Wednesday April 16, 2014 year: 134 No. 56
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thelantern the student voice of The Ohio State University
Night games at the ’Shoe
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Joel McHale visits OSU
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Jones Tower rappel climb
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Open container law Culture of big bonuses permeates administration OF 18 SENIOR ADMINISTRATORS AT OHIO STATE reform could affect TWELVE Short North EIGHT $120K CAITLIN ESSIG Managing editor for content essig.21@osu.edu
LIZ DICKEY Senior Lantern reporter dickey.88@osu.edu
Courtesy of MCT
“To-go beers” could take on a whole new meaning in areas like Columbus’ Short North Arts District depending on the final status of current pending legislation, as Ohio Senate Bill 116 proposes loosening Ohio open container laws in municipal entertainment districts. Some business owners, however, said they have safety concerns about the proposed bill. The bill could only be applied to cities with a population of more than 50,000 and designated one-half mile by one-half mile entertainment districts that have at least four businesses with an A-2 or D permit. An A2 manufacturer permit allows for the manufacture of wine, while D permits are for restaurants and night clubs and allow for the sale of various types of alcohol until certain times of night, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce website. Ohio cities Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati would all qualify for multiple entertainment districts, which would have to be created by the cities, under SB 116 if passed. Areas such as the Short North or the South Campus Gateway in Columbus could qualify. These districts would be exempt from the current Ohio open container law, which prohibits people from having open containers of beer or intoxicating liquors when in vehicles or not on certain approved premises, with some exceptions, and would resemble that of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and the Savannah Historic District of downtown Savannah, Ga. SB 116 would allow a person with an open container purchased from an appropriate permit holder within the entertainment district the option to take drinks to go.
At a university as large as Ohio State — with 43,630 employees — one might expect equally large paychecks to go to the institution’s top officials. After all, OSU has a total endowment of $3.149 billion and had an annual payroll for all employees of $2.237 billion in 2012-13. In 2012, then-President E. Gordon Gee said he didn’t apologize for large bonuses and paychecks to university employees. “I’m not sorry, I feel very strongly that everyone at this institution should be paid well and right and should be paid according to how well they perform,” Gee told The Lantern in April 2012. “We ought to take great pride in the fact that we have people performing at a very high level.” Even after his retirement, it seems that line of thinking is still woven into the university’s operations. Of 18 senior administrators, all earned a salary of more than $120,000 in 2013, and eight had a salary of more than $400,000. With bonuses and other compensation, many made even more. Twelve of the administrators earned a bonus in 2013. These ranged from $19,099 to $1,460,703, paid to Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston and Gee, respectively. 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 two who were employed at the time 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 responding to all questions about the performance reviews. He provided a human resources document Tuesday with additional information on the distribution of bonuses for some administrators who did not receive written reviews.
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All earned an annual salary more than
earned a salary more than in 2013
$19,099 - $1,460,707
in 2013
$400K
$44K
was roughly the national average wage index for 2012
amount received by Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for Student Life
amount received by former President E. Gordon Gee
KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design
sources: reporting, Social Security Administration Breaking down bonuses Under OSU’s Performance and Retention Plan, not all bonuses are paid out in full immediately. Instead, 50 percent is paid in the following fiscal year and 50 percent is deferred until the employee’s contract term has expired. Therefore, an employee might receive money in one year that is actually the culmination of past bonuses. On another note, if an employee leaves the university before their term is up, or breaks their contract, the deferred money goes back to the university. While additional payments might be noted as bonuses, some are to fulfill the terms of an employee’s contract. Monday, The Lantern reported on bonuses for some employees who did not receive written performance reviews in the year they received bonuses. Tuesday, Lewis provided The Lantern with a document with more information on bonuses for several administrators, including Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Senior Adviser to the President Christopher Culley. Culley received an additional $691,119 on top of his $555,500 salary in 2013. This additional payment consisted of a bonus from 2012, as well as distributions from his Performance and Retention Plan and deferred compensation account, as his contract term ended in October 2013. Performance review logistics While not all administrators had written performance reviews on file, Lewis said performance management, and the
received a bonus in 2013 bonuses fell between
assurance that employees are reviewed yearly, go beyond the written review. “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 the performance review process was adjusted because the university is in a period of change. “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 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 each reviewed personnel. This is the second article in a series of three, and keys in on six members of the administration. Senior Vice President for Advancement Michael Eicher Eicher earns $714,000 annually, and earned a $300,000 bonus in FY 2013. That
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STEP faces challenges in pilot year George Takei to lead Pride parade SHAY TROTTER Senior Lantern reporter trotter.35@osu.edu As the pilot year of the Second-Year Transformational Experience Program at Ohio State comes to a close, some students and faculty involved acknowledged the challenges and benefits experienced in the program’s first year. STEP was designed to encourage sophomores to live on campus by providing them with the resources necessary to make the most of their educational experience, as well as bringing faculty and students together outside of the classroom, said David Stetson, faculty director of the program and a professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology. ”No other institution ever has done something of this scale to bring faculty and students together in this kind of way,” Stetson said. “There’s no model out there. We are the model.” The idea for STEP was based on research that showed that second-year success was heavily influenced by participation in campus events, living on campus, peer interaction, institutional commitment and interaction with faculty. All of these things, Stetson said, can help improve graduation and retention rates. The pilot program officially launched in August 2013 with 53 faculty mentors and 1,000 students, meeting the 20:1 student-to-faculty ratio the university had planned to achieve. The students were organized into clusters and cohorts: clusters had a ratio of about 100 students to five or six faculty members, and cohorts set up about 20 students with one faculty member each. But the beginning of STEP proved to be a challenge for some of the participants and mentors, many of whom had an unclear understanding of how to navigate this newly designed program, Stetson said. For that reason, recruiting faculty members to mentor students in the program was no easy task, Stetson said, but those who agreed to participate were offered a small amount of money for a discretionary fund, meal blocks to use at dining halls with students and the chance to interact with students studying in other departments. “To say yes to this means you have to be happy about engaging students,” Stetson said. “It has to be something you want to do, and that’s the kind of people we got.” Roger Crawfis, a faculty mentor and an associate professor of computer science and engineering,
Simply the expense of providing those moneys to the students to do those projects is a concern and the budget situation here is not very good. David Stetson Faculty director of STEP and a professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology said STEP provided him with the opportunity to offer students advice, which was part of why he wanted to get involved. “It sounded like a good way to reach out to students and help them on their career paths,” Crawfis said. Thomas Greenhalgh-Miller, a second-year student who participated in STEP, said the first semester of the program in particular didn’t go so smoothly. “I would say it was fairly poorly run and it was very confusing, especially for the first semester because no one really knew what was going on or what was expected of them,” Greenhalgh-Miller said. “They need to make sure all of the advisers know what’s happening, as well as a somewhat laid out idea of what they want and what they want to accomplish.” He added, though, some things were done well in that first semester. “They did a good job of making sure everyone met with their adviser and talking and showing you different outlooks such as research and internships and opportunities at OSU,” he said. Another advantage of the program for participating students, Stetson said, is the ability to apply for a $2,000 fellowship to fund an experience or project they want to pursue. Stetson said, though, the expense of providing and distributing that money will likely become an issue for OSU as the program continues to grow. “We’re not simply giving $2,000 to students. We’re saying you can write a proposal in which you propose to spend up to $2,000 in a project, and of course in that situation, students will do everything they can to spend at least $2,000. They won’t say ‘well, I can get by with $400.’ No, they’ll figure out ways to spend $2,000,” Stetson said. “Simply the expense of providing those moneys to the students to do those projects is a concern and the budget situation here is not very good.” Greenhalgh-Miller’s first proposal did not get
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SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
The Stonewall Columbus Pride Festival June 22 on High Street.
JACOB HOLLAR Lantern reporter hollar.38@osu.edu Since coming out in 2005, “Star Trek’s” George Takei has been an example to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on how to “live long and prosper.” Now the actor, author, activist and “Star Trek” alumnus is set to serve as the grand marshal of the 2014 Stonewall Columbus Pride Festival and Parade, which is to have the theme of “created equal.” The festival, which is set to take place June 20-21 at Goodale Park, is sponsored by Stonewall Columbus, a local LGBT support organization. Takei is set to lead the parade June 20 and attend the closing brunch June 22. How Takei spends the rest of the festival is up to him, said Karla Rothan, executive director of Stonewall Columbus — but however he spends his time in Columbus, Rothan said she thinks Takei will be a big hit. “People are going to be giving him lots of love,” she said. Takei was chosen as the grand marshal after Rothan wrote him a letter following the 2013 Pride Festival. Stephen Snyder-Hill and his partner, Joshua Snyder-Hill, served as grand marshals for 2013’s Pride parade. Stephen Snyder-Hill, an Iraq War veteran, drew national attention when his question about “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies was booed by a crowd at a Republican presidential primary in Florida in September 2011. The Columbus native and U.S. Army major is set to release a book on his experiences in September, with a foreword written by Takei. Takei has been an advocate for LGBT issues since he told “Frontiers” magazine in 2005 that he is gay.
Courtesy of MCT
George Takei is set to serve as the grand marshal of the 2014 Stonewall Columbus Pride Festival and Parade. The almost-77-year-old will be the first celebrity grand marshal for the Columbus parade in its more than three-decade history, said John Herman, the marketing and web coordinator for Stonewall Columbus. It’s not unusual for the grand marshal or marshals to be well-known locally or as part of the LGBT community — as Steve and Joshua Snyder-Hill are — but “(Takei) is the first celebrity of this caliber,” Rothan said. “It’s uncharted territory,” Herman said. Maxi Henn, president of Ohio State’s chapter of Sigma Phi Beta Fraternity Inc., a fraternity for gay and allied men on campus, said he shares Herman and Rothan’s enthusiasm. “George Takei has always represented the LGBT community really well,” said Henn, a fourth-year
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