Jordan River Forum

The IU Student Association Educational Affairs Committee, the committee in charge of writing the resolution to raise admissions standards, was saddened by the opinion of the IDS editors that the IUSA has somehow "fallen short" on the issue. The assertion made in the editorial about the IUSA "rubber stamping" the issue is simply untrue. The committee spent months talking to faculty members and students alike about the issue. We reviewed the same data the Bloomington Faculty Council was looking at in considering the issue and finally decided that it would be in the student body's best interest to raise admissions standards. That is not to say that there would be no negative effect to raising standards here at IUB, but we feel, and many others here at the University feel, that it would be the best course of action to take. It is not the goal of the IUSA or that of the BFC to make IU into some sort of "elite" university, but we simply need to keep our standards up to par with that of our peers in the Big Ten. IU has had a reputation of academic excellence for many years, and it would be damaging to current, past and future students to somehow fail to maintain that reputation. We were also surprised at the editorial's insinuation that the resolution was somehow rushed and that the IUSA did not do enough to get the opinion of the student body on admission standards. Congress was polled on the issue for more than a month before it was finally voted on. In addition, each member was told to get a general consensus within their own constituency on the issue. We feel that we fulfilled all our obligations as representatives in understanding the wants and needs of those who we represent. The IUSA has welcomed, and continues to welcome, any and all input from IU students. We encourage students to visit our Web site, http://www.indiana.edu/~iusa/, in order to see what issues the IUSA is currently discussing and to find the e-mail addresses of each student's respective candidate. IUSA Educational Affairs Committee

Dead week all but dead

"Dead week" is the week prior to final exam week. According to University policy: "The week prior to the exam period shall be free of major or final exams, except for practical tests at the end of lab periods. Paper projects may be due only if assigned well in advance." According to most of my professors, five days or less is "well in advance." During "dead week" alone, I have a final paper due, a group presentation and two essay finals to complete. Both essays were assigned after we got back from Thanksgiving break and it would have been impossible to do anything for the group project until getting back from Thanksgiving break, as we needed professor feedback on previously-handed-in assignments to finish the project. I estimate these assignments will take me more than 50 hours to complete. Why do professors live in their own little world? Why is it that they think their class is the only class we are taking? Perhaps, if it was only them that gave us an assignment during "dead week," then it wouldn't be so bad (still against University policy, but at least manageable). We do not have ample time to complete the assignments prior to "dead week" if every teacher is giving out assignments that take 10+ hours to complete. Why even have the University policy if the schools are not going to enforce it? Maybe students should start making up their own rules too; it's obvious professors are doing it. Clearly, "dead week" is all but dead. Jeffrey Algood
Senior

Herbert review and race

To the faculty: I was disturbed to read recently that some of you were being encouraged to cast your vote upon the resolution for review of President Herbert's performance to the trustees based solely on the color of his skin ("Black faculty support Herbert," Nov. 28). Having once attended a high school in rural southeastern North Carolina where the community's black to white ratio was essentially equivalent, I witnessed firsthand the consequences that actions such as yours may have. Socio-economic disparities had long ago withered away there; the big manufacturing warehouses that employed all our parents didn't care what color anybody's skin was, so long as they could pack boxes onto trucks. Dr. King was celebrated. Students were taught about Jim Crow laws in history classes instructed by African Americans. Rosa Parks, however, would be rolling in her grave if she'd seen what I experienced. School buses were still segregated, not institutionally, but by the students themselves. Basketball courts during recess were the same. Most strikingly, though, the cafeteria, when filled with hundreds of students during lunch, was completely void of interracial interaction: white on one half, black on the other. The Supreme Court's ruling on Brown v. Board of Education outlawed de jure segregation, but not self-segregation. At the time, I couldn't understand why an otherwise equal community had chosen to be separate. It seemed a horrendous simplification to identify skin color as the only rationale. Apparently some of you faculty would disagree. Your unilateral call for black faculty to support President Herbert by voting "no" to the resolution implies your conviction that skin color alone is a perfectly acceptable reason for division. Some very valid points were raised in opposition to the resolution, including the imbalanced depiction of Herbert's performance as a whole, but your actions diminished those and served only to color the debate. I was taught growing up that to judge others only by what can be seen on the outside is an act of ignorance. My peers in North Carolina behaved ignorantly everyday. Please don't advocate support for President Herbert just because you share a skin color. I'm sure he deserves more than that. Charles Benson
Senior

Student loan debt poses big problem

The Indiana Daily Student should focus on important issues for students, such as higher education affordability and student loan debt. This is a major problem surrounding students today. Right now, the average loan debt of a college graduate is $17,500 and nearly two-thirds of all four-year college graduates have student loans. Not only does this affect their lives outside of college, but it is affecting students right now. Many students have to work in order to finance their education, and one in five full-time students who work, put in 35 or more hours per week. This can affect their grades and lead to a worsened future. Also, after college, adults are spending years and years trying to pay off debts left over from when they were in school. Some loan agreements have repayment periods of up to 30 years, meaning that a recent graduate won't finish paying off college until their retirement! Because of this debt, students are forced to make sacrifices, such as not getting married, not buying a home, waiting to have children, not moving to pursue a better career or not going to graduate school. A Nellie Mae study found that more than 40 percent of college graduates who do not pursue graduate school say student loan debt was a major factor in that decision. So what can be done about this problem? Right here on IU's campus, the Indiana Public Interest Research Group has an ongoing campaign to help higher education affordability. It has discovered that if $17 billion was removed from subsidies to lenders in the federal loan programs, it would free up enough money to give every Pell Grant recipient about $1,000 more. (The Pell Grant is used by about five million college students.) The grant programs should be given more money so students are more inclined to apply for them and not have to take out as large of loans as they do now. INPIRG is focusing on increasing aid, forming loan refinancing programs and creating overall better and cheaper loans. Students should not be forced to make such financial sacrifices for their education. Katy Riediger
Sophomore

Holiday for the rest of us

Lately, I have been quite disappointed in your holiday coverage. I know the number of those who celebrate such popular holidays as Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice is much greater than any other, but I feel other holiday options deserve to share the spotlight. I have seen in your paper no mention of the holiday several of my friends and I celebrate every year. I think it's time the IU Campus and IDS finally acknowledged the ever-growing number of students who quietly celebrate Festivus each December while everyone else wallows in Christmas joy. My fellow Festivus celebrators and I would be very pleased if you could run a feature informing everyone of the holiday. It's time that everyone be aware that there is another winter holiday option. Perhaps with some reader education, we can have a Festivus that truly is for the rest of us. Calvin Graves
Junior

Giving in Iraq

Christmas is a time of giving and no one gives more than our men and women in the armed forces. We must remind ourselves that it is our armed forces that embody the spirit of America. That spirit of giving is unfolding right now in Iraq, successfully continuing the idea that those who are able to help have a responsibility to help those who are not so fortunate. This month, President Bush reminds us that "We're helping Iraqis build a free nation that is an ally in the war on terror. We're advancing freedom in the broader Middle East. We are removing a source of violence and instability, and laying the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren." The discussion about our role in Iraq is vital to our democracy and Americans should be vigilant in deciphering truth from political propaganda and lies. Yet to those of you blinded to the spirit of giving and good works that we have brought to the Iraqi people I say, "Let the pessimist judge and the naysayer condemn, neither will find solace in their contempt nor satisfaction in their solutions." God bless the United States of America. David White
Political Director, Indiana University College Republicans

Enlighten up, HPER

I want to thank four outstanding IU faculty for helping me breathe: Dan Cheeseman, Cherry Merritt-Darriau, David Le Beau and Allana Radecki. Their classes in stress reduction and Yoga have given me a priceless methodology for relaxation and health maintenance. Reflecting on five highly eventful semesters at IU, I cannot imagine life without these skills. And I wonder why, as of Dec. 14, there were 69 students waitlisted for Yoga I (and 14 for Yoga II). Surely twice as many would register if new sections were opened. Freshmen, more deserving than any other class, get last dibs in registration. I was unable to register for Yoga until my third semester. The School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation should consider this a serious problem. Evan Merida
Junior

Save the babies, too

In his Dec. 5 column "Save Ourselves," I think Bryan Schmidt misunderstands the necessity of Stanley "Tookie" Williams' execution. Tookie should not be executed because of the grisly nature of his murders, or because the victims' families desire closure, or because "Tookie was a bad man;" Tookie should be executed because justice demands it, and if he is not executed we will collectively bear the guilt of his victims' deaths. Our atomized society has lost the notion of collective responsibility. The Pentateuch (from which, like it or hate it, Western law inherited capital punishment) makes clear that when innocent blood is shed, if the society and government do not condemn and execute the murderer, society and government are culpable for that murder. That is to say, if California does not execute Tookie, Californians will be held culpable for the murders he committed. If California can execute Tookie and does not, they are giving tacit approval to his actions and will bear that guilt before God. In executing Tookie, Californians will declare that they condemn his crime and clear themselves of their guilt before God. For this same reason, millions of Americans oppose abortion. Our society and government have given explicit approval to abortion, and bear the guilt of every innocent life taken by abortion; thus we the people also bear the guilt of abortion. I, a man who will never be pregnant and will never be employed by Planned Parenthood, could go through life unsullied by the blood of abortion; but as an American if I do not publicly condemn the taking of innocent life, I have given my tacit approval. Murder represents a failure of society and government to restrain the wickedness of the people. We know from experience Utopia is impossible, so crime will happen; but when it happens, it is incumbent upon us to call it what it is and condemn it. Abram Hess
Junior

Misplacing the blame

In response to "Our Forgotten Poor," (Dec. 7) Patrick Schoettmer brought up some very interesting arguments. He mentions that a section of Monroe County is labeled as "impoverished" by the government and that our government tends to forget how these people are underprivileged. I think it's dually important to note Monroe County also has one of the largest meth production lab problems in the whole state. For those of you new to the subject, producing meth can be a time- and labor-intensive process, one that usually necessitates a lack of employment. At the same time, income can be acquired when the producer of meth sells it to others. Could there be a correlation? Also, Schoettmer brought up the monetarily lofty as well as "flawed" abstinence program that applies its large thumb of oppression on the needy during this holiday season as well as the "cost" of tax cuts. I didn't know I had to pay for my increase in income. I think a better place for blaming oppressive factors would be the new food and beverage tax. My illogical reasoning would have me believe that requiring the needy to pay more for sustenance would be less likely to help them. Am I wrong, Pat? Brandon Moss
Senior

Private schools and gay rights

The Dec. 6 article titled, "Ph.D. student boards bus for equality at schools" highlights the futile mission of Jonathan Rossing and 29 other gay rights activists as they attempt to reform "schools with anti-gay policies." The map included with the article shows five Indiana schools to which this group will travel. It's no coincidence that all five of these schools are private Christian schools. Their policies are not meant to single out and discriminate against homosexuals; they are adhering to Scripture by condemning homosexuality as a sin. These schools do not receive a dollar from the government, so they absolutely should not be expected to freely allow anything which state universities allow. Public universities have absolutely no right to discriminate against anyone, whether they're gay, black, bisexual or purple. But private colleges founded on the principles of God's word must not allow practices which blatantly violate those principles. But before you go off and accuse me of a "holier-than-thou" attitude, I am entirely aware that any sin, whether it's homosexuality or adultery or lying or murder, is equal in God's eyes. I am just as far away from perfection as any one of you, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I am not condemning homosexuals, nor am I lashing out at them. I am merely standing up for what I believe, as well as for what these Christian schools practice. Rossing openly admits that he "is not expecting immediate policy change" - he's right on the money. These schools should absolutely not change their standards. It is completely unreasonable for anyone to expect a Christian school to forsake its core beliefs just because society has suddenly decided that homosexuality is perfectly acceptable. May God grant all of these private Christian schools the fortitude to not let their Scriptural policies be compromised in response to the people in our society who want to revise God's definition of sin. Jeremy Webster
Senior

Davis should be fired

Finally, the last nail will be placed in the coffin of Mike Davis' IU coaching career. Saturday when he loses to Kentucky, yet again, Coach Davis should be fired on the spot. When you miss the NCAA tournament two years in a row, you should be fired. When you are winless against Kentucky, you should be fired. When you consistently lose the state's best talent to Duke and (gasp) Ohio State, you should be fired. And when you have embarrassing loss after embarrassing loss (see Wednesday night), you should be fired. I am tired of watching Texas Tech win with inferior talent and Davis sputter out the same tired excuses of needing NBA talent. Call me crazy, coach, but I'll take Steve Alford, Tom Coverdale, Damon Bailey, A.J. Moye and a host of others with real heart over any of the NBA talent you crave. You have been a disgrace to the greatest college basketball program in the world. Brian Davidson
Alumnus