The recent investiture of Ohio State University’s newest president, Michael Drake, outlined the plan he means to implement for the future of the school and notably left no acknowledgement of the particularly troubled tenure he has endured prior to the speech.

The speech, for its part, was focused, determined, and even inspirational. Drake made well known his knowledge of this institution’s success and the high goals he has set to further it. The demeanor of his address was structured, intellectual, and perhaps even elegant. It payed attention entirely to the university, rather than his presidency. It relentlessly looked forward to the potential of the school, stopping only briefly to reflect on the history and principles that have guided OSU this far.

Perhaps the entire event was overshadowed, however, by the issues that did not find their way into his address. These include, amongst other things, a large PR battle with Jon Waters, the former director of Ohio State’s incredibly successful marching band, and a student body that has been slow to accept him in the wake of the former president, Gordon Gee.

For the university as a whole, the situation reflects tensions that have been present for much of recent memory. The investiture, though, may be the first step in moving forward following these events. The progress Drake defined as necessary, including the reduction of student debt and the revitalization of the nearby community outline his vision for Ohio State. Only time will tell if that vision is enough to begin repairing the wounds of the past, and to start building for the future.

The recent retraction issued by the Rolling Stone regarding a feature piece detailing the heart-wrenching story of the rape of a University of Virginia  freshman followed several investigations proving the account false. New evidence was found from a variety of sources that threw the entire story into disarray.

Most prominent of these, the investigation “A Rape On Campus: What Went Wrong?” found that the lapse truly fell on all levels of the Rolling Stone mechanism. And that lapse was, primarily, confirmation bias. The Rolling Stone, in much the same way that the redaction described, has entered into a relationship with the subject in which respect and sensitivity for the victim took precedence over exhaustive and investigative reporting.

The retraction , for its part, was honest. It described the major errors of the Stone and allowed all the blame to fall on itself as an organization rather than on “Jackie.”

The entire debacle, while not acceptable, is at the very least understandable. I hardly believe the Rolling Stone intended any wrongdoing, and took care not to implicate specific individuals by the same metric with which it failed to verify the story. That said, the event speaks to the importance of fact checking, and to the necessity to remain vigilant against confirmation bias.

As it stands, the story should serve as a warning for the future, particularly in events as sensitive as this was. While paying reverence to the well-being of a victim can be important, and necessary at some points- but this should not be allowed to result in the compromising of professional values. If the polite, or necessary respect to be given to any particular subject would by its merit prevent the undertaking of honest investigation, then the story should simply be dropped.

All of this in mind, while the mistake of the Rolling Stone was in fact a serious one- it pays credence to understand that this served as a lesson to all publications, not simply the one which it befell. Repeated incidents in this case would most certainly result in the need for more serious professional consequences. But perhaps it is best, just this once, to simply allow the series of events unfolding themselves to serve as punishment enough, and instead, all take heed of the larger moral of the story.

Today, a Sophomore, Amanda, stood with the student farmworkers alliance presenting information to interested passerby’s on the oval, providing a description of their cause and why they thought it was important.The issue here is one of worker livelihood and sustainability vs. effective business models- one especially prevalent in free-market capitalisms such as our own.

The movement seeks, according to its website- to convince large restaurant chains to pay 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes. A change that would fund massive improvements in the lives of the florida farmers responsible for those products.

What makes this instance unique is that Wendy’s is interestingly the sole holdout among major fast food chains. According to the fair food program, the companies Subway, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and more have all signed on to the change.

At the end of the day- reforms like this are necessary to continue normal economic development and socioeconomic stability in a developed country. While the change may be a hard pill to swallow for fast food, it is a necessary one, as will be other similar reforms to come.

Earlier today at a local Jiffy Foods convenience store on Holbrook Dr., an attempted armed robbery occurred, leaving one suspect injured and in custody while the other escaped. The suspect, Timothy Keel, was left with several broken bones following a violent encounter with the store clerk.

Keel was arrested following the incident, and has been charged with armed robber in addition to resisting a merchant. The second suspect in the attempted robbery fled the scene immediately following the event, and has not been found.

The clerk, who was recently injured himself in a construction accident, still had his leg in a cast, and was using a cane to walk at the time of the incident.

The 2 men entered the store at 1:15 A.M., at which time they asked to use the bathroom. When the clerk went to retrieve the key, he was followed by Keel, who presented a knife. The clerk, in retaliation, swung his cane into Keel, hitting him repeatedly and subduing him.

After the second suspect fled, the clerk and a store customer tied up keel using their belts and waited for the police to arrive.

No information regarding the appearance or whereabouts of the second suspect is available at time.

The store clerk, who wished not to be named, said only that he was unharmed in the scuffle.

Concurrently with President Obama’s condemnation of the killing of three

Muslim students at Chapel Hill, federal investigators on Friday, Feb. 13 started an inquiry into the possibility that the fatal shooting was a hate crime.

The event and the ensuing reaction has sparked public debate about the ways in which we view these tragedies, and the circumstances under which we apply terms like terrorism- and hate crime.

The three students who were killed, the sisters Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha; and Yusor’s husband, Deah Shaddy Barakat, were shot on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at an apartment near the University of North Carolina.

The man responsible, Craig Hicks, has since turned himself in and was subsequently charged with 3 counts of murder.

On Friday, President Obama voiced that “No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship.”

The President offered both his and his family’s condolences, and made a strong statement of solidarity, saying “As we saw with the overwhelming presence at the funeral of these young Americans, we are all one American family.”

Suzanne Barakat, the sister of 2 of the victims, said Friday during an interview with CNN that her family members were targeted because of their religion. She added that “It’s time people call it what it is,” saying that Hicks terrorized her family and that the murders should be considered an act of terrorism.

Kathryn Magee, a sophomore at OSU, said “An act of terrorism I always associate with helping a group to change/punish a nations ideas or beliefs” adding that “A hate crime can be isolated.”

The question that faces the public now; nationally, locally, and as individuals, is how, if at all, do we see or treat these tragedies differently? To what extent do the circumstances affect our attention and the ways in which we treat them as a society?

Cassie Allgire, a graduating senior studying both Criminology and Criminal Justice, explained that the way she saw it, a hate crime “Targets a certain race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender… While terrorism is more involving other countries… and not so much smaller issues.”

In response to the initial lack of public and federal attention, and with initial police statements indicating the likelihood that the attack was motivated by a parking dispute, people from over the world spoke out- notably on twitter under the hashtag #muslimlivesmatter.

The hashtag itself an adaptation of one used in another relatively recent tragedy- #blacklivesmatter- the hashtag that became immensely popular after the grand jury decisions following police killings of both Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

The similarity is no coincidence, both then and now- the vocalized protests under these banners seek public attention, justice for the victims, and due respect from people around the world.

COLUMBUS, Ohio. Lucy Rogers, a 20-year-old Ohio State sophomore, has been missing since Tuesday night. Several reports indicate that Lucy had been studying at Thompson Library that night, and intended to attend a Greek event at the Ohio Union afterwards.

Lucy is a 5’4”, 120 lbs caucasian female with long brown hair and light brown eyes.

Columbus police have very few leads and are asking anyone with information about Lucy’s whereabouts to call them.

Lucy’s mother who was visibly shaken, spoke with reporters saying “This is every parent’s worst nightmare. No parent should have to endure this torture. The [person] who is responsible for my daughter’s disappearance will pay for this. I just want her back in my arms. What I wouldn’t do to have that.”

Her brother, Michael Roger, who is also a student as OSU, said “It kills me that we don’t know where she is. It’s tough to hope for the best because these type of things rarely turn out well. Especially for college women.”

Lucy was active on social media as late as 6:45 p.m. tweeting out “School is so freaking overwhelming!”

Lucy’s father did not wish to comment.

Team Fnatic preparing for their second LCS match. Photo by Riot Gaming.

BERLIN. The EU League Championship Series Team Elements was defeated resolutely by Fnatic, in what some would describe as an unbelievable upset on Jan. 22. This comes despite 73 percent of fans selecting Elements as the favorite to win, in addition to Elements players Henrik “Froggen” Hansen and Martin “Rekkles” Larsson being considered amongst the greatest players in the world.

The LCS is equivalent to the “regular season” of Professional League Of Legends or LoL – the most popular online multiplayer game in the world, and increasingly so. The LCS takes place over 9 weeks with separate conferences in both the EU and North America.

The success of League of Legends in the realm of professional gaming and athletics has prompted the beginnings of a collegiate level as well. Within Ohio State the groups BuckeyeLan and The Esports Initiative both work to host and promote LoL related events, which grow ever more popular.

The players of Fnatic themselves seemed astonished following the game.

Taking to Twitter Pierre “Steeelback” Medjaldi triumphantly proclaimed “GG Elements! I am so happy to win this first game!”

Sweetening their victory, the player “Steeelback” was in fact Fnatic’s replacement for “Rekkles”, who departed the team last season in order to join Elements’ much stronger roster.

Elements’ defeat iconically became the first of an astounding sequence of upsets in the first week of LCS. Many longstanding powerhouses were bested by newcomers almost completely across the board. This Included losses by teams such as Cloud 9 and Team Solomid, both long respected as the very best in North America.

After his team unexpectedly finished 2-0 the first week, the coach of Fnatic, Luis “Deilor” Sevilla gleefully tweeted “We did it boys!! Hope this perfect start is followed by a perfect season. We will continue working for it!”

To his delight, Fnatic stands as one of only two remaining undefeated teams in all of LCS, following the now completed second week of LCS.

The emerging popularity of the game has drawn significant attention worldwide. According to Riot Gaming the previous world championship game drew a record 37 million viewers. That’s nearly double the viewers of the previous World Series, and almost a third of those who watched this year’s Superbowl.

A local esports organizer for such events voiced his hope to see the scene grow to rival other more traditional sports. He speculated the likelihood that in the near future OSU will join several other major universities in creating an official school team.

Notably, two schools, Robert Morris University and The University of Pikeville, KY now offer scholarships to LoL players as participants in a varsity athletic program.

COLUMBUS, Ohio. Earlier today the Columbus Ministerial Alliance declared its opposition to the death penalty, challenging both its methodology and its effectiveness.

Pushing to overturn the 1974 reinstatement of the punishment, the Alliance sent a copy of its adopted resolution to the governor and all members of the state legislature.

In a symbolic speech, the spokesman Rev. Stuart Adler said “None of us is soft on crime. There must be just punishment for those who commit violent crimes, but what we are saying is we stop short of taking another person’s life.” He added that several major studies found the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to further crime and in fact only promotes more violence.

The minister continued to say that there is a large disparity in the way executions are delivered saying that “defendants accused of killing black victims often are not sentenced to death, but when the victim is white, the death penalty is often imposed.” His claim seems to be upheld by the Death Penalty Information Center, which published data indicating that there are significantly more(293) Black defendants accused of killing white victims on death row than vice versa(31).

In addition to this, the DPIC states that there are currently 77 black defendants on death row, compared with only 62 white defendants. This disparity becomes especially apparent in the context of data from the 2010 Census showing that Ohio’s population is 81 percent white and merely 12 percent black.