'Old Glory' to fly in every classroom

More than a hundred new Indiana laws are in effect as of Friday, yet that news might be a surprise to some Hoosiers.\nAfter partisan politics divided the Statehouse and stalled hundreds of proposed bills on the floor and within committees, the Indiana legislature rolled through the second legislative session and passed more than 100 bills to otherwise improve the health, safety and well being of Hoosiers across the state.\nBeginning July 1, for instance, schools will be required to form a "safe school committee" to create a plan to combat bullying. Under another new law, judges will be able to order anyone on probation to serve their entire sentence if they violate any condition of their release.\nAside from commonsense laws like not allowing domestic violence criminals to possess a handgun, a few new Indiana laws are causing a fuss among some Hoosiers.\nIndianapolis resident and junior Liz Stringer said the law requiring all Indiana classrooms to display the American flag is not necessary.\n"It seems like the state is wasting money to put a flag in every classroom when there are more important things the school could spend their money on," she said.\nYunosuke Shivuya, a Japanese student studying English at IU for about eight months, said he thinks there is no need to display the American flag in every classroom because Americans already display the flag in front of their homes, within their schools, within their communities and "everywhere" else. He said the Japanese do not display Japan's flag other than on "Holy Days," other special ceremonies or at government facilities.\n"For American people, they are proud to be American," Shivuya said. "I'm from Japan but I'm not Japanese at all and I'm not really interested in being around Japanese people. I don't want to be categorized -- I'm human. I have other reasons to study English, and one is to be a person from the world." \nIndianapolis resident and alumnus Patrick Ockerse said he wasn't aware of any of the new laws going into effect Friday. He said the mandatory flag-display law is "funny," and not much of a surprise to him at all. \n"I wouldn't try to impose patriotism -- that is a mistake. The goal of our country is to find the best way to be -- we need to allow uncensored opinions, all points of view," Ockerse said. "If democracy is the best decision, the youth will decide to participate or they will grow up wanting to fix things. Instilling any beliefs at a young age is a mistake. I think it makes people less open-minded to other ideas, which should be considered equally, and then an intelligent decision or ideology can be formed."\nWarsaw resident and fifth-year senior Kyle Brown said the mandatory-flag law shouldn't apply to private schools and the new Indiana law mandating a "moment of silence" should not apply to public schools because it equates to an organized prayer.\n"People can do whatever they want to do before they get to school. When you go to school you are there to learn, not to partake in some ritual that has nothing to do with the learning process. If people want a moment of silence they can have it at a church or at home or in a patriotic club of some kind. If the government is forcing students to go to school they shouldn't force them to be patriotic."\nStringer, a volunteer at Bloomington's Middle Way House for victims of domestic violence, said she appreciates the state stepping up to face some issues facing women but she said the state should do more to protect rape victims. \n"Domestic violence and lack of guns is good because I dedicate my time to making sure domestic violence doesn't happen," Stringer said. "The state pays a lot of attention to sex offences against children but not enough time and money to general rape victims. (Indiana elected officials) should give colleges more funds to help support rape victims and to support rape prevention"