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(02/23/10 4:21am)
Brady Short, a pair of square-rimmed sunglasses covering his eyes, is watching over a three-man pit crew scrubbing his fire-engine-red No. 36 racecar for the first of several times one Friday evening in September. It’s still warm under the dwindling afternoon sunlight at the Bloomington Speedway. The pits are filling fast. Brady’s wife, Ashley, is chatting with Brady’s family. Brady’s father, Don, isn’t throwing dirt clods yet. He is just strolling around the pits, shaking hands with all who have come to see his son.
(09/21/09 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Billionaire energy entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens told campus and community members in a speech Friday that continuing to import upward of 65 percent of the country’s oil is among one of the United States’ greatest national security threats.“We’re depending on oil from an enemy,” Pickens said. “We’re paying for both sides of the war.”Pickens said his first and foremost priority is protecting the country’s national security, which came as a surprise to environmental activists attending the speech. During the past year, his $58 million ad campaign has largely framed the issue of energy use in terms of environmental responsibility.However, he said in the speech that he was open to drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge region, as well as in the waters off the coast of the U.S. A green economy is the future, he said, but solar and wind technology still needed to catch up. Instead, he described natural gas as “a bridge fuel to the future.”From the 81-year-old Pickens, the message to students was clear: “It’s your problem. It’s not my problem.” Pickens has lobbied lawmakers and built a support network of 1.6 million people while advocating his plan for energy reform during the past year. He urged the students, faculty and state business leaders in attendance to get behind his plan.“For 40 years we’ve had no energy plan in America,” he said. “None.” During those years, he said, each president has promised to reduce dependency on foreign oil. In each case, he said, oil imports have continued to rise. Between 1970 and today, Pickens said oil imports rose from 24 percent to more than 65 percent.“I’m an environmentalist, but I’m realistic about it, too,” he said.
(09/18/09 4:57pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Billionaire energy entrepreneuer T. Boone Pickens told campus and community members in a speech Friday morning that continuing to import upward of 65 percent of the country’s oil is among the United States’ greatest national security threats.“We’re depending on oil from an enemy,” Pickens said. “We’re paying for both sides of the war.”Pickens said his first and foremost priority is protecting the country’s national security, which came as a surprise to environmental activists attending the speech. Over the past year, his $58 million ad campaign has in large part framed the issue of energy use in terms of environmental responsibility. However, he said in the speech that he was open to drilling in Alaska’s ANWR region, as well as in the water’s off the coast of the United States. A green economy is the future, he said, but solar and wind technology still needed to catch up. Instead, he described natural gas, which the country has in abundant reserve, as “a bridge fuel to the future.” From the 81-year-old Pickens, the message to students was clear: “It’s your problem. It’s not my problem.” Pickens has lobbied lawmakers and built a support network of 1.6 million people while advocating his plan for energy reform during the past year. He urged the students in attendance, many of whom were required to be there as part of the Kelley School of Business’ Integrative Core program, to get behind his plan.“I think all he cares about is America,” said Jennifer Schalk, who works for the Environmental Defense Fund. Schalk was outside the IU Auditorium after the speech, urging people to send letters to Sen. Evan Bayh regarding resource sustainability. Even though Pickens’ message wasn’t strictly in line with many environmentalists’ views, Schalk said his proposals are effective because they are bi-partisan.Pickens stressd the bi-partisan point repeatedly while addressing the crowd of 1,600 -- students, faculty members and state business leaders all among them. He’s optimistic about current legislation in U.S. House of Representatives and in the Senate. He hopes comprehensive reform will be passed by October.“For 40 years we’ve had no energy plan in America,” he said. “None.” Later today, Pickens will meet with President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, in Washington.Pickens came to IU at the request of Kelley Dean’s Council member and venture capitalist Gary Anderson. Anderson said he appreciated the midwestern connection between Pickens and IU. Pickens is orignally from Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma State University.During those years, he said, each president has promised to reduce dependency on foreign oil. In each case, he said, oil imports have continued to rise. Between 1970 and today, Pickens said oil impots have risen from 24 percent to more than 65 percent. At that rate, he predicted the price of oil could rise to $300 per barrell. “I’m an environmentalist,” he said,” but I’m realistic about it, too.”
(09/17/09 3:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens will present high-profile plans to reshape American energy consumption during a speech on campus Friday.University leaders describe the speech as a rare chance to sponge wisdom from one of the country’s most successful and progressive entrepreneurs.Pickens, 81, launched a $58 million ad campaign in 2008 to support his plan, which calls for generating more than 20 percent of the country’s energy from wind while replacing imported oil with domestic natural gas.Oil import rates have jumped from 24 percent in 1970 to more than 65 percent currently, according to the plan.“If we are depending on foreign sources for nearly two-thirds of our oil, we are in a precarious position in an unpredictable world,” Pickens said in the plan.Pickens will be in Bloomington at the request of friend and venture capitalist Gary Anderson, a member of the Kelley Dean’s Council.In addition, his speech comes at no cost to the University, said Tatiana Kolovou, a lecturer in the Kelley School of Business, who helped organize the speech.Several state legislators and business leaders are expected to attend.“The issues he’s talking about are not just related to students,” Kolovou said. “They’re related to all of us.” Pickens led Mesa Petroleum, an independent oil company, for four decades.More recently, he became one of the world’s most successful investment fund operators with BP Capital Management, which is valued at more than $4 billion.“He’s come from a 20th century petroleum-based economy and he has turned his thinking and entrepreneurial activities toward a 21st century renewable-based energy economy,” said Michael Hamburger, a professor of geological sciences who has helped lead campus sustainability initiatives. President Michael McRobbie, who was scheduled to return Wednesday from a trip to Asia with Gov. Mitch Daniels, will introduce Pickens at the lecture.McRobbie has prioritized campus sustainability and energy-saving initiatives in recent years following criticism that former campus sustainability efforts were not far-enough reaching.Between 2007 and 2009, IU’s overall sustainability grade has risen from a D+ to a C, according to ratings by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.Though the current grade is average, the institute awarded IU with an A in investment priorities for its focus on renewable energy funds.For Kelley School of Business Dean Dan Smith, Pickens’ visit is part of his school’s effort to emphasize social responsibility.“Sustainability has become an important consideration for all leaders today,” Smith wrote in an e-mail, “and our concern that students understand how to create sustainable enterprises is a natural extension of our more general interest in corporate social responsibility.”Despite the year-long push, it remains unclear whether Pickens’ advocacy is working. In Denver last month, he told a group of lawmakers that the U.S. had so far done little to reduce oil imports.Pickens’ grassroots movement is unique for executives more accustomed to boardrooms and the corporate ladder, with supporters who sign up on his Web site comprising the “Pickens Army.”The campaign, with its sleek Web site, snappy catch phrases and references to the Obama presidential campaign, appears to hone the interests of several distinct groups: environmentalist liberals, national security-concerned conservatives and those looking to slash the federal deficit among them.As a result, Pickens’ efforts have largely escaped partisan criticism.On campus, Smith described reaction to the entrepreneurs’ visit as “overwhelmingly positive.”“People realize that having such a high profile leader at IU helps the overall reputation of the entire University,” Smith said.
(09/03/09 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU President Michael McRobbie will be among Gov. Mitch Daniels’ delegation to Asia next week, in what fellow University and commerce leaders say could further pave the way for engagement with Chinese and Japanese research institutions and businesses.For McRobbie, internationalizing IU has been a central tenet of his presidency. He’s traveled to Zhejiang University twice before, fostering a close relationship with its president, Yang Wei. “The president is deeply committed to all kinds of international partnerships,” Patrick O’Meara, IU vice president for international affairs, said. “But he’s also certainly committed to Asia.”Along with reaching out to universities and businesses, McRobbie will host alumni in both Shanghai and in Japan. It will be the president’s second trip to the region in three months. In June, he hosted the International Alumni Conference in Seoul, the first alumni reunion of its scale since 1999. The trip’s primary mission, Daniels has said, will be to open the doors for investment in Indiana to expanding Chinese businesses. Even while Zhejiang is Indiana’s Chinese sister-state, this is the first economic development mission to the country by a Hoosier governor in more than a decade.“The second part is thanking those who have invested in Indiana and finding out what we can do for them,” E. Mitchell Roob Jr., Indiana’s secretary of commerce, said. Daniels has led five development missions as governor, most recently to Japan and Taiwan. Japanese companies already invest $9.8 billion in Indiana, employing 42,000 workers across more than 200 companies.As Indiana manufacturing has sputtered, Daniels said he hopes Chinese investment in Indiana will mirror that of the Japanese. Auto giants there, such as Toyota, have withered beneath the recession, and future investment by booming Chinese companies could curb the unemployment rate, which continues to hover at about 10 percent. “The goal is always the same: insourcing jobs,” Daniels said Wednesday in a radio interview.In recent years, Daniels turned down offers to visit China, saying companies then were only looking to benefit from American outsourcing.“Now it looks like maybe they’re ready to open their checkbooks,” he said. “We’d like to bring back some of those dollars that have been going over there.”Roob said the pending sale of Hummer to China’s Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery is one example where a Chinese-owned corporation could soon employ American industrial workers. If the sale is approved by the Chinese government, Indiana leaders will try and convince Tengzhong that it’s best to maintain the production facility in Mishawaka, Ind.“They’re not nationalistic about this,” Roob said. “They’re capitalistic about this.”Toyota, meanwhile, already operates a plant in Princeton, Ind., and announced plans in July for $500 million in upgrades. This comes even as sales have sagged. Executives announced last week they plan to close a manufacturing plant in California. The Hoosier delegation will meet with Toyota executives Sept. 15.Along with Daniels and McRobbie, delegates include six mayors, Purdue’s vice provost for engagement and business leaders from firms including Old National Bank, Duke Energy and ProLiance Energy. And in the spectrum of international trade, Roob said incentives for investments go well beyond the numbers. Those intangibles bode well for Indiana, he added.“It’s the fact that people in Indiana are pathologically nice and hardworking and open to business and not arrogant about it,” he said. “The state’s collective personality pays for itself overseas.”
(04/09/09 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana Senate leaders released a budget proposal Wednesday, calling for sustained IU funding even as the state is faced with diminishing tax revenue.IU’s funding, according to recommendations made public Wednesday afternoon, will flat line during the next two years. The Senate proposed using the federal stimulus package to help prop up institutions in danger of budget cuts. “They have invested in trying to keep education whole,” said Tom Morrison, associate vice president for public affairs and state relations, referring to senators. He called the budget an encouraging “prioritization of education in general.” However, he added that the recommendations were “fluid” and could likely still change in the coming weeks, depending on the state’s economic health. “In any other year, we’d be enormously concerned about a flat-line budget,” he said. Those recommendations set the stage for deliberations in the coming weeks as the House, Senate and governor’s office work toward a compromise among competing proposals.“It sounds like the Senate Appropriations Committee recognizes the importance of maintaining higher education in times of economic hardship,” said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.Politicians have struggled this year to balance Indiana’s budget as revenue collected from taxes continues to decline. On Monday, state tax collectors reported a 16 percent drop in tax revenue in March. The revenue missed expectations by $157 million, putting the State $755 million behind projections on the year so far. With the revenue shortcomings, Senate leaders looked to a federal stimulus package for funding. That funding will help sustain IU for the next several years. However, Morrison said he recently fears an increased reliance on federal funding will create a false sense of security. That funding will not remain forever, he said, adding that setting this precedent could shift the responsibility of the University away from the state legislature. While in recent years administrators and trustees complained about higher education appropriations failing to keep pace with inflation, they have said a 1 percent increase would help IU avoid major cutbacks. Morrison and other University leaders have warned tuition could jump if funding isn’t sustained. IU president Michael McRobbie has pledged to try to keep tuition increases “modest and reasonable,” MacIntyre said. After McRobbie’s recent address to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, funding for higher education was not drastically changed in the budget proposal.Higher education cuts recommended by Gov. Mitch Daniels earlier this year, before the stimulus package was approved, were not included in the proposal. IU relies on the state for 23 percent of its funding, MacIntyre said. The eight IU campuses receive more than $500 million each year in funding, with the Bloomington campus receiving more than $200 million.The Senate budget also includes increased funding for prisons and for public broadcasting.Following reports of state revenue shortfalls earlier this year, Daniels ordered a $767 million slashing for the current fiscal year. IU responded in turn to the cuts as McRobbie reduced spending by 1 percent across the board.MacIntyre said students should not be affected by budget restraints during the next year. This year, however, salary freezes for more than 400 administrators will save the University $2 million, and the hiring of administrators will also be slowed down in an effort to cut spending. McRobbie has also created a committee to curb the growing health care costs of the University, which have grown by 8 percent in recent years, MacIntyre said.While tuition might not increase dramatically, the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana may not be able to keep pace with the requests for tuition assistance, said A.D. King, IU Student Trustee. The state appropriates $1.8 billion for higher education annually, said Bernard Hannon, assistant commissioner for facilities and financial affairs for the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.Any cut in funding should be replaced with money through the federal stimulus package, Hannon said, but only for the next three years. Despite funding available through the stimulus package, MacIntyre said state funding for higher education does not keep pace with inflation and has declined in the last 30 to 40 years.
(04/02/09 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With Senate budget recommendations expected within a week, it remains unclear how the state will ultimately fund IU in light of vanishing tax revenue throughout the ongoing economic downturn.A severe funding shortfall could eventually force University officials to cut academic programs, raise tuition or lay off staff, officials have said.University lobbyists in Indianapolis continue work this week to convince legislators of the need for sustained University appropriations. And while they said those efforts have not been in vain, they added that it’s tough to reconcile a discrepancy between budget recommendations already released by both Gov. Mitch Daniels and the House of Representatives.The House recommended a 1 percent increase in IU funding, but Daniels proposed a 4 percent cut. Senate Democrats say the split speaks to a difference in priorities between the governor and legislators. But, they add, his proposal came before the guarantee of a federal stimulus package.This marks one of the toughest years for higher education advocates, faced with a recession that threatens to impact most sectors of Indiana’s government.Lobbyists and administrators said they like the House version of the budget and the 1 percent funding increase for the University. It’s a change in tone from recent years, when University leaders bemoaned increases that failed to keep pace with the 3 percent inflation rate.And while officials in Indianapolis such as Tom Morrison, vice president of public affairs and government relations, don’t criticize the governor’s proposal, Morrison said another round of significant funding cuts could be “institution-altering.”This year, University funding was cut 1 percent amid the worsening financial storm. To balance the budget, IU President Michael McRobbie instructed University leaders to cut spending 1 percent across the board.McRobbie realized, officials said, the need for proactive measures, to trim spending and convince weary legislators.“You’re always looking for efficiencies,” Morrison said. “And this year it’s been important because of the cuts.”***Tom Morrison’s office is on the 17th floor of a downtown Indianapolis skyscraper. A Ball State University degree hangs on the wall as the drone of the Statehouse Web cast plays through computer speakers. It’s his first year at IU since leaving a similar position at Ball State.Friends tell him, “Boy, did you pick the wrong year to change jobs.”Morrison said he knows the Statehouse “players” and expressed optimism despite the challenges for a person in his position.“I think it will be closer to here than here,” he said, using his hands to predict where Senate proposals will fall – likely closer to House recommendations than those of the governor.But State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, isn’t convinced. Historically, the Senate sides “much closer” to the governor, he said. This year, it’s a question of how close.Those recommendations determine a starting point for budget negotiations. It’s a fundamental difference, Pierce and other legislators said, between how they see Indiana progressing and the vision of the governor.“A properly funded University is the key to a properly functioning economy,” Pierce said.Pierce said University officials were unlikely to criticize the governor’s proposal.“This administration has shown itself to be vindictive whenever an organization shows its motivation,” he said, adding that he is impressed McRobbie appears unwilling to accept the governor’s requests. Morrison won’t play politics, however. He’ll eventually need votes from everyone, he said.“One of the things I have to do is balance rhetoric with reality,” Morrison said. He won’t use threats to sway lawmakers. But if the legislature cuts University funding far enough, he said IU would have to concede by slashing its own budget in turn.State Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, and Pierce said they fear University layoffs and rising unemployment in their districts.“If there isn’t any money in the coffer,” Morrison said, “what are you to do?” ***In the lead-up to budget negotiations and eventual approval, University officials are looking to economize operations to save money and communicate symbolically with lawmakers.Those measures include a salary freeze for about 400 top administrators and a University-wide hiring “frost.” They also formed a committee to examine how to counteract the soaring price of health care.Such actions are effective, said Steve Ferguson, board of trustees president and former state legislator. It shows the University is confronting the challenges presented by a tough economy, he said.When McRobbie addressed the Senate Appropriations Committee recently, he reiterated ongoing efforts to economize. Tough economic conditions do not “displace our need, they only accentuate it,” McRobbie said, according to prepared talking points. To convince legislators of the need to sustain appropriations, appearing proactive is the key, Morrison said. When financial markets began to tilt last year, McRobbie converted variable-rate debt to fixed-rate, locking in favorable interest rates.“All these things happened before they had to tell us to do it,” he said.Morrison said Indiana’s budgeting process is hardly the crisis being played out in other statehouses across the country. Elsewhere, he said, university funding could be cut 20 percent.But that’s not a concession. Morrison said he and others – McRobbie, Pierce and Simpson included – will continue fighting for sustained funding.No one knows what the Senate will do, Morrison told the trustees recently at a meeting. A few weeks later in his Indianapolis office, Morrison again did not pin down an appropriations amount that could satisfy University officials.“If I said today, ‘Gosh, I just hope we break even,’ that’s one of those careful-what-you-wish-for situations,” he said.The thinking being, Morrison said, that maybe he could have gotten more.
(02/17/09 4:00pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Perhaps it’s still too early in the day to call a paintbrush and blank canvas Joel Washington’s transcending tools to eminence. It’s just past 10 a.m., and the Indiana Memorial Union custodian has three more hours pegged to a different trade’s tool. He wheels a squeaky gray trash bin through the corridors, atop sterile linoleum tiles in a routine repeated for more than 20 years. But on this day, like many before, Washington is distracted. His eyes will sometimes wander. Other times they’ll resort to a daydream. Even as his movements become lethargic during one of these dreams – so slow he’ll bend to pluck a piece of trash – his neurons could not jump any faster. Co-workers wonder what Washington is thinking. “He’s different,” they say, and puzzle at what must amount to a spectacle of inspiration. Where to begin, what new project to start? The energy heaves and pulls as Washington’s trash bin wheels, ungreased and screeching quietly, never cease to lament. Who knows what he’s thinking? Or how many times during the past two decades he’s slipped into the staff room during a shift – avoiding the watchful eye of friend and longtime boss Roy Robertson (“He doesn’t get special treatment,” Robertson says) – to sketch out the day’s idea. For years, he carried notebooks with him at work. Once, out of curiosity, he counted the sketches: more than 1,400 in all. “I still go back to them when I don’t have any other ideas,” he says. Then again, perhaps he is like the rest of us, co-workers reassure themselves. Different but the same. Brilliant but – refreshingly – the janitor Joel they’ve always known. His art hangs locally in restaurants and behind bullet-proof glass in the IMU; his paintings are featured in the U.S. Embassy in Thailand and hang in galleries alongside the masterpieces of Indiana’s greatest artists. His work has swept local art competitions to the point, friends say, he seems embarrassed to enter. But to dominate the local market is just not enough. He’s backlogged on commissions and has been for some time. After his Union shift ends at 1 p.m. each day, he’ll return home, often to paint late into the night. Finishing one painting, he begins sketching the next.To delve into Joel Washington’s world is to see each place in a psychedelic swirl of color. Those colors, often found nowhere in nature, find Washington in dreams. It’s a world shaped by a boyhood in Indianapolis, by jazz, skateboards, Sgt. Pepper, Andy Warhol, and later by the simple pleasures of antique tractor shows. For Washington, a black man, it’s a fight to live in a post-racial world, to be judged as equal among artists of all races, and to escape the novelty – the too-often-told narrative of a struggling, if emerging, painter who scrubs floors by day to help sustain a passion. For those who have followed Washington for the better part of two decades, his work has matured and evolved, pushing to the edge the rules of color blends, hue, and intensity. He paints well, there’s no denying that. But to the extent any work is “good,” as valuable is the name scrawled in the bottom right. What does it mean to own a Joel Washington piece? Not much yet, the artist admits, but he insists he’s on the brink. More than likely, this confidence is similar to a faith in God: will and hope for it, convinced by the prospects of Heaven. But there is no denying a subconscious, stinging twinge. What if it never comes? * * *You can’t help to wonder whether Washington has always maintained the surreal, never-will-it-get-to-me attitude he displays in the Union, or during one afternoon in his apartment’s living room as he touches up a portrait he painted in 1987 of The King. In a white T-shirt and black pants, Washington swishes over the painting with relative ease. It’s Elvis in his formative years – years before the plumper version took the stage. Down a short hallway, leading to his bedroom, paintings lean against the wall, one atop the other. More are stacked in the bedroom, paint supplies in the kitchen, a small aluminum Christmas tree next to the MTV-tuned television, and Washington, sitting forward on a cushioned chair, presides over the smiling King. It’s cozy, he says, likening himself to a Beatnik, crammed in some small space in the East Village or San Francisco. He’s never read Kerouac, though, nor Ginsburg, nor any of the Beats; it’s more their legend he loves. More importantly, the space is inspirational. Not a single painting hangs on the walls. Their imperfections are too distracting, he says. In 2001, a local newspaper – in an effort to frame him as a poor, struggling janitor, Washington says – described his furniture as shabby and “worn.” Buying into the story, a concerned reader donated her coffee table. “I mean, it’s not that bad,” Washington says, later joking “that table will be up on eBay soon.” Growing up on the east side of Indianapolis, too young to understand the cultural rife around him, Washington missed the era’s artistic edginess and the emergence of pop art, his favorite genre. The work of famed Andy Warhol notably inspired Washington. As Warhol’s art was meant to be shared – as dollar bills, Coke cans, and Campbell’s soup – Washington, from a blue-collar family, had greater access to the paintings. Today, he retains the art-to-be-shared attitude, but as he speaks about the genre, he seems to wonder whether he’s just too late. “Man, I just wish I could have been an adult during that time period,” he says, taking a moment to reflect. Forget the discrimination against blacks and the often-bloody battle for civil rights during that era. These were issues from which Washington’s mother – a strict, hardworking woman, as he describes her – shielded him. Even so, in the subsequent years since leaving Indianapolis, he’s been shot with a pellet gun on Kirkwood Avenue, has been shrieked at in a McDonald’s in Martinsville, and has watched as a mother shielded her children from him as he trudged home from an eight-hour shift. How to deal with his race is an issue Washington has considered for years; he’s wanted to paint these feelings, but only now does he say he’s artistically and emotionally ready. He lives in a world of colors, minus those on skin. He’s particularly wary to take special art grants for minorities, and those who work close to him say he hesitates to apply for those designed only for African-Americans (Washington, however, says at this point, he’ll take whatever he can get). And coincidental as it might be, some of Washington’s biggest breaks have come from galleries’ desires to increase the diversity of their work. Ten years ago, in an effort to display greater variety, the Union asked Washington to paint the legendary black jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, says Rand McKamey, the IMU’s preparator. By chance, Washington was already painting Montgomery. The product, an infusion of dreamy color blending with a deeply realistic rendering of the musician with guitar, hangs protected in the IMU as part of its permanent collection. Washington has no children. This, along with other paintings hanging in permanent galleries, is his legacy.In similar fashion, Washington’s work was chosen for display at the Indiana State Museum. Then, while visiting recently, the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand – a Hoosier native – Eric G. John, visited the gallery and selected several of Washington’s pieces as part of an exhibit at the embassy. For the next few years, Washington’s works will hang alongside the sketches of Kurt Vonnegut and paintings by Robert Indiana among others. He talks with amazement at the prospect of who might see his work. This could be the chance to break from the withstanding narrative that has long shaped people’s perceptions of him and his art. Joel Washington, the artist among dignitaries. But with the glimmer of success comes frustration. “I’ve made it internationally, but I haven’t made it nationally,” he says, only half-joking.
(02/17/09 4:00pm)
Perhaps it’s still too early in the day to call a paintbrush and blank canvas Joel Washington’s transcending tools to eminence. It’s just past 10 a.m., and the Indiana Memorial Union custodian has three more hours pegged to a different trade’s tool. He wheels a squeaky gray trash bin through the corridors, atop sterile linoleum tiles in a routine repeated for more than 20 years.
(08/07/08 1:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>By announcing the addition of IU senior Drew Allenspach to the athletics director search committee on Tuesday, IU President Michael McRobbie drew praise from student leaders, who called the announcement a sign of the president’s commitment to student opinion.McRobbie faced some criticism earlier this week after announcing a 13-member search committee and failing to include a student in that initial announcement. A follow-up announcement issued in a news release on Tuesday included a list with Allenspach’s name.“I am very honored to be selected to the committee,” Allenspach said.A senior business major and captain of the men’s golf team, Allenspach was named a Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar by the Golf Coaches Association of America and also earned honors as an Academic All-American in 2007.“Drew has distinguished himself as both a student and an athlete, and I am confident he will give our students an effective voice in the search process,” McRobbie said in a press release Tuesday.The 14-member search committee, headed by IU Vice President for Engagement Bill Stephan, has not set a timetable for when the committee will recommend candidates to McRobbie.While some initially expressed concern Monday that McRobbie would not include a student on the search committee, University spokesman Larry MacIntyre said McRobbie had always planned to include a student representative. Since many students are still gone for the summer, he said it took the administration “a couple of extra days to locate a student.”Chair of the Student VOICE Project Alexandra Chtchedrina expressed concern Monday about what appeared to be a lack of student representation on the search committee. Tuesday’s announcement brought a change in Chtchedrina’s attitude, however.“What better way to increase collaboration and understanding between students and administrators than to work together, side-by-side on such matters?” she added in an e-mail.IU Student Trustee A.D. King said Tuesday’s announcement was a positive move for McRobbie.“I think the appointment is indicative of President McRobbie’s commitment to students,” King said.Cases where student interests are involved will continue to require their representation in the future, King said.“I believe it is especially important to have student representation on this committee because our students care deeply about the teams that represent Indiana University in intercollegiate competition,” McRobbie said in the press release.
(06/30/08 7:59pm)
With IU’s name likely to be further muddied as NCAA investigations continue, top University administrators have realized potential complications caused by frustrated and disappointed alumni.\nFew envy the challenges IU President Michael McRobbie will face in the coming months, characterizing the ongoing situation as a crossroads in his young tenure. How he handles the pressure, some say, could be a telling factor for discerning alumni. \n“He’s got to become more visible” regarding the incident, said University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis.\nFor many alumni – especially those out of state – athletics success is an indicator of IU’s achievement as a whole, he said. \nOverseeing athletics is just one of the many responsibilities a University president faces. And by several accounts, it’s an area both McRobbie and his predecessor Adam Herbert allowed to self-manage. \nHowever, last Thursday’s NCAA announcement charging IU with a failure to keep a close enough eye on the department highlighted the relationship between the two University sectors, but also forced McRobbie to involve himself more actively and directly in the process, University administrators and trustees said.\nMcRobbie’s vision for growing the institution is vast. While spending significant time abroad, hoping to grow the University’s name, at home he has embarked on an ambitious building plan. The plan will require substantial alumni support. But with a shroud of negativity covering the IU Athletic Department, the prospect of convincing some alumni to donate generously could become more daunting.\n“The embarrassment people feel really dampens their enthusiasm,” Gros Louis said. \nMcRobbie’s approach now might be attributed to receiving word some major donors were considering pulling or slashing potential gifts, he said. \nMcRobbie’s concerns and actions were not based on appeasing donors, but had the greater interest of the University in mind, however, said IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre.\n“President McRobbie very much wants to get all of the NCAA issues resolved quickly, but also in a way that is fair to our current coaches,” he said. \nThe men’s basketball recruiting scandal already cost several coaches their jobs and prompted the decision by Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan to resign at year’s end. \n“As athletics director, knowing what he did about (Kelvin) Sampson’s background, I think it was his responsibility to keep him on a very short leash his first year,” Gros Louis said.\nSampson had a history of recruiting violations at the University of Oklahoma, and IU officials warned the new coach when he took over in 2006 against committing further infractions for the Hoosiers.\nGreenspan is the latest of a host of athletics officials dismissed by IU for their involvement in recruiting scandals.\nLack of confidence in the program’s stability also prompted several of the University’s most coveted recruits to break commitments, forcing new head coach Tom Crean and staff to scramble to pin down their side. \nFor McRobbie, the scandal has cast a shadow over his administration since the beginning. The NCAA charges broke last October and overshadowed a week of activities planned to celebrate the new president.\nWhen asked, several administrators and alumni said the recruiting scandal is for McRobbie what a failed chancellor search was for former president Adam Herbert in 2004. The controversy surrounding that search eventually led to Herbert’s departure, paving the way for McRobbie and his ambitious plans for IU.\nThe president and trustees’ handling of the situation has drawn criticism from those who say the officials have acted too blasé in their approach to the issue. Trustee candidate Samuel Locke said while he understands officials’ desire not to micromanage the situation, more direct guidance was needed from the top.\n“I think it could be a case study in mismanagement,” Locke said, adding that a more vigorous approach should have been taken from the beginning. \nWith alumni scattered around the world, their knowledge of IU is often limited to following athletic teams, said Barry Gellers, IU New York City alumni chapter president. And Gellers acknowledged how quickly opinion can build or slide. \n“As long as the team is winning, (alumni) are willing to sweep anything under the rug,” he said. “But look how quickly things changed.”\nAdding that it’s been a “tough couple of months,” Gellers said the Hoosiers’ performance on the court would, in part, sway sentiment about the University’s direction. \nIt will be up to McRobbie, Locke and others argue, to provide a guiding hand through the storm. \n“It’s a matter of focusing his attention on areas he might not otherwise have focused on as much,” Gros Louis said. “And maybe he should have.”
(04/17/08 4:00am)
Editor's note:This is part three in a three-part series about the IU Foundation’s investments in companies linked to the genocide in Darfur.\nProfessor Steve Weitzman and departing IU Foundation President Curt Simic could not have taken more different roads to get where they are today. For the past seven months, they have headed opposite sides of a debate about investing in companies linked to funding the genocide in Darfur.\nSteve Weitzman never considered himself an activist. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley, but was never seriously involved with politics. The same can be said for his time as a grad student at Harvard.\nYet Weitzman, an IU Religious Studies professor, saw a connection between the Holocaust and genocide in Darfur and has become a central figure in the debate surrounding IU investment policy. He is pushing the University to adopt a policy of what he calls socially responsible investing, which would require IU’s investment managers to monitor funds and ensure that no money is tied to Darfur.\nCurt Simic, a native Hoosier and 1964 IU graduate, has served IU for 20 years, raising money from donations to fund research, scholarships and academic programs at IU.\nJust 74 days remain until his retirement. Already, his tenure is being celebrated. Late Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon labeled him as a “distinguished Hoosier,” while others at the University praised him the savior of University fundraising.\nWeitzman contends that IU has a duty to take financial action against the companies invested in the Sudanese government. Simic, on the other hand, says his main loyalty is to IU donors who entrust him with their gifts.\nA legacy to pass\nAs Weitzman read The New York Times about a year ago, a story caught his eye. That story linked Fidelity, one of the companies that provides IU’s retirements plans, to the genocide in Darfur.\nWith his own retirement plan invested through Fidelity, he felt partly responsible for the genocide.\nWeitzman said he has no choice but to take action now. He said one of the lessons of the Holocaust is that those who turn a blind eye are equally to blame as those who commit the violence.\n“By not doing anything, it’s also making a decision,” Weitzman said. “If you don’t respond to this situation, you’re also setting a precedent.”\nThis precedent, he said, could allow humans to carry out genocide in the future. Weitzman moved his retirement funds from Fidelity to TIAA-CREF, the other financial services company available to IU faculty and administrators for retirement investing. TIAA-CREF maintains the Social Choice Account, which targets investments that meet certain social criteria. The returns on that fund are not as high as the ones he received from Fidelity, he said, and with a wife and four young boys at home, money is not something he wants to take lightly.\n“I’ll lose some money over the course of the years,” he said. “But at the end of the day, what am I going to pass on to my kids? I don’t want to pass on to them a world that turns the other way when a genocide is committed.”\nWhile much of the recent divestment discussion has centered around investments by the IU Foundation – the University’s chartered nonprofit corporation – Weitzman and others around the country have also questioned IU’s agreements with Fidelity.\nThe University applauded Fidelity recently for apparently ending much of its indirect ties to Darfur, but some activists still charge that Fidelity remains invested through overseas markets.\nFidelity and TIAA-CREF are the only financial services companies currently available to IU faculty. Faculty members can choose between the companies and invest retirement money in one or both.\nThey also have the freedom to decide the types of funds. Because each of the companies offers many types of investment options, faculty and administrators have the freedom to personalize their portfolios. For example, TIAA-CREF’s Social Choice Account is just one of many options faculty and administrators can choose from. \nWeitzman said the University, as well as faculty, are part of an academic institution that is obligated to maintain a moral conscience.\n“This is not a corporation, and we are not just employees,” he said.\nMutual respect\nWeitzman’s office is small. Worn wooden chairs crowd around a small table cluttered with books, papers and manila folders. Bookshelves are full, and volumes of religious texts cover the room, leaning haphazardly on shelves or sitting in small piles on the floor. An air-conditioning unit obscures part of the only window.\nThree miles away, Showalter House, the headquarters of the IU Foundation, is distinctively corporate. Gray stone walls reach to the freshly polished, wood-paneled ceiling. Sunlight floods through large windows, welcoming visitors and potential donors. Showalter House has doubled in size during the past 30 years to accommodate the skyrocketing level of endowment. \nThrough a winding hallway, behind security-sealed doors, Simic’s office is a symbol of his power at IU. Two winged chairs and a burgundy leather couch welcome visitors into the large office. A grandfather clock rests against one wall and a large, ornate wooden desk fills the center of the room. It’s here that Simic controls huge sums of University dollars. It’s here that Simic transformed the IU Foundation into a mammoth institutional force during the past three decades.\nPart of the time, Simic collects donations from some of IU’s wealthiest alumni. At other times, he consoles students in crisis.\nThe girl’s father was dead – suicide, she told Simic, sitting on the couch inside his office just a few weeks ago. She could no longer afford tuition, and wondered aloud whether Simic could help.\n“I told her we were going to figure something out,” Simic said. He said he spends part of every day helping others.\nSolving these problems at the institution he has loved for decades is Simic’s idea of social responsibility.\nWith about 10 weeks until his retirement, the debate about divestment could be one of Simic’s last.\nNone of this is personal. Both Weitzman and Simic express respect for one another.\nWeitzman’s a “good man,” Simic said, a passionate man. Despite this, Simic said Weitzman’s logic is fundamentally flawed.\nThe $6 million in Foundation investments that have been linked to the genocide is less than 1 percent of the Foundation’s total endowment, and Simic said divestment would have minimal impact on the Foundation. However, he does not want to set a precedent that might allow activists to sway the Foundation in the future. He also said divesting $6 million would never make a real difference in the genocide. He said IU’s proposed divestment would be a “symbolic” gesture, something he wants to avoid. \n“I don’t want to act merely symbolically, either,” Weitzman said.\nWeitzman said when it comes to genocide, all gestures matter. He likens divesting IU’s $6 million to voting: A single vote might seem insignificant. But “voting is not symbolic,” and neither is divestment, he said.\nSimic, sitting in his office with Vice President for Investments Gary Stratten, reiterated that he thinks he has time to take some sort of practical action on Sudan. Many wait for those efforts; he has 74 days left to make up his mind.\nSolving problems is simply a part of their jobs, Stratten and Simic will agree. A few more discussions likely await Simic in what’s been years of triumph and challenge. Stratten smiled at the long-time leader. Ten weeks until he steps aside.\n“But who’s counting?”
(04/16/08 4:00am)
Editor's note: This article is part 1 of a 3-part series on divestment. Parts 2 and 3 will appear in the IDS Wednesday and Thursday.
(04/16/08 4:00am)
Editor's note: This is part two in a three-part series about the IU Foundation's investments in companies linked to the genocide in Darfur.\nWith the ongoing debate about IU’s investments in companies linked to the genocide in Sudan unlikely to end any time soon, those involved realize it’s the results-driven structure of the IU Foundation that largely fuels the controversy in the \nfirst place. \nLittle social responsibility oversight on investment managers by the IU Foundation allows the investors to invest in these government-blacklisted corporations. High-priced investors face pressure to perform or risk losing their jobs, Foundation and University officials have said.\nWhile the Foundation places limitations on how much money managers can invest in any one company, they have no social responsibility construct for investors to follow. Oversight on the social responsibility track record of various corporations is virtually nonexistent. But Foundation leaders said it’s the corporation’s duty not to allow social causes to distract from their central mission to financially support the University.
(02/22/08 5:55am)
Soaking up sun rays on an unusually temperate day in July of 1960, the half-constructed football stadium on 17th Street was only a skeleton of what it is today.\nThough the massive limestone venue was a dream realized for aging IU President Herman B Wells, a nightmare sat waiting for Wells and his University. \nModeled after Rome’s ancient Colosseum, the stadium was a monument to the efforts of Director of Athletics Frank Allen. For five years, Allen had worked to develop a “system” that would allow for better recruiting. \nThe football team at the time was mediocre at best, and recently hired IU coach Phil Dickens sensed the pressure to win. Faithful alumni were confident in Dickens. They said he was the man who could return IU football to glory. \nInstead, the 1960 Hoosiers stood on the brink of humiliation. Allegations of severe recruiting violations summoned an NCAA investigation, followed by sanctions. IU’s violations included the offering of free plane tickets to several athletes along with financial stipends, according to an NCAA report, while other recruits were delivered envelopes filled with cash. \nIU denied the charges, arguing that possible recruiting violations were just the work of overzealous alumni. The NCAA, however, didn’t buy the claims.\n“I have grave doubts any such practices on the scale, suggested by the cases at hand, could possibly have been carried on without the knowledge of and indeed, the approval of the football coaching staff,” wrote Big Ten Commissioner K.L. Wilson in his report. \nIt was a stain on the \nUniversity’s notoriously clean record. Today, almost 50 years later and again faced with recruiting violations, IU officials can only hope a phoenix flies from the ashes twice. \nThe NCAA socked IU with four years of probation following the major recruiting violations. During the probation period, all Hoosier varsity sports were barred from postseason play.\nAllen retired not long after the sanctions were announced – a quiet end to a career spanning several decades, including a stint on the IU board of trustees.\nBill Orwig took his place as director of athletics, after coming to Bloomington from the University of Nebraska. Upon his hiring, Orwig vowed to have the NCAA penalties reduced. These promises proved largely unfruitful, but echoed the wider sentiments of Hoosier fans who felt they had been mistreated. \nSwimmers, baseball players, runners and the beloved Hoosier basketball boys all paid the price for the alleged sins of Dickens and his staff. But, the University stayed faithful to its coach, and Dickens remained on the Hoosier sidelines for another five years. \n“This, of course, has been a very trying period for all of us and our families,” Dickens wrote in his resignation letter to then-IU President Elvis J. Stahr. At the time, some argued Dickens was only guilty of getting caught.\n“Everybody knew what he had to do – get the players,” said former IU defensive end Raymond Grasch. Grasch played for the Hoosiers from 1957-61 and described Dickens as an “honorable man.” Dickens inherited a program with nothing, Grasch said, and did what he had to do to make the team win. \nThe punishment was harsh – too harsh, the Hoosier faithful complained. Indiana Gov. Harold Handley called the probation “a raw deal,” but through their actions, the NCAA demonstrated the governing body’s power to dish out penalties. \nNow, almost 50 years later, with major NCAA sanctions once again looming over the University, a coaching staff’s future is in jeopardy. The Hoosiers find themselves in the same spot from which it spent years rebuilding. \n“Our athletic programs have unquestionably suffered under the severe punishment which is now being lifted,” Stahr said after the probation’s end in April 1964. “All of us are determined that the good name of the University shall not again be sullied, and all of us look forward to a bright new era of intercollegiate competition.”
(02/14/08 5:00am)
On first listen, Carrie Newcomer's album sounds like any other alt-country album I've heard. It's that second listen where you force yourself to appreciate it that its beauty stands out.\nNewcomer blurs a line between country and folk music with a noble grace. Her all-Americana voice makes her sound like a female version of Lyle Lovett, and the guitar playing evokes a happy-go-lucky Mark Kozelek of the Red House Painters -- a strange combination if you're familiar with their work. \nTo say some of her songs are just standouts is almost insulting. "Biscuits and Butter" seems like a victim of Nashville production yet somehow sounds better than anything Nashville has put out lately. Listening to it makes me want to drop out of school and move to Montana to build a cabin, and I don't even know how. "One Woman and a Shovel" is a great cruising song for any winding road trip.\nThe album doesn't have any real low points either. The only oddity is the bonus Luddite track "Don't Push Send" that sounds as if Newcomer is trying to replicate Michael Buble with a swing style, but it just feels a little out of place on this album.\n"Geodes" is by far the best track on the album. The piano is beautiful, and the guitar creates the impression of a harp. The song talks about the splendor of geodes and how they are placed in gardens where she lives, something that I, as a homegrown Indiana Hoosier like Newcomer, can understand. Every house in my neighborhood had a geode, including mine. Listening to this song brings me back to childhood and exploring my own sidewalk for discoveries.\nThe Geography of Light is definitely worth the money, especially if you account for the fact that she donates proceeds to charities she supports. So do yourself a favor, and support a local Hoosier deserving of the title of "Mellencamp's heir"
(02/07/08 5:00am)
Studying abroad in London offers many opportunities to experience the great culture of a country whose history dates back thousands of years. While the culture and history are fascinating, being here has also allowed the opportunity of going on Amy Winehouse-style pub crawls, making constant Harry Potter references and the chance to see the Spice Girls reunite in its native country in smashing, spit-spot, jolly 'ol London.\nOriginally formed in England in 1993 when they all responded to an add for five "lively girls" for a music group, the Spice Girls gained widespread attention in 1996 with its first single "Wannabe" and its 1997 debut album Spice. The following year, it released its sophomore album Spiceworld, with its film of the same name. In May 1998, Geri Halliwel, a.k.a., Ginger Spice, departed the group. By Christmas, the group scored another hit with the appropriately titled single "Goodbye." Following its last and unsuccessful studio album, 2000's Forever, the group announced its separation. After numerous weddings, solo efforts, scandals and children of their own, The Spice Girls announced its worldwide reunion tour that began December 2007. The closest the girls will get to Bloomington on this tour will be Feb. 15, when they stop in Chicago. \nArriving at London's largest indoor venue, the 20,000-seat O2 Arena, advertisements of the concert flashed as people swarmed to get into the doors. No fans were decked out in costumes, and all the 12-year-old fans of the late-'90s are now in their 20s. Chants of "Spice Girls! Spice Girls!" filled the arena as the lights went out and images of the girls appeared on the stage screens. The lights went up, and blasts of "la la la la la la" started as the girls rose up on stage tearing into "Spice Up Your Life." \nAfter thanking the crowd and stating how great it was to be back, they proceeded into "Say You'll Be There," the new single "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" and "The Lady is a Vamp," which was accompanied by Chicago-inspired black hats and burlesque dance moves. The girls also took a note from the TRL era of Britney Spears and 'NSYNC that followed their fame, aligning themselves with a group of backup dancers, as well as a live band. However, there was no lip-synching that night by the Spice Girls. \nInstead of its characteristic individualized costumes (no cat ears for Scary, sports bra for Sporty or little Gucci dress for Posh), the girls favored matching clothing schemes of sparkling whites, creams and boxing robes designed by Roberto Cavalli (after all these years, still no skirts for Sporty.) However, Geri's British flag dress (as well as giant Brit flags everywhere) showed up during "Who Do You Think You Are." \nEach singer performed something individually from her solo career. Surrounded by black-and-white peppermint swirls, Emma Bunton, a.k.a., Baby Spice, brought back London's swingin'-'60s vibe with her song "Maybe." Scary covered Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way," bringing a fan up on stage, only to handcuff him to a ladder and kick him with a whip. \nInstead of ignoring Geri's initial departure, the other girls had the balls, or whatever the girl-power equivalent to testosterone is, to play Post-Ginger songs such as "Holler" without her. At the end of the song, giant storm clouds and lightning bolts filled the screens. Ginger walked out in a raincoat accompanied by shirtless guys, giant vats of steam blowing up from the stage, and plenty of umbrellas as she sang her biggest hit, a cover of The Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men."\nIn the early years, the song "Mama" always featured the girls with pictures of their mums in the background. These days they're able to add pictures of them with their own kids (seven in all ... Mel C., a.k.a., "Sporty Spice," is the only one yet to pop one out.) About 25 girls aligned in matching white dresses appeared out of nowhere, turning the stage into an episode of "Deal or No Deal." (Instead of supermodels, they turned out to be a children's choir and managed to make a sappy, sentimental song rock.) \nBefore closing with "Goodbye," the group sang a medley of songs that included Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" and Kool and the Gang's "Celebration." \nWaiting only a minute to come back for the encore, the girls stalled by joking about which hit song they had forgotten to play. And so it began -- the song that started it all -- "Wannabe," with Mel B. shouting, "Yo I tell you what I want ... " and ending with a reprise of "Spice Up Your Life," while flags from numerous countries appeared on screen. \nAs the thousands of people poured out into the packed tube station, people still screamed cheers of joy and girl power, and many complained, "Why can't they stay together"
(01/25/08 5:54am)
Following a dispute Tuesday evening between members of the Student Alliance for National Security and the Indiana Daily Student regarding a request for a public speech by former government official Meghan O’Sullivan to be off-the-record, First Amendment experts and lawyers nationwide called O’Sullivan’s request questionable. But the event’s organizers said this was an issue of professionalism, not media rights.\nIn addition, the IDS found similar procedures to be commonplace at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where O’Sullivan serves as a senior fellow. \nO’Sullivan, President Bush’s former deputy national security advisor, had been contracted by the student organization to speak Tuesday at the Indiana Memorial Union. O’Sullivan had planned to lead a discussion with students and members of the public about recent gains made in the Iraq war. However, both O’Sullivan and event organizers said the event had to be off-the-record for members of the press.\nAfter objections by both IDS reporters and editors, and the assertion that O’Sullivan had become ill, organizers canceled the event. But fallout Wednesday largely yielded more questions than answers – namely those regarding the press’ access to reporting public events. \n“This is a public university, public dollars. You cannot be bound by the agreement that those organizations made,” said Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a facility devoted to journalism and its ethics. “(Journalists) can attend that event. And you can write about that event ethically and responsibly.”\nAlthough the IDS originally challenged the request on the basis of Indiana’s Open Door Law, editors at the newspaper realized later that evening this particular situation was not covered by the law because it was not a meeting; it was a public event. IDS Editor-in-Chief Carrie Ritchie said the press had the right to quote O’Sullivan’s lecture. \n“I see it as common sense because we are going there and covering the event that had been advertised as free and open to the public,” Ritchie said. “Anyone in the city, the state, this country or the world could have attended.” \nIt is not uncommon for institutions to experience controversy about speakers, Clark said, but that controversy hardly ever stems from a request by organizers to keep a speaker’s comments private.\nFirst Amendment experts and lawyers also couldn’t think of a previous case similar to Tuesday night’s.\nIn large part, they agreed that the dispute stemmed from a general misunderstanding of the term “off-the-record.” The decision to go off-the-record is an agreement journalists can choose to make with sources, Clark said. It is not something reporters are required to do in public gatherings, and the request often includes gray areas, experts said. Additionally, they all agreed O’Sullivan had no legal authority to require all comments be off-the-record, particularly when University dollars funded the speech. \n“That is just plain stupid,” said Lucy Dalglish, attorney and executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “If you want to have a private event, say it is by invitation only.”\nEvent organizers said this type of request is typical and said they were disappointed in what they called the press’ lack of professionalism. It was an arrangement that Miles Taylor, director for the Student Alliance for National Security, said he had expected the IDS to uphold. He was also upset that IDS staff members waited until five minutes before the event began to say they wouldn’t accept O’Sullivan’s request. \n“Frankly, it was shocking to me,” Taylor said. He said major universities looking to lure high-profile speakers to campus often granted recent government employees off-the-record status. In the end, the situation for Taylor was “money lost, time wasted and IU embarrassed.”\nAt Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs – the sponsor of O’Sullivan’s fellowship – many lectures and workshops also ask for off-the-record status. A spokesman for the school said there was no umbrella policy requiring these events be held off-the-record. Rather, that decision was left up to individual presenters. \n“I think people really appreciate and value the ability to engage in true public discourse,” said Sasha Talcott, director of communications for the center. Without the press taking notes during an event, people might be able to more fully express their viewpoints, she said.\nMalcom A. Glenn, president of Harvard’s student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, said he was not aware these types of presentations went on at the university, but said reporters at his newspaper would not concede to requests for off-the-record presentations.\nAt IU, several officials were surprised by organizers’ requests.\nLarry MacIntyre, IU’s assistant vice president for University Communications, said he’d never heard of something like this happening at a college campus. \nIn addition, University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said denying press access to a public event “goes against the grain of what a university is.” He also said that, in his 43-year tenure at IU, he cannot remember a situation like this occurring.\nBut for Taylor, the dispute was not a question of press freedoms. Rather, it was a desire that reporters respect the request from a high-profile speaker.\n“This isn’t an issue of the rights of the press,” he said. “This is an issue of the courtesy of the press’ professionalism.”
(12/06/07 6:42am)
Despite below freezing temperatures, members of Indiana Students Against War challenged the ongoing U.S. detention of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. Along with members handing out literature to passers-by, IU graduate student Alex Smith dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a black hood. Smith knelt on the stone path near Woodburn Hall and challenged the alleged ongoing torture of suspected foreign fighters.
(12/03/07 2:21am)
Beyond the differences of opinion surrounding a controversial anti-torture resolution passed by the American Psychological Association last summer, Friday’s meeting between Association President Sharon Brehm and concerned members of the University community demonstrated a disagreement about the “facts” on torture.\nAbout 30 students, faculty members and concerned Bloomington residents turned up to question Brehm on an anti-torture resolution her organization approved last summer. That resolution has been criticized by activists as not having done enough to end the suspected torturing of non-citizen prisoners.\nWhile the meeting’s discussion of the resolution was often heated, participants did not attack the IU psychology professor personally. Rather, many expressed a concern that a continued presence by psychologists at detention centers such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba legitimizes questioned government operations there.\nPresident Bush points to the continued psychologists’ presence at prisons as providing guidance to the interrogations, said IU Law professor Dawn Johnsen during the meeting. \nStill, the actual role psychologists play in interrogations was debated itself. Brehm said psychologists only acted in an advisory role during questionings, working with interrogators to develop effective strategies that will elicit “accurate information.”\nThe controversy surrounding the Association’s resolution stems from a rejected moratorium of psychologists at interrogation sites. That amendment was turned down at the organization’s conference last August, but debate among some psychologists continues. Some former members of the Association have quit in protest, while hundreds of others are refusing to pay dues, according to an organization spokesman. \nSimilar professional organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association already passed resolutions similar to the psychologist’s rejected one. \nWhen questioned about these other policies, Brehm responded those resolutions largely proved less effective than the regulations set forth by the American Psychological Association’s. \n“All of our ethical policies are based on individual responsibility,” Brehm said. “If you violate the behaviors that are prescribed then, if it is a serious violation, we’ll kick you out of the association and you may not be able to make a living anymore. It is that basic.”\nBrehm acknowledged, however, that it’s often tough to prove a psychologist’s wrongdoing. \nDespite insistence by some attendees that psychologists played a more active role in conducting interrogations, Brehm said she thinks psychologists usually are not even present in interrogation cells. Instead, Brehm said she thinks psychologists observed interrogations from behind one-way mirrors. In that role, they can serve as government watchdogs, ensuring interrogators do not torture prisoners. \n“We have great confidence that at least most of our members are really good people and that they would not do bad things,” Brehm said, adding her belief that psychologists had the ability to be heroes in fighting against torture. \nThose expectations are exactly the problem, said New York University psychology professor Beth Shinn. The psychologist had been a member of the American Psychological Association since the 1980’s, but resigned following last August’s resolution. \nPsychologists are ordinary people who are affected by the situations in which they find themselves, Shinn said. It’s unrealistic to believe that psychologists will always act as superheroes standing up to the government in order to stop torture, she said. \nA student contingent, led mostly by the activist group Indiana Students Against War, along with faculty and community organizations, showed up to question the policy. \nParts of last summer’s resolution are too ambiguous, said graduate student Sandrine Catris. In addition, Brehm’s uncertainty on specifics regarding interrogation sites made it difficult for Catris to take a firm stance on the issue. \nThroughout the meeting, Brehm was uncertain on specifics regarding the controversial interrogation sites. She said she has never been to detention centers like Guantanamo Bay’s and as a result could not specifically discuss conditions there. \nRegardless, Brehm’s stance on the resolution was strong. It’s a resolution she believes proves effective in stopping torture. \n“To be a psychologist who treats people, it is a deeply engrained sense of ethics,” Brehm said. “So that’s the way we do business as an association.”