Delta Tau Delta member arrested for dealing Xanax
An IU student and member of Delta Tau Delta was arrested Tuesday for ordering and dealing large quantities of Xanax tablets shipped from Canada.
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An IU student and member of Delta Tau Delta was arrested Tuesday for ordering and dealing large quantities of Xanax tablets shipped from Canada.
For the past four months, the investigations team has been reporting on sexual assault as part of the Indiana Daily Student’s ongoing commitment to provide a deeper understanding about this complex issue. The IDS requested hundreds of police and university records and interviewed administrators, nurses, detectives, attorneys, advocates and experts to provide comprehensive accounts of the stories you’ll read in this series.
Students will receive an email from IU this week asking them to complete an anonymous survey about their perceptions of campus sexual assault.
As Republicans swept the statewide ballot Tuesday night, Indiana Democrats stood by their candidates and campaign motto: “We can do better.”
Indiana Democratic candidates and constituents gathered at the Westin hotel in downtown Indianapolis on Tuesday night, numbering more than 200 and waiting in anticipation as the voting results poured in.
IU is implementing system-wide changes to sexual violence policies, procedures and prevention efforts in response to recent federal guidance from the United States Department of Education.
In the days after Kelly Hackendahl’s death, her friends made a list of phrases that described her:
A month into his doctoral studies, Martin Law learned his department would be merged.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The visiting team knew the big game would be tough.The Lawrence North Wildcats from Indianapolis were playing the Bedford North Lawrence Lady Stars, the defending state champions. They met on BNL’s home court in its small southern Indiana town for the semi-state game. Every Lawrence North player is black. They braced to play in front of a roaring crowd of almost 6,000 white faces in a state where basketball and race have been known to combust in nasty ways.In the days leading up to the game, Lawrence North had requested the game be moved to a neutral gym and at least one minority official work the game. Both requests had been denied.All week before the game, at team practices the Wildcats coach had blasted a CD with crowd noise, trying to teach his girls to stay focused. But nothing could have prepared them for the ugliness that awaited them inside BNL’s gym. The taunts from BNL’s student section began as the girls from Lawrence North’s team began warming up.“Niggers.”“We could smell you when you got off the bus.”Lawrence North parents and the principal were shocked to see many of the BNL students wearing hunting gear and safari costumes. Beneath one of the baskets, two fans were jumping up and down in gorilla suits. Lawrence North Head Coach Chris Giffin was so focused on the game that he didn’t see the gorillas and didn’t hear many of the racial slurs directed at his players. Five minutes before the tip-off, he gathered with them in the locker room. He told the girls to strategize on defense and to block out any negativity. The coach wanted his team to stay focused on one thing — going to the state finals.The girls said nothing about the taunts or fans. As always, they recited the Lord’s Prayer.“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”Looking back, their coach is still stunned at their bravery. “Had I heard some of the things they were forced to hear, we wouldn’t have played,” Giffin said. “Nobody should have to do that.”*** Lawrence North lost the semi-state game in overtime, 62-54. BNL would go on to win the state championship for the second year in a row. But the score from the semi-state game on March 1 was soon overshadowed by the aggression of the BNL fans. Days later, the semi-state girls basketball game became the most notorious racial controversy in Indiana high school athletics in recent years. The behavior of the teenagers in the stands was bad enough. But the deeper issue turned out to be that so many adults allowed it to happen. The game presented “systematic racism,” Lawrence North parents and staff argued, beginning with the refusal by the Indiana High School Athletic Association to change the venue or officials. A member of the governing body’s executive staff had attended the game but made no attempt to quell the taunts or suggest the students remove the gorilla suits. BNL administrators said nothing to the students about their gorilla costumes until the Lawrence North principal asked them to intervene. The controversy was heightened because the game took place at one of the premier high school basketball schools in the state against a team of state champions coached by basketball legend Damon Bailey. Bailey did not respond to email requests for comment. Three days after the game, Lawrence North Principal Brett Crousore complained to the IHSAA. The governing body is currently wrapping up its investigation, and the two schools plan to meet next week.The state’s chapter of the NAACP, the United States’ oldest civil rights organization, filed its own complaint. “It’s 2014,” said Chrystal Radcliffe, president of the Indianapolis chapter. “Nobody should ever have to go any places and be treated like that.” *** Basketball is a way of life in Indiana. But for decades, racism has seeped onto the court. “If it happens in society, it’s going to happen in sports,” said IU Professor Gary Sailes, who teaches courses on race in athletics. Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis became the first black team in the nation to win an all-state title in 1955, according to Greg Guffey in his book “The Golden Age of Indiana High School Basketball.” The school had been a brainchild of the Ku Klux Klan, created to segregate black students. The black team faced staunch prejudice in small towns outside Indianapolis. Fans would yell racial taunts out of car windows. When they won the state championship, there was no victory celebration — the city refused.When predominantly black teams traveled to towns like Martinsville, coaches told players to go right from the bus to the court, never stopping to eat in restaurants. Bigotry lingered for decades. In 1998, Martinsville came under national fire, featured in Sports Illustrated and USA Today. During one game, Martinsville fans yelled, “Here come the darkies,” to Bloomington High School North’s racially mixed team. During the game, Martinsville players bit several Bloomington North players. The school was banned from hosting conference games for more than a year. Just last year, a group of white Highland Hills Middle School students wore black masks to an eighth-grade basketball game against Parkview Middle School, a team that included black players. Some students wore gorilla masks and one mask that appeared to represent President Barack Obama. The principal quickly asked the students to remove the masks, called the parents of the students and later offered sessions on diversity awareness.In some towns and schools, students don’t realize that a gorilla suit or mask might be offensive, Sailes said. Many of these kids, the IU professor said, are not racist — they’re racially naïve. But blatant racism is still present today, Sailes said, especially in small Indiana towns. He often asks his IU students to write letters about their experiences with racism. One student said that even when the country idolized Michael Jordan, “If he were in the wrong place at the wrong time in my town, he would find himself killed.”As an African-American 6-foot-2 man, Sailes said he refuses to get out of the car when he drives through small towns in the state, even today. “Racism and bigotry are alive and well in small Indiana towns,” Sailes said.*** The two teams from the semi-state game, BNL and Lawrence North, play for drastically different high schools. This academic year, BNL is 94 percent white, according to the Indiana Department of Education. A total of eight black students and 44 multiracial students attend the school. A BNL yearbook from two years ago shows an all-white faculty and staff. One student said the only black teacher is an occasional substitute. It’s a school where everybody knows everybody, students say.The yearbook is filled with page after page of all-white faces. Some favorite hobbies listed by students included deer hunting, motocross racing and horse showing at the 4-H Fair. A photo spread from two years ago shows a group of three boys in gorilla costumes cheering on the basketball team. Basketball is everything at BNL. The teams play on the newly refurbished Damon Bailey Court, with its three state championship banners hanging in the northeast corner. Among the girls that Bailey coaches on the team is his daughter, Alexa. The school’s basketball history comes with lasting traditions for the fans. Elaborate costumes are always present in the stands. Students have worn police costumes, white masks and even brown paper bags over their heads. When they play Bloomington North, they dress up as lion tamers. They dress up as “hicks,” too, senior Lucas Howell said. “Our school is known for being ruthless in the student section, dressing up and having fun,” Howell said. “It’s not meant to be taken in any way.” By contrast, Lawrence North is a city school with twice as many students as BNL and 10 percent more poor ones. No race is the majority. It is 42 percent white and 38 percent black. Last year’s yearbook depicts fan traditions such as the roller coaster cheer at athletic events. It shows the time a group of students convinced administrators to take part in a Lawrence North version of the Harlem Shake video, aired on the school’s morning news show. The school has an all-black gospel choir and a predominantly black cheerleading squad. Students of color comprised half of the homecoming court.Lawrence North’s athletic director predicted a culture clash. He emailed the IHSAA a week ahead of the game requesting a minority official. “In short, perceptions matter,” Principal Brett Crousore wrote in his complaint to the IHSAA. The IHSAA representatives, he wrote, “clearly could not grasp the world in which we live as school administrators advocating for our children and community.”The IHSAA’s response was that the group selects officials well in advance and does not allow changes, Assistant Commissioner Chris Kaufman said. Lawrence North Coach Giffin had read about racist instances in the town of Bedford’s past.“Certainly you don’t want to paint the whole town with one brush, but obviously it has been there,” Giffin said. “We knew it was going to be a very raucous, volatile environment and certainly a difficult one to play in.” In the days leading up to the game, teachers at Lawrence North urged students to go support the team. One government teacher excused students from writing a paper if they went to BNL, Lawrence North senior Kody Cartwright said. Another student remembers his teacher showing him an article about a history of racism in the Bedford area. Students and fans packed into seven buses to drive to Bedford. But when they arrived, the bleachers were filled with BNL fans, and administrators had to move fans to make room.After he saw the gorilla suits, the Lawrence North assistant coach moved to stand between the crowd and his players. ***The two boys in the gorilla suits had no idea they were about to become the center of a statewide controversy. They were full of energy beneath the Lawrence North basket. BNL seniors Kaegan Key and Lucas Howell had worn the suits before with no problems, so the semi-state game wouldn’t be any different, they thought. The suits would be perfect for the safari costume theme — they hoped to “capture the Wildcats.” Key said it didn’t even cross his mind that the opposing team was entirely black.At one point, a couple of Howell’s friends cautioned him that the gorilla costumes could be misunderstood, he recalled. But he dismissed them. It was tradition. All in good fun. He couldn’t imagine anyone interpreting it any other way. As the game was about to begin, Key was singing and dancing, just like always. BNL’s athletic director tapped him on a furry shoulder, telling him the boys needed to take the suits off. Key was shocked. “Why?” he asked. “Is there a problem?”The athletic director told them he would explain later. “Just take them off.” Hostility seemed to build. During free-throws, BNL fans shouted words like “ratchet,” a slang word for a coarse, undesirable person. They said things like, “Go back to Gary,” referring to the Indiana town with a population that’s 80 percent black. At halftime, the teams were tied 27-27. The lines for concessions were packed. While waiting in line to buy a Sprite, one Lawrence North female student said she was called a “nigger bitch.” BNL took the lead as the game neared its end. An announcer urged both teams not to storm the court. Kaegan Key’s mom texted him as the game neared the end, asking him how it was going. “Good,” he said, “but we had to take our suits off.” “Why?” Jodie Key asked. “Are you guys winning?” They were ahead, her son texted.“That’s probably why, Kaegan. They’re mad.”Kaegan Key later read articles in the Indianapolis Star and WTHR referring to “racially targeted behavior” and a statewide investigation. The Lawrence North complaint letter said that its students, coaches and parents saw the gorilla outfits as a “racially insensitive choice.”Key said he was horrified. “The first thing that came to my head was, ‘I’m not racist.’” *** The Lawrence North behavior sparked a statewide debate. Principal Crousore urged the IHSAA to prohibit future state tournament games from being held at a home court.Tournament locations are always predetermined, Chris Kaufman, IHSAA assistant commissioner, said in an interview. They always run the risk that a tournament game will land at a team’s home venue. Playing at an IHSAA-member school is substantially cheaper than playing at a neutral location, such as Assembly Hall. The IHSAA pre-selected BNL as the semi-state location, even though they knew the team had won the state tournament the year before. Indiana NAACP President Barbara Bolling said the gorilla suits were not the crux of the problem. The racial taunts are the bigger issue, she said. It might mean that Indiana high schools need a level of training regarding racial sensitivity, Bolling said. BNL responded to the complaints with a letter of apology. Superintendent Gary Conner said the gorilla suits and safari costumes were “not racially motivated” and were “intended to promote school spirit.”“We will continue to closely monitor our student body’s behavior during events,” Conner said in the apology letter. “We will not tolerate students or others representing our corporation who compromise the integrity of our school by engaging in racially insensitive behavior.”In attempts to diffuse the conflict, Lawrence North Principal Crousore instructed all basketball players and staff not to speak to reporters. He then visited classrooms and urged students to let him handle the issue. But the principal couldn’t stop the Twitter battle that ensued. Lawrence North students called BNL “racist” and threatened to pick fights with BNL students. BNL students called Lawrence North “sore losers.” Some fired more racial taunts. One BNL student tweeted “Lawrence North be like,” with a picture of a gorilla. Another student tweeted a caption saying “ghetto grammar” along with a photo of the warm-up shirts worn by the Lawrence North girls, which read “We all we got.”And another: “Personally I was offended there wasn’t a white girl on that team...who’s racist now?” *** The IHSAA investigation continues. Lawrence North Principal Crousore met with IHSAA officials March 28, along with his athletic director and girls’ basketball coach. He refused to comment about the meeting. At a pep rally before the next game, the state final, BNL Principal Roger Dean reminded students to be “culturally sensitive.” But BNL administrators did not hold any meetings with the students in gorilla suits. There has been no school-wide conversation about racial sensitivity. BNL students say this investigation won’t stop their tradition of wearing extravagant costumes for basketball games. But they suspect the school might start regulating the costumes.Jodie Key, the mother of one of the boys in the gorilla suits, said her son is not racist. He was taught to never judge people. “It was a kids’ game that got turned into something else,” she said. “I think it was a good lesson for him to understand that not everybody thinks the same.”Her son and his friend Lucas Howell, who also wore a gorilla suit, agree. “It was my senior year and I was going to go all out,” Howell said. “I didn’t see it as a big deal.”They were sore losers, he said of Lawrence North. Kaegan Key said he has learned that even if he doesn’t mean to be racist, he could come across in a negative way. But he doesn’t think he crossed a line. As long as his intentions are good, Key said, his behavior shouldn’t be an issue. “They let that affect them too harshly,” Key said. “I’m not going to think I’m a racist. I came here to have a good time.”If he could do it again, he said, he would probably still wear the gorilla suit.An earlier version of this story identified Lawrence North High School Principal Brett Crousore as Jeff Crousore.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The week of Little 500 is known as a “reproducible mass disaster” at the IU Health Bloomington Hospital Emergency Department. The department calls in its entire staff to tackle the large influx of patients that fill its waiting room during the latter part of the week, Emergency Department Director Dr. Drew Watters said. A room is reserved specifically for drunk students. The students often have to wait six to eight hours before treatment because they are too drunk to speak coherently to nurses. “There’s only so many beds in the ER,” Watters said. “There’s just no place to put them.”Alcohol and sexual assaultHigh amounts of alcohol consumption often occur hand-in-hand with higher numbers of sexual assault, Watters said. A large portion of the sexual assault cases the hospital receives involve IU students. They often don’t know how much they’re drinking or where they’re drinking, said Brandy Summers, sexual assault nurse examiner. They lose control, and this puts students at much higher risk of sexual assault. Regardless of the location or circumstances, nurses urge patients to come to the hospital as soon as possible after the sexual assault. Going to the hospital if you have been sexually assaultedIf a patient arrives within 96 hours of a sexual assault, they can receive a sexual assault forensic examination, often called a “rape kit.”Without forensic evidence, it is more difficult for prosecutors to press criminal charges following a sexual assault. Time is of the essence, Watters said. A victim who receives a forensic examination is not required to report the sexual assault to the police. Forensic exams not given to the police are stored for a year under a specific case number. If the DNA is collected and stored, a victim can later decide to report the case. “You’d rather collect it and not regret it,” Watters said. “Reporting is a huge step in the process to regaining independence.”Sunday evenings or Monday mornings are the most common times that sexual assault victims visit the hospital, Summers said. These times fit within the 96-hour requirement, but the sooner victims come in, the more evidence they might have for their cases. She urges sexual assault victims not to shower after an assault and, when possible, not to change clothes. She realizes this a difficult and counter-intuitive request for victims who have just experienced the trauma of a sexual assault. But each time a victim showers, more and more DNA gets washed away. What happens at the hospital The nurse takes the patient to a specific room — room 19. It’s where the hospital keeps all items necessary for sexual assault forensic examinations. He or she tells the patient she is sorry this happened, that it is not the patient’s fault and that the recovery process starts now. The patient is in control. The nurse then asks the patient to tell them what happened. Where did it take place — in a bed, a car, the floor of an apartment? Were you physically coerced — were you restrained, shoved, abducted, choked? What were you wearing at the time, and what types of sexual acts did the perpetrator commit?“When we ask you, ‘Did they bite you?’ we’re not saying, ‘Did you bite back?’” Summers said. “We’re looking for where we can find DNA.”Summers realizes that when a victim describes sexual assault, it’s like he or she is being assaulted all over again. Watters said he tries not to push patients to tell him what happened. “I don’t care what happened sexually,” Watters said. “I will assume everything was done. My perspective is on the wellness of the body.”The patient is then asked whether or not they would like to report the sexual assault to the police. If a patient decides not to, Summers said she aims to find out why. Sometimes, it’s because they knew the perpetrator well. Other times it’s because they don’t trust the legal system. Every patient copes with the stress of a sexual assault differently. “Some just want to get it over with, some are hysterical, some are laughing,” Summers said. “The patient who is laughing and giggling is treated the same as the person who is crying hysterically.”The patient is offered the chance to work with Bloomington-based Middle Way House, a domestic violence program and rape crisis center, to receive support and legal advocacy. Next, the nurse will begin the sexual assault forensic examination process, if the patient decides to proceed with it. She takes a blood sample from the patient and then begins collecting external DNA. “We start least invasive to most invasive,” Summer said. If it’s been less than six hours since oral contact, the nurse flosses the patient’s teeth and collects swabs from the mouth. She takes finger nail scrapings, in case the patient was able to scratch the perpetrator. The patient is asked to comb his or her own hair to look for hairs that don’t belong. The patient is then asked to remove all clothing except undergarments, if they’re willing. The nurse asks to keep the patient’s underwear as evidence, providing a replacement pair. She looks for any visible injuries, and she uses a special black light to search for bodily fluids on the skin. She then performs the genital exam, gathering DNA from the patient. The next stepsAfter all evidence is documented, the nurse offers the patient medication for STD prevention. If it’s been within about three days, the nurse offers emergency contraception, also known as Plan B.She then helps prepare the patient for recovery. If the patient is a student, the nurse helps arrange for a follow-up with the Sexual Assault Crisis Service through IU Health Center’s Counseling and Psychological Services.“If they call while they’re here, they’re more likely to go to SACS,” Summers said. The IU Health Center also offers two trained nurses who can perform sexual assault forensic examinations, but they are only available during business hours. Most importantly, Summers urges students to be careful and responsible. She tells students never to leave friends by themselves at parties. “We’ve had some people say, ‘She was fine, so we just left her at the party,’” Summers said. “They’re leaving her in unknown territory.”She encourages students to seek blunt consent before having sex. Physical cues are not enough — both individuals must give verbal confirmation. But if a sexual assault does happen, Watters said the best thing a patient can do is respond as quickly as possible. “If something happens, it is not the end,” Watters said. “It is just the beginning.”
ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. — The funeral director pours water over the woman’s body as he tells her about his day.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>President Barack Obama is boosting federal efforts to respond to and prevent campus sexual assaults, an issue IU officials claim is already a top University priority. In a memorandum signed Jan. 22, Obama instructed the creation of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault to help support universities’ procedures and resources addressing campus sexual assaults. One in five college students have been sexually assaulted, while only 12 percent of victims reported the assault, according to a recent report by the White House Council on Women and Girls.At IU-Bloomington, security statistics released in the Annual Security & Fire Safety Reports showed 58 sex offenses were reported in 2012, preceded by 28 in 2011 and 34 in 2010. However, these numbers include only on-campus sexual assaults or those occurring in University-operated or adjacent property. Jason Casares, associate dean of students and director of IU’s Office of Student Ethics, said the report falls short of the accurate number of student-related sexual assaults. “I have a slew of sexual assaults that occur off campus, as well,” Casares said. An IDS investigation from three years ago reported more than 700 people filed reports of sexual assault with Bloomington and IU police departments, respectively, from 2000 to 2010. But Casares said he has seen an increase in sexual assault cases reported to law enforcement and the Office of Student Ethics. “I think we’re doing a better job at getting the information out,” Casares said. IU-Bloomington recently received the 2013-14 Institutional Award of Excellence from the Association for Student Conduct Administration for its success with programs related to Title IX, including the creation and implementation of its sexual misconduct training model.The Office of Student Ethics hears any sexual assault cases involving students, whether the student is the complainant or respondent, and even if the perpetrator was a student from a different university. In partnership with Casaras’ office, Counseling and Psychological Services offers the Sexual Assault Crisis Service, a free 24-hour crisis line that is available 365 days of the year. A student who is sexually assaulted can meet with a sexual assault counselor to decide whether or not to move forward with an investigation and hearing. The office will draw from interviews, police reports, medical evidence, social media and more to investigate a particular case, which will be heard within 60 days. The Office of Student Ethics selects its hearing panels for sexual assault cases from a pool of about 20 people who have received more than 40 hours of training, Casares said. Since the Department of Education released its Dear Colleague letter in spring 2011, the Office of Student Ethics began making sexual assault hearing decisions on a preponderance of evidence. This means the plaintiff in a civil case must provide just enough evidence to prove a claim, as opposed to the previous standard of clear and convincing evidence. “That was a huge game changer, and we immediately adjusted,” Casaras said. “It’s literally 50.0001 percent more likely than not.”It is much more difficult to prove guilt in a criminal case. Unlike student ethics cases, complainants in criminal cases must prove their standard of evidence beyond reasonable doubt. Debbie Melloan, a sexual assault counselor at SACS, said she often helps inform victims of their options when dealing with sexual assault cases. “I would let that person decide which body they want to report to,” Melloan said. “One of my roles is to empower that person and let them make their own choices.”The Office of Student Ethics receives all cases from the IU Police Department. It does not receive all reports from off-campus agencies, such as the Middle Way House, the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, the IU Health Bloomington hospital and the Bloomington Police Department, unless those students report the event directly to the University. “We are trying to improve that,” Casares said. Casares said his office meets every two months with a Sexual Assault Service Providers Network to share sexual assault information and statistics with its off-campus partners in order to collect accurate data for the annual Clery Report.Melloan said she feels IU and the nation should improve sexual assault prevention by encouraging victims to report cases as they occur. “Historically, there’s been a lot of myths associated with sexual assault and biases that make it hard for victims to come forward,” Melloan said. “Anything we can do to keep it at the forefront of national attention is going to be at the benefit of everybody.”Casares said the White House Task Force is a step in the right direction. “It immediately places an issue like sexual assault at the top of everybody’s radar,” Casares said. “But it’s already been on our radar.”Follow reporter Samantha Schimdt on Twitter @schmidtsam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The group of students stood in silence at Wilkie Auditorium, remembering the late international icon of freedom and equality. In honor of Nelson Mandela’s death Thursday, the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity paused its Crossover Step Show Thursday night to take a moment of silence. The former South African president, who spent 27 years in prison fighting for an end to apartheid, died Thursday at the age of 95, according to The Associated Press. He was “an inspirational leader dedicated to his cause,” junior and fraternity member Dominique White said to the audience of about 400 students. “He deserves our respect.”Earlier in the evening, Eric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education, was in his office with a student employee when he heard the news of Mandela’s death. “We didn’t talk to each other but we just independently started crying,” Love said. “He represented the absolute best of humanity. His capacity for recognition and forgiveness ... it’s just so rare.”Mandela became a symbol of freedom for the way he sacrificed decades in prison before ending the white majority rule in South Africa. But Love said Mandela will be most remembered for the way he initiated social change — not by seeking revenge with the parties who imprisoned him, but by showing forgiveness to move the nation forward.“He became a symbol around the world for peace and justice and democracy, but also for forgiveness and love,” Love said. As news of Mandela’s death emerged, politicians on the state and federal level expressed words of admiration for his leadership and bravery.“As a promoter of freedom and a voice for the victims of injustice, Nelson Mandela’s contributions to the world will keep his memory alive,” Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., said in a tweet.President Barack Obama called Mandela “a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.”There are about 150 to 170 IU alumni in South Africa, Associate Vice President of IU Communications Mark Land said. IU President Michael McRobbie formally launched the University’s first alumni chapter in the nation in September during a week-long stay in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. He also signed an agreement between the Kelley School of Business and University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science.During his trip, McRobbie visited the jail cell where Mandela was imprisoned in Robben Island, an island about three miles west off the coast of Cape Town. Samuel Obeng, director of the African Studies Program at IU, said in an email the department’s condolences to the people of South Africa. “A hero to many, a larger than life person, a symbol of freedom, and a father of the New South African nation, Mr. Mandela, one of the greatest humans who ever lived in the 20th and 21st Centuries, gave hope to many and inspired people, the world over, to reach for the heights and to love one another,” he said in the email.Alex Lichtenstein, an IU associate professor of history, has focused researched on the trade union movements aligned with apartheid, “the movement that Mandela supported and that supported Mandela as well.”He has curated an exhibition on display at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures since Sept. 6 of rarely-seen Life magazine photographs from the early days of apartheid. “He combined so many different strands of movements of the 20th century,” Lichtenstein said. “All of these things he was able to draw together in the name of freedom.”Many members of Lichenstein’s generation remember their time in college in the 1980s, in the midst of the anti-apartheid movement and Mandela’s time in jail. “What was the great issue of the day?” Lichenstein said. “It was anti-apartheid. It was ‘free Nelson Mandela.’”Lichenstein said although there will be deep mourning in South Africa and worldwide, the South African people have prepared for this day. “Internationally it will be an excellent opportunity for people to think about the legacy of the anti-apartheid movement,” Lichenstein said. Lichenstein’s exhibition will remain on display for two more weeks before being moved to museums in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Mandela preferred not to think about the past, but rather the future, Obeng said in his email. “He taught us a lesson on love and even though he was the core of a steel, he was humble and dignified,” Obeng said. “He believed that society could accomplish much more with dignity and grace. His life was illustrative of resilience, integrity, and principle.”Follow reporter Samantha Schmidt on Twitter @schmidtsam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The National Science Foundation awarded more than $614,000 to IU to aid its campus-wide efforts to boost participation in undergraduate science and mathematics programs. More than $516,000 of these funds will directly benefit student scholarships within the respective departments. Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math aim to engage students and faculty within the astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics departments, improving student recruitment, retention and career placement. The collaboration will allow students to network with faculty and students in other STEM disciplines and with high-tech employers in the area, according to a press release. Students will have new opportunities to participate in seminars, career workshops and job fairs, programs within the Women in STEM Living Learning Center, and research and mentorship opportunities. The initiative was proposed in August 2012, following the announcement of the NSF funding program, said Caty Pilachowski, astronomy professor and principal investigator for the grant. Provost Lauren Robel and other administrators encouraged faculty leaders across campus to develop the S-STEM program so IU could apply for the funding. “It was both a goal to get access to scholarship funds but use those funds as leverage to build greater partnerships,” Pilachowski said. The initiative is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Pre-College and Undergraduate Programs office, where Shelley Singell will serve as program coordinator and a faculty steering committee will provide additional leadership. The S-STEM program will begin awarding scholarships for spring 2014, and applications were due about a week ago, Pilachowski said. Directors of several scholarship programs, including the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, have been encouraged to nominate students to apply for the scholarships. “For subsequent semesters we’re targeting entering students to help them get started on the right foot,” Pilachowski said. S-STEM leaders plan to reach out to high schools and to the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers to recruit students and inform them of the scholarship opportunities now available. Pilachowski said she hopes the collaboration will increase the number of students in science-related majors on campus and broaden the diversity of students across the departments. Certain departments, including the biology department, have lacked students from underrepresented groups, and others tend to enroll low numbers of female students, Pilachowski said. The physics department has received few applications from incoming students with unmet financial need, Pilachowski said. This might be because those students are not aware of scholarships available, she said. “We’re working with each department to understand each department’s targeted goal,” Pilachowski said. Jeremy Bennett is the associate director of science outreach for the College of Arts and Sciences, and collaborates with other science departments on campus for two existing programs, the Science, Technology, and Research Scholars and Integrated Freshman Learning Experience. He said the grant scholarship funds can go a long way in attracting more students, particularly women and minorities, to study science at IU. “While we have good STEM programs at IU already in existence, they tend to be for high-achieving students that don’t typically have the financial need that this NSF grant requires,” Bennett said. Another goal of the program is to examine “bottleneck” courses to improve success rates for at-risk students, Bennett said.“We find some students get lost in the shuffle or need extra support, and we hope this program will alleviate those concerns,” he said. One example of cross-department integration through the initiative is a new course being developed within the Department of English, a “Writing for Scientists” section of the W350: Intensive Writing course specifically catered to students in science fields. Pilachowski said she hopes the program’s efforts will help encourage more students to pursue science-related majors and be more successful in the process. “The scholarships are sort of the icing on the cake,” Pilachowski said. “The real cake is the need to make these transformations within these departments.”Follow reporter Samantha Schmidt on Twitter @schmidtsam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The School of Public and Environmental Affairs announced a new partnership Friday with South Korea’s elite university, Seoul National University. The collaboration will offer a new dual-degree program for master’s students from IU to take coursework through the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University, or Korean students to take IU classes in Bloomington or online.Beginning in fall 2014, students in the program can take one year of study at SPEA and one year at the institution, SPEA Executive Associate Dean David Reingold said. About two-thirds of the coursework is offered through IU and the remaining third will be offered through Seoul National.Reingold and Junki Kim, dean of the graduate school of public administration at Seoul National University, signed the agreement in October in Washington, D.C.“SPEA has a long history of connectivity with South Korea,” Reingold said.Reingold said he credits these relationships largely to professor emeritus Roy Shin’s work with institutions in South Korea, Shin’s home country.Shin, recently appointed IU President Michael McRobbbie’s special adviser on global partnerships, had previously arranged several internship opportunities for SPEA students within the local Seoul government.This is not the first time IU has formed an academic partnership with South Korean institutions. IU currently offers a study abroad program with the Council on International Educational Exchange at Yonsei University, a dual-MBA degree program through the Kelley School of Business and a private university in Seoul, and a partnership through the School of Education, Shin said.The SPEA partnership is one of the first dual-degree programs Seoul National has established with an international university, Reingold said.With a particular focus on nations in the Pacific Rim, it is also part of a larger strategy to connect SPEA and its students with other parts of the world. “We’re making our way around the globe as we stitch together opportunities for students,” Reingold said.SPEA’s international expansion for graduate studies is due to increasing interest in its master’s degree programs, Reingold said.Ranked as the second best graduate school nationwide for public affairs by U.S. News this year, SPEA’s graduate programs have been attracting more and more international students.“We’ve been able to make the most of it by partnering with institutions,” Reingold said.SPEA’s new focus on South Korea is also due to the large contingency of SPEA alumni in the country, Shin said.He said many of South Korea’s top entrepreneurs studied at SPEA, and five IU alums currently hold administrative positions within the nation’s government.“Those alums are eager to see our school continue to evolve,” Reingold said.Shin visited Seoul last month and began exploring the possibility of a partnership between the Jacobs School of Music and the Seoul Arts Center, a concert hall in the city.McRobbie has asked him to continue developing plans, Shin said. At the end of the month IU Provost Lauren Robel will lead a trip to South Korea, and she plans to reconfirm IU’s participation with Seoul National University.She will continue to discuss a possible partnership for the Jacobs School of Music.“The prospect for the partnership is excellent,” Shin said.Follow reporter Samantha Schmidt on Twitter @schmidtsam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 18-year-old man arrested for slashing a student with a meat cleaver outside Tulip Tree Apartments Oct. 27 remains in jail with $5,500 in bail bonds. Zesen Shen pled not guilty last week to charges of intimidation and battery by means of a deadly weapon. Kaiyu Luo, Shen’s 21-year-old accomplice charged with intimidation, paid $5,500 in bail the day of his arrest, and was released from jail soon after. Shen and Luo, both formerly international students from China, were suspended last week, Mark Land, associate vice president of IU Communications, said. The two men are no longer considered students, Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith said. As former international students on J-1 or F-1 visas, their legal immigration status depends on their enrollment as students. Since they are no longer enrolled as students, they could be required by the Department of Homeland Security to leave the United States. But since both cases are pending, the two men cannot legally leave the country until their charges have been resolved. Even if Shen pays his bail, he could continue to be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Indianapolis, a Monroe County Jail officer said. Shen told IU Police Department officers that the fight was instigated through a series of phone calls early Sunday morning between him and the 21-year-old slashed student. Shen’s girlfriend had arrived at Tulip Tree with the student in a white Audi at 2 a.m., four hours later than Shen expected her to be home, he told police.Upset with the student, Shen followed the Audi, honking his horn. He then proceeded to go inside Tulip Tree apartments and call the student. Shen said the student felt threatened by the calls and came to Tulip Tree with a group of four students, looking to fight Shen. Shen, a Wright Quad resident, then invited Kaiyu Luo, a Tulip Tree resident, to join him in the parking lot. He grabbed a meat cleaver from Luo’s kitchen and at about 3:15 a.m. left with Luo to confront the group. Shen was “afraid” of the group of students walking toward him in the parking lot and he pulled out the knife, prompting the student to run away from him, he said. Shen proceeded to chase the student, slashing him in the back with the knife, the student reported. The slashing left the student with one four-inch cut in the middle of his lower back, and two smaller lacerations on his right shoulder and left arm. The student was treated and released from IU Health Bloomington later that day.Luo reported to IUPD officers he was heavily intoxicated when Shen asked him to help him to resolve the dispute. Police did not charge any of the other four students in the group with the slashed student, IUPD Lt. Craig Munroe said. One student was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol, and it was clear that the group had been drinking, he said. Shen’s initial case hearing took place Oct. 29 where he pled not guilty and testified with the help of an interpreter. His pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 17. Follow reporter Samantha Schmidt on Twitter @schmidtsam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Faculty Council has made official its long-standing opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.The Faculty Council unanimously endorsed President Michael McRobbie’s decision that IU join Freedom Indiana, a state-wide coalition working to defeat the House Joint Resolution 6, Associate Vice President of IU Communications Mark Land said.McRobbie’s decision was announced Monday, and the Faculty Council voted on its endorsement at its Tuesday meeting, Herb Terry, the group’s co-secretary, said.Terry had drafted the Faculty Council’s resolution with co-secretary Jack Windsor, a professor at IUPUI’s School of Dentistry, prior to McRobbie’s announcement. They were “on the verge” of presenting it to the council, Terry said. After McRobbie’s announcement was released, it seemed fitting to vote on an endorsement at the group’s Tuesday meeting, Terry said.In its resolution, the council affirmed its opposition to House Joint Resolution 6, endorsed the University’s decision to join Freedom Indiana, and urged faculty governance bodies at all IU campuses to adopt similar resolutions.Time was allotted for dissent during the meeting, but no council members expressed opposition to the endorsement, Terry said. “No questions were raised about doing this,” Terry said. IU faculty has publicly expressed its opposition to the amendment since 2007, when the council voted “nearly unanimously” to oppose an equivalent amendment, Terry said. “The council wanted to stand for what it stood for years,” Terry said. “You could say the administration caught up to us.” Members of the Faculty Council will now work to encourage other colleges on campus to announce their support of McRobbie’s decision. “I would hope that faculty groups and staff groups and student groups at least consider whether they want to join in this,” Terry said. “I anticipate several of these coming out from various sources in the next few weeks.” The University has not announced the exact role it will take within the Freedom Indiana coalition. Terry said the University’s action depends on whether the General Assembly will decide to move forward in testifying for the amendment. Terry said the Council supports the fact Freedom Indiana hopes to continue its fight even if the amendment passes. Although the University’s decision reflects many years of faculty support in the fight, McRobbie’s announcement is monumental, Terry said. “We haven’t taken positions on social issues,” Terry said. Terry said many faculty members, especially within the Kelley School of Business, see the potential economic detriment that could come with the amendment. In order to take advantage of its workforce, the state needs to be able to welcome and recruit all types of workers, Terry said. Other faculty members argue the amendment would contradict IU’s policy to encourage a welcoming environment for all students. A state-wide constitutional ban on same-sex marriage would, in turn, make IU unattractive for students, Terry said.“This is a social issue. This is a business issue. This is a moral issue,” Terry said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 20-year-old male student who suffered knife wounds after being slashed Sunday morning was treated and released from IU Health Bloomington later that day, said Associate Vice President of IU Communications Mark Land.IU Police Department arrested IU student Zesen Shen, 18, for intimidation and battery, and Kaiyu Luo, 21, for intimidation following the dispute at Tulip Tree Apartments.The two students were involved in a fight against a third student that began at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot at Tulip Tree Apartments on East 10th Street. The fight resulted in the third student suffering a knife wound, Land said.The victim had returned from an off-campus party earlier with a woman in his car, and got into an argument with Shen and Luo over the woman, IUPD Lt. Craig Munroe said.Shen, a Wright Quad resident, and Luo allegedly agreed to meet with the victim in the parking lot to “reconcile” the dispute, Munroe said.“But that’s not what actually occurred,” Munroe said.Shen and Luo began to chase after the victim in the parking lot. Shen allegedly slashed the student with the knife as the student was moving away from him, Land said.A witness at the scene called 911, saying a man was chasing his friend with a knife, and IUPD responded, Munroe said.Witnesses said at least 10 police cars and at least one fire truck arrived at Tulip Tree Apartments.The injured student was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital with non-life-threatening wounds.“The wound was longer than it was deep,” Land said. “It was a few inches long.”After speaking with witnesses in the parking lot and investigating the scene, police officers were informed the suspects could be inside the apartment building.Luo and Shen were found in a Tulip Tree apartment with four other students early Sunday morning, and IUPD brought the entire group to the police station for questioning.Officers arrested Shen without incident at about 8 a.m., and Luo was arrested about two hours later, Land said.IUPD initially announced Luo’s arrest shortly after 10 a.m., but incorrectly spelled his name as Kaiyu Lao. The correction was made at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday.None of the other four students in the group are suspects, Munroe said. One student was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol, and it was clear that the group had been drinking, he said.The University sent alert phone calls and emails to all IU students at 4 a.m., informing them that police were in search of armed suspects.IUPD officers put Tulip Tree Apartments on lock-down after the fight.Junior Jay Ahn, a resident of Tulip Tree Apartments, said he had just returned home to the apartment complex between 3:30 and 4 a.m. Sunday. Officers had locked the doors and prohibited any individuals from entering or leaving the apartment complex.Ahn and his friends had to stay outside the building until about 4:30 a.m. He said about 30 students were stuck in the building entrance, unable to enter the doors into the main lobby.Sophomore Ernest Fipps watched the investigation unfold from his apartment window on the sixth floor of Tulip Tree Apartments.He said he had seen a group of six or seven people “messing around” in the parking lot before police cars began showing up. He could hear officers shouting and saw police cars leave shortly after 5 a.m.The all-clear was alerted to students at about 7:30 a.m.Both of the suspects were international students from China, Munroe said.International students are treated just like any other suspects of criminal charges, IUPD Sgt. Brice Teter said.Under federal law, officers were obligated to send a notification of the arrests to the Chinese consulate, Teter said.Both Shen and Luo remained in jail Sunday evening. IUPD continues to investigate the incident.A campus-wide lock-down was difficult because of the many doors and points of entry across the University, Land said, but he encouraged all students to stay inside while the investigation took place.Land said campus residence halls were completely locked down, and Residential Programs and Services officials ensured all doors remained locked during the search period.Follow reporter Samantha Schmidt on Twitter @schmidtsam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Max Davis climbs onto the three-meter board, pulling up his red Hollister swim trunks.He slowly shifts toward the edge. Sucking in his plump 10-year-old belly, he begins to raise his arms. In diving, there’s a penalty called a balk, or a false start, in which a diver steps forward to dive but then steps back, stalling to rethink the dive. Max knows he’s balking. If this were a meet, he would be docked points.For the next 30 seconds, he thinks about what could happen if the plunge doesn’t go as planned. He could hit his head on the board. He could clip his ankle, like he did while attempting a back dive a few weeks ago. What if he lands in a belly flop, or what if his face hurts when it hits the water?He inches backward, relaxing his muscles.He waits. * * *Max is the youngest member in his diving club, the Indiana International School of Diving. He is one of two boys on the team, which trains divers up to age 17. His coach, 26-year-old Chris Heaton, competed in the 2012 Olympic diving team trials. Heaton said it is rare for male divers to start training at an age as young as Max’s. Max has a stockier build than most divers, Heaton said, but once he grows into his frame, he could be great.Max has only been diving for three months, after giving up football, tennis, soccer and swimming. He wanted to try a new sport, so he looked to his brother, Alex Davis. Alex is a freshmen recruit on the IU nationally-ranked diving team. Max had watched his older brother’s diving meets since he was seven, so he decided to also give it a try. Since there is no diving team in the Davises’ hometown of Terre Haute, Ind., Emeline Davis registered her son for the Bloomington club. She drives the hour and a half to the IU Outdoor Pool for Max’s three-hour practice three times each week. Max’s math homework is in the backseat of the white SUV — sometimes, the drive to and from practice is the only time he has to work on assignments. “It’s pretty exhausting,” he says. The zoned-in concentration for diving doesn’t always come naturally to Max. His mind is even more active than his body. He never stops asking his mother questions, whether it’s about science, his favorite subject, or cooking, his favorite hobby. Emeline Davis sometimes wonders how her son manages to concentrate all of his thoughts and scattered energy on mastering one dive. “Maybe it helps him to focus on one thing — it’s like a quiet in his life,” she says. * * *Max steps back a bit further on the three-meter board, holding his hands at mid-waist. His mouth drops slightly as he spots 14-year-old Alicia DeMars to his right on a board near his, executing what appears to be a perfect pike flip in her red and black one-piece swimsuit. Max doesn’t mind being the only boy in the pool most days, he says — he likes talking to the girls. His two favorites are Franny and Jordan, both about 15 years old, because they’re the ones who talk to him the most. “He’s a stud muffin — a total stud,” his coach said. He’s comfortable around the ladies, he says, but it doesn’t make him any less nervous on the board. “I think about them watching me,” Max says. “I’m thinking about a bunch of other things happening around me.”He thinks about what his coach will say to him as he pops his head out of the water. Max has to do exactly what Heaton says. If not, he could hurt something, like his foot or his head. “But I usually do better whenever my coach is talking to someone else ... when nobody else is watching me,” Max says. Arching his back at the ledge of the board, he tries to forget about his audience. He pretends he is alone — just him, the board and the water below. He has already dived off the five-meter board twice. One time he even made a dive from the seven-meter platform, a board more than four times taller than him. This one should be easy, he thinks to himself, closing his eyes. He takes a deep breath, opens his eyes, and dives. * * *Sometimes Max pictures how Alex would form the same dive. He sees his older brother at the edge of a board that’s even higher, in an arena with a much larger crowd. He remembers watching Alex’s high school meets, running back and forth through the pool bleachers on his Heely’s roller shoes, shooting videos of his brother’s dives and texting them to him. He thinks about the day when Alex first showed him how to reverse flip from the family’s staircase onto the beanbag chair in the living room.Alex always seemed to make the dives look easy — almost as easy as snatching the best controller for playing Modern Warfare video games.“If he does good on a dive, and I do bad on it, then I feel really mad,” Max said. He knows he’s just getting started, but he already thinks he wants to compete in high school. He might want to be a college diver like Alex someday. He’s getting his diving start much earlier than his brother, who didn’t pick up the sport until his sophomore year of high school. Max’s coach thinks his head start could really help him in the long run. He could be as good as, or even better than, his brother. Max thinks he’ll have a different style of diving than his brother, a different kind of splash. Max has a bulkier body structure — he’ll probably be a power diver someday, his coach said. Imagining Alex taking the plunge makes it feel a little bit simpler for Max. “If he can do it, I can do it.”* * * In mid-air, Max creates an arc, keeping his back tight.His body hurls forward into a somersault. He joins his hands, palms piercing the water.It’s a matter of seconds leading to an unpredictable strike with the water. It could hurt, or it could be Max’s best dive yet. Sometimes his coach uses physics to explain perfecting a fast, smooth dive. During one practice he asked Max what he thought is the quickest way to get from point A to point B. The correct answer is a straight line; a diver needs to keep his body aligned to form a fluid dive. But Max thinks there’s a faster way. What if he runs? What if he teleports himself, like in the movie “Jumpers”? The science–lover asked his mother, “Wouldn’t the speed of light be the quickest way?”“The quickest way is not the speed of light,” Emeline Davis told him. “It’s the speed of thought.”Max’s body pierces the water in a vacuum, but it makes a bigger splash than he expected. He just didn’t keep his hands flat enough, he said. He sticks his head out of the pool and grins at his coach. “I’m getting better at it,” he says. Follow reporter Samantha Schmidt on Twitter @SchmidtSam7.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The University has allocated $1 million to fund graduate student diversity initiatives through the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs. In a Thursday meeting with the IU Board of Trustees, Vice President of DEMA James Wimbush explained the breakdown of funds for the initiative, which aims to encourage timely doctoral degree completion. Included in the initiatives are a diversity recruitment fellowship, a graduate mentoring center and a diversity dissertation year fellowship, Wimbush said. About 40 percent of the total funds, $395,000, will go toward diversity recruitment. $270,000 will fund timely completion initiatives and $239,000 will fund mentoring programs.The rest – about $96,000 – will benefit community building initiatives such as graduate emissaries and a center for faculty development and diversity.Wimbush said they have allocated the funds based on studies showing money, mentoring and family support as primary factors in doctoral degree completion.“We can’t do a whole lot about family support, but we can do a lot about money and mentoring,” he said.Undergraduate retention and graduation rates are also of primary concern for Wimbush, he said. “Certainly when it comes to completion, the numbers are not what we’d like to see," he said. He mentioned how IU's 21st Century Scholars Program displayed a four-year completion rate of 36 percent at the IU Bloomington campus. "For a program that is specifically for four years, and a program that students will not have any out of pocket costs, you’d expect it to be higher," Wimbush said. IU Executive Vice President for University Academic Affairs John Applegate led a discussion earlier in the meeting clarifying enrollment percentages, classifications and trends across all campuses."At least half of the committee is new to enrollment reporting," Applegate said. Committee chair James Morris shared his concerns regarding tougher admission rates at the IU regional campuses, specifically at IU East. Reports showed 46 percent of applicants were denied admission this year to IU East, a school that until fairly recently, was open admission, Applegate said. "Those days are gone when, if you couldn’t be admitted to IU, you could be admitted at a regional campus," University Relations Committee Chair James Morris said. Kathryn Cruz-Uribe, chancellor at IU East, was also present at the meeting, and acknowledged her goal of improving both quality of students and access to a college degree. Applegate agreed later in the meeting that IU is faced with difficult goals of broadening access and diversity while also increasing graduation rates. “Traditionally those are goals in some degree of conflict with each other," Applegate said. “The more broadly you create access to education, the more difficulties students have in getting to graduation.”