BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- IU senior Ashley Crouse, 21, was killed following a two-car accident that occurred on campus late Monday night, according to the IU Police Department.\nCrouse was pronounced dead at 12:09 a.m. today at Bloomington Hospital. Crouse, her boyfriend Christopher Carlson and an unidentified female passenger were driving southbound on Hawthorne Avenue when their red Jeep Cherokee was struck on the driver's side by a gray Honda station wagon at the intersection of Hawthorne Avenue and Third Street.\nCrouse was in the back seat of the vehicle and was thrown about five feet from the car, according to a statement from IUPD. Crouse was the only member in the Jeep who was not wearing a seatbelt, according to IUPD.\nAt the time of the accident the stoplight directing westbound traffic on Third Street was flashing yellow. North and southbound traffic on Hawthorne Avenue had a flashing red light.\nThe Jeep was wrapped around a stoplight pole in the front yard of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, 1018 E. Third St., where Crouse was also a member. \nThe driver of the station wagon fled the scene and is wanted by police. Police believe the driver is Alberto DeJesus, a Hispanic male. DeJesus, who is not an IU student, was last seen wearing a tan shirt. \nCarlson was driving the Jeep when it was struck by the station wagon. Carlson and the unidentified female passenger were taken to Bloomington Hospital, treated and released early this morning. Carlson was tested and showed no signs of alcohol consumption when he arrived at the hospital.
IU seniors provide aid on scene
Seniors Norka Acosta and Jami Bennett were driving home from a group project meeting late Monday night when they passed by the accident scene. They immediately stopped, retrieved their first aid kit and assisted in helping the victims.\n"I saw the cars on my left. Because of all the traffic, I was getting ready to try to bypass (the cars)," Bennett said. "Then I noticed there was an accident and I realized there was no one on the scene. I approached the vehicle … I got there at the same time as the first officer got on the scene. I asked if I could help and he said 'yes.'"\nBennett, who is a certified professional rescuer, grabbed her emergency kit to assist the victims.\n"Norka checked (one female victim's) pulse while I was opening up her airway. I tried giving her two breaths … I basically just helped as far as the rescue breathing goes."\nBennett said she had a softball-sized patch of blood on her right knee after she aided the victims.\n"Jamie Bennett and I are both certified as American Red Cross instructors, so we just felt it was our duty to come out here and help," Acosta said.\nSenior Adam Peeples also responded to the crash when he heard the impact from about 200 feet away. Peeples said he approached one of the victims and began to lift debris off of her. \n"I went to the scene of the accident and one of the passengers of the red Jeep was already on the ground and another one was inside the vehicle," Peeples said. "(Crouse) had a couple of objects on top of her. I couldn't tell how she was doing, but she looked like she was in the most severe condition out of all of them. (The objects were) small things -- like a piece of the door was partially on her. The electrical box was leaning on her leg."\nSeveral members of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the community surrounded the accident scene.\nIf anyone has information pertaining to the incident or knows the location of Alberto DeJesus, they are asked to call the IU Police Department at (812) 855-4111.
\nIt's the boob tube, the idiot box, the TV, the television.\nNo matter what term college students use to describe their televisions, the Student Monitor is interested in only one thing: How college students interact with TV. The Monitor, a group that studies and compiles market research of college students, claims 96 percent of college students nationally watch television regularly.\nAnd according to the Monitor's data, as well as other numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research, they watch it a lot.\nThe average time spent watching television is around 11 hours per week, or 1.5 hours per day, according to a study conducted by the Monitor in 2004.\nThe Nielsen Media Research rating system puts the figures even higher at three hours and 41 minutes of TV watched per day, according to information published by The Associated Press.This figure is still roughly one hour less than the average American watches.\nHowever, assistant professor of communication and culture Ted Striphas believes the data gathered might not accurately reflect the actual time spent actively watching a program. He put more emphasis on the quality of the viewing. \n"People routinely turn on the TV as background noise, much as they do with radio, to accompany their daily routines," Striphas said. "Does this mean we're watching? Probably not."\nNielsen has tried for years to tabulate college students' viewing habits accurately but has not found a successful way to do so; the organization gathers information solely through the times the television is reportedly on, as well as journals from "Nielsen families," or randomly selected testers. These methods can lead to discrepancies among the statistics the company provides, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.\nFree time factors into how much TV students watch. And many college students, such as sophomore Danny Marsh, tend not to have a lot of extra time on their hands.\n"I don't watch a lot of TV now because there is a lot less time now with more school work, and the free time I do have I would like to spend doing something else," Marsh said. "I also don't believe students around here don't watch as much TV as these agencies claim."\nSophomore Cody Carter agreed with Marsh -- although he is one student who does claim to watch a lot of TV, with a self-described amount near that of the Nielsen figures.\n"Everyone makes fun of me for the amount of TV I watch," Carter said. "So I get the general feeling that most people just do not watch the three plus hours which I do."\nAlthough Carter manages to keep up with his schoolwork while maintaining his TV-habit, many students cited academics as a reason for not watching too much TV. However, some professors don't believe having the television on necessarily effects students' school work.\nTelecommunications professor Annie Lang said the effects of television on homework generally are minimal. Although a student might finish only two assignments instead of three, studies show it will not affect the outcome of the final grade, she said.\nAlthough recorded figures and students' opinions might not quite match, statistics typically reflect the quantity rather than the quality of the television students are viewing. \n"If we keep the quality of television watching in mind along with researchers' claims about the quantity, a whole different picture of television's social uses starts to emerge," Striphas said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Ryne Shadday at rshadday@indiana.edu. \n
