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Inconsistent review process for OSU administrators OSU sets
boundaries on tobacco ban
Caitlin Essig Managing editor for content essig.21@osu.edu At a university where annual performance reviews are mandatory, some of Ohio State’s top administrators did not receive a written review last year. But some were still rewarded — a Student Life administrator who went unreviewed in 2013 received a more than $19,000 bonus. Meanwhile, the university’s top lawyer received a bonus totaling more than $690,000, about $136,000 more than his base salary. At least two administrators didn’t have a performance review on file for 2012 or 2013 at all. The Lantern requested 18 OSU senior administrators’ performance reviews for 2012 and 2013. Eight of the 18 administrators did not have performance reviews available for 2013, and at least four did not have reviews available for 2012. According to an OSU human resources performance review policy, “all employees must receive a performance review at least once a year.” University spokesman Gary Lewis said he would be speaking on behalf of all of the administrators mentioned in the records. Lewis said written reviews are one component of evaluating employee performance at OSU. “Although it is required for all employees to receive reviews, performance management at Ohio State also involves a continuous process of feedback and mentoring, which includes verbal and written reviews,” Lewis said in an email Monday. “All elements of performance review, verbal and written, are key inputs in determining compensation.” He said, though, because the university is in a period of transition, the performance review process was adjusted. “This year’s process for performance reviews of senior leaders was one in transition. Because every senior leader participates in the ongoing, annual review process, all leaders expect to receive helpful coaching and feedback. The university remains committed to a constructive review process that helps us achieve our institutional goals and provides every employee with the tools to excel in his or her professional objectives.” The Lantern requested the performance reviews and other records including travel budgets Jan. 23, and the request was filled March 24. The performance reviews focus both on looking ahead and reflecting on past accomplishments of
Andrew Zistler Lantern reporter zistler.4@osu.edu
Courtesy of OSU
Asher earns $236,358 yearly and received a $28,157 bonus in 2013. Asher’s review from Alutto, dated September 2013, noted that his role at the university was “critical to our success” in that year. Alutto called Asher “well-connected throughout the community,” and said those connections were crucial for moving the university forward. “It is important for you to use those connections to assist me in meeting with those key leaders so that I can build the relationships needed to sustain the support for our work,” Alutto wrote.
Ohio State students, staff and faculty officially have boundaries for where they can get their tobacco fix. The university’s tobacco-free policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, was recently updated to include a map showing the boundaries of where exactly the tobacco-free policy applies. The policy does not apply to the South Campus Gateway, but it reaches as far north as past Ackerman Road to areas as far south as King Avenue, and from High Street to areas as far west as North Star Road, according to the boundary map. OSU spokesman Gary Lewis said the ban applies to a variety of properties. “The tobacco-free policy applies to all owned, leased or managed university property including regional campuses and Ohio State medical care centers throughout the state,” Lewis said in an email Friday. “Additionally, it applies to golf courses, airports, nature centers, and parking lots and garages, including state and personal vehicles parked on university property.” Since the ban went into effect, some campusarea employees, including Amber Rapier, a shift supervisor at the Starbucks location at 1782 N. High St., said they have seen an increase in the number of people leaving campus to use tobacco products. “I notice people who start leaving class or something, they’ll start smoking as they cross the street, because you can’t smoke on campus,” Rapier said. “I’m sure people are still doing it, even though they’re not supposed to. But I’ve definitely noticed more coming this way from campus.” Tyler Cooper, a manager at Tobacco International, located at 18 E. 13th Ave., said he’s seen more faculty members coming off campus to smoke than students. “I’ve definitely seen more faculty coming across High Street than students,” Cooper said. “OSU’s
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Courtesy of OSU
Javaune Adams-Gaston, Vice president for Student Life.
Herb Asher, Senior vice president for government affairs and counselor to the president.
each reviewed personnel. This is the first article in a series of three, and keys in on six members of the administration.
Recently, changes toward a more healthy campus have been made, including a healthy vending initiative, in which items deemed “unhealthy” were phased out of university vending machines at the start of the year. An enforced, campus-wide tobacco ban was also implemented Jan. 1. Adams-Gaston became vice president for Student Life in January 2009.
Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston There was no 2013 performance review available for Adams-Gaston, although she earned a bonus of $19,099 for the year on top of her $317,946 annual salary. In her 2012 review, then-Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Alutto said it had been a “very productive year” for Adams-Gaston and the Office of Student Life. Beyond that, though, he mentioned areas for improvement. Alutto noted he wanted to see a more coordinated effort on the subject of health and wellness, including efforts from Adams-Gaston and OSU Chief Wellness Officer Bernadette Melnyk. “I am concerned about the intersection of Student LIfe and Bern Melnyk’s focus on Health and Wellness,” he wrote in the evaluation, dated August 2012. “It is important you both find ways of coordinating efforts and neither has exclusive control over initiatives in this area.”
Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Counselor to the President Herb Asher
Ohio to appeal Rohlik reflects on 1st year coaching OSU ruling on samesex marriage Grant Miller Lantern reporter miller.5617@osu.edu
Melissa Prax Lantern reporter prax.1@osu.edu
I took the ruling by Judge Black to be more of a symbolic gesture indicative of what is to come in the future.
Though a federal judge ruled Ohio must recognize samesex marriages Jennifer Lape from other OSU Ph.D. student who states, the state legally married her plans to fight partner in Chicago this back by appealpast weekend ing the decision, something one recently married same-sex Columbus couple said was no surprise to them. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black ruled Monday that not recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states is unconstitutional, however, Ohio doesn’t have to allow same-sex marriages to take place in state. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican, plans to appeal the ruling on the basis that the state has a sovereign right to ban same-sex marriage. Voters had approved that ban with about 62 percent of votes cast in 2004. Rob Nichols, spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, told the Associated Press Kasich supports the plan to appeal. “The governor believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, he supports Ohio’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and we’re glad the attorney general is appealing the ruling,” Nichols said in a statement. Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic nominee for Ohio governor this year, however, said he agreed with Black’s ruling. “Today’s statement by Federal Judge Timothy Black that his ruling will require that Ohio must legally recognize the marriages of gay couples who wed in other states is an important first step to full marriage equality,” he said in a released statement. “As governor, I will support marriage equality and work to move Ohio forward for all its residents. Who you love and commit yourself to should not be prohibited by governments.” Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman changed
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For being such long endeavors, it’s odd that sports seasons are supposedly defined by their end results. It makes more sense to take a more holistic approach and look at the big picture — at the sum of all those little moments that go unnoticed. An event that was noticed was the 2014 Big Ten Hockey Tournament Championship in St. Paul, Minn. The first season of Big Ten hockey came down to one final game between Ohio State and Wisconsin, where the Buckeyes led 4-2 with less than seven minutes left March 22. The man behind OSU’s bench was Steve Rohlik. An associate head coach for three years with the Buckeyes, the 2013-14 season was Rohlik’s first in the top job. He had led his team through an 0-3 start and a goaltending reshuffle to bring the team within striking distance of its first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years. His seemingly calm demeanor didn’t reveal the tension of the encounter, nor his own personal details that made the situation more compelling — this was not only a game in his hometown, but it was also against his alma mater. The script almost writes itself. But, without warning, that script disappeared. The line between success and failure — one the Buckeyes had toed all season long in their 18-14-5 campaign — became clear. The Badgers scored twice in 28 seconds during the third period to tie the game, and less than eight minutes into the overtime period, Wisconsin was the Big Ten champion. “I couldn’t have asked much more from our guys. They laid it on the line,” Rohlik said last week. “Ultimately I think we were 6:52 short of doing something pretty darn special for this university, for the alumni here, and for this program.” That wasn’t the whole story, though. Instead, it was simply the end of the journey for a team and a coach that stressed the small things, and few could’ve imagined the Buckeyes would finish where they did after the upheaval of the previous spring. Before Rohlik stepped into his new role, Mark Osiecki was fired just over three weeks after the end of the 2012-13 season because of what athletic director Gene Smith called in a press release “a difference of opinion over the management of the program that could not be resolved.” It was Osiecki, Rohlik’s teammate at the University of Wisconsin, who brought him to Columbus as an associate head coach. Rohlik was named coach on an interim basis the day after Osiecki was let go,
Ben Jackson / For The Lantern
OSU hockey coach Steve Rohlik (back) talks to his team during a game against Michigan March 2 at Nationwide Arena. OSU lost, 4-3. and then about a week later, was confirmed as the ninth head coach in program history. “I’m truly honored, humbled and very blessed,” Rohlik said at his introductory press conference April 24, 2013. “When I sat down with the administration, and they told me the support they had moving into the Big Ten, I knew this was the place I wanted to be.” Despite being an assistant coach for 16 years, Rohlik displayed leadership qualities at a young age. Captain at both Hill-Murray High School in St. Paul, Minn., and the University of Wisconsin, he had loads of experience in leading hockey players. “From a young age, I was a captain of every team I’ve ever been on. In high school, in every sport I was a captain, my buddies called me ‘the captain.’” Rohlik said. “It was just in my blood. I love to put my neck out there, I love to try to do things the right way, and I love to give it 110 percent and do whatever it takes to help the team win.” Just like leadership, hockey was also in Rohlik’s blood. Growing up in the “land of 10,000 lakes,” he said there was always a pond to skate on, and Rohlik described the sport as “a way of life.” The dream for most kids was to play in the Minnesota state championship game. Rohlik played in two. From there, he crossed the state line and attended the University of Wisconsin, captaining
the Badgers in his junior and senior seasons, with his final campaign culminating in the 1990 NCAA Championship. “I might’ve been the guy with the ‘C’ on his sweater, but we had so many great leaders, and all the hard work kind of accumulated to our senior year,” Rohlik said. “To win the (Western Collegiate Hockey Association), to win the WCHA playoffs, and then to win the NCAA Tournament … you can’t write a book any better than that year.” Rohlik had a short stint as a professional before returning to his alma mater, Hill-Murray, as coach at the age of 23. Growing up, Rohlik’s father served the school in administrative position, so he said his dream was to play at HillMurray, making his appointment as coach even more meaningful. Five seasons in St. Paul were followed by Division I assistant coaching jobs at NebraskaOmaha and Minnesota-Duluth. Then in 2010, Rohlik got the call from Osiecki, and in just three years he’d become the coach. “I think I’ve tried to take everything over my experiences as a player for so many years and as a coach for so many years. I just try to compile all those experiences,” Rohlik said. “Throughout all those years, you continue to ask yourself, ‘what would you do in that situation?’ I try to put myself in that spot, and ultimately when you
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