VOL. CXXXVIII ISSUE XVVVIX • FREE-ADDITIONAL COPIES $1
THE NEWS RECORD THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI’S INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN NEWS ORGANIZATION / THURSDAY, FEB. 27, 2014
COMING SEASON FINALE TO LIFE
MOVIES, ACTORS DESERVING OF WIN WILL LEAVE EMPTY HANDED
OSCAR PREDICTIONS
UC TRACK TEAMS SET FOR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
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CULTURAL DANCE
Student recounts reported assault involving group of teenagers Fifth-year student tried to intervene in weekend assault, ended up becoming one of four victims RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR
PROVIDED UC student Trent Amstutz tried to intervene in an assault involving 10 teenagers and a student, and ended up being one of the victims Saturday.
Administration seeks to answer questions about Third Century
When University of Cincinnati student Trent Amstutz saw a group of teenagers confront another student Saturday night he felt compelled to intervene. But instead of preventing a fight, the would-be-good Samaritan got a black eye, a bloodied face and a trip to the hospital. Amstutz, a fifth-year chemical engineering student, was one of four UC students reportedly assaulted by a group of 10 teenagers over the weekend. No property was taken in the incident, which Amstutz estimates lasted roughly 30 seconds. The incident is still under investigation, and UC police aren’t at liberty to release details regarding the case, said Jeff Corcoran, interim UC police chief. Amstutz said by talking about the incident, he hopes the university might take meaningful action and be more proactive in preventing crime, which he concedes would take a larger investment than ones the university has made in the recent past. Amstutz was walking home with his fiancee from an off-campus event around midnight Saturday, he said. After being dropped off around the engineering building, the two started heading east. When they reached the Clifton Avenue, Clifton Court intersection, Amstutz said he
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noticed a group of teenagers heckling two people — both of whom are UC students — while they were crossing Clifton Avenue. After yelling something at the group of teenagers, the two students took off toward campus down Clifton Court. Amstutz said he couldn’t make out what the student said. Corcoran said he couldn’t comment on the exchange or if alcohol was involved. The teenagers caught one of the students on Clifton Court and started pushing him around. That’s when Amstutz said he turned around to intervene. “I ran over and I think I said ‘What the f***, what the f***’ and they pushed me to the ground and started beating me for about 30 seconds,” Amstutz said. Amstutz was fully aware that he could be injured if he intervened, but he felt compelled to try and break up the fight. When the group of teenagers ran off, the other UC student who managed to get away returned and called the police, who were on the scene about five minutes later, Amstutz said. Amstutz was the only victim taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but his fiancee was struck in the back of the head and pushed to the ground, he said. Amstutz said the incident hasn’t really changed his perspective on the area, although his fiancee and some of his friends still a little “shook up.” “I think some of the people I’ve talked to, when they see that it’s up close and personal to them, not even themselves but somebody they know or somebody close to them, I think they take it more to heart,” Amstutz said.
BILIONIS BOWS OUT
RYAN HOFFMAN NEWS EDITOR
As officials at the University of Cincinnati work to finish the Creating Our Third Century initiative, students and faculty are questioning how the goals outlined in the university’s newest strategic plan will be achieved. President Santa Ono and Provost Beverly Davenport did their best Monday to answer those questions at an open forum in Tangeman University Center. “It’s very important that we pinpoint what’s on people’s minds,” Davenport said. For many, the forum was their first opportunity to not only provide input, but ask questions, which ranged from how the university would improve leadership in graduate studies to how the university would increase faculty support in an era of tight budgets. “I feel good about the plan now,” said Terry Kershaw, Africana Studies department head. “I feel like I’m a part of the thinking. Things are happening and we’ve seized the momentum that’s been building here.” Kershaw was specifically interested in how the university planned on investing in faulty and students, while keeping diversity in mind. Third Century looks to build on diversity and other initiatives outlined in the UC2019 Academic Master Plan, which details a series of well-defined action steps with $10 million annually toward its progress. However, Third Century aims to address student and faculty needs, whereas previous plans focused more on brick and mortar aspects, Ono said. The plan also seeks to find how those funds can be most effectively distributed to meet the working list of goals and initiatives over the next 15 years. Anna Dannell, a graduate chemistry student, came to ask about how Third Century would support graduate student teaching. Davenport told Dannell, who is a member of the Graduate Association for Teaching Enhancement, that she would meet directly with her to see how the university can help meet some of the needs highlighted by GATE. But administrators couldn’t answer where the money would actually come from for the initiative. “We’re working through that process so SEE CENTURY PG 2
MADISON SCHMIDT CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Louis Bilionis, dean of the College of Law, decided not to renew his contract for dean. After his tenure ends in June 2015, Bilionis plans on returning as a full-time faculty member.
College of Law dean announces end of tenure, after decade of transformation KATIE COBURN STAFF REPORTER
After a transformative decade of serving as dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Louis Bilionis is stepping down from the top leadership position, but he’s leaving the college in a better place. “I’ve just long felt that strong institutions, like ours, are better for turning over leadership sooner rather than later,” Bilionis said. “It’s not about me. I think I am having an important and valuable mark on the school that will continue even when I’m not dean.” Bilionis, who is currently serving his second five-year term as dean, assumed the top leadership role in 2005. Former member of the dean search committee who recruited Bilionis to UC and current law professor at Pepperdine University, Paul Caron, said Bilionis is leaving the College of Law well positioned for the future. “Lou made everyone around him — faculty, staff, students, alumni — better,” Caron said.
During Bilionis’s tenure, the college’s reputation has grown; even expanding on a global level with a masters degree program for foreign-trained lawyers, and the college’s internationally recognized Ohio Innocence Project, which works to liberate wrongfully convicted individual. The college has enhanced its experiential and practical learning opportunities through the creation of new centers, clinics and course offerings, as well as expanded certificate offerings for undergraduate students. The college has also focused on tuition affordability for students by maintaining a strong scholarship program. The college’s library is stronger and well positioned for growth as a 21st-century library. While the college has grown increasingly disciplinary, the faculty has expanded its capacity to be a very scholarly and accomplished unit to better prepare students for the real world of professional practice, Bilionis said. Not only did the college become a more intellectually vibrant, stimulating and rigorous place during Bilionis’ tenure, it also became more collegial and supportive, said Chris Bryant, UC law professor.
“These things happened because of the tone Lou set,” Bryant said. “By example and encouragement Lou helped to create a culture wherein we can respectfully challenge one another without attacking one another. That culture is conducive to flourishing as a teacher and a scholar.” Bilionis plans on returning as a full-time professor after returning from a sabbatical once his current term ends June 30, 2015. “It’s just for the good of the institution,” Bilionis said. “I think change is good. We’re in a position where this would be a really good time to do it.” Whoever the next dean is, he or she will hopefully continue the initiatives that Bilionis instituted and strengthen during his tenure, said Kevin Flynn, adjunct law professor and city councilman who still works as a real estate attorney. “He’s going to be missed,” Flynn said. While recognizing these are challenging times for the legal profession, Bilionis said he is excited to see the college grow stronger beyond his final term as dean. “It’s a great city and a great law school, and they belong together,” he said. “This process is going to give people more confidence that we’ll grow stronger in the future.”
SG backs congressional act allowing cheaper, safer nonprofit housing Act would give tax exemption for contributions made to not-for-profit student housing BECKY BUTTS ONLINE EDITOR
MADISON SCHMIDT CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Gage Woolley, inter-fraternity council president, speaks about improving notfor-profit, off-campus housing at the weekly senate meeting Wednesday.
The University of Cincinnati Undergraduate Student Government voted to actively support an initiative Wednesday that it hopes will make nonprofit student housing cheaper and safer. The Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives in April 2013, amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax-exempt charitable contributions toward not-for-profit student housing. These contributions would facilitate better and safer conditions for student housing, including fraternities and sororities, by encouraging more funds directed at infrastructure improvements and the installation of firesafety equipment. Gage Woolley, UC inter-fraternity council president, will travel to Washington, D.C April 27 to lobby with Congress in support of the act. “It’s one of the most cost-effective solutions to housing CHIEF.NEWSRECORD@GMAIL.COM / 513.556.5908
affordability and crisis that enjoys a strong measure of bipartisan support,”Woolley said. The act personally affects Woolley due to his involvement in Greek life and his friendship with four University of Michigan students hospitalized after a fire at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house earlier this month. “This is something I have to do because it’s in the best interest of our students,”Woolley said. Woolley sought the support of student government with help from Rudy Saunders, student government internal holdover senator. Saunders is also involved with Greek life and recalls times when finding funds has been difficult. He said alumni are prone to donate to national organizations because they are tax deductible instead of local chapters — a trend he hopes the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act will reverse. “It really makes it so that improvements can be made in these houses to create better places for students to be and to live,” Saunders said. The bill passed with a 24-0 vote in the student senate. SG will show support for the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act by asking the Ohio Congressional Delegation to sponsor it.