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(05/24/08 1:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Jacobs School of Music is one of the best music schools in the nation, competing with Juilliard and other private conservatories around the world, said Gwyn Richards, dean of the Jacobs School of Music.While music schools haven’t been ranked recently, the Jacobs School of Music has been ranked first in the nation in the past by Change magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education and U.S. News & World Report, said Alain Barker, director of Marketing and Publicity for the school.“Arguably, we’re number one; we’re working to become unarguably number one,” he said.Richards said it is the caliber of the students and faculty that make the school prestigious. The Jacobs School of Music has students from all 50 states and 55 different countries, he said.Vasiliki Tsouva, from Greece, is in her third year of the doctoral program for choral conducting. Tsouva began studying piano when she was three years old and completed undergraduate work in flute performance and music pedagogy.Before coming to IU, Tsouva studied in Greece, Hungary and Austria. She said she chose IU because of the large conducting department, the diverse opportunities and the music library. “I spend several hours (a week) in the library to listen and research different recordings and different versions (of songs),” she said.Tsouva has directed several ensembles as a student, including the opera choruses for La Boheme and Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Tsouva said these opportunities are vital to her degree.“For conducting you need other things than just one good professor,” she said.Richards said it is the combination of performance, pedagogy and academia that enables the Jacobs School of Music students to participate in such a variety of ensembles. He said these opportunities are not always possible at conservatories. While most schools have one or two orchestras, IU has six, he said. Richards also said the music school has one of the most active summer collegiate programs. This year 40 students are coming from South Korea and five from Haiti, he said.There are also a variety of ensembles and classes that non-music majors can participate in, he said.“The school is here for non-majors to personally interact with by taking a class, joining an ensemble or attending a performance,” he said. “A big part of our mission is for non-majors.”Junior Nathan Howell is a cello performance major. Although Howell lived in Bloomington for most of his life, he said he chose the Jacobs School of Music because it is one of the best music schools in the country.Howell started playing cello when he was three years old, and by the time he was 13, he knew he wanted to be a professional performer, he said. For 10 years, he participated in the school’s pre-college program, which includes both individual lessons and group classes.Howell said he practices about five hours each day, while juggling a double major in cello and meteorology. While he said he thinks IU is preparing him for a career as a performer, he also said finding a job is very difficult and involves a lot of luck.“I personally think everybody should have a back-up plan,” he said. “Anything can happen, like if your finger gets cut off or you get tendonitis.”Piano performance Master’s student Tina Chong said she realizes it is challenging to find a job as a performer, but the joy she finds in performing has motivated her to persevere. After completing her undergraduate work in Oberlin, Canada, Chong came to IU to study under Arnaldo Cohen, an IU professor of music who has won awards internationally playing piano.“(The Jacobs School of Music) is an inspiring place to be,” Chong said. “One can be extremely inspired by many different venues. The campus is beautiful, and I didn’t want to be in the big city yet – it seemed like a good in-between.”
(11/08/07 5:00am)
"This is America." The statement, uttered by the titular gangster Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), resonates throughout "American Gangster," and the movie proves its Americanness to a fault. A sprawling, sometimes plodding, often confusing epic, "Gangster" is American through and through, tracing the rise and fall of Frank Lucas in Harlem.\nDon't believe the hype. It's not the black "Scarface" or the black "Godfather." Comparing "American Gangster" to other gangster movies misses the mark, because few others wear their morality on their sleeve the way "Gangster" does. By refusing to choose between a bleak crime saga and a cat-and-mouse cops-and-robbers tale, director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steven Zaillian try to find a middle way.\nPlaying the adversary to Frank Lucas' "honest gangster" is Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), the "honest cop" who is trying to take down the mysterious super-pure heroin flowing through New York. As it turns out, Lucas is smuggling the drugs in the coffins of dead soldiers being sent home from the Vietnam War.\nBoth actors are at the top of their game, each playing a layered character without chewing up the scenery with showboating Best Actor bait. Washington plays Lucas without expression, taking the businessman mentality to its extreme, only occasionally flashing violence; even then, he barely blinks. Crowe, muddling his Jersey accent, seems to bumble about as Roberts, but that dazed expression hides the single-minded intensity of his pursuit.\nDespite these solid performances, the film's real star is Ridley Scott, whose directing turns down the action to a slow boil -- occasionally too slow -- but usually just enough to keep our interest without turning into some testosterone-drenched '80s cop show. Even though the movie stretches events out, the action set pieces work, too, including a riveting chase in a housing project. The whole contraption moves with the exactitude of a Swiss clock.\nPerhaps, then, it's this cool precision that makes the movie feel too disconnected from its viewer. The frigid menace of Frank Lucas seems like Superfly without the soul. His whole idea of family, though he constantly refers to it, also seems distant. None of his brothers or partners in crime distinguish themselves from each other.\nThe myriad of supporting characters, Lucas' interchangeable brothers included, serve as further distractions from the central plot. The honest cop even has a host of "Serpico" refugees as teammates. Sprawling out too far, the subplots that slow the movie's pace also zap its passion. If anything, this is less a story of American gangsters than of American corporations, headed by cold-eyed CEOs, hounded by relentless investigators.\nIn the end, Denzel and Russell still make it worth the price of admission, but "American Gangster" could have been much more.
(09/06/07 4:00am)
The year 1977 saw two polar musical forces vying for supremacy in the public consciousness. Punk rock and disco were both in the spotlight, and both were, to a certain degree, guilty, aesthetic pleasures for different social mind-sets. Television was one of the very first acts to elevate punk to the level of art, while disco remained purely confectionery, and Marquee Moon is its finest outing. \nIt's a seminal record from a band who quite literally built the main stage at the CBGB. Front man Tom Verlaine, looking strung out to some mathematical level on the album's cover, injects every track with a jagged vocal style that marries perfectly with he and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd's dual attack. Fred Smith (bass) and Billy Ficca (drums) anchor it all with a sometimes subtle, often heavy bottom. \nLyrically, you won't find any "hey, ho, let's go" moments on the disc. Whether it's falling into the arms of "Venus de Milo" or espousing such philosophical nuggets as "a word's just a feeling you undertook," Television would inspire the likes of The Clash's "London Calling" and many other bands' introspective post-punk ventures to match the intensity of their music with the sincerity of their lyrics. \nMarquee Moon plays best as a full album, but anyone looking to distill the Television experience into one track need look no further than this album's title cut. Ten minutes of build-up and release guitar and vocal acrobatics, it's one of the defining moments of the entire punk era in America. Verlaine and Lloyd trade blazing solos, as they do throughout the rest of the album, until it's difficult to tell one from the other. It's because of this unity that Television was able to rise above the fray of the loud, frantic punk scene of 1977 New York.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
1. Led Zeppelin -- Highlights: Jimmy Page taking a violin bow to the guitar for "Dazed and Confused" and John Bonham's epic, eight-plus-minute guitar solo on "Moby Dick" where he pounds every part of the kit, including the stand, and throws the sticks aside for a bare-handed explosion. \n2. The Who -- The Kids Are Alright -- It's got everything from an early "Smothers Brothers" performance where excessive dynamite in the drum kit caused Pete Townshend to go deaf in one ear to videos of a drunk Ringo Starr and Keith Moon to live arena anthems "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Reiley" perfectly remastered. \n 3. Weezer -- Video Capture Device: Treasures from the Vault 1991-2002 -- A nice set of videos we grew up with such as the Spike Jonze "Happy Days" inspired video for "Buddy Holly" and the brilliant one-take "Sweater Song." The videos are bolstered by extras. like the band goofing off in their hotel room lighting things on fire, an alternate video from "Island in the Sun" and live footage.\n4. Pink Floyd -- Dark Side of the Moon -- A fascinating deep study of the intricate layering of the classic album. The producers and musicians open up the vault and get back in the studio to strip down the songs into their unique parts.\n5. Wilco -- I am Trying to Break Your Heart -- From great live concert footage to the intimacy of the film, this documentary showcases the enduring spirit of rock 'n' roll as well as what's wrong with the music industry these days.
(06/07/07 4:00am)
Lately it seems like alt rock innovators Cake have spent more time advancing their political beliefs than putting out new music. \nIt comes as no surprise, then, that B-Sides & Rarities, a collection of previously unreleased tracks, starts off with a cover of Black Sabbath's anti-war anthem "War Pigs." Here, frontman John McCrea, in the vein of Ozzy Osbourne, abandons the playful, subtle political commentary of past albums in favor of a rant that sounds more like Linkin Park than Cake. But after the scare of this first track, the rest of the album goes fairly smoothly and reminds Cake fans what they've been missing in the three years.\nMost of the tracks on B-Sides are covers, letting the band that first gained acclaim after its take on Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" flaunt its genre-bending abilities. The honky-tonk "Excuse Me, I Think I've Got A Heartache," originally performed by country veteran Buck Owens, shows why the boys from Sac-town are one of the only non-country acts Owen has invited to perform at his Crystal Palace.\nThe only four tracks that aren't covers are two lukewarm live recordings of old material, a pulsating bleeps-and-synthesizer instrumental and a live version of "War Pigs." Fortunately, the spots where the band gets to show off its trademark sound make up the difference, providing the elements Cake fans have come to expect: quirky country, bouncy funk and playful vocals.
(04/19/07 4:00am)
THE RIDER
(04/19/07 4:00am)
Following a task-force review, the IU Student Association has decided to cut Rape Crisis Fund donations given to the Middle Way House by 75 percent. The task force formed in October 2006 in response to a decline in donations to the Rape Crisis Fund.\nSince the Rape Crisis Fund’s inception in the 1980s, all donations to the fund have been donated to Middle Way House, a crisis center in Bloomington committed to supporting women and children who are in domestic or sexually violent situations, said Holly Spitz, president of Friends of Middle Way House, an IU student group.\nPart of the donations to the Middle Way House paid for most of Colleen Yeakle’s salary.\nAs a crisis intervention services coordinator for Middle Way House, Yeakle spends time on-call for rape victims.. Most of the time she meets victims at the hospital, where she offers support to them. Yeakle said she does everything from answering victims’ questions to accompanying a victim to the police station, to explaining the incidents to parents or boyfriends. The majority of clients that she helps through the after-assault process are students, and about 40 percent of all Middle Way House clients are students, Yeakle said.\n“I’m on-call 40 hours a week to meet the person that made the brave decision to report a sexual assault,” Yeakle said.\nBut the funding for most of Yeakle’s salary and printed \nmaterials used for sexual assault prevention and awareness has been cut. \nBeginning with funds raised during the 2006-07 school year, 75 percent of the Rape Crisis Fund will instead go to the IU Office of Women’s Affairs to finance three campus programs, leaving 25 percent for Middle Way House. Students have the option to donate $3 to the Rape Crisis Fund when they complete their registrations on OneStart. In 2005, the fund received $12,000, which is less than half of the $27,500 received in 2002, according to an October 2006 Indiana Daily Student article.\nRaising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters, StopCampusRape.com and the Sexual Assault Awareness Program are the programs the IU Office of Women’s Affairs will support with its share of the money, said Lindsay Kerrigan, chairwoman of the task force and former director of women’s affairs for the IU Student Association. Kerrigan said a benefit these programs share is that they can prevent sexual assault, but Yeakle said the money being taken away from Middle Way House was used for prevention materials.\nThe StopCampusRape.com Web site offers educational modules and opportunities to dialogue with professionals, Kerrigan said.\nRAISE is a student organization that focuses on peer education and about date and acquaintance rape, she said. It conducts training and forums on gender communication in greek houses, dorms and classrooms.\nKerrigan said the IUSA task force thought the Sexual Assault Awareness program that is presented during student orientation warranted support because, for many students, it is the only sexual assault program they see while at IU.\nThe IUSA task force was made up of students, IUSA representatives, faculty and staff members, Kerrigan said. Other student groups or individuals were not consulted on the decision, but instead the students in the task force represented student opinion, she said.\nWhile the loss in donations is disappointing, the process IUSA used to make the decision is even worse, said Spitz, president of Friends of Middle Way House.\n“The people who were most passionate about the issue did not get a voice in the decision,” Spitz said. “More students will be reached by the new funding; however, Middle Way House reaches the students on a deeper level with their vital and irreplaceable reactive service.”\nKerrigan said public universities seeking funding for individual programs are much more limited than not-for-profit organizations in terms of fundraising.\n“We feel saddened and disappointed for sure,” Yeakle said. “It’s a little disenfranchising to have the fund taken away. There’s a sense that the services aren’t valued and the experiences of (sexual assault) survivors aren’t valued.”\nYeakle said Middle Way House will not ease up on its commitment to every survivor of sexual or domestic abuse. If need be, it will go outside of the community it serves to ask for more funding.
(04/10/07 4:00am)
The Hoosier executive party-elect of the IU Student Association will take office on Friday.\nThere is an immediate need for students to fill directorships of various areas, IUSA President-elect W.T. Wright said.\nApplications can be picked up in the IUSA office, room 387 of the Indiana Memorial Union, and are due Monday, April 16.\nWright said the administration will need nine directors. Examples of positions to be filled are director of health and safety, director of public relations and director of technology. Hours will vary depending on the specific directorship. Some directorships will require as few as one to three hours per week.\nThe current and future administrations have been meeting over the past week in order to make the transition as smooth as possible, Wright said.\n“We’ve been learning about the status of (the current administration’s) different initiatives and what we need to do to keep them,” Wright said.\nCurrent IUSA President Betsy Henke said she’ll enjoy having the extra 20-plus hours that her job took every week. While she’ll miss being IUSA president, she feels she is leaving her role in capable hands.\n“(The new administration) has leaders who care and understand about IU,” she said in an e-mail. “They are realistic in their ideas and plans for next year and are able to see the future impact of their actions and plans, which is crucial for gaining respect and attention of those around you.”\nSome of the current administration’s initiatives include promoting legislation that would eliminate taxes from textbooks and working with the athletics department to try to establish better student seating.\nWright said it has not been determined which projects the new administration will maintain.\nAs for other preparation, the new administration has been working on its own initiatives. Wright said the party is planning to meet with the transportation committee to request that the Midnight Special bus run more frequently and add more stops. Wright said he has already been to a transportation meeting and received some optimistic feedback.\nOne of the Hoosier party’s initiatives is getting a fall and Labor Day break for 2008. Wright said he attended a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting, where these issues were discussed.\nJunior Caitlin Wilson said she likes the textbook idea and anything that would decrease the cost of attending college.\n“If they could lower the cost of parking, that would be good,” she said.\nPermits cost a lot and you can’t even find parking places, said Wilson, who normally walks or takes the bus to campus. She said she would also appreciate continued IUSA efforts for more student seats on the floor of Assembly Hall. She suggested IUSA send mass e-mails to get its message out.\n“If I don’t read the (newspaper), I don’t see what they’re promoting,” she said.\nSenior Garrett Hondorp said he would like cheaper basketball season tickets with better seats, but he thinks the association is doing a pretty good job.\n“They should just keep doing what they’re doing,” he said. “As long as they make themselves available to people who seek them out, it’s fine.”\nAlthough making oneself available has its costs, Henke said the experience was worthwhile.\nHenke said her term has given her many opportunities to learn from the IU administration, faculty and students and that her IUSA presidency has prepared her for the future.\n“I came in loving IU, and I leave with an even greater passion and love for this University,” she said. “Serving in this role demands a lot of time and dedication, which I will always use, but it also has built my ability to work in teams.”\nNot only has her job given her more confidence, but also taught her how to balance priorities, she said.\n“I understand how to put the effort into accomplishing objectives and still make sure I make it out for sink the biz night at Nick’s,” she said. “Working and social life have to have some type of balance and importance and this job has certainly taught me how to deal with both.”
(03/30/07 4:00am)
Growing up, the Ober boys knew where to go when it was time for sporting fun. Whether it was going to Cincinnati Reds and Bengals games, coaching his oldest son’s Special Olympics teams or just throwing a ball around in the backyard, their dad, Dan, was the man for the job, Patrick Ober says.\nOber is just a freshman at IU, but when he was 18, his father passed away after being diagnosed with melanoma. Now another type of sporting event is bringing his family together. Ober is taking a step to heal and help others by leading a team for the IU Relay for Life, a walk to raise money for cancer research, on March 31 and April 1.\nOber said he is ready to help others, as his friends and family have helped him. He said he decided to be a team captain because the money goes to cancer research. His roommate and co-captain, Johnny Pasho, brought a flier home and suggested the idea, Ober said as he fiddled with a purple rubber band on his wrist that reads “Fight Cancer, Support Ober.”\n“It’s helping me in the sense that I never really had something I could do when (my dad) had cancer,” Ober said. “It’s a way for me to not feel so helpless because I can control something about it.”\nBecause Ober had lost his father shortly before coming to IU, Pasho believed this would be worthwhile to his roommate. “I knew before I asked Patrick that he would want to do it,” Pasho said.\nPasho said he got the idea to be a team captain after being involved in Relay for Life in previous years. “My grandmother died of cancer in January of 2005, and my stepfather fought cancer the following year and survived it.”\nHe said it was this closeness to both loved ones who passed away from and survived cancer that gave him motivation to join the fight against the disease. “The (relay) experience has been pretty impressive,” Ober said.\nTeam Obie has 11 members, according to the team Web site. Ober raised $2,660 of the team’s $4,587, and he said most of that was raised through mass e-mails to his friends and family.\nTeam Obie is in honor of Dan Ober, Donna Wilson – Pasho’s grandmother and Ken Morris – another team member’s father.\nDan Ober passed away in August 2006, almost a year after being diagnosed with melanoma.\n“He had heart surgery and a staph infection, so August 18 he went back to the hospital,” Ober said. “He’d been having a really bad headache; he’d had a brain tumor and tumors in his kidney, adrenal gland and liver.”\nBut Ober said the deterioration of his father’s body didn’t keep him from enjoying his loving company. Ober spent last summer living with his dad.\n“He was probably the easiest person anyone could talk to,” Ober said, as he wiped a tear on his wrinkle-free jeans. “He was a very laid back and relaxed kind of guy.”\nOber said his parents had been divorced since 1990, and even though they both remarried he said his mother and father stayed best friends. He said his parents mostly talked about him and his two brothers, Steven and Jacob. Steven is the eldest brother, and although he has a mild mental handicap, he still loves sports, Ober said. Ober’s father and stepfather would coach Steven’s special Olympic teams together.\nHe said the best memory he has of his father is the time he spent with him and his brothers.\n“Especially when we were younger,” he said. “I don’t ever remember a time when we’d want to play catch or something outside and he’d say no. He always made time for me and my brothers.”\nBesides the support of his family and friends, he said his father’s best friend, Den Walker, helped him through these past seven months.\n“Just because, aside from my brothers, he probably understood the most, because he’s like my dad’s brother,” he said. “They are similar in personality; Walker’s another one of those kind you can always talk to.”\nMost Relay for Life team captains have been affected by cancer either personally or through a family member or friend, said Mike Grady, the IU Relay for Life team development chairman, himself a cancer survivor.\n“A team captain is a person that really cares about the event and steps up to lead the team to success,” he said.\nTeams captains serve as organizers for their teams and take on the responsibility of getting information from the relay committees distributed to their team members.\n“The purpose for Relay for Life is not just fundraising, but to celebrate the people who have fought cancer in their lives,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for people to know there are people out there fighting the same sort of fight and you’re really not alone.”
(03/07/07 5:00am)
Sometimes in music, bands are so enamored with a band or style of music that it's all that comes through. Philly indie rockers Dr. Dog are enamored with the '60s psychedelic pop of Sgt. Pepper's Beatles and late'60s Beach Boys. Self-proclaimed as the Beatles cover band that doesn't do Beatles songs, Dr. Dog employs everything Beatles: the strings, the airy three-part harmonies, the twangy guitar and the lively piano. They even attempt to record in the lo-fi manner to create that signature '60s sound. It's the type of album that would sound better on vinyl. All in all, Dr. Dog does not bring anything new to the table on their fourth LP, We All Belong, but they are able to create likeable indie pop tunes reminiscent of the incredible '60s psych pop scene.\nWe All Belong begins with two tracks that really reflect this retro style, with the rousing "Old News" and amiable "My Old Ways." Most of the album reflects the sound of these two songs, however, when Dr. Dog begin to stray from this formula, the band sounds its best. "The Girl" takes a more experimental route and even becomes a little reckless. "Alaska" sounds less carefree than the rest of the record and almost desperate. These songs that administer more raw emotion are the best of the record. While they still deploy '60s pop elements, they sound less like rip-offs and more like pieces of influence. It seems the most Beatles-esque songs, like the title track, "We All Belong," are also some of the best on the record since they have mastered the Beatles' formula. The middle of the spectrum songs like "Worst Trip" and "Keep a Friend" are rather boring and drag the album down.\nSo while many hardcore Beatles fans would probably consider We All Belong blasphemy, others may just find it nice to hear that memorable musical style once more. Though the band sounds irreverent at times, the music is extremely playful and good-natured. Dr. Dog has toured around opening for several big acts like The Strokes and The Raconteurs and will probably stay an opening act for their career. We All Belong is pleasant pop album, but is nothing special.
(03/07/07 5:00am)
Students interested in serving as associate justices can apply for the IU Student Association Student Body Supreme Court by 5 p.m. Friday. There are three associate justice positions available, said Meghan Dwyer, Student Body Supreme Court Chief Justice. Applications can be found on the court’s Web site, www.indiana.edu/~court/, and should be turned in to the IUSA office, room 387 in the Indiana Memorial Union.\nThe positions are open to undergraduate and graduate students. All majors are accepted, but Dwyer, a law student, said it’s particularly good for students who want to go to law school or are interested in criminal justice.\n“We’re the appeals process, so when students violate a conduct, whether academic or social in nature, they are heard by a judicial board,” Dwyer said. \nStudents who are unhappy with the outcome of their informal judicial board hearing can appeal the decision and receive a formal hearing. These formal hearings are heard by a hearing commission, which comprises one associate justice and two faculty members, according to the student ethics Web site.\nThese cases range from burning candles in residence halls to sexual harassment and rape to academic misconduct, Dwyer said.\n“The campus review board is the last chance for (a student’s) appeal,” she said.\nDwyer said she serves on this hearing commission with a faculty member and administrator, and while they hear very few cases, the ones they do hear are very important because they deal with issues like expulsion.\nDwyer said once a student is on the “court” as an associate justice, there are many other opportunities available, including serving on various advisory boards.\n“Once you’re on the court, it’s kind of a symbol to the administrators that you’re a leader,” she said. “You can make the experience what you want to, and you’re surrounded by such motivated people.”\nInternal Affairs Committee Chair Chris Amick said the work is worthwhile because it is an important process and really affects students’ lives. However, being a justice can be a tough job, because you’re handing out sentences to your peers, he said.\n“It’s kind of a hard process because you can end up expelling a student,” he said. “You have to weigh the incident and the student with the needs of the University and community.”
(03/01/07 5:00am)
A mere 1,042 students voted in this year’s IU Student Association elections, compared to the 7,716 students that voted last year. While Election Commissioner Brad Allen and other officials said the low voter turnout was caused by the lack of competition, students said they didn’t vote because they didn’t even know the election was happening.\n“I had no idea about it,” said junior Courtney Allen. She suggested IUSA use fliers to advertise.\n“Anything on Facebook would do it,” she said, adding that a mass e-mail, even if the message was only sent through student organizations, would be helpful.\n“(The election) was nowhere near what I was expecting,” Brad Allen said. “I’m sort of ashamed that we didn’t get more candidates for IUSA; the student apathy is pretty frightening. Hopefully, this will shock the campus.”\nHe said there are 62 congressional seats and some weren’t even filled, and that the funding-aid board had four available seats and received only two applicants. The College of Arts and Sciences and the Hutton Honors College were the only contested seats.\nAllen attributes the low vote count to the lack of candidates and competition, but none of the students interviewed offered this as an excuse – they weren’t even aware the election was taking place.\nSenior Holly Borneman said she feels like she doesn’t get as much information now that she lives out of her sorority house, but said fliers and more ads in the newspaper would be helpful.\nThird-year optometry students Andy Yaryan and Zachary Jones also were uninformed about the election.\n“We’re in the optometry school, so we’re mostly on the south side of campus,” Yaryan said. \nJones suggested that candidates e-mail their platforms during the next election.\n“I just really didn’t feel like we heard about it a lot this year,” he said. \nAllen said the IUSA Supreme Court will ratify all elected positions to finalize the election process before the candidates take office in April.\nHoosier Party President-elect W.T. Wright said in a previous interview that his party’s goals include raising awareness about IUSA.
(02/27/07 5:00am)
IU Student Association elections begin at 9 a.m. today and conclude 9 p.m. Wednesday. \nWhile there is only one executive party running for office, the current administration and candidates said they think students’ votes are important for the well-being of the University.\nStudents can vote in less than 60 seconds, said Andrew Lauck, the current IUSA vice president. After 9 a.m. students can go to www.indiana.edu/~iusa and click on the button or link for voting. They then can log in with their IU usernames and passwords and the screen will go to the one-page ballot.\nIUSA represents the interests of students before the administration, but a student government is only as strong as the students behind it, said Alexandra Chtchedrina, funding aid board candidate. A low voter turnout will give an inaccurate impression of apathy, she said.\n“Current administration has already shown strong signs of absolutism,” she said. “It has allowed notoriously little input from the student body in the selection process of (the) future IU president. Low voter turnout will only increase their absolutist tendencies.”\nShe said she is not suggesting the administration has conspired against students, but “student rights should not be left to the good will of administrators.”\n“If elected, I’m going to be responsible for the allocation of $300,000, and an annual fund made up of mandatory student activity fees,” she said. “By voting, you show me that you care how your money will be spent.”\nLauck agreed.\n“Voting at least emphasizes that (students) care about the mission of IUSA,” he said.\nCongressional seats are still up in the air. The positions without previous applicants will be decided by write-in votes during the election, and because of that, the election is very important, he said.\n“Right now we’re trying to get all of our (candidates) in congress,” said W.T. Wright, Hoosier president-elect. “With the support of all the people on congress, it will make it more efficient in making the changes we want.”\n Congressional candidates represent more specific groups of students, said Joe DeJean, the party’s vice president-elect.\n“The congressional candidates represent the different academic and residential areas around campus, and we want to hear those voices,” he said.\nAnthony Smith, a funding aid board candidate, pointed out that some positions are still up for grabs.\n“I believe it is still important for students to vote regardless of how many parties are running, because it shows that students are conscious and well-engaged in the electoral process,” Smith said.
(02/23/07 5:00am)
No student unaffiliated with the election showed up to the IU Student Association’s open forum Thursday night. The forum was originally scheduled as a debate before the High 5 ticket withdrew from the election, leaving only one party of executive candidates.\nIUSA Aid Funding Board Candidate Alexandra Chtchedrina, Dean of Students Dick McKaig and Graduate and Professional Student Organization Moderator Paul Rohwer were the only attendees besides members of the Hoosier ticket and the IUSA election commission.\nMcKaig said it makes sense that people didn’t come because they have busy schedules and the ticket is unopposed. But, it puts a bigger burden on the candidates; they’ll have to go out and find students, since the students aren’t coming to them, he said.\n“It’s tough because a lot of people don’t vote,” said Joe DeJean, Hoosier vice-president elect. “(Students) might not care about IUSA, but they still have concerns and care about the University.”\n“We want to hear what the students want and need,” said Alex Gutmann, Hoosier treasurer elect.\nThe Hoosier ticket gave a short presentation of their platform to the small audience. Their goals include establishing an athletic loyalty system, – where students earn better seating in accordance to how many athletic events they attend – increasing Midnight Special bus routes and extending the drop period before students receive a ‘W’ on their transcripts.\nThe Hoosier party is awaiting certification to take office from the IUSA Supreme Court, and IUSA Election Commissioner Brad Allen said the IUSA Supreme Court will announce their decision next week along with the congressional election results. The elections for congressional seats will be held from 9 a.m. Feb. 27 to 9 p.m. Feb. 28. \nHoosier President Elect W.T. Wright said the party will continue to seek out the student voice, and students can e-mail votehoosier@gmail.com if they have any questions or ideas.
(02/21/07 5:00am)
The IU Student Association executive elections have been canceled, but the Hoosier party is using the extra time to promote its congressional candidates in the Feb. 27 election and make progress on its platform, said W.T. Wright, IUSA presidential candidate-elect. \nIUSA will also host an open forum at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Dogwood Room of the Indiana Memorial Union for students to discuss the next year with the Hoosier party. The forum was originally scheduled to be a debate, until the other ticket, High 5, dropped out of the race.\nWhile the Hoosier ticket waits to be certified by the IUSA Supreme Court, Wright said they are investigating what steps should be taken to accomplish their platform goals once they take office in April.\nDuring its administration, the party plans to work on the \ntransportation policy, athletic loyalty system and academic withdrawal period, said Wright and vice president candidate-elect Joe Dejean.\n“We’ve spent hours figuring out what ideas were accomplishable and would have the most positive effects for students,” Wright said.\nThe party said they plan to ask the transportation department to add more Midnight Special bus stops, especially near the stadium and fraternities and sororities.\nWright said the current IUSA administration has a good relationship with transportation services and the party hopes for a smooth transition between administrations.\n“We’re not going to bust on the scene and try to step on anyone’s toes,” Dejean said.\nThe party’s athletic loyalty system would improve student seating for IU “super fans,” Wright said. \nThe plan would be point-based, rewarding different points for different athletic events. Less popular athletic events might award more points. The more points a student earns, the better season tickets the student would get, Wright said. \n“There’s many different ways to run it,” he said. “The ground work’s been laid, and it’s something that’s probably going to be accomplished in our administration.”\nWright said he’d like the program to be set up for next basketball season.\nOhio State has implemented a similar program already, Dejean said.\nThe party also said they will try to extend the “academic ‘W’ period” and make the process of dropping a class easier for students by spring semester 2008.\nWright said the party will work on all three goals at once, but will most likely accomplish the athletic loyalty system first because foundations for the program have already been set by the current administration.\n“All (of the goals) are possibilities,” Dejean said. “We’re very open to other ideas. These were put together by a large group of students involved in the campus, but we’re a campus of 40,000 people.”\nWright and Dejean said the open forum is a “candid” time to hear these ideas, so they can better represent the student population.\n“We also want (students) to learn about us, so they can trust us with their opinions,” Dejean said.
(02/19/07 5:00am)
The IU Student Association election commission on Sunday canceled the executive elections and named the Hoosier ticket the “executive group elect,” said Brad Allen, the IUSA election commissioner.\nThe Hoosier party is waiting to be certified as the 2007 IUSA election ticket winner by the IUSA Supreme Court. If certified, Hoosier would take office in April, he said.\nAfter High 5, the other executive-candidate party, dropped out of the IUSA election race last week, the election commission met with advisers to determine what would be done after the loss of competition.\nAllen said neither he nor his advisers had heard of this one-party election situation before.\n“I know it hasn’t happened in recent history,” he said.\nThere will be no opportunity for write-in executive candidates during the elections, but IUSA will still hold congressional elections Tuesday, Feb. 27, as planned, he said.\nStudents are allowed to turn in applications to run for congressional seats that currently have no candidates, according to the election commission’s documented decision. Applications can be found on the IUSA Web site – www.indiana.edu/~iusa – and must be submitted to the IUSA office in Indiana Memorial Union 387 by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23.\nThe available seats include Ashton, Continuing Studies, Family Student Housing, Labor Studies, Optometry, School of Library and Information Science and University Division, according to the commission.\nThe commission wanted all congressional districts to have an equal opportunity to vote for a leader in their region, Allen said. Though write-ins will be accepted during the congressional election, it is advantageous to the candidates if their names are already on the ballot, he said.\nHoosier presidential candidate W.T. Wright, a sophomore, said that the party is looking forward to progressing its platform and that it still plans to campaign on campus to promote Hoosier congressional candidates.\n“We’re disappointed that there wasn’t competition. However, now that a decision has been made, we’re excited to move forward,” Wright said. “I don’t think (the lack of competition) is bad for students. I’m confident we’re all qualified to represent the students and I’m looking forward to this opportunity.”\nNow that there is only one party, the debate planned for 6 p.m. Feb. 22 in the Dogwood Room of the IMU will be conducted as an open forum with an opportunity for the audience to ask Hoosier ticket members questions, Allen said.
(02/12/07 5:02am)
Only one party remains in the running for the IU Student Association elections.\nThe High 5 party officially withdrew from the race Thursday after the all-candidates meeting, said IUSA Election Commissioner Brad Allen. \nNow, only the Hoosier party remains in the running.\nShane Whittington, who was High 5's presidential candidate, said two of the ticket's candidates decided to drop out "due to timing issues and future preoccupations for next year."\nWhittington said this was why the party did not attend the mandatory all-candidates meeting Thursday.\n"We were all very enthusiastic and ready for positive change on campus through IUSA, but things did not pan out the way we would have wanted," Whittington said in an e-mail.\nHe said the former party members plan to be active on campus.\nAllen said the election commission does not know how this will change the election process, but the commission will meet with its advisers to decide what will be done next.\nHoosier party presidential candidate W.T. Wright said that even without competition, his party still plans to campaign and raise student awareness about IUSA.\n"It's obviously up to the election commission how the elections will proceed," he said. "We still plan to campaign and promote the platform we support."\nOnline voting for IUSA is scheduled to begin Feb. 27.
(02/09/07 5:33am)
The IU Student Association announced its election candidates Thursday, and the two running parties are the Hoosier party and the High 5 party.\nThe IUSA elections committee held a mandatory all-candidates meeting Thursday night to discuss election procedures and rules, but the High 5 party failed to show up or contact the IUSA elections commissioner.\nIUSA Elections Commissioner Brad Allen said the elections commission will have to discuss the repercussions of the party's absence, but Allen said he doesn't think it will result in disqualification from the race.\nThe Hoosier party was represented by presidential candidate W.T. Wright, vice-presidential candidate Joe DeJean, treasurer candidate Alex Gutmann, vice president of congress candidate Chris Littel and various students running for congress. Alexandra Chtchedrina, who is running for the IUSA Aid Funding Board, also attended. Funding board candidates run independently of the two parties.\nThe Hoosier party is running under the same ticket as the incumbent and plans to follow through with some of the projects the current IUSA administration is working on, DeJean said.\nBut the party's executive candidates said they have some new plans of their own, too.\nDeJean, who is the current IUSA director of legislation relations, said the Hoosier party wants to change the "W policy" for dropping classes at the beginning of the semester. If elected, the administration wants to ease the policy by extending the drop deadline to three or four weeks into the semester before a student receives a "W" on their transcripts. They said they would also like to see the procedure available online, so students won't have to travel to multiple buildings on campus collecting signatures.\nWright, who is currently the assistant to the IUSA administration, said the Hoosier party also wants to improve the bus system by lobbying for more routes that run more frequently, especially in the evening.\nDeJean and Wright said the administration wants to implement an athletics loyalty system, so that students are rewarded with better seats when they attend more athletics events. The administration wants to see a student section established, but because Wright has seen the past four or five administrations make unfulfilled promises about student seating, he does not want to make a promise that can't be kept.\nChtchedrina said she thinks some changes need to be made on the funding board, and she has specific plans to execute them if elected.\n"(The IUSA Funding Board) basically decides what happens with the student-activities fees," she said.\nStudent organizations can ask the four-member board for funding for their organizations, events or projects, she said.\n"In the past year there have been some inconsistencies," she said. "My idea is to hold us to as high an ethical standard as possible."\nChtchedrina, a current IUSA intern, said the board has made "fiscally irresponsible" mistakes, such as not keeping minutes for meetings when the group is dealing with a budget of about $300,000.\nShe said the board needs a more specific procedure for approving funding. Right now, she said, things seem to be decided "on a whim," and there aren't records to review why certain groups are awarded 100 percent of their request while others only receive very low percents.\nIUSA Aid Funding Board Candidate Anthony Smith said he thinks his experience will be sufficient for whatever comes up on the funding board. He said he's on the committee for fee review, which decides the levels of various student activity fees.\nThe IUSA will host the executive candidate debates at 6 p.m. Feb. 22 in the Dogwood Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nStudents who want to get involved in campaigning should contact the party candidates. The current administration had more than 100 campaign volunteers and some of them were awarded positions as members of IUSA congress, directors of committees or unpaid interns for IUSA for their hard work, said Clark Kaericher, current vice president for congress. Student volunteers for the Hoosier party can e-mail votehoosier@gmail.com to get involved in campaigning. \nThe High 5 party was not available for comment. Presidential candidate Shane Whittington, treasurer candidate Ryan Moore and vice-presidential candidate Matt Jarson are running for the High 5 party. There is currently no vice-presidential candidate for the party.
(01/26/07 5:14am)
Students across the country can now legally download music and movies free through Ruckus, the downloading and social networking service that the IU Student Association brought to IU in October.\nIUSA's "Hoosier" party, which won the elections last year, made bringing Ruckus to IU one of the key issues in its campaign.\nIn the past, a college first had to have a contract with the company. Now Ruckus Network Inc. has announced plans to open the service to students nationwide, whether their universities have signed Ruckus contracts or not, according to a Ruckus news release.\nStudents across the country will have access to the world's first advertising-supported downloading service only for colleges. But students who attend universities with a contractual agreement will receive "an enhanced user experience," which includes faster downloads, access to movie downloads, and lower costs when it comes to additional video content, according to the release.\nPotential users now only need a valid ".edu" e-mail account to sign up, the release said.\n"Students who already had the program deemed it to be a unique and value-added service to students," IUSA President Betsy Henke said in an e-mail interview. "We included it in our campaign as a way to contribute to a campus and student life that is well-known for technology advancements and the services provided to students."\nWhile some IU students said they didn't feel like they knew enough about the program to operate it, freshman John Miller, a Mac user, said he's well-acquainted with the network.\n"I'm kind of turned off to the fact that it doesn't work with Macs," he said. "It's more of a hassle than it's worth."\nWhile many Macs are not compatible, IUSA in the past stated it is possible for Apple computers equipped with Intel chips to work with Ruckus if additional software is purchased. \nStill, Miller said he thinks Ruckus has the capabilities to make the network more compatible with Macs but wonders if Microsoft licenses are getting in the way.\n"I would support switching to another service," he added.\nHe said he doesn't understand why IUSA didn't choose one of the college downloading services that are compatible with both Mac and PC operating systems. It doesn't make sense for a downloading service to not work with iPods when they're one of the most prevalent MP3 players. He added he would prefer the iTunes U service that IU is adopting this semester.\nHenke said she thinks Ruckus has some advantages over iTunes.\n"We have heard many positive (reactions) about the quick access to nearly every type of music or artist people are looking for, the ability to auto-download others' playlists -- unlike iTunes, where you can only stream another person's and have to be on the same network," she said.\nHenke said while IUSA was trying to provide a legal way to download music, some students have started removing the security on the media files so the music can be transferred to iPods.\nShe said IUSA would like comments on the service and will continue to evaluate the program and address feedback they receive.
(01/26/07 1:06am)
A House bill that could eliminate taxes on college textbooks passed through the state's Committee on Education with a unanimous vote of 12-0, said IU Student Association Vice President Andrew Lauck. \nThe IUSA-supported bill also saw a change that added graduate textbooks to the tax exemption. The bill now moves on to the Ways and Means Committee, which will decide if the bill receives funding.\nState Rep. Joe Micon, D-West Lafayette, wrote House Bill 1311, which would eliminate Indiana's sales tax on any textbook that is required for an undergraduate course at an accredited college or university in the state.\nStudents from IU, Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University gave testimony at the hearing along with the president of the Indiana Retail Council, Grant Monahan.\nLauck said he talked to the committee about the rise in textbook costs and how the growing number of editions make it harder for students to buy used books. He testified that 15 other states have already implemented similar bills, that five others are looking into adopting such a bill, and that students would benefit from the exemption. IUSA Chief of External Affairs Emma Cullen and former Chief of External Affairs Garret Scharton, who are both seniors, also attended the hearing. \nLauck said the costs of going to college are increasing at a faster rate than inflation, and the average student spends more than $1,000 per year on textbooks, so the savings would be about $60 annually.\nPurdue student Jimmy Cox echoed the same sentiment, while Ivy Tech student Amanda Little gave a more personal testimony about the types of students attending Ivy Tech, Lauck said. Little reminded the committee that some Ivy Tech students are single mothers who put themselves through school or traditional students right out of high school whose parents can't afford the tuition at other schools. Lauck said Little told the committee while $30 might not be a lot to some people, it makes a big difference for her classmates.\n"I think it's important for (legislators and committees) to see us at every hearing," Lauck said. "It shows that it's important to us."\nLauck said IUSA is sending letters to every state representative this week to thank them for hearing and supporting the bill. Indiana students, parents or citizens can help the cause by calling or writing a letter to their state representatives to tell them the bill is important them, he said.\nThe House bill is identical to Senate Bill 16 penned by Republican Sen. Brent Steele of Bedford. Lauck said two bills are circulating in an attempt to bypass any difficulty caused by the House and the Senate being controlled by different parties. Also, about six legislators have taken interest in the bill, and each of them has an opportunity to write his or her own version of the bill, he said.\nThe campaign hopes the Senate will want to give more attention to the bill as it becomes more popular and gets to the House, he said.