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(03/04/02 6:36am)
On the last night of Black History Month, the black and white hands of the 2002 Black Knowledge Bowl contestants grasped buzzers as they waited alertly for the next question. Inside the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, all eyes shone wide as participants seized upon questions from the lectern of moderator James Mumford, Ph. D. \n"The night wasn't just about black history," co-program director Kenn Washington said. "It was a night of celebrating black accomplishments in American history. We want people to absorb this information and wonder why a lot of it isn\'t in their history books."\nAlthough the event was not held for the last two years, this year's bowl marked the twentieth anniversary of the Jeopardy-structured game in which six teams of students from five organizations flaunt their knowledge for the $300 grand prize.\nDespite bad weather the night before, Dana Chapman, a graduate assistant with the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, said she was amazed to see the 200-seat hall nearing capacity by the start of the event. \nFrom the beginning, the women of Black Student Union-Southside were well equipped.\n"We met once a week since November, and the girls studied for about six hours out of their week," said Doris Clark, the only IU graduate student coaching a Black Knowledge Bowl team. \nCompetition from the onset proved heated as BSU-Southside measured the competition. Ashley Boyle, a freshman, leaned over after the first match and whispered that the Minority Achievers Program would be tough to beat.\nWhen BSU-Southside took stage against the students of the Afro-American Studies Department, junior Kandice Franklin and teammates fired off answers, often before the questions were finished. BSU-Southside won their first contest 175-30.\n"I was nervous," Franklin said. "Yeah, this game is serious."\nTeammate Courtney Essett, a sophomore, disagreed. \n"No it's not, it's more fun," she said. \nAs the women of BSU-Southside went undefeated into the championship game against MAP, hardly a question was answered incorrectly on either side. Franklin's knowledge showed to its pinnacle. After three consecutive correct answers, she interrupted a fraction of Mumford's question with "Natalie Cole." \nA shocked audience member said, "Man, she's cheating." Mumford smiled and nodded in jest. \nThe diligent studies of BSU-Southside paid off. The clock sounded and the audience unleashed a collective "aww," acknowledging MAP's exciting comeback. Still, BSU won the final game 225-170. \nAfter BSU-Southside cradled their trophy with its golden inscription, "Black Knowledge Bowl Champions 2002," they took their championship photo and exchanged hugs.\nFranklin's exhausted smile stuck as she vowed she would participate again next year. Tate said the winnings would be donated to BSU-Southside to promote further understanding of black culture. \n"The most important thing to realize about tonight is that everyone needs to learn more black history," Tate said. \nDr. Mumford said these teams seemed the most prepared of any in his 14 years of moderating the event. He was not surprised by the amount of knowledge conveyed at the event. \n"The facts and the history of African Americans are obscure to many people," Mumford said. "But they are not obscure to people of our culture."\nMumford remembered when, 26 years ago, the Black Culture Center was a small fraternity house located on the same grounds as the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. He said even then people of all races were welcomed to learn more. \nDan Bulwinkle, a sophomore and one of two white participants, said he felt very comfortable competing in the event. \n"I would encourage anyone of any race to come out," Bulwinkle said. "I think it's important for everyone to understand black history. You might view life at IU in a different perspective." \nDr. Gloria J. Gibson, associate vice chancellor of Multicultural Affairs, gave the night's appropriate closing remarks. \n"This has been a fantastic Black History Month, and a fantastic end to it," Gibson said. "We welcome everyone to celebrate Black History Month everyday"
(02/20/02 5:43am)
The celebration of Black History Month is owed to Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who in 1926 founded "Negro History Week." An African American born of parents who were former slaves, he labored his childhood years in the Kentucky coal mines. \nThe development of civil rights in the 20th century helped black history seep into the mainstream of American history. However, black author Mairuth Sarsfield recently said about Black History Month in the Toronto Star, "Someday we won't need it, because everyone will have the information." \nFive Monroe County educators, who teach on all academic levels, are skeptical of Sarsfield's claim. Whether to redress historical wrongs, prevent recidivistic ignorance, integrate black history fully into American history, clear up the misconceptions of whites or provide a different history to those without uniform access to it, these five educators agree on one thing: Black History Month is far from obsolete. \nDave Smith, a sixth grade teacher at Fairview Elementary, grew up in Bloomington without the same exposure to black history that the kids in his class enjoy.\n"There's a lot more recognition of Black History Month today than I had back in school, which was a long, long time ago," Smith said through the syncopation of his laugh. "To be honest with you, we didn't even really acknowledge it back then."\nSmith, whose class is half minority students, said he doesn't "want the kids to grow up seeing each other as black and white." He said the complete integration of black history into American history would be impossible for his generation. But the future holds the possibility.\n"I don't think it will ever get to the point where we don't need to push it in certain areas," Smith said. "At least not in my lifetime. But if there's any hope for that, it's with the younger generation. Yeah, someday. But it would have to be like when they tried to incorporate the metric system.\n"Just have to wait until everyone who learned the old way dies out." \nPat Wilson is the department chair of social studies at Bloomington High School North. She has been teaching in Monroe County for 29 years. She believes the poverty of black history stories manifests itself in contemporary textbooks.\n"If you look at American history books, there is an overwhelming invisibility of both racism and anti-racism," she said. "And the thing is, K through 12 textbooks are the most dominant source of knowledge to young students."\nShe said at IU particularly, many students come from homogeneous backgrounds. These students are products of the racially remiss textbooks, and although they may not have racist thoughts, they still may have no understanding of racism. Wilson believes these problems exist all across America, and hence, she refuses to subscribe to Sarsfield's idea.\n"I'm just not optimistic about saying we can ever do away with (Black History Month)," she said. "We still have so many unresolved social issues with human rights."\nKenn Washington is a law student at IU and the program assistant at the African American Cultural Center. Washington acknowledges the progress made since his high school days but thinks there's more to be learned before Black History Month can be considered an antiquated promotional device. \n"It's been a few years since I've been in high school," Washington said. "But from what I remember, Black History was limited to Martin Luther King Jr. and very little talk about slavery. I think strides have been made, but there's a long way to go."\nWashington said the month doesn't serve to redress historical wrongs. Rather, the month can more appropriately serve to clear up misconceptions held by non-minorities.\n"I don't think the month itself is intended to say, 'Look what someone did to us,'" he said. "It's more to educate people that we're not exactly what the media has portrayed us as. You can't limit your thinking of us to just sports and hip-hop. And I'm sure there's white students who feel intimidated because it's not what they've grown up listening to.\n"Some people don't want to get over what they've known their whole lives. They're just not comfortable with it. But I had no choice about learning European history from a white male perspective. I had no choice but to feel comfortable with it."\nClaude Clegg, professor of history, said black history is important enough to warrant the annual reminder, in the same way that July 4 or Thanksgiving remind people of other defining moments in American history. He also thinks Black History Month invites the interests of people who aren't normally within the environs of black history.\n"There are many people, especially school-aged kids," Clegg said, "who might not otherwise stop to think about the importance of black history or social conditions affecting the quality of life of African-Americans without the intense attention that Black History Month brings to these topics."\nClegg said he's hesitant to say the month with will someday serve no purpose under Sarsfield's notion of obsolescence. He said the availability of information on black history doesn't make people "automatically knowledgeable of it or give them ready access to it."\nJames H. Madison is a professor of history at IU. He also serves as a trustee of the Indiana Historical Society. In his book "A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in America," Madison tells a story of two young black men who were dragged from their Indiana prison cells, beaten and hanged by a Grant County mob in 1930. Although the book reveals a positive afterglow in the individuals who stood up against the lynchings, Madison said it is important to recognize that not all history stories are heartening. \n"We all want progress and happy stories," Madison said. "We all want to find comfort in American history -- in all forms of history. However, history is filled with discomforts, too, and we do a great disservice by not challenging ourselves with uncomfortable aspects of it.\n"And I think it's childish to do so, to want to think of ourselves and our history in that way."\nMadison said Black History Month, then, serves both to warn against a racially dichotomized society and to redress the neglect of black studies.\n"We are compensating for inadequate attention to African Americans," Madison said. "Inadequate in several ways. We need an African-American history that is integrated into American history so that we don't think of it as African-American history. We have a tendency to think of history and African-American history as different.\n"There are differences, of course, but we need a history that includes an African-American history that ties a more seamless thread into the fabrics of American history"
(01/10/01 5:41am)
Residents of Collins Center awoke to find their building spray-painted with speckled blue and red hues of hate Sunday. The messages were targeted at homosexuals. \nLt. Jerry Minger of the IU Police Department said the graffiti occurred sometime between 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.\n"This incident not only destroys the campus' aesthetics, but it strikes at people's souls," said Doug Bauder, coordinator of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Support Services.\nCollins Resident Manager Sara Ivey-Lucas said Residential Programs and Services arranged for the Physical Plant staff to paint over the sexually oriented slurs on the south side of the Brown wing.\n"It's vandalism, it's illegal and it targets a specific group. Just to note -- this could be escalated to status of a hate crime," Minger said.\nHe said the graffiti included, "Die fag. Die homo. Never suck a dick."\nThe incident was the first branding of vandalism along the exterior of Collins during this school year, but the center has had an up and down history of graffiti over the years.\n"This is the first large scale incident we've had this year," Ivey-Lucas said. "In the recent Community Council meeting, the issue was brought up and was taken very seriously; many people -- staff and students -- were upset by it."\nMinger said this is also the first hate-crime incident this school year around Collins. But last February swastikas were found on the outside of Collins while racially and sexually biased graffiti was found on the residence hall's message boards. The first "Unity Week," which started Feb. 9, 2000, was created as a response. \nAssistant Dean of Students Pam Freeman and members of the IU Racial Incidents Team were present at a meeting with the Collins staff that week, heading a discussion on the string of racial disquietude in the center.\nFreeman said this year's vandalism hardly weighed against her concerns last year. Freeman noted that the recent vandalism appears isolated.\n"I don't know if you can even compare the situations," Freeman said. "Last year there were tangible difficulties outside and inside of Collins. There were concerns that residents were involved. Also, last year the pattern that was being addressed was not the same kind of case as this one. It is not a bearing on if staff is doing their job."\nBut Freeman did emphasize the gravity of the current vandalism for everyone involved. \n"We know homophobia still exists on an immeasurable scale," Freeman said. "I think this is alarming and that it is clearly a hate message. It is destructive to our sense of security and consequently the entire community is affected adversely."\nBauder speculated on the importance of the source of the crime -- both who and why.\n"Maybe they were drunk and thought it was funny. Maybe they are homosexual themselves and hiding in the closet," Bauder said. "I would love to know who was behind this and what propels someone to do such a thing."\nBoth Bauder and Freeman are members of the Anti-Harassment Team that tracks hate crime statistics. According to a summary of the incidents reported to the team, the number of harassment cases nearly doubled between 1995 and 2000, from 67 to 128. The majority of determined offenders remain unknown, but those who were sighted were males. But legal action has not been taken in the last five years. The nature of most incidents reported were "graffiti/defacing property." \nBut Bauder said the trends are not a clear indication of whether the campus has progressed in its understanding of sexual differences.\n"I don't have a definitive answer," Bauder said. "But I think it's more of a roller-coaster of progress. We are clearly not in midst of climbing a mountain and we are too far from the apex of understanding to even know that it exists. The good news is we have a campus that will stand up and take these issues seriously. To IU's credit, those entities are in place. Not all campuses respond on that kind of level"
(11/13/00 5:22am)
Senior Laura Hammer was counting on the $800 promised to her by StudentU.com, an academic Web site that offers class notes to about 150 colleges nationwide and money for those who provide the site with notes.\nHammer, a business and Spanish major, joined the company as a campus notetaker. For the 2000 spring semester she submitted notes for molecular biology and physics and said she regularly received positive feedback via e-mail from an online supervisor.\nHammer said she heard about the opportunity from a friend and planned to use the money to help fund a studying trip to Madrid.\nBut months after the company's guaranteed payment date, and after several e-mails from Hammer, the company's CEO Oran Wolf wrote back, suggesting he was not as optimistic about the reimbursements as he had previously been.\n"I apologize for what the non-payment has caused you -- I know as a student staying on a schedule is vital to success -- our company is trying to raise money so that we can pay you and the other notetakers -- but so far, we have had no luck securing funds -- I am not as optimistic as I once was -- meaning I would recommend finding a job in the meantime -- that being said we are still working very hard to raise money and I hope that we will be successful in the end," Wolf wrote Hammer.\nWolf runs the UZONE Network in Houston, Texas. StudentU.com is a branch of the network and, according to its contract, all lawsuits and arbitration are bound through and must occur in Texas.\nWolf said Thursday there are no pending lawsuits and that he's made great efforts in trying to pay the debt gained from a company merger with the Internet consulting group NetStrategy.\n"We have recently required a lot of unanticipated debt," Wolf said. "It has left us with basically no money to pay Laura or other note takers. In five years, I've never faltered, and I'm trying my best to resolve the situation."\nHammer's neighbor Amber Stafford, a junior and marketing major, also did not receive money for her work for StudentU.com. Stafford had worked for the company during the 1999 fall semester and was paid within two weeks. But like Hammer, has yet to see any subsidy for her work in the spring of 2000.\nStafford still has some confidence in the company, and regardless of the outcome is pleased that she has helped others despite being out $1,200.\n"I am worried about how I am going to pay my bills, but I am still giving them the benefit of the doubt," Stafford said. "I've come to the reality that I've lost some money, but if I helped someone else with their classes, then I'm glad I helped in that way."\nHammer speculated that more than 30 students share her losses from the 2000 spring semester, and said she hopes there is a way to receive her share of the money.\n"Because of the terms of the contract, there's really nothing we can do about it, because arbitration is binding in Texas," Hammer said.\nBut Skipper Miroglu, a representative from the Texas Department of Labor, said according to Texas labor laws, there is power in numbers, and a mass lawsuit is possible.\n"They are all independent contractors because they are likely not being charged taxes, nor did they sign a W-4 form and here in Texas the labor laws don't cover them," Miroglu said. "Also, individually, this would be dealt with in a small claims court. But if they can organize, a lawyer would quickly jump on it, and then you have a solid case."\nWolf insists that everything is being done within his realm of capabilities. He said the key is keeping his notetakers well informed.\n"Many students have asked once or twice a week to get updates," Wolf said. "My main thing is that I work hand-in-hand with my note takers. I know what it means to not have the money. I want to make sure they get this money."\nHammer said a handful of ambiguous and procrastinating e-mails are not what she would deem working hand-in-hand and said communication regarding the problem is not her main concern.\n"The point of the matter," Hammer said, "is I'm going abroad and I don't have my money"
(10/16/00 6:36am)
An IU graduate student lost her son three years ago -- and she might in turn lose her own life because of it.\nJulie Rea, 31, was indicted by a Lawrenceville, Ill. grand jury for two counts of murder and arrested by Indiana State Police Thursday at Bloomington Hospital's crisis care unit. She is being held there without bail under an agreement between her attorneys and police. \nRea's 10-year-old son, Joel Kirkpatrick, was found stabbed to death in her apartment Oct. 13, 1997. Although initial hearings on the warrant will be held in Monroe County, in order to face both counts of murder she must be extradited to Illinois. Rea's attorneys said they would fight extradition at a hearing Tuesday.\nRea, who was studying educational psychology through the School of Education, adamantly refuted all charges through her attorneys. \nThe Bloomington firm of Liell & McNeil will be representing Rea, and have done so for the past three years. \n"It is our goal to see the true killer arrested and convicted," Harper said. \nLawrenceville police and Illinois special prosecutor Ed Perkinson were unavailable for comment as of press time.\nAt the time of the incident, Rea told police she thought an attacker had broken into her home and kidnapped her child. When police arrived, they found the child dead. Rea gave a description of the attacker but no suspects were found.\nProfessor Curtis Bonk worked with Rea throughout her time at IU. Bonk believes the charges are unjustified.\nOne student said in an e-mail to Bonk that Rea's lifestyle went through a major change after the incident -- so much so that she installed a new security system and got a guard dog, he said.\n"She was a caring person," Bonk said, "It just doesn't make sense."\nLiell said Rea has passed polygraph tests, and that the Lawrenceville prosecutor did not want to charge her. \n"What we feared has really come true," Liell said. "The person who really did this is still free."\nRea is facing death by lethal injection if she is found guilty.\nIllinois has been criticized recently for putting innocent people on death row. Of those that have been on death row since 1977, more have been exonerated than executed, Harper said.\nThe Associated Press contributed to this story.
(10/06/00 6:16am)
Several weeks after the Sept. 10 riots following the firing of former men's basketball coach Bob Knight, University and local law enforcement agencies are still reflecting on the financial and social scars inflicted by the chaos.\nAt the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday, Chancellor and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kenneth Gros Louis announced an official assessment of $15,000 worth of damages resulting from the riots.\nBut Hank Hewetson, associate director of the physical plant, said he was hurried by Gros Louis earlier in the week to release a figure. Having compiled further detrimental expenses, the final cost is expected to exceed Gros Louis' estimate.\n"The Chancellor called me and pressed me to provide him with an order of magnitude," Hewetson said. "When asked, I was sure to preface the estimate with the fact that there are many unknowns left."\nHewetson said Thursday the cost-to-date, not including damage to the Showalter Fountain fish, was in excess of $14,000, and is expected to be closer to $20,000 when all repairs are completed.\n"It was difficult to establish a total because we've yet to begin preliminary repairs to the fountain," Hewetson said. "The fish will require welding and plumbing repairs, and the extent of technology put into the repairs will be a big factor on the actual total cost."\nMany different organizations are contributing to the repairs, Hewetson said. The grounds crew is handling most damages, but utility companies have refurbished lights and individual window outlets and mended most broken glass and windows around campus.\nThe Office of Risk Management is expected to handle damage payments. But Perry Metz, assistant to the Chancellor, said there could be a problem.\n"The figure is small considered against our insurance policies, which consequently might not be able to cover the damages," Metz said.\nLt. Jerry Minger of the IU Police Department said he kept a tally of what specific damages were made to campus. Minger also kept tabs on the extent of law enforcement required for the riots, as well as subsequent arrests.\nDamages Minger said were a direct result of the riots include: two light poles knocked down in the vicinity of IU President Myles Brand's house, a construction sign knocked down at Fifth Street and Indiana Avenue, several cars with tires slashed in the parking lot of the Main Library, a torn-down goalpost at the south end of the football field, damages to Showalter Fountain and a handful of cars with windshield and body damage.\nIn total, approximately 205 officers, two fire trucks with accompanying crews from the Bloomington Fire Department and four Bloomington Hospital ambulances were dispatched on the night of the riots. Thirty-five officers hailed from IUPD, 47 from the Bloomington Police Department and 115 from the Indiana State Police.\nAbout eight arrests were a product of the unrest, Minger said. The major charge was disorderly conduct, but several charges of assault also ensued, he said. There also was an attempted battery where a student tried to strike an officer, a theft charge for uprooting a parking sign and one vandalism charge.
(09/20/00 7:23pm)
Students gathered beneath the Sample Gates Tuesday, in protest of what they call the administration's lack of effort to prevent sexual assault on campus, alleging that 400 rapes occur at IU annually.\nProtest organizer Todd Paddock, a graduate student, said his purpose was to persuade the administration to mandate an educational program for all incoming IU students during orientation with regards to sexual assault.\n"The administration wishes to attract students to the campus, and they would ideally not wish to broadcast the prevalence of rape, but they must address it," Paddock said. "For one dollar per student it would be possible to bring the proper education to students. Why hasn't it been done?"\nPaddock said Steve Thompson, a consultant from Central Michigan University, is planning to meet with members of the administration Thursday to speak on behalf of the sexual assault program that is mandatory at Central Michigan University.\nDean of Students Richard McKaig was the main impetus behind Thompson's visit, bu the acknowledged the logistics of such a program being implemented by next year are questionable.\n"It is quite possible that it may even be cheaper then a dollar per student to employ such a program, and it would be wonderful to see that kind of funding made available, but I do not have sufficient information yet to determine whether or not it could be mandated at IU," McKaig said.\nPaddock also pointed out that IU quite abruptly offered a $50,000 reward following the disappearance of Jill Behrman, but cannot conjure sufficient funds for a firm prevention program.\n"Let's give the administration credit for their search on Jill Behrman," Paddock said. "But aren't the 400 victims at IU worth that kind of support?"\nJulie Thomas, a graduate student and organizer of Thursday's "Take Back the Night" rally, said the administration's current efforts are not strong enough to prevent rape.\n"There are currently programs available at IU, to council victims," Thomas said. "But reaction assistance does not stop rape!"\nLt. Jerry Minger of the IU Police Department agreed with the protester's aim to educate students, but disagreed stongly with in their "conservative estimate" of 400 rapes annually and their perceptions of the administration's concern.\n"The number was not derived from any factual data from the police or anything linked to sexual assault at IU," Minger said. "Nor do I think the administration has turned a blind-eye on the issue."\nBut Minger acknowledged that while there were only five rapes reported last year, only an estimated 12 to 25 rapes ever go reported.\n"The IUPD nor IU has ever done an anonymous survey with regards to rape," Paddock said. "Most victims as we know feel shame, and therefore never report it. We have used reliable and conservative national data from the FBI."\nThe protest at the corner of Kirkwood and Indiana avenues was a small one. Several branch-signs waived and most speeches concluded with strident whistle-blowing, yet the protest at times boasted more media onlookers than students.\n"I would have liked to have seen a larger turnout, but the effect of the protest will ultimately be measured by whether or not we have an impact on the administration," Paddock said. "And if 10 protesters can make a change, then I'm happy"