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Thursday April 17, 2014 year: 134 No. 57

www.thelantern.com @TheLantern weather high 65 low 41 showers

thelantern the student voice of The Ohio State University

Ohio tennis players reign

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Saintseneca comes home

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Eating disorder awareness

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Official’s leadership style could ‘cripple’ OSU Discussion Alutto pushes Chatas to pursue personal development in performance review CAITLIN ESSIG Managing editor for content essig.21@osu.edu A university’s leaders should arguably be the most productive people on campus, but also the most scrutinized, as their decisions affect everyone. In 2013, one leader was certainly at least wellscrutinized — easily the harshest performance review of Ohio State’s senior leaders was of the top financial official, who was criticized for his handling of both people and multi-million dollar decisions. But he still earned a six-figure bonus. At OSU, senior leaders’ productivity has lately been focused toward navigating more than 63,000 students and 43,000 employees through a time of transition. Big transitions at the university can be tricky when it’s the leaders themselves switching up their roles. The words have been written dozens of ways in a myriad of stories: E. Gordon Gee retired as Ohio State president last July, leaving Joseph Alutto to take the reins in an interim role once more. One year from that big change, another is set to take place as Dr. Michael Drake becomes OSU’s 15th president. As administrators come and go, as they’re promoted to new roles or moved around at their current level, the university forges on. There’s no timeout, no pause, no moment to take a breath. So while not all of OSU’s top administrators are in the same roles they were in a year ago — some, as in Gee’s case, aren’t with the university at all — The Lantern took a look at their most recent performance reviews to dig a little deeper into the faces and changes behind some of OSU’s most important decisions. 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

You are quick to point out the shortcomings of your peers as well as other individuals across campus but this year I want you to totally focus on you. Interim President Joseph Alutto said in Geoff Chatas Sept. 2013 performance review performance reviews. He provided a human resources document Wednesday with additional information on the distribution of bonuses for some of the administrators.

Senior Vice President for Optimization and Integration and Medical Center Chief Transformation Officer Geoff Chatas Chatas’ current role, which he moved into March 1, is new at the university. He previously served as OSU chief financial officer and senior vice president of business and finance, titles he had held since February 2010. Chatas earned a $683,153 salary in 2013 as CFO, and was paid an additional bonus of $97,647. That additional amount was a payment of a bonus he earned in 2012. Chatas earned an additional $100,464 bonus, nearly 15 percent of his base pay, in Fiscal Year 2013, half of which is set to be paid in FY 2014 with the other half to be deferred until the end of his contract. In his performance review dated September 2013, Chatas received criticism from Alutto, who called attention to Chatas needing to be aware of his “leadership shadow.” “You have taken on an increased level of responsibility that requires great attention to detail and thoughtful leadership,” Alutto wrote, noting Chatas needs to “remove barriers and create a culture where people want to work for you.” Alutto continued on to tell Chatas not to put pressure on his team “without taking the time to understand their situations and the impact on the university.” He said if Chatas forces changes his

team can’t handle, it can “cripple the university” in the long term. Alutto wrote that Chatas needs to focus on his “own personal and professional development.” “You are quick to point out the shortcomings of your peers as well as other individuals across campus, but this year I want you to totally focus on you,” Alutto said. “Determine how you can best serve the university and how your peers and I can best support you in that process. Work with your external coach to determine if you really believe that you need to change. I believe you want to, but I am not convinced that you are doing it for the right reasons.” When making decisions or being involved with decisions about “the band and compensation for the band director, selecting (Chatas’) assistant, renovations in the management suite for Student Life, spending funds on MBAs and workers’ (compensation),” Alutto said Chatas’ moves “could be perceived as being focused more on the individual than the greater good.” “These are decisions that are university decisions that need to be made at the level of the President’s Cabinet,” Alutto said. “My expectation during the coming year is that you will look to this group for advice, provide them with the appropriate level of accurate information and background and then stand behind whatever decision is made.” Last year, OSU invested $50 million in venture capital firm Drive Capital, despite concern from Alutto about the amount of money being invested. “The only issue I see is the initial size of the investment,” Alutto said in a June 13 email to Chatas. “What is the justification for a $50 million investment rather than one in the $20-30 million range that you described as more typical?” An email later sent to Chatas, signed “G,” said, “I spoke with Joe Alutto today and told him we had to honor the Kvamme agreement.” The address of the email was redacted in the provided records. Mark Kvamme and Chris Olsen launched Drive Capital in 2013. The deal with OSU was controversial because of its size and a potential conflict of interest between Kvamme and Gee, who previously

continued as Leadership on 4A

over fall break, May session LOGAN HICKMAN Senior Lantern reporter hickman.201@osu.edu Nearly two years after switching from quarters to semesters, Ohio State’s administration is still ironing out kinks stemming from the transition of about 12,000 classes on a 10-week quarter system to 15-week semesters. The fate of May Session — a four-week term offering students up to three free credit hours that was created as a result of the quarter-to-semester conversion — is still being decided for future years, as are the implementation of a fall break during Autumn Semester and the possibility of having two commencements instead of three, Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Steinmetz said in an interview with BuckeyeTV, an affiliate of The Lantern. May Session As for the future of May Session, including its potential cost, Steinmetz said he asked the University Senate Fiscal committee to study the financial impact of offering free tuition to students during “Maymester” and hopes to learn its recommendation by the end of Spring Semester. “My concerns are, is if this is costing the university to waive these three credit hours and it’s having a negative impact on our other semesters, I think we’re probably not getting to the point where we want to be with this,” Steinmetz said April 1. “So if that’s the case and that’s the recommendation to come, we would consider charging during May Session.” Steinmetz said the amount of potential May Session fees would need to be worked out depending on the committee’s recommendation. He was unavailable to comment on the status of the recommendation as of Tuesday evening. Currently for May Session, students owe about $70 in student activity, student union and Central Ohio Transit Authority fees, though instructional

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Meal plan prices might rise for 2014-15 FRANCIS PELLICCIARO Lantern reporter pellicciaro.1@osu.edu

Roommates’ fight spurs assault report KAYLA BYLER Managing editor of design byler.18@osu.edu Jamie Goble, a 43-year-old employee of the Wexner Medical Center, was arrested for stealing from Doan Hall, where he works, Saturday at about 7:45 a.m. Property related to the event was listed as confidential and not shown on a University Police report. However, 10TV reported Monday Goble was accused of stealing 17 boxes of medical supplies worth more than $21,000, in addition to earlier in the month being seen on camera removing more than $27,000 worth of surgical staplers from a supply room. A fight between roommates in a South Campus dorm resulted in a report of assault early Sunday morning. A male student returned to his dorm room with some friends at about 2 a.m. The student said he brought the friends to the room to “get back at (his roommate) for waking him up multiple times throughout the week,” according to a University Police report. When the student entered his room, his roommate got very angry and “physically picked up one of the people in the room and put them in the hall” and hit the first student. When officers spoke with the roommate, he said he had woken up with “someone’s ‘bare a--’ in his face,” the report said. He then wrestled with one of his roommate’s friends whom he did not know and hit his roommate. Neither roommate wished to press charges and the hall director resolved the situation by having at least one roommate move to a different residence hall, the report said.

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Though individual blocks will be worth the same amount at the dining halls, the prices of overall meal plans might be rising for the next academic year. Some students said while they aren’t particularly happy about the potential change, they’ll still be purchasing dining plans. Currently, the prices posted on the OSU Dining Services website for meal plans in the 2014-15 academic year are all at least $20 more than the prices from this academic year. The largest increase is set for the Block 450 plan, which would cost $2,358, an $83 increase from its current price. Meanwhile, the Block 350 plan would cost $1,895, a $20 increase from its current price. The other four meal plans would increase by various amounts between $20 and $50. Each block has a $5 value at campus dining locations. The plans offer various amounts of blocks and access: the Unlimited 10 includes dine-in access at any Traditions location with 10 blocks per week for other dining locations and $150 in BuckID cash; the Unlimited 4 includes dine-in access at any Traditions location with four blocks per week for other dining locations; Block 350 includes 350 blocks with $150 BuckID cash; Block 450 has 450

blocks with $150 BuckID cash; Weekly Block 25 has 25 blocks per week with $150 BuckID cash; and Weekly Block 20 has 20 blocks per week with $150 BuckID cash. If all 57,466 Columbus campus students enrolled in Fall Semester 2013 purchased the least expensive meal plan, the Unlimited 4, the cost would total $103 million. With the potential price increase, that total would rise to $106 million. Some students, however, aren’t too concerned about the rising prices, “I’m going to have the 350 plan, and if it’s rising by $20, it won’t really affect me,” said Lauren Barnett, a first-year in economics and marketing. She added that she will be living in a residence

hall next year, and she said she thinks the meal plan prices should be addressed if those prices are rising every year. Dave Isaacs, spokesman for the Office of Student Life, said the prices are just estimates and have not yet been set for next year. “As we always do to help students with planning in January, we post potential housing and dining rates for the upcoming academic year. The numbers are purely estimates and are clearly labeled as such, because rates are subject to approval by the Board of Trustees,” Isaacs said in an email. Visit thelantern.com for the rest of this story.

OSU boarders rail against skate park removal TESSA DITIRRO Lantern reporter ditirro.4@osu.edu

SHELBY LUM / Photo editor

OSU’s only campus skate park ‘Campus Ramps’ is set to be replaced with student recreation areas. Deconstruction on the park has already began.

The demolition of Ohio State’s only campus skate park could drive boarders to the main campus area, something one skater said could be dangerous and cause property damage. Some are fighting the decision that was made to replace the skate park with soccer fields, saying the existing fields aren’t used often enough to warrant creating more. The skate park, “Campus Ramps,” located off of Kenny Road between Woody Hayes Drive and Kinnear Road, is set to be replaced by fall 2014 with student recreation areas, specifically two new soccer fields. OSU Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs said Tuesday the ramp removal had begun and the skate park is already being deconstructed. As of Wednesday afternoon, the skate park appeared to be nearly completely demolished.

But two skateboarders who frequent the ramp — Kyle Decot, a web application developer for the College of Arts and Sciences Technology Services, and Josh Suh, president of the OSU Skateboarding Club — aren’t giving up hope. They said they are set to meet with an OSU Recreational Sports representative Friday morning, and Decot said he plans to bring a petition he started against the demolition. Isaacs said the OSU community could benefit from the park being replaced. “In taking a close look at our facilities and how they are used, we found the skate park to a great extent was not being used by Ohio State University students,” Isaacs said, adding that it was being used more by the Columbus community. That the park wasn’t being highly used was noted by Recreational Sports, and the decision to close the skate park was approved by a board of students and faculty serving on the university’s Recreational Sports committee.

continued as Skate Park on 3A 1A


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