio State University
year: 134 No. 33
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‘Please close, it’s freezing’ Gee to assume WVU presidency, despite retirement Liz Young Campus editor young.1693@osu.edu
Brandon Claflin / For The Lantern
Snow blankets the Oval March 2.
Liz Young Campus editor young.1693@osu.edu
According to the Weather Channel, it is -14 degrees outside with wind chill. Has anyone from your office taken a walk outside? Maybe from High Street to Neil Avenue, just as a test?
Ohio State Interim President Joseph Alutto received a flurry of emails this semester related to the weather and university decisions of whether to cancel classes. “Dear President Alutto, it is very cold outside. That is all,” read one email sent to Alutto from someone whose name was redacted. “Please take a stroll from South Campus to North Campus to see what you are making us walk through on this awful day,” one read. “According to the Weather Channel, it is -14 degrees outside with wind chill. Has anyone from your office taken a walk outside? Maybe from High Street to Neil Avenue, just as a test?” asked another, who titled the email “The weather outside is frightful.” OSU called off classes Jan. 6, 7 and 28 because of extreme weather conditions. Temperatures fell to roughly minus 7 Jan. 6 and 7 and to about minus 11 degrees Jan. 28, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration archives. Students, faculty, staff and parents were among those at OSU’s Columbus campus who sent emails about the weather to Alutto and OSU Emergency Management between Jan. 5 and Feb. 12. The messages ranged from calling for classes to be canceled, to pointing out areas that weren’t cleared, to thanking the ground crews for their work, according to emails provided to The Lantern Thursday to fill a records request filed Feb. 12. OSU spokesman Gary Lewis said in an email the names of enrolled students and information pertaining to “recreational activities of a person under the age of 18” were redacted from the records.
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Former Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee is slated to become the permanent president of West Virginia University, and he made sure those making the decision knew he wanted the job. A few months ago, though, he said he was not interested in pursuing another university presidency post-retirement. “(Columbus) is my home, and look, I’ve done this longer than any person in this country, and I’ve had the greatest opportunities at the greatest institution one could possibly imagine. But I’m really committed to making a difference by doing what I’m doing now, by actually being engaged in this university family but also engaged in and talking about the issues of higher education,” Gee said in an interview with The Lantern in October. And after it was announced Gee would lead WVU while the school searched for a new president, he said he wasn’t looking to assume the permanent role. “The role that I’m playing precludes me from even thinking about it,” Gee said in an interview with The Lantern in December. “My interest is of being of service and being helpful.” Sometime before Feb. 23, however, something changed. “President Gee has made it clear … he’d like to be the full-time president,” said WVU Student Government Association President Ryan Campione Monday. “He didn’t address the Board publicly per se, he kind of shared it with us in a note.” Campione, who holds a seat on the WVU Board of Governors, said the note was brought to the Board’s attention Feb. 23, but he could not disclose what the note said because it was discussed during an executive session of the Board. It looks like Gee will get his way, too, as he was named the permanent president of West Virginia University Monday, pending one last approval. The Board of Governors unanimously voted to name Gee president during an emergency meeting Monday after the Presidential Search Committee endorsed Gee for the position in an emergency session of its own Friday, according to a WVU release. The decision now has to go through
shelby lum / Photo editor
Courtesy of WVU
E. Gordon Gee was president of OSU from 1990-07 and from 2007 to July 1, when he retired.
E. Gordon Gee was president of WVU from 1981-85. Gee is slated to be president of the university again.
the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission to receive its approval, the release said. Gee began as WVU’s president in January and was only set to remain in that position until a permanent president was selected. He is on an unpaid leave from OSU, where he assumed the role of president emeritus after retiring. Gee said Monday he will accept the position at WVU. “I am honored, energized and humbled to serve West Virginia University as the 24th president,” Gee said in a released statement. “When I had the opportunity to return to West Virginia and this university earlier this year, I did not hesitate. And, I have found it to be the same wonderful and welcoming place I remembered. And, with great joy, I also found that our university had grown, matured and was competing on the national academic stage with some of the very best land-grant research universities in the country.” Gee was not available for comment Monday evening.
WVU is located in Morgantown, W.Va., with about 29,500 students enrolled during Fall Semester 2013. It’s not yet clear how Gee’s appointment would affect his role at OSU. University spokesman Gary Lewis said in an email Friday questions about whether Gee would remain on unpaid leave at OSU if he was approved as WVU’s permanent president “will be answered over the next few weeks.” Lewis added in an email Monday those questions are “still pending.” Gee is set to have a two-year contract, the “maximum under statute,” at WVU. As WVU’s interim president, Gee’s contract promises him an annual salary of $450,000. When that contract expires June 30, the new contract, which has not yet been negotiated, will begin, WVU spokesman John Bolt said in an email. Gee earned slightly less than $1.9 million in the 2011-12 fiscal year at OSU. Gee’s base salary as president emeritus and a tenured
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Trayvon Martin’s mother: Easy access to dorms worries some Stand Your Ground law ‘awful’ Alex Drummer Lantern reporter drummer.18@osu.edu
Desiaire Rickman / Lantern photographer
Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton spoke at the Ohio Union March 3.
Chahinaz Seghiri Lantern reporter seghiri.1@osu.edu Trayvon Martin’s mother does not support the Stand Your Ground law, and she doesn’t think others should either. “I think it’s awful that you have a law that gives a person the right to shoot and kill without being held accountable. I think you need to be accountable when you shoot and kill someone and there should not be a law that allows that to happen,” Sybrina Fulton said in a press conference Monday at Ohio State. The Stand Your Ground law allows for the use of deadly force in a self-defense situation and is in place in Florida, where Martin was killed. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch leader, killed 17-year-old Martin, allegedly in self-defense, Feb. 26, 2012, in Florida. Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in July.
Prosecutors dropped domestic violence charges in December that were brought against Zimmerman by his girlfriend. Fulton spoke Monday night at the Ohio Union about the need to end gun violence. The event was hosted by 10TV news anchor and Ohio State alumna Tracy Townsend. In the press conference before her talk, Fulton said she has traveled throughout the country since Martin’s death, speaking to different universities and religious gatherings as an advocate. Fulton said the Trayvon Martin Foundation, inspired by Martin’s death, aims to bring awareness and support to victims of gun violence. “We felt that it was necessary and we felt that it was a missing piece in the communities that had so much violence and did not have anywhere to turn to,” Fulton said. Fulton said colleges and universities were the
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While Ohio State students living in residence halls are being told to monitor who enters the building behind them after a public safety notice was issued about a reported rape on campus, some residents said the matter is out of their control. Some residents of Archer House on North Campus are concerned about how one of the building’s entrances automatically opens when a student slides their BuckID to enter, and how it takes about 15 seconds to fully close again. “I really do believe, in (light) of all of the things happening in the past week, that that’s a safety issue. Not only for the staff and the people that work here but the people who live here. Anybody could come in and do whatever,” said Dakota Smith, a second-year in education. Smith said he understands the need for an automated door, but thinks a handicap push button would suffice. “The first semester, it was fine. It didn’t do that until we came back from Christmas break. Then the door was like that, and it’s very upsetting,” Smith said. Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs said students are expected to be extra careful when using that door as a result. “A BuckID is necessary to open all residence hall exterior doors, including this particular one at Archer House,” Isaacs said in an email. “I would encourage students who use that entrance to be especially vigilant in the interests of safety. We always request, as part of our on-going education efforts, that students not allow tailgating by others through any BuckID controlled doors and if you see something, say something.” Isaacs did not say if any other residence halls have similar doors. Michael Mahan, a second-year in actuarial science and accounting and Archer resident said, however, it’s unrealistic to expect students to monitor the door given how long it takes to shut. “You could actually be up on your floor before the door even closes. If that happens, you don’t know who is behind you,” Mahan said. “There’s no other door that requires you to swipe in, so you’re already in the halls of the dorm.” Smith also said students shouldn’t be
shelby lum / Photo editor
A door to Archer House, a North Campus dorm whose door automatically opens when a student slides their BuckID. responsible for making sure no one enters behind them because the only other option is to wait. “I have tried to shut that door, and it’s very difficult. It’s automated. You have to use a lot of force, and then there’s all the stipulations, like you might break the door mechanism,” Smith said. Messages encouraging dorm residents to be extra careful were posted after a rape was reported in a residence hall and later deemed a “continuing threat” by University Police. The rape allegedly occurred Jan. 25 at a South Campus residence hall. More recent information and the suspect’s return after the incident led to a public safety notice being issued, according to the notice sent Feb. 21. Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston addressed the issue in her weekly online column Feb. 23. Adams-Gaston included safety tips such as reporting anyone “who has not followed security protocol when entering a residence hall” and not allowing others to enter residence halls without showing an ID. The case is still under investigation, according to the University Police daily log.
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