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FORT WORTH, Texas -- Darrent Williams' family and friends gathered Friday to remember the charismatic Denver Broncos cornerback and former Oklahoma State standout who escaped the tough streets but never forgot his roots. Thousands of mourners filed past Williams' copper-colored casket during a memorial service at the Great Commission Baptist Church on Friday night, where Pastor Douglas E. Brown will officiate funeral services Saturday. "We are here tonight to remember the life of this son, brother, friend, Darrent 'Dee-Will' Williams," Brown said. "We are here to remember his life." Williams was killed and two other passengers wounded when at least...

Gonzalez says players exploited Thursday, January 04, 2007 Tim May and Ken Gordon THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ohio State receiver Anthony Gonzalez yesterday offered his take on the fact that the national championship game will generate nearly $34 million for Big Ten and Southeastern Conference schools but nothing for the players. "In all honesty, one of the most exploited groups of people in the country — not in the world, but in the United States — are college athletes," Gonzalez said yesterday. "We basically have a job that generates millions and millions and millions of dollars, and at...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Troy Smith's Heisman Trophy was shipped home because airport security would not allow the Ohio State quarterback to take it on the plane Tuesday. Smith wore a black leather jacket with the Heisman insignia on back when he arrived at the airport from New York, where he was presented college football's most coveted trophy. Eddie George, the last Buckeye to win the Heisman in 1995, had his trophy get stuck in an airport X-ray machine, losing the tip of its right index finger and bending the middle finger. "We decided to have it shipped. That's much...

Troy Smith and Ohio State did it all, overwhelming Michigan with offense, winning the Big Ten title and streaking into the national title game. The Wolverines may have another shot at the Buckeyes though -- they, too, can still make it to the BCS title game in Arizona. Smith and the top-ranked Buckeyes put their dazzling speed on display with a barrage of big plays, and they needed every one of them to beat an inspired Michigan team, 42-39 on Saturday. The Game of the Century, the first 1 vs. 2 matchup in this storied rivalry, was played a day...

Dead Schembechlers End 16 year Run Last show’s proceeds will go to charity Saturday, November 18, 2006 Aaron Beck THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Bo Biafra, front, announces the demise of his band at the Newport Music Hall, where the Dead Schembechlers played their final show last night. It might be a long-running joke, but even Columbus’ most popular "Michigan hatecore" band knows to draw the line when its namesake dies. For three gravely serious minutes yesterday in the lobby of the Newport Music Hall, the Dead Schembechlers, who have played before the Ohio State-Michigan game every year since 1990, announced that...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2006 -- The Ohio State University men’s lacrosse team has a new motto and 129 new fans cheering them on from afar. The team has been sending care packages to the infantrymen of B Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. It is the same battalion made famous by the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and depicted in the HBO television series “Band of Brothers.” Continuing the grassroots effort among college students that first began with the lacrosse team at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University, the captains and coaches at Ohio State expressed...

Sweet revenge from last year. By the way, my son is at the game as a member of the OSU Marching Band. Go Bucks!

When children can support themselves, they generally leave their parents’ home. When state colleges and universities can do the same, they find it difficult to leave the nest of taxpayer-subsidized state and federal supports. “Ours is an economy of scarcity,” Gary A. Olson writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Even well-endowed institutions find themselves in a constant struggle to find enough money to do everything that they want to do.” “That economy of scarcity extends to salaries: Most academics and administrators are not compensated at the level that their education, skills, and experience would garner in business and industry.”...

Powered by individual medalist Jonathan Moore's 12-under performance over the four-round tournament, the Oklahoma State Cowboys won the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship on Saturday afternoon. The tournament, held at Crosswater Club, was hosted by the University of Portland. The Cowboys entered the final round of the tournament in a three-way tie for second place, three strokes behind Washington. Oklahoma State overtook Washington early in the day and withstood a strong challenge from Florida to claim its first NCAA men's golf championship since 2000 and its tenth in school history. The Cowboys finished three strokes ahead of Florida...

STILLWATER, Okla. — With public anxiety growing over gasoline prices and with job growth slowing, President Bush used a college commencement address on Saturday to assure graduates that they were entering a marketplace with good jobs at high salaries. He urged them to "harness the promise of technology without becoming slaves to technology. My advice is, ensure that science serves the cause of humanity, and not the other way around."

STILLWATER -- President Bush got a friendly welcome Saturday at Oklahoma State University, where he told students they face “unimagined opportunities” upon entering the job market. A steady mist fell throughout most of Bush’s short speech, which avoided hot-button policy issues such as the war in Iraq. Bush’s only mention of the war, which has spawned criticism, came after praising former OSU student Luke James, who died in Iraq as an officer in the 82nd Airborne Division after receiving his commission as a lieutenant in 2004. James, a husband and father, received the Bronze Star and was buried at Arlington...

WASHINGTON: Citing the rise of "competitors" like India, President George W Bush asked American youngsters to enhance education and help foster technological advances needed by the US to compete with the world's economic powers. "We are seeing the rise of new competitors like China and India, and this competition creates uncertainty," he said during an address to graduate students of Oklahoma State University. "Some look at the changes taking place all around us, and they worry about our future. Their reaction is to wall America off from the world, and to retreat into protectionism. This is a sure path to...

"Science offers the prospect of eventual cures for terrible diseases -- and temptations to manipulate life and violate human dignity," -- President Bush, during commencement exercises at Oklahoma State University. (AP) STILLWATER, OK - President Bush advised college graduates on Saturday to use technology but not become enslaved by it. "Science offers the prospect of eventual cures for terrible diseases -- and temptations to manipulate life and violate human dignity," Bush said during commencement exercises at Oklahoma State University. "With the Internet, you can communicate instantly with someone halfway across the world -- and isolate yourself from your family...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY President Bush had an exceptionally full calendar today. He left Washington shortly after dawn this morning to fly to Oklahoma, where he delivered the commencement address at the University of Oklahoma. While in flight aboard Air Force One, the President got some work done, including a phone call to discuss Darfur with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. On his return to Washington, the President joined the First Lady and former President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, at a wedding for family friends. Transcript of the President's Commencement Address at the University of Oklahoma...

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2006 – President Bush today honored the memory of a graduate who died in Iraq during his commencement address at Oklahoma State University. The president noted that 27 members of this year's graduating class are also receiving their commissions as Army or Air Force officers today as graduates of the ROTC program. Bush commended the new officers for choosing to embrace public service and for following the example set by a 2002 OSU graduate, Luke James. With a wife and infant son, "Luke had the world at his feet," Bush said. Yet, he chose a life of...

STILLWATER, Okla. President Bush advised college graduates today to use technology but not become enslaved by it. During commencement exercises at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater today, Bush highlighted recent economic gains and told the graduates that an improving job market is giving them more job opportunities. Those who attended the ceremony wore plastic slickers to keep their gowns dry from drizzle. The crowd roared at Bush's reference to Eskimo Joe's, a famed local eatery and bar. Graduates raised their hands in approval when Bush said he was a cowboy proud to be standing among other Cowboys. The presidential helicopter...

Newspaper off base in criticism of harassment reports Saturday, May 06, 2006 As a member of the faculty of Ohio State University at Mansfield, I write in the hope of providing a more precise rendering of a recent conflict on campus. The campus’ head reference librarian told The Dispatch in an April 21 news article that he was accused of "sexual harassment" by the faculty for what the reporter called his "tongue-in-cheek" suggestion that a book called The Marketing of Evil be assigned to all incoming students as part of a first-year reading experience. A subsequent Dispatch editorial (April 26)...

Trying to pick an early No. 1 team for 2006 is a lot like trying to find a decent lunch at the food court in your local mall: None of the choices are particularly appetizing, so you might as well just pick something and go with it. Do you go with one of last year's standbys, Texas and USC, even though both must replace franchise players? Do you take a chance on offensive juggernaut Ohio State despite all those unfamiliar faces on defense? Are you willing to overlook that Fiesta Bowl meltdown amidst all the tempting star power of Notre...

Many people are asking why virtually the entire faculty of a midwest university would support two openly homosexual professors in their outrageous effort to brand a librarian a "sexual harasser" solely because he recommended my book, "The Marketing of Evil," as required reading for freshmen. Most people, when they first hear this story, assume something else must have happened to instigate a formal sexual harassment investigation. Surely, they think, the librarian must have groped a colleague or made a lewd comment to a student. But no, he was accused of being a sexual harasser just because he did what librarians...

Like many other universities, Ohio State University’s branch campus in Mansfield, Ohio has a “First Year Reading Experience” program, through which the school chooses a book for all incoming freshmen to read. The book is chosen by a committee that includes both faculty and library staff. One of the members of this was Scott Savage, the head reference librarian at OSU Mansfield. Scott is a “Plain Christian,” a conservative Quaker who eschews most forms of modern technology, rides a horse and buggy, and endeavors to live a simple and quiet life. As a Quaker, Scott believes in nonviolence, and that...