MULTIMEDIA

OU students come forward for arson

Both men charged with setting a house fire on Stewart Street have voluntarily turned themselves in.

Next year's budget unsettled

Ohio University’s Board of Trustees will break a recent tradition at Thursday’s meeting by postponing the presentation of the final FY 2014-15 budget.

Streetview: Is it important to you that the commencement speaker is an Ohio University alum?

Football: Bobcats prepare for Pro Day

Players and coaches have filed into Walter Fieldhouse for the first days of spring practice throughout the week. Thursday, however, the new facility will be packed even further when professional scouts enter the building for Ohio’s Pro Day.

Editorial: A point worth making, a question worth asking

Athletics’ bowl game budget

Hope for Humanity: Cybersexism edges women out of online communities

Chauncey man found guilty of multiple felonies

A Chauncey man was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after attempting to hide items in his car during a traffic stop and for attempting to use his son’s urine during a drug test.

Men's Basketball: Akron awaits Ohio in MAC Quarterfinals

CLEVELAND — Neither •Stevie Taylor nor •Javarez “Bean” Willis put up especially gaudy stat lines, but when it mattered most, each rose to the occasion in Ohio’s second-round Mid-American Conference Tournament victory against Miami.The duo of junior point guards each hit a •pair of 3-pointers when the game tightened in the second half to help the Bobcats advance past the RedHawks •63-55 •Wednesday.After a layup and a triple by Miami freshman guard •Jared Eustace gave the RedHawks a •43-39 lead with •10:49 remaining in the contest, Taylor came back up the floor and knocked down •3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.“I told (Taylor) that, ‘We can’t win games in this tournament without you. … you’re going to have to give us everything you’ve got’,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “I thought he played with a lot of courage tonight.”And when RedHawks eventually •retook the lead, Willis knocked down a pair of 3-pointers of his of his own with to push the Bobcats ahead again, knocking down his second on a pull-up jumper stemming from a •Jon Smith steal.  “At that point in time, there’s limited time left in the game,” Willis said. “If you’re going to shoot it, then you have to shoot it with confidence. … I shot it knowing that I had to make it and I did.”Miami didn’t quit, however, trimming the lead back to within one point with 38 seconds left. But Ohio senior guard Nick Kellogg finished off the Bobcats’ second-half heroics, taking the ball to the hoop and completing an and-one opportunity. The free throw gave the Bobcats a •four-point lead and essentially sealed the win.But the first half wasn’t a shining example of how beautiful the game of basketball can be, as both teams combined for •20 team fouls, which averages out to a foul a minute.“It’s kind of tough, but it’s part of the game,” Kellogg said. “You just have to adapt and adjust to it. If that’s the way (the officials) are calling it, that’s how they’re calling it. I think it’s up to us to stop fouling.”On top of that, there was a pair of lane violations, blood on the floor and a shooting performance that made it seem like there was a lid on the rim.Ohio shot 7 of 26 from the field in the first half, while Miami actually managed to shoot worse, connecting on 7 of its 30 attempts before the break.There was also a •nine-minute, •28-second stretch in which the Bobcats didn’t make a basket. A Kellogg •3-pointer with •7:39 before half served as the first made field goal since Willis made a shot from downtown at the •17:07 mark.Awaiting the Bobcats in the quarterfinals is an Akron team that crushed Ohio’s MAC Championship and NCAA Tournament bid chances last season with a •65-46 win in the tournament’s title game.Kellogg said it wouldn’t be a •MAC Tournament without meeting a Zips team that •split the regular season series against the Bobcats this year.“Obviously they’re a really good team,” Kellogg said. “We felt like we’ve built some momentum winning these two games prior to this game, so we know what kind of energy and effort it’s going to take to beat them.”ch203310@ohiou.edu@C_Hoppens

Editorial: A point worth making, a question worth asking

Athletics’ bowl game budgetAn initial scan of the expenditure report for this season’s football bowl game indicates that Ohio Athletics did a good job pinching pennies for its trip to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.The trip, which resulted in a 37-20 loss to East Carolina on Dec. 23, cost Ohio University students only $32,642.08 — less than half of last season’s $78,569 for the Advocare V100 Independence Bowl (which Ohio won, by the way).Bravo, right?We don’t think it’s that simple for a variety of reasons, which we believe are largely circumstantial.This season’s bowl was played earlier in the year (Dec. 23 versus Dec. 28 the season prior), presumably saving Athletics money from the fewer days student-athletes were living and training on campus before the game. Plus, hotel arrangements were significantly cheaper in St. Petersburg than in Shreveport, La., the site of the Independence Bowl.An Athletics official said after the Independence Bowl that Athletics has little say in where the team stays during a bowl trip. He noted Independence Bowl officials specified a “home hotel and visiting hotel.” We have no reason to believe this season’s accommodations were handled differently.We concede with an Athletics statement emailed to the media that it’s common for football teams to spend more than they receive for playing in bowl games and that Athletics made a good effort to incur “the least expense possible.” What we take issue with, though, is the statement that Athletics broke even on this season’s bowl trip.The university budgets $120,000 of its General Fee for its athletic teams’ postseason play, but there’s no doubt that the university spent more money on this bowl game than it brought in by playing in it.Don’t get us wrong: We support the Bobcats and cheer them on as much as the next fan, and we’re glad that they get to compete in postseason play as a culmination of their hard work throughout the season. We don’t take issue with the money that OU pays to finance its postseason play, and we understand the value of the exposure the university receives from bowl appearances. But this season’s bowl expenditures — lesser than the past largely because of circumstance — cost students money. There’s no debate to be had. The university did not break even.CommencementOhio University typically maintains the tradition of booking alumni to deliver the commencement address. But is that necessarily a good thing? To be honest, we’re split. We see the value in hearing from a successful, prominent alum who can relate to students about living in Athens, bar-hopping on Court Street, strolling through College Green and perhaps walking across the stage inside The Convo at his or her own commencement. An alum’s address has the potential to personalize the recycled “you-will-go-far” sermon that college graduates sit through year after year.However, we wouldn’t mind a little more hype and impact at commencement. We don’t need to go to the lengths that a certain state school did last year and book the sitting president of the United States, but we think students would appreciate a recognizable name. Here’s a name: Pete Souza. Souza’s the official White House photographer and a faculty member in the School of Visual Communication, but he doesn’t hold any degrees from Ohio University. Does that preclude him from speaking at commencement? We hope not. (Souza: If your schedule is clear around, say, May 2 next year, give us a call.)There are plenty of non-Bobcat authors, businesspeople, journalists, politicians and artists who are great at what they do and are capable of rousing a crowd. Isn’t that the point of the commencement address anyway? Or is hearing from an alum what makes a commencement special?Like we said, we’re split. And as you can see at the bottom of this page in today’s Post Streetview, students are split too. Some want to relate to the experiences they share with the speaker, while others just want to be inspired by a good speech regardless of who’s giving it. What do you think?Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.

Football: Bobcats prepare for Pro Day

Players and coaches have filed into Walter Fieldhouse for the first days of spring practice throughout the week. Thursday, however, the new facility will be packed even further when professional scouts enter the building for Ohio’s Pro Day.Former Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton and receiver Donte Foster are among the list of athletes who will be showcasing their talents to potential suitors during the afternoon.“It’s fun to be back around the guys, and see how far they’ve come with their training,” Tettleton said. “I’ve been working out every day when possible, just trying to take care of my body and eat right and do the right things. I feel like I’m in the right place right now. It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it.”The former Bobcat also says he’s weighing his future options after six NFL teams began communicating with him following an All-Star Game he played in last month, in addition to one Canadian Football League team that has offered him a contract.Foster has spent the past eight weeks training in Miami, Fla. working on drills such as shuttles, bench presses and verticals preparing for Thursday’s opportunity. Foster shared Tettleton’s enthusiasm about Pro Day and relayed some advice given to him by Indianapolis Colts receiver and former Bobcat LaVon Brazill.“LaVon told me to just stay relaxed,” Foster said. “If one thing goes bad, you can’t let that dictate the rest of your Pro Day. He just said to stay focused, and if you have one bad drill, then just go onto the next one and just make the most of it. You have to go into these things with confidence, so hearing that from him was very beneficial to me.”Tettleton and Foster have each attended the early days of the Bobcats’ spring practices to observe next year’s team, as well as the new practice facility.“I’ll always be a Bobcat, so I’ll always support them,” Tettleton said. “I try to be around the guys as much as possible. It’s great to be in here, and see the new indoor that my class and all of these guys helped build and provide for this program.”As one of the players looking to fill Tettleton’s shoes this season, redshirt junior Derrius Vick has been looking to get the most out of the first week of practice.“Practice has been way different,” Vick said. “The new quarterback coach has us doing a lot more drills and puts a lot more emphasis on different things. I can definitely feel myself getting better quickly every day.”Ohio’s Pro Day kicks off at Walter Fieldhouse on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.aw987712@ohiou.edu@_tonywolfe_

OU students come forward voluntarily for arson

Both men charged with setting a house fire on Stewart Street have voluntarily turned themselves in.

Obama skirts major media for ‘Ferns’ sit-down

Sitting between two ferns, President Barack Obama spoke to actor Zach Galifianakis this week about the Affordable Care Act in an almost-last-ditch effort to get more young people to sign up for private health care plans by using the federal and state government-run marketplaces.But I’d bet most people reading this column, which appears in a college newspaper, already knew that. That’s because Obama’s sales pitch, in some ways, worked.As the White House would tell you, funnyordie.com, the website that hosts the semi-scripted show, was the No. 1 source of traffic yesterday to healthcare.gov, the federal marketplaces.And even if you’re 18-34 and you didn’t sign up for health care after watching the “Between Two Ferns” piece online, the president made his pitch and you remembered it. And, judging by the “Funny or Die” meter on the Galifianakis episode, you likely laughed.But some critics argue that a sitting president appearing on a Web-only, tit-for-tat comedy show — with a microphone pinned on to his lapel with masking tape — is not the best use of precious presidential time and resources.As The Washington Post noted, with the advent of the Internet, Obama is the first president who is able to bypass traditional news media in favor of more laid-back, non-traditional media that will be kinder in its line of questioning.For example, The Washington Post noted that Obama last met with the newspaper in 2009. Since then, Obama has given interviews to People, Entertainment Tonight and The View, as well as entertainers Jay Leno, Steve Harvey and Jon Stewart. NBA legend Charles Barkley interviewed the president this year. Now add Hangover star Zach Galifianakis to the bunch.Obviously, the White House’s agenda can be better delivered unfiltered by lighter media outlets. So it’s a no-brainer, perhaps, that a president with more than 27 million Twitter followers — many more than The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other top news outlets with a beefed-up Washington Bureau — doesn’t feel like he needs to cozy up to the traditional news media.Because they will ask tough questions and write stories that have deep context from seasoned reporters who know how Washington does and doesn’t work. That’s probably a scary thought for a president facing approval ratings near or touching his all-time lows, depending on the poll.But Obama often talks about what this nation’s leaders can do versus what is the right thing to do. He said that about the NSA programs that have come under intense scrutiny.“The power of new technologies means that there are fewer and fewer technical constraints on what we can do,” the president said in January during a landmark speech on U.S. intelligence gathering. “That places a special obligation on us to ask tough questions about what we should do.”I wonder how he would feel about applying that logic to disseminating his agenda.Now that traditional media — with reporters who will vet information and offer in-depth looks at a president’s public policy agenda — is becoming eclipsed by brand new forms of “light” media, should the president opt for the easy way or the hard way to inform the American people of his White House’s plans? Because we know he can opt — and is opting — for the easier way. But should he?Regardless of what he thinks of that, my prediction is an obvious one: Obama’s not going to stop the light interviews — which history might be kind to — any time soon.Joshua Jamerson is a junior studying journalism and local editor of The Post. What did you think of Obama’s “Between Two Ferns” interview? Talk about the episode with him at jj360410@ohiou.edu. 

Alumnus to address students at graduation

Even if Ohio University’s six regional campuses are scattered throughout Ohio, they will have a presence at this year’s undergraduate graduation ceremony in Athens.

Board of Trustees postpones final budget presentation

Ohio University’s Board of Trustees will break a recent tradition at Thursday’s meeting by postponing the presentation of the final FY 2014-15 budget.Instead, the board will begin its meetings, after an open government training session, with a joint academic and resources committee meeting on prioritizing OU’s financial needs.Discussion will include different tuition increase scenarios for the 2014-15 academic year, although the final decision won’t be made until the board’s summer meeting.They are as follows:No increase, which would give OU $1.26 million to invest in programs toward academic and college needsA 1 percent increase, which would leave $2.56 million to investA 1.5 percent increase, which would leave OU with $3.23 million to investThe extra time to discuss budget options will give trustees the chance to spend more time considering the implications of increasing the tuition, said Peter Mather, board secretary.“I expect very rich discussions in the Thursday meetings about these important issues,” Mather said in an email.The joint committee will also discuss the “Transforming OHIO” plan — a term the university uses to describe its large projects, including the Capital Improvement Plan, or planned construction; the Total Compensation Plan, which is an effort to make all OU salaries more comparable to positions in other Ohio industries; and the $100 Mil. Investment Strategy, aimed at collecting money for specific academic programs.“Our March meeting will provide valuable opportunities to engage trustees in a discussion about Ohio University’s vision and strategic direction as we forge new ways to be entrepreneurial and support transformative learning experiences for our students,” OU President Roderick McDavis, said in an emailed statement.Academics Committee:At the academics committee Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit will provide an overview of the Honors Tutorial and the Graduate colleges. She will provide a similar update on the Office of Information Technology and the Office for Institutional Equity, detailing the offices’ goals and priorities.The board will also discuss the Completion Plan, which aims to increase enrollment by 0.5 percent each year and implement the guaranteed tuition plan by Fall 2015.Resources Committee:The resources committee meeting will begin with an assessment of OU’s endowment assets based on a national survey of higher education institutions through NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.The board will also receive an annual update on the institution’s debt capacity, and discuss three recommendations for addressing it:Take on debt and accept a temporary high credit ranking to work on projectsTake on debt incrementally in order to maintain credit rankingsLimit borrowing to projects prioritized in OU’s misswion, which often are self-supporting by their own revenue, such as Residential Housing projectsFacilities will then present its plans to begin discussing possibly limiting or removing vehicle traffic on Park Place to create a “pedestrian-friendly” walkway.The discussion is still in preliminary phases, but if the board votes in favor of McDavis continuing talks of the Park Place street study, facilities will take plans to city officials for input, because it is Athens property, said Shawna Bolin, director of University Planning & Space Management.“Every single thing we do for every planning study … will be thought of with the community, not just the OU community but the local community as well,” Bolin said.The items on the consent agenda (which is approved all at once by board members) include:OU’s Investment Policy, discussed at the March board meetingTwo corporate resolutions related to investmentsSchematic design for Boyd Dining Hall, Schoonover Center Phase 2, and OU-HCOM ClevelandConstruction projects for Allen Student Help Center, College Green exterior painting and landscape design, The Convo, Crawford and Mackinnon Hall roof and gutter replacements, Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium UpgradesDublin Campus Permanent Utility EasementThe University Completion PlanThe Faculty Compensation PlanProgram review of the Computer Science Technology Program for OU Chillicothe, Lancaster and Southern campusesEstablishment of the Doctorate of Philosophy in the Translational Biomedical Science Doctoral ProgramPhysician Assistant Program name change to “Master of Physician Assistant Practice”Graduate Student Senate constitution revisiondk123111@ohiou.edu@DanielleRose84 

Ohio Fests: Songs, sins & sunshine

In the early 2000s, music lovers essentially only had one option when it came to enjoying large outdoor music festivals — the sweaty over-crowded jungle that is Bonnaroo.

OU paid less for lastest bowl bid

Although Ohio failed to win its third consecutive bowl game, expenses for Ohio football’s four-day trip to St. Petersburg, Fla., in December totaled less than the team’s previous two postseason trips, according to a report released by Ohio Athletics last Tuesday.Of the $469,147.08 in total expenses for the Bobcats’ trip to the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, Ohio University paid $32,642.08 out-of-pocket from the Post Season Opportunity Fund — a $120,000 annual allotment from the General Fee. The total is less than half of the $78,569 OU pulled from the same pool in 2012 for the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, according to a previous Post article.“We’re going to start making money off of (bowl games),” said Tom Symonds, Ohio assistant athletic director for media relations. “There’s going to come a time when we get increased funding from the league to go to these bowls — don’t be surprised if you see a couple years down the road that we’re making money off (games).”Ohio Athletics received $400,000 in payout from the bowl in addition to $36,505 from ticket revenue from the game. The decrease in money pulled from the Post Season Opportunity Fund was a result of an increase in ticket revenue compared to 2012, when Ohio Athletics brought in $23,876 in Independence Bowl ticket sales.“From where we were, we’re spending far less money to go to these bowl games,” Symonds said. “We’re getting better bowl deals. … Five years ago we weren’t getting that ($400,000) guarantee.”OU also sponsored a bus trip for about 350 students, who for $50 apiece were transported to and from Florida, stayed one night at a resort and were given a ticket to the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. Expenses for the bus trip totaled $45,684, but OU made $13,800 of that cost back in revenues from students who bought tickets for the trip.Revenue for the student trip came from multiple sources. The Ohio Bobcat Club — a fundraising arm of Athletics — financed the largest portion of the student trip, donating $15,844.“We wanted to have our players know that our students are behind us … even down in Florida.” Symonds said. “When bowls see what we do with our student attendance and getting students to games, that’s a big deal to them.”The President’s Office Budget and VP Student Affairs Budget each paid $8,000 to cover the remaining costs of the trip, so the university wouldn’t lose money.According to a statement from Athletics, “The significant exposure received can benefit enrollment, fundraising, campus life and school pride to students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.”Athletics had taken until the first week of March to release its bowl game expenditure report because it was waiting to receive final transportation costs, Symonds said. Past bowl expenditure reports have been issued in a similar timeframe in years past, and representatives from the Ohio Bobcat Club and Athletics marketing department did not return requests for comment. Ohio lost the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl to East Carolina 37-20 on Dec. 23. The game was the Bobcats’ fifth consecutive postseason appearance and Ohio is one of 21 programs to play five straight bowl games.“Just like a cross country runner that is able to go to the NCAA tournament and compete in the nationals, — and we’ve got five wrestlers that are able to go to the nationals and compete — we’re in the business to provide those opportunities for student-athletes.” said Dan Hauser, Ohio senior associate athletic director for external operations. “When they have the chance to compete in the postseason, we’re going to support those opportunities.”cl027410@ohiou.edu@ChadLindskog

Hope for Humanity: Cybersexism edges women out of online communities

“All of my social media sites were flooded with threats of rape, violence, sexual assault, death. And you’ll notice that these threats and comments were all specifically targeting my gender,” Anita Sarkeesian said of her battle with cyber harassers, one of whom developed a game for punching her face into a bloody pulp, in her 2012 Ted Talk. Sarkeesian, a feminist pop culture critic perhaps best known for her “Tropes vs. Women” YouTube series, will speak Thursday in Baker Theatre at 5 p.m. Part of the Law, Justice, and Culture Center’s series on Critical Resistance in the Digital Age, Sarkeesian’s presentation focuses on the unprecedented scale of cybersexism she faced after launching a KickStarter campaign to raise money for a series of videos examining common representation of women in video games. Sarkeesian’s experience is far from unusual for women with significant Internet presences. In “A Woman’s Opinion Is the Miniskirt of the Internet,” left-wing journalist Laurie Penny recounts her experiences with direct threats made to both her and her “school-age sisters” as a result of her job. She writes that as a woman, “having (an opinion) and flaunting it is somehow asking an amorphous mass of almost-entirely male keyboard-bashers to tell you how they’d like to rape, kill and urinate on you.”Here at Ohio University, we’ve seen this phenomenon manifest itself as members of F--kRapeCulture were contacted on personal phones and social media accounts by men’s rights activists threatening to teach them “how it feels to be really raped,” as well as anonymous OU Confessions tweets saying FRC members “just need to be fked hard.” We’ve seen groups organized around harassing the supposedly “man-hating feminist” Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones and making an OU student falsely associated with the Court Street incident delete her social media presence to deter the threats.Amanda Hess’ piece “Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet” suggests that the solution offered to the aforementioned student is almost universal: delete your accounts, modify your Internet use, and ignore the hate speech. “Don’t feed the trolls” is the cliché advice given to those who experience Internet bullying, as if this were an adequate response. Sounding suspiciously like the supposed rape prevention advice which recommends women don’t wear x things in y places, our conventional coping strategies for Internet harassment are neither progressive nor feasible in the digital age.Anita Sarkeesian’s story has a happy ending. Raising more than $120,000 for her series, she continues to produce content for Feminist Frequency that both critiques existing video games and imagines media that could make the gaming community a powerful cultural safe-space open to all. Hopefully, that possibility exists for the rest of us as we graduate into an Internet culture still much more hostile to those who are aren’t straight white men than we are prepared to admit.Bekki Wyss is a junior studying English literature. Have you experienced gender-targeted harassment online? Tell her about it at rw225570@ohiou.edu.

Third Class brings Quirk-Pop style to Athens

Donkey Coffee & Espresso audiences may have seen Third Class perform before, but the band is bringing its “quirk-pop” style back to Athens.

Skull stage set to unite bands with Athenian, jazz history

Friendships developed over years of playing shows together connect the bands playing at the Skull this Thursday. Riley, a Dayton band, will be visiting Athens for the first time since last October, and over that time they have switched from a quartet to a trio, made up of drummer Colin Pauley, bassist Kyle Moore and guitarist and vocalist Eric Bluebaum. Hundos, from Columbus, and two Athenian bands will join them: Method Air and Ghost Stories. Riley has been on the same bill as Kevin and Sean Hundley of Hundos after first playing in Athens with them years ago, Bluebaum said. At that time, Hundos, made up of the Hundley brothers, was known as Zapaño, a progressive jazz-rock band.“(After) we played, we became friends and ever since that first show we just have developed a cool bond,” Bluebaum said. “Athens has always been a cool, receptive place for us.” Riley and Hundos are visiting as they travel around Ohio, and their Skull date is the first of four shows including Columbus, Cincinnati and Canton.Bluebaum said Riley’s music is greatly influenced by the three members and training in jazz music; two of the three studied jazz in school. “We’ve always been really focused on being a tight performing band, especially now with this line-up,” Bluebaum said. “We’re definitely practicing a more kind of a standard rock band formula where I’ll go in and add a lead (guitar part), but it’s not like we’re Led Zeppelin. … It’s more like we’re making up a song as we go along.” Hundos also has their music rooted in jazz, in that they’re creating improvised music that constantly evolves each time they perform. “For live shows, the core rhythms that make up our set pretty much stay the same, but our ideas are always changing and growing so each set is different,” said Kevin Hundley, bass player of Hundos.And as the band continues to develop its sound over the year they’ve been playing under the Hundos name. Hundley said he expects it to evolve even more. Although Ghost Stories has not played with Riley or Hundos before, it does a share a member, Sam Stanfield, with the other Athens band, Method Air. And Ghost Stories themselves grew out of jamming around in dorm rooms, said Charlie Walden.“We started as 3 of us writing songs in a dorm during Eric Bishop and I’s freshmen years and over time it has evolved to what it is today,” Walden said.ds834910@ohiou.edu@drussell23

Les Joueurs Noirs puts on presentation of ‘The Colored Museum’

Through its depiction of eleven discomforting, but humorous, vignettes that satirize African-African culture, George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum has received numerous accolades and honors throughout its production history.