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(11/20/00 4:54am)
The Willkie Quad auditorium swelled with music, laughter and the tinkling chimes of ankle bells Saturday night when about 550 people celebrated Diwali, the Hindu "Festival of Lights," with the Indian Student Association.\nWomen in brightly colored saris and men in flowing traditional garb mingled with parents and children before settling in to enjoy the evening.\nSenior Neena Patel, ISA's vice president of communications, said Diwali is one of the most important holidays of the Hindu year. She said its status is similar to that of Christmas in the Christian tradition.\nThe name of the festival comes from the Sanskrit word "deepavali," meaning "row of lights." The holiday marks the New Year on the Hindu lunar calendar and is on the night of the new moon in the month of Ashwin. Celebrants traditionally light clay lamps to illuminate the natural darkness. Patel said the date of this year's Diwali observance was in late October, but ISA chose to hold its festival in November so it wouldn\'t conflict with other campus events.\nSenior Shekhar Menon, who was emcee for the event, said Diwali is celebrated in different ways and for different reasons in the various regions of India and South Asia.\nHe described a family ritual that is common in several areas.\n"The whole family will wake up before dawn," Menon said. "Everyone will take an oil bath and then greet the sunrise before beginning the day's festivities."\nThere are many stories associated with the reasons for celebrating Diwali. Most of the stories center on a god in the Hindu pantheon and his or her triumph against evil in the world.\n"The lamps and other symbols of Diwali represent the triumph of good over evil and of light over darkness," Patel said. "It is a joyous celebration and one the biggest parties of the year."\nDiwali Nite 2000 featured a number of dances and music from India and an authentic dinner menu. Senior Hima Tadoori, president of ISA, said the performances were a combination of traditional styles and western influences.\nThe student performers selected their own music, which often sounded like a mix of European techno beats and traditional Indian songs and choreographed dances to accompany them.\n"For many people, Diwali at home is a busy time full of food and music," Patel said. "(ISA) wanted to keep that happy atmosphere, but the students enjoyed organizing their own festival and wanted to give it a younger feel"
(11/16/00 5:33pm)
Several environmental action groups gathered in protest outside of the Bloomington Staples, 2813 E. Third St., Wednesday to end corporate purchasing policies that environmentalists charge are harmful to the planet.\nThere were more than 50 other protests at Staples stores across the country.\nTom Nutile, vice president of public relations for Staples, said he received a steady stream of calls all morning from protesters and reporters.\n"The Day of Action has arrived," he said, referring to the Coastal Rainforest Campaign's appellation for the protest movement.\nAlison Cochran, the director of Heartwood, a Bloomington-based environmental action group, said Wednesday's event was a "preliminary action intended to get a message out to the public."\nJoshua Martin, a graduate student, said there were two messages: Staples needs to carry more recycled paper products, and the company needs to stop purchasing wood products that have been manufactured from virgin forests.\n"We are out here to educate people," said Martin.\nNutile said the nationwide protest gave Staples the chance to educate the public as well.\n"This is our opportunity to let people know that we are addressing the issues," Nutile said. "We have already asked for and received confirmation from some of our suppliers that they do not harvest in virgin forests."\nNutile said Staples is investigating those suppliers who might still log in old growth areas. Nutile and his public relations department sent letters to all of their store managers, warning them about the protest.\nAt 11 a.m., an hour before the rally was scheduled to begin, managers were calm.\nA Bloomington police officer was on hand. He said a manager had called him to the store for "advice." But the officer was never asked to interact with the demonstrators.\n"Protesters have the right to do what they want so long as they don't restrict traffic or harass our customers," said James Clark, the store manager of the Bloomington Staples.\nJunior Sarah Uhlemann, the Student Environmental Action Coalition's coordinator, said the store managers were friendly. In an ironic gesture, one store employee even provided demonstrators with a Staples recycling bin for any waste material the event generated.\nProtesters stood outside of the store's only entrance and passed out fliers and leaflets and asked people to sign a petition.\nFreshman Mat Berghs carried a sign that read, "You are the consumer, you are the killer."\nOne customer screamed at protesters who asked her to sign a petition.\n"Go to hell," she said. "I don't want to have anything to do with you."\nBut the atmosphere outside of the store was as peaceful as it was inside, where soft music filled the air and customers chatted among themselves.\nRobin Larsen, one of several students from Harmony High School who joined the protest, talked to people as they walked into the store. He urged Joan Caulton, a Bloomington resident, to buy recycled paper.\n"If they sold it, I would buy it," Caulton said. "But I'm just buying highlighters today."\nAt 1:45 p.m. all but a few of the protesters had drifted off and Cochran declared the day a success.\n"We've met our goals," she said. "It was an excellent showing for a weekday, and I believe that Staples will get the message."\n"If they don't get the message, we'll be back," Martin said.\nCampaign demands for Staples\n• Immediately phase out all wood and paper products made from fiber from U.S. public lands.\n• Commit to achieving 50 percent post consumer content for all paper products within two years and begin an immediate phase-out of all products that are 100 percent virgin wood fiber.\n• Make available 100 percent post consumer paper and paper that is made from agricultural fiber available by allocating \npermanent shelf space and stocking it in all stores or other points of sale.\n• Educate all employees, customers and suppliers on the benefits of recycled paper, recycling, the availability of alternative fibers and the benefits of healthy forest resources.
(11/15/00 5:12am)
Today is National Recycling Day, and several local environmental groups have decided to honor the occasion by protesting outside the Staples office supplies store, 2813 East Third St., across from the College Mall.\nThe Bloomington protest has been organized by the Student Environmental Action Coalition, the Indiana Public Interest Research Group, Heartwood, the Indiana Forest Alliance and American Lands.\nTom Nutile, vice president of public relations for Staples, said, "Staples is committed to the environment."\nBut protesters will try to convince Bloomington consumers that Staples, which operates more than 1,200 stores around the world, should do more to protect and preserve natural resources.\nThe Bloomington protest is one of many demonstrations that will be held across the United States. The Coastal Rainforest Campaign is an environmental group that has coordinated this nationwide "day of action."\nAccording to CRC literature,the protests are to persuade Staples to stop purchasing wood-derived products that have been manufactured from virgin wood and to encourage the purchase of post-consumer, or recycled, paper products.\nNutile said Staples carries 400 products that contain post-consumer content. He said these products account for almost 12 percent of all paper product sales.\nNutile said Staples was not aware of exactly how many of its paper products come from suppliers that log in old growth forests.\nH. Gyde Lund, of the Forest Information Service in Manassas, Va. defines virgin wood, or old growth forest, as an area of forest that is typically more than 200 years old.\nThe Rainforest Action Network estimates that 78 percent of all old growth forests in the world have already been cut down. In the United States more than 96 percent of virgin woodland has been logged, according to the group.\nCRC literature also says "the pulp and paper industry is the largest single consumer in the U.S. and in the world."\nThe campaign has targeted Staples because it is the largest and fastest growing office supplies store in the world. Environmentalists hope that if Staples will stop purchasing paper products that have been manufactured from virgin wood, other, similar retail chains will follow suit.\nFrank Ambrose, of American Lands, said environmental groups pushed a similar initiative in recent years. Public protest campaigns forced several major home improvement stores such as Lowes and Home Depot to stop buying virgin wood products.\nAmbrose said, "Those companies committed to our cause and many smaller companies were quick to follow. We are hoping that if we can convince Staples to stop buying old growth products there will be a similar reaction in the office supplies industry.\n"If the demand for virgin wood lessens, logging companies will have to look elsewhere for their wood. The last of these ancient forests, which are often essential to healthy local ecosystems, will be saved," he said.\nThe demonstration is scheduled to begin around noon in the Staples parking lot and will feature a street theatre and a slide show. Protesters plan on picketing and passing out petitions.
(11/13/00 4:10am)
Associate Professor of Religious Studies David Haberman addressed about 75 people Thursday night in his lecture "River Goddesses and Indian Environmentalism."\nThe lecture grew out of a project that Haberman said combined his interest in the environment with 10 years of frequent travels in India, where he has done a variety of theological and ethnographic research.\nHaberman said he studied religious life along the Yamuna and Ganges rivers in India. In the course of his studies he said he noticed an undercurrent of environmentalism that closely tied religion to the rivers.\n"Every year I would go back to do research along these rivers," he said. "And every year I watched the (environmental) deterioration of those rivers. I'm a Colorado nature boy and that was hard for me to swallow. I began to wonder about the conflict between religious and environmental interests and the reality of the pollution."\nJohn McRae, an associate professor of religious studies, said Haberman's work and life are in perfect unity.\n"To David (Haberman), being an academic is like being a missionary," McRae said. "He cares deeply about both his studies and concerns about the environment."\n"In America, the environmental movement is dominated by this philosophy that we need to preserve nature for our own benefit," Haberman said. "There is a pervading fear of environmental catastrophe."\nBut in India, he said, environmentalists are motivated by love rather than fear.\n"Hinduism is a nature-loving religion," he said. "Rivers are viewed and worshiped as sacred."\nHaberman said the Yamuna and Ganges rivers are believed to be goddesses in Hindu theology. Flowing water is a living entity in this view, and pollution and damming kill the shakti, or life-force, of the river, he said.\nHaberman included in his lecture a slide show of some of his travels along the rivers. Photographs traced the source of the Yamuna, which flows from a glacier in the Himalayas, and a course that leads it through cities and rural communities, ultimately feeding into the Bay of Bengal. By the time the river reaches the bay, Haberman said its once pristine waters are choked with pollution.\nSarah Smith, a senior, said the slide show was her favorite part of the presentation.\n"(The slide show) made everything he said more concrete," said Smith. "It was easy to see why the people of India have so much emotion invested in these rivers."\nHaberman said urbanization was one of the primary causes of the degradation he has witnessed. As people move to the cities and become immersed in a more global and secular culture, they lose many of the religious motivations tradition has preserved, he said.\n"Too many people have stopped thinking of the rivers as divine," Haberman said. "Only when people see the Yamuna as a goddess again will they stop polluting her."\nHaberman told a story about an 80-year-old woman who has bathed in the river every day of her adult life. She still worships the Yamuna, and said her ablutions are vital to her health. But she refuses to admit that it is polluted. She said the river has the divine power to purify itself, and it wouldn't allow itself to become corrupted.\nHaberman said devotional love is the means and end to the environmental movement in India. He said the fear that motivates many environmentalists in the United States simply fosters greater problems, and that U.S. citizens can learn a great deal from the Indian model.\nGraduate student Joshua Martin said the talk hit home to him.\n"The presentation was about a country I've never been to, but it made me understand and love my own environment here at home that much more"
(11/07/00 11:35pm)
As the sun rose on election day, political campaign signs littered the lawns of residence halls. High school students from Bloomington North and South passed out candidate fliers in front of Assembly Hall. The campus was quiet and things were running smoothly at the various election sites.\nBy 8:30 a.m., election officials at Assembly Hall had counted more than 50 voters from four different precincts. Bill Ballew, the inspector for Bloomington district 13, said he had seen a steady turnout since the polls opened at 6 a.m. and the voters had been a mix of students and local residents.\nAt 9 a.m. only nine students had voted at Briscoe Quad, and volunteer Ricardo Montelongo said he didn't expect the pace to increase through the rest of the day.\nMontelongo, a doctoral student in higher education, said, "Hopefully, when I'm a faculty member some day, I can convince more students to come out and vote."\nThe 26th Amendment to the Constitution lowered the national voting age to 18. But according to the National Association of Secretaries of State Web site, less than a third of people younger than 24 actually show up to vote on election days. \nHarvard's Vanishing Voter Project Web site also charges that the young voting block is affected with chronic apathy.\nBut freshman Julia Christensen, a volunteer at the Read Center voting center, said it was too early to predict such a trend for this election.\n"We've had over 20 people come in so far and it's only 9:15 (a.m.)," Christensen said. "Everyone who has been through seems to be really proud. One student even had us take his picture in front of a (voting) booth."\nFreshman Megan Freyer, who voted at Read, said, "I'm not sure if my vote will make a difference, but we (Americans) have this wonderful privilege to vote. A lot of people in the world don't have that right and I would feel guilty if I didn't exercise mine."\nOfficials at Eigenmann Quad said 26 people had voted before 10 a.m. Freshman Robert Makowski said he showed up early because he knew who he was going to vote for and he wanted to make sure his voice was heard in the election.\nMany students came to the booths knowing whom they were going to vote for. But some students made their decisions as they voted.\nJunior Chris Hiter was at Briscoe before 9 a.m. so he could make it to work on time.\n"I voted for (Ralph) Nader at the last minute," Hiter said. "At first I couldn't choose a candidate for president, but when I started to fill out my ballot I realized that Gore doesn't really have a chance here in Indiana and a vote for Nader would really mean something."\nThe signs at Read that directed students to the voting center read, "Need to vote?" More than 100 IU students said "yes" to that question before the polling sites had been open for a full four hours. Since many college students don't even climb out of bed until 10 a.m., those numbers might indicate the days of youthful election apathy are numbered.
(11/06/00 3:52am)
About 20 students and professors filled Woodburn Hall's room 111 Thursday to hear a visiting scholar from the University of Michigan discuss the history of anti-Semitism in Poland's Catholic Church.\nThe Polish Studies Center sponsored Brian Porter's lecture, "The Search for Catholic Modernity: Anti-Semitism and the Boundaries of Catholic Discourse in Poland."\nBozena Shallcross, the Center's director and an associate professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, said the center has sponsored similar lectures for the past 25 years.\n"We maintain discussions of anti-Semitism as a light motif in our lectures," Shallcross said. "It is an ever-present topic in Polish studies."\nIn his brief presentation, Porter was careful to suggest that the focus of his research was on sociology rather than religious studies. He said he was not interested in vilifying or exonerating the Church's position in an anti-Semitic society.\nInstead, Porter stressed that neither Catholics nor Poles can be said to be anti-Semitic. He said every instance of anti-Semitism in Poland should not be viewed in isolation, and making generalizations about such a sensitive social trend can be dangerous.\n"People often associate the Church with rabid Polish nationalism," he said. "But until the 1930s, that connection did not exist."\nHe said the Church has a steady history of opposition to nationalism because of its nature as a universal institution. Authority ultimately comes from the pope in Rome, and, consequently, Porter said, Catholics are often torn between their allegiances to the Church and their national identity.\nPorter began the lecture by praising Pope John Paul II for his attempts to apologize for the vigorous anti-Semitism of the early 20th century. This, Porter said, is actually a completion of the circle that Catholic discourse has traveled since the 1870s.\n"At that time, Poles viewed anti-Semitism as a peculiarly German problem, that could never happen in Poland," Porter said. "Ten years later, when that problem began to emerge as a powerful political force in Polish nationalism it was immediately condemned by the Church."\nHe noted that the Church fathers recognized the inherent conflicts between divisive anti-Semitism and Christian ideals of love and brotherhood.\nPorter also drew attention to the Church's historical discomfort with modern thought.\n"The Church, while not a monolithic or static institution, has always been averse to change," he said. "The problem with anti-Semitism was that it was quintessentially modern and the conservative Church was wary of this."\nHe maintained that the Church was opposed to this shift until the early 1900s, until outside pressures prompted it to accept the principle that human communities are locked in a struggle for survival.\nPorter said anti-Semites posited the struggle as an eternal conflict and that the Church could agree with this because it didn't rely on concepts of modernity, such as Social Darwinism.\nPorter said that by the 1920s, pervading attitudes saw a struggle for earthly supremacy between the Catholic and Jewish communities. And while the Church continued to condemn the violence of anti-Semitic sentiment, Porter said it sometimes publicly acknowledged an "understanding" of its arguments and actions.\n But several audience members had problems with Porter's speech. They criticized Porter's conclusions, complaining he relied too heavily on weak assumptions about the nature of external influences on the Church. One man in particular asked why Porter did not discuss the popular origins of Polish and Catholic anti-Semitism, instead focusing on institutional rhetoric.\nPorter responded by saying that the basis for his data was grounded in such rhetoric because this illustrated the intangible nature of social phenomena.\n"What historians need to understand is that the Church itself was never a rabidly anti-Semitic institution," Porter said. "Just as the Church today condemns abortion and presents a unified Catholic front against it, many individual Catholics support or even practice abortion.\n"To repeat my earlier statement, historians should not talk of an anti-Semitic Church or an anti-Semitic Poland. This is a fallacy that only leads to misunderstanding and sometimes resentment."\nGraduate student Eunha Hoh said she attended the lecture because she is from Japan and somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of anti-Semitism.\n"I was interested in the subject, but I didn't really know what to expect," Hoh said. "I think I've come away with a greater understanding of the issues involved, though, and especially of their history"
(10/09/00 6:13am)
Observers might see students throwing bread into Jordan River today.\nThis act takes on meaning in an ancient ritual tradition in which members of the Jewish community ask forgiveness for their sins and prepare for a new year.\nRosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, was celebrated Saturday. This occasion marks the beginning of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish calender and a month of several religious observances. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holidays, and today is the second of these holidays -- Yom Kippur, which literally means, "the Day of Atonement."\nAmi Trockman, a senior majoring in Jewish studies, said Yom Kippur is an opportunity for Jews to reaffirm their ties to God through the atonement of their sins. The ritual of throwing the bread, called tashlich in Hebrew, is a metaphor for casting away one's sins.\n"Yom Kippur is a time of reflection," Trockman said. "It is a time to sit back and review the past year, kind of like the traditional American New Year. We make resolutions, and try to resolve conflicts in our lives."\nSince the Jewish day begins and ends at sundown, Sunday nightmarked the beginning of a day-long fast for observant Jews. This is one of the most important practices of Yom Kippur, as Jews are supposed to take the day to focus on their transgressions.\n"Fasting is a way to separate yourself from daily life," senior Gene Eydelman said. "It makes you remove yourself from what is comfortable and concentrate on what it means to be Jewish."\nIt is also customary for people to wear white during their fast, and rules forbid the wearing of leather shoes, makeup and a variety of other things. But not everyone adheres to these traditions today.\n"I think a lot of (Jewish) people are unaware of the more obscure restrictions," senior David Rubin said. "In the end, it's the idea of the holiday that is important." \nHe also said Yom Kippur is a unique holiday in the Jewish year. Its underlying purpose is akin to the Catholic practice of confession, in which adherents admit wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness.\nBut while Catholics often attend confession many times during the year, to Jews Yom Kippur is a singular opportunity to confront their sins.\n"It's the only chance to make up for the wrong things that you do during the year," Rubin said.\nEydelman said many Jews who are not very religious still attend services during the High Holidays.\n"I don't attend normal services on a regular basis, but I always observe the High Holidays," Eydelman said. "It's the only time of year I have to correct myself on a more spiritual level."\nTrockman said she agrees Yom Kippur is one of the more widely observed Jewish holidays.\n"The High Holidays are the most important Jewish holidays," she said. "A lot of people who don't normally go to services during the rest of the year come out for these two days. It's kind of like Christmas and Easter for a lot of Christians."\nThe Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, 730 E. Third St., regularly holds services during the rest of the year, but Trockman said, "so many people come out for Yom Kippur, we have to rent out St. Paul's (Catholic church) for some of the ceremonies, just to accommodate everyone. It's kind of funny."\nNe'ilah, Yom Kippur's closing ceremony, will be at the Hillel Center 6 p.m. today.
(10/04/00 5:13am)
Last year IU adopted a new policy to handle student complaints of religious discrimination. This new policy, backed by federal law, states "that instructors must reasonably accommodate students who want to observe their religious holidays at times when academic requirements conflict with those observances."\nIn other words, professors must make allowances for students of any faith who must miss class or are unable to complete an assignment because of legitimate religious holidays.\nIn the past, the University has received a number of student complaints charging professors with discrimination. This is the reason why the Bloomington Faculty Council initiated the new University-wide policy, said Paul Eisenberg, a professor of Philosophy and chairperson of the affirmative action committee for the BFC.\n"Students felt a sense of prejudice, whether it was intentional or unintentional," Eisenberg said. "(The BFC) found it necessary to establish a set of rules to guide professors in dealing with this issue."\nThese guidelines, which will not be fully effective until Fall 2001, establish both an overall policy and a set of procedures for students to request special accommodations. \nThe dean of the faculties office is responsible for preparing a list of dates for major religious holidays as specified by the recommendations of the leaders of local religious communities. Students of faiths not represented by these recommendations can also request accommodation for other holidays. After these dates have been set, professors are required to schedule their curriculum to avoid conflicts. \nErin Moran, a senior, is director of Student Rights for the IU Student Association. The IUSA Student Rights committee acts as a liaison between students and the University and has heard many complaints about this issue in the past.\n"But so far this year, we haven't received a single complaint," Moran said. "Unfortunately, that may have less to do with the new University policy than the fact that we are just now entering some major holy seasons."\nPhilip Ohriner, a junior and president of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, agreed that the policy has not yet proven itself. He said Hillel normally receives up to 50 formal complaints a year from Jewish students who want accommodations for holidays.\n"I'm confident that the policy will improve our relations with faculty," Ohriner said. "But that policy won't be fully realized until next year. We haven't had any complaints yet, but Yom Kippur, one of the major Jewish holidays, is on Monday (Oct. 9). I wouldn't be surprised if we received some phone calls next week."\nIf conflicts between student and instructor interests persist, students can discuss the matter with the relevant professor. If either party is dissatisfied with the results of this dialogue, the individual can contact Associate Dean of Faculties Kim Walker at 855-0230. Students can also call the IUSA Student Rights office at 856-4188. The new University policy is on the Web at www.indiana.edu/~bfc/BFC/circulars/99-00/B22-2000.htm.