Story Ideas for Media 2-26-08

News

Traffic Alert: Parking demand will be high for Obama rally. Senator Barack Obama will hold a campaign rally on The Ohio State University campus on Wednesday (2/27) at St. John Arena, 410 Woody Hayes Drive. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and the event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Demand for parking will be high. The event is expected to attract thousands of visitors to campus on Wednesday, which is the weekday when there is the heaviest need for parking. In addition, many spaces that are usually available for staff parking around St. John Arena will be reserved for event parking. Those individuals should consider planning to arrive early or seek alternate campus parking.
•Public Parking: Free public parking will be available at the Schottenstein Center Scarlet Lots 3-5 (Located north of the Jerome Schottenstein Center) and Grey 3-7 Lots (Located northwest of the Jerome Schottenstein Center, off Fred Taylor Drive) and the Buckeye Lots. (Located off Ackerman Road and Fred Taylor Drive).
•Disability Parking: There will be a limited number of parking spaces designated for disability parking on the north side of the French Field House, but these spaces will fill quickly. Alternate disability parking is located in the Buckeye Lots, around the outside of the bus loop.
•Shuttle service: Free shuttle service between the Buckeye Lots and St. John Arena begins at 7:30 a.m. and runs continuously until one hour after the event ends.
For additional information, see http://tp.osu.edu/alerts/obama.shtml

Ohio State's service initiatives recognized in national poll. Ohio State's efforts to involve students in community service have earned the university a spot on a national service honor roll. The Corporation for National and Community Service has named Ohio State to the "Honor Roll with Distinction" in it's annual President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes institutions that support innovative, effective, and exemplary community service programs. The award covers projects in the 2006-07 academic year.
Of the 127 institutions achieving the designation, Ohio State is the nation's largest. Criteria for selection include scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers service-learning courses.
Highlights of Ohio State's efforts include:
*More than 9,700 Ohio State students engaged in 153,158 hours of service.
*Through the OHIO Project, students in the College of Dentistry provided more than 27,000 procedures for more than 12,000 low income Ohioans, representing an estimated $1.2 million in oral health care services.
*Ohio State's long-term partnership with Columbus Public Schools' Johnson Park Middle School, to provide a digital media focused after-school program, a college student-middle school student writing collaboration, and a day-long campus visit designed to build college and career aspirations.
*An orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS in rural Honduras is benefiting from water quality and technology improvements and nutrition and education programs.
CONTACT: Golden Jackson, Service Learning, (614) 688-3041. SEE: http://service-learning.osu.edu/spotlight.php

Experts

Politics and primaries – Ohio State election experts are online. Ohio State University offers journalists the expertise of faculty and staff from one of the nation's leading public research universities. Experts are available to comment on topics including Ohio and national politics, presidential politics, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the youth vote, campaign and election law, communication and voter perception, the economy and others. A complete directory is online:http://www.osu.edu/news/experts/election_experts-list.php

Events

Students to hold 2008 Mock Presidential Forum – Feb. 28. Six Ohio State University student organizations will hold a mock presidential forum at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday (2/28) at the 18th Avenue building, 209 W. 18th Avenue. The Undergraduate Political Science Organization, Undergraduate Black Law Student Organization, ACLU:OSU, OSU College Republicans, Democracy Matters, and the OSU College Democrats will be coming together for the first time to host the 2008 Mock Presidential Forum. The forum will feature four groups of students representing Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Gov. Mike Huckabee. All four groups will be asked a series of fourteen questions that range in domestic and foreign policy. The event is intended to educate students about the candidates and no debating will take place. CONTACT: Zach Roberts.

Former head of military commissions to speak at Ohio State – March 3. Gen. John D. Altenburg, former Appointing Authority for Military Commissions, will speak on "Military Commission Process: November 2001 to March 2008" at noon on Monday (3/3) at the Barrister Club, 25 W. 11th Ave.
Altenburg, now a principal with the Washington-basec law office of Greenberg Traurig, was responsible for reviewing charges and evidence against people detained by the United States in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. He was a singular force for modifying the original 2001 Presidential Military Order and Commission procedures to comply with contemporary military jurisprudential and international standards. The event is sponsored by the Ohio State Moritz College of Law and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, which advances the understanding of national security in a global context. CONTACT: Cathy Becker, (614) 292-7529.

The person listed as the CONTACT will have the most current information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story: Liz Cook; (614) 292-7276; Shelly Hoffman; (614) 247-4748; Jim Lynch; (614) 247-4110; or Amy Murray; (614) 292-8385.