Friday September 12, 2014 year: 134 No. 67
@TheLantern weather high 71 low 54 partly cloudy
thelantern
Brazil native wins on pitch
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Jazz rings at Mirror Lake
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Police instill new policies
WATERS WILL MARCH
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OSU to enter Title IX pact LOGAN HICKMAN AND DANIEL BENDTSEN Campus editor and Asst. arts editor hickman.201@osu.edu and bendtsen.1@osu.edu
CHELSEA SPEARS / Multimedia editor
The OSU Marching Band lines up to play for the first home game of the 2014 season against Virginia Tech on Sept. 6 at Ohio Stadium. OSU lost, 35-21.
LOGAN HICKMAN Campus editor hickman.201@osu.edu Ousted Ohio State Marching Band director Jonathan Waters is planning to return to Ohio Stadium on Saturday, but it won’t be as the marching ensemble’s leader. Waters will march with the alumni band into the stadium and during pregame during a performance at the Buckeyes’ home game against Kent State on Saturday. He will also sit with the alumni band during the first half of the game and might direct them during a few songs. He will not, however, attend Skull Session — the pregame pep rally the marching band holds before each home game. “He’ll probably be as low key as he can be, just put on the sousaphone and get out there and march the show,” said former OSU Marching Band director Paul Droste Thursday evening. “He’s a former co-director of
the alumni band with me, so he is one of us both as a former member of the marching band and as a former staff member of the alumni band. It’s an open invitation from the alumni band to march with us and, if he would feel so inclined, to perhaps conduct a number during the game.” OSU spokesman Chris Davey referred questions about the alumni band’s scheduled performance to the TBDBITL Alumni Club. In response to questions about the performance, Davey said the alumni band was not instructed to avoid the topic of Waters’ firing Saturday and its upcoming performance was not screened by anyone at the university. Waters was fired July 24 after a two-month investigation into the band found a culture conducive to sexual harassment. It was determined Waters was aware or reasonably should have been aware of that culture and did not do enough to change it. Since his dismissal, Waters and
his attorney have made multiple public appearances and submitted a letter asking OSU to consider rehiring him. OSU President Michael Drake and the Board of Trustees, however, have declined to reconsider his case. After nearly two months of tip-toeing around the decision to take legal action, Waters’ attorney David Axelrod suggested Thursday that his client might be closer to suing. “I’m a realist,” Axelrod said. “It does appear that the university’s decision is entrenched. As I indicated before, if Jon concludes that there’s no hope, then litigation is a viable option.” Some band alumni have made it clear they are standing with Waters. Jacob Lowe, a former snare drum player with the marching band, said he wasn’t planning to march with the alumni band this fall until the report that led to Waters’ termination was released in July. “Once the report came out and the fallout happened, I changed my mind and thought I should support
the TBDBITL family and march, even though it means giving money to the university,” he said via Facebook message. Lantern file photo John Jonathan Waters Draper, a senior lecturer at Fisher College of Business and marching band alumnus, said he plans to perform with the alumni band on Saturday, but didn’t know what the show will look like. “We really don’t know what the show will be. We show up on Friday and only find out what the performance will be during Saturday morning practice,” he said Thursday, before The Lantern reported Waters planned to march.
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Tobacco ban isn’t Buckeyes look to bounce stopping smokers back against Kent State ETHAN SCHECK Lantern reporter scheck.12@osu.edu Since Ohio State instituted a campus-wide tobacco ban at the beginning of the year, no one has faced any official punishment from the university for smoking on campus. As a result, people still smoke on campus, but their numbers might be waning, said Dr. Peter Shields, deputy director of the Wexner Medical Center James Comprehensive Cancer Center. The university is confident it will achieve long-term results without a specific enforcement policy, he said, and people that get infractions for repeated violations tend to be those that break multiple rules anyway. So far, no one has had serious repercussions for tobacco use on campus, Shields said. The ban, which forbids cigarettes, tobacco chew, e-cigarettes, snuff and snus from being used on campus, has sent some staff, faculty and students off-campus for their smoke breaks. Others, though, haven’t changed their habits. Though some students might be under the impression that those breaking the policy could face fines, the punishment isn’t enforced by University Police. OSU Human Resources and the Student Conduct Board handle that instead. Shields said the message is being pushed out through a combination of educational signage and the informal enforcement of faculty, staff and University Police
reminding violators of the ban. And most of the ban’s $100,000 has gone to signage, Shields said. As of Wednesday, more than $80,000 had been spent on temporary and permanent signs at all OSU campuses, he said. There is also a $20,000 budget for a supply of nicotine replacement drugs, so that those trying to quit can try out different products. Shields said that funding has been approved but requires more research on aspects such as potential side effects before implementation. He said the committee that created the ban didn’t even think about a formal enforcement policy. “It wasn’t even a discussion,“ Shields said. “When it comes up in a meeting, everyone looks at each other and says, ‘Yeah, no, let’s just move on.’” The Medical Center is the only area on campus with serious enforcement, and its ban started in 2006. Shields said in November those penalties include firing employees after they’re caught smoking twice. “We’re not gonna be that heavy-handed,” Shields said more recently. If the university is informed of larger or group issues with the ban being broken, OSU will change the signage and educate people in the area of the policy to help prevent further violations, Shields said. Last week, a tobacco-free program coordinator, based in the Student Wellness Center, was hired on a
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JAMES GREGA, JR. Asst. sports editor grega.9@osu.edu The Ohio State football team is trying to avoid starting 0-2 at home for the first time since 1967. On paper, it doesn’t look like that will be a problem. The Kent State Golden Flashes roll into Columbus tagged with a 0-2 record, with those losses coming against Ohio University and the University of South Alabama, both at home. While focused on his team, OSU coach Urban Meyer said Wednesday he knows what it is like to be in Kent State’s shoes. “Those kids are going to be a hungry group coming in here because this is their chance to play in front of 110,000 people,” he said. “I have been in that locker room when we (Bowling Green) went down to Missouri and won that game. You are going to see a hungry group trying to get a win.”
MARK BATKE / Photo editor
OSU redshirt-sophomore Michael Thomas (3) celebrates with teammates (from left) Dontre Wilson, Jalin Marshall and Curtis Samuel after a touchdown during a game against Virginia Tech on Sept. 6 at Ohio Stadium. OSU lost, 35-21.
The third-year OSU coach held the same position at Bowling Green from 2001-02. Meyer added that although Kent State has yet to win a game, he expects the Golden Flashes to test the Buckeyes. “I see a very good MAC school — I have been there before when I was at Bowling Green,” Meyer said. “I see a quarterback who can make plays, that is our biggest concern on defense. I see guys that run around and hit you on defense.” The Kent State quarterback Colin Reardon has been the impact player for the Golden Flashes, averaging 244.5 total yards per game — a figure that leads the team. The Golden Flashes will likely lean heavily on their passing game as they rank 120th out of 124 teams in rushing offense, averaging just 47.5 yards per game on the ground. Despite the Golden Flashes’ lack of a run game, OSU senior defensive lineman Michael Bennett said his No. 1 goal remains stopping the Kent State rushing attack. “We are going to make sure we shut down the run early,” Bennett said. “You got to shut down at least one aspect of their offense because they have so many different plays they can run.” Another key for the Buckeye defense will be simply getting off the field, something it struggled to do last week, giving up nine of 17 third down conversions to the Virginia Tech offense. “If you win first down, it makes second and third down a lot more tricky for the offensive coordinator,” Bennett said. “This week, you see stuff you can work on and you work on it. We get our pass rush better, we get our coverage better, and everyone comes together.” Offensively, Meyer said the key to the
A federal investigation into Ohio State’s handlings of sexual abuse complaints under Title IX praised the way the university dealt with marching band issues, but it also had its criticisms, and set stipulations accordingly. The U.S. Department of Education posted a list of 55 U.S. colleges
“The university’s motive was to appease the Department of Education and get it to end its investigation suit. ... They made Jonathan a convenient scapegoat to avoid further investigation.” - David Axelrod Waters’ attorney
being investigated for their handling of sexual abuse complaints under Title IX in May. OSU was on the list and at the time, an OSU spokesman said there was no reason to worry because the investigation was not complaint-based. The findings of that investigation were released Thursday and the department’s Office of Civil Rights announced it will enter into an agreement with OSU to ensure proper Title IX obedience following the conclusion of the review. The conclusion mostly applauded OSU’s efforts on Title IX compliance. “The university has demonstrated its strong commitment to vigorously addressing sexual assault and sexual harassment on its campuses, including by taking effective steps to stop sexual harassment, prevent its recurrence, eliminate any hostile environment and remedy its discriminatory effects on complaints and any others as inappropriate,” the release stated. The OCR also concluded, however, the university had violated some facets of Title IX. Since then, though, it said OSU has adapted to comply with the law. Title IX is a clause of the Education Amendments of 1972 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in publicly-funded programs. During the investigation, the university improved its documentation of sexual violence investigations, formed a sexual violence consultation team, created the Office of Compliance and Integrity, as well as a Title IX website, and developed online bystander intervention training for students, according to the release. But there are a few things still in the works. For example, the university now has to require sexual assault and harassment training of
continued as Football on 3A continued as Title IX on 2A
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