The Lantern

Issue date: 5/9/08 Section: Campus

It seems as though Ohio State's interim assistant vice president for Student Affairs and director of housing might have been leading a double life.

Ronald Kochendoerfer, 41, serves as a senior administrator for Housing and Residence Education, whose responsibilities ranged from developing and administering living-learning programs, to training resident advisors on drug and alcohol policy and managing a $9 million fiscal budget.

Last Friday another side of the high-ranking official's life was uncovered when he was arrested and charged with possession of the highly-addictive drug methamphetamine, that was found by deputies during a search of his Short North home.

He was arraigned and released on his own recognizance Saturday morning.

The Franklin County Sheriff's office received information implicating Kochendoerfer's involvement in a drug smuggling ring to inmates at the Franklin County Jail and conducted a search of his house, Franklin County Sheriff Chief Steve Martin said.

"Information was gleaned by another person about Kochendoerfer's involvement in a plot to introduce heroin to another inmate at the Franklin County Jail by means of putting it inside of a "GQ" magazine," Martin said, adding that the magazine was intercepted by deputies who check incoming mail.

A subsequent investigation implicated Kochendoerfer's involvement, Martin said, but declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation into the smuggling ring.

A search of Kochendoerfer's house did not rule him out of the investigation.

"I think what we were expecting to find was a variety of different drugs, which we did," Martin said, adding that in addition to methamphetamine deputies also recovered what he believes a chemical analysis will reveal to be psychedelic mushrooms.

"He had about an ounce of crystal meth, and that's quite a bit," Martin said, noting that it is an amount that would fill a small sandwich plastic bag.

While unable to say whether the drugs were intended for personal consumption, Martin speculated they were related to the smuggling ring.

"Just take the heroin, for example," he said. "If you were trying to smuggle that heroin into the jail, then to me it doesn't sound like it's personal consumption. I mean even though there were two different kinds of drugs, the indication we have is that he did (smuggle) a variety of different kinds of drugs."

There have been mixed reactions on campus to Kochendoerfer's arrest and alleged involvement with a drug smuggling ring.

"The hypocrisy here is hysterical," said Benjamin Flowers, a junior in philosophy who was a resident advisor in Morrison Tower last year. "Ron, as a part of housing, had some hand in firing RAs who had been caught drinking with students that were underage, yet he himself was allegedly smuggling heroin into a prison for a 20-year-old.

Seeing the leader of a group so adamant about enforcing rules regarding alcohol go down like this is pretty amusing to me."

Others found Kochendoerfer's alleged double life hard to believe.

"The incident definitely shocked me and is still very shocking," said Jasmin Jenkins, who worked as an office assistant for university housing before she graduated last spring. "Ron is definitely one of the nicest and caring people I had the opportunity to work for while at OSU."

Kochendoerfer a university employee since August 1995, has been suspended with pay. A decision about Kochendoerfer's fate will depend on the nature of his conviction and other factors that may arise in the investigation, said Ruth Gerstner, a spokeswoman for Student Affairs.

The university's drug policy states that if convicted of a criminal drug possession, an employee will either be terminated or required to participate in substance abuse evaluation, education and rehabilitation.

The decision is made by the employing unit, in this case Student Affairs, in consultation with the Office of Human Resources.

Briony Clare can be reached at clare.6@osu.edu.

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