Student ID Card: One item an IU student should never forget
If there is one thing students should keep with them at all times, it’s their student identification card.
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If there is one thing students should keep with them at all times, it’s their student identification card.
Several thousand students said goodbye to IU for the last time as undergraduates Saturday at IU’s Memorial Stadium.
Nita Levison, the former director of international student services within the IU School of Education, died Saturday in her home in Bloomington due to respiratory complications.
IU named Don Hossler, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies in the IU School of Education, as the 2015 Tracy M. Sonneborn Award recipient, according to an IU press release. This award honors faculty members for outstanding research and teaching.
IU and Bloomington community members will be able to help a multitude of exotic cat species with every breakfast, lunch or dinner purchase from BuffaLouie’s on Thursday.
Out of the 9,365 owner-occupied houses in Bloomington, only about 800 first-time home buyers per year go through the Home Buyers Club workshop, according to City-Data.com.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Boxes at IU Panhellenic Association sorority houses were piled high with gently-used women’s business clothing.PHA participated in their first clothing drive for My Sister’s Closet, a 15-year-old nonprofit organization that provides underprivileged women seeking jobs with free business attire. The event lasted from Oct. 21 though Dec. 2.In total, PHA sororities donated 413 articles of clothing including blouses, pants, shoes and a variety of accessories. Senior MaryClaire Cieply, My Sister’s Closet public relations coordinator and Delta Gamma sorority’s director of public relations, organized the event.She counted and sorted every piece of clothing and accessory that was donated.“It basically covered the entire DG basement,” Cieply said. Cieply said she was happy the donated items were current and trendy.“We got a ton of clothes that are still in style,” she said. “We had some top brands like Ralph Lauren and Anne Taylor.”Blazers and dress pants were the most donated items, Cieply said. “There are lots of different suit combinations available that underprivileged women wouldn’t normally get the chance to wear,” she said. “It will help them look more professional when they go to their interviews.”Sandy Keller, the creator of My Sister’s Closet, said this drive greatly improved their inventory.“It was jaw-dropping,” Keller said. “We had a mountain of clothes. It took us three days to go through and sort. It was such a wonderful feeling to have the responsibility of that on our plate.”Keller said these clothes will help multiple women in need throughout their job interviewing process.“You have to be able to put your best foot forward visually,” Keller said. “We judge people in a very short amount of time. If they see these women not looking like the level of the other women in their office, they’ll immediately forget about them.”A $200 reward was given to the sorority with the most clothing points. Points were determined by a system based on clothing’s worth. Upscale clothing like blazers are worth five points, while casual shirts and jewelry are one point.The winning sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, had 665 points. They bestowed their winnings to their philanthropy, the American Diabetes Association. The second and third place winners were Delta Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta, with 450 and 104 points, respectively.The clothing and accessories at My Sister’s Closet are also available for purchase by the public. The business receives its primary support from its income, Keller said.Cieply said she hopes PHA will continue the clothing drive for My Sister’s Closet next year.“This is a really nice way to get a lot of donations,” she said. “We always look to get clothing from the younger crowd, and we always have clothes we don’t need lying around, so it gives people a great opportunity to donate what they don’t need.”In addition to the future partnership with PHA, Keller said she hopes My Sister’s Closet will do another clothing drive before students leave after spring semester.Keller said the donations, no matter how small, will continue to help underprivileged women seeking employment.“Oftentimes, women don’t make it to the actual interview because of how they’re perceived by the office assistant, usually by their appearance,” Keller said. “If they get past the gatekeeper, they will get to a place where they can talk about their own story and what they can contribute to an organization.” Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU students, faculty and community members learned about the future of data and data sharing in “big business” Monday night at Woodburn Hall.Dean Allemang, the leader of the web engineering company Working Ontologist LLC, led his discussion, “Industrial Big Data – When Big Data Meets Big Business,” as a part of the Network Science Talks sponsored by the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center.Allemang said the continuously changing world of technology has led to a world drowning in data.Because technologies have been created to make it easier for multiple computer users to collect and store more data, the presence of data has significantly increased, thus leading to large, difficult to process data sets called “big data”.Allemang introduced a new trend in big data called “industrial big data”, a network that could potentially involve a large amount of interconnected data that can be used and manipulated by several businesses and industries. Industrial big data would not be owned by a single source, but rather organized through collaboration by multiple sources.“This is an idea of, instead of having data about one company, we could investigate the idea of shared data across an entire industry,” Allemang said. “We could find out what sort of data could be valuable to a bunch of companies.”Allemang said he recognized the aspect of competition among different companies in the same industry.“Yes, there is competitiveness among the different companies. However, they all essentially want to know about the same thing,” Allemang said. “They all want to know about their products, and they want to know about their customers. They want to know how to develop their products to better suit their customers.”Allemang spoke of two different data sharing business models: science as a service and pre-competitive research.Science as a service is the act of performing an experiment and selling those results to any company willing to buy them. The specifics of the experiments need not be known by the companies, just the results. This causes competition between companies for ownership of the results. There is a race to buy and implement the results first.Alternatively, pre-competitive research is a method with which anyone can perform the experiments and get the same results. Multiple companies collaborate on this research before the competition stage of their businesses. Once the research and results are finalized, the companies then split and begin their competition.“Sharing data is a value,” Allemang said. “It’s a business model, and it’s to their benefit to father more and more information.”The two main challenges that Industrial Big Data faces are control and ownership, Allemang said. In pre-competitive research, there is no distinct owner of the information. Funding is also an issue with the research, with different pros and cons for public and private funding.Ying Ding, associate professor for the IU School of Informatics and Computing and a host of Allemang’s talk, said she believes this information is vital for students.“This opens a gate for new knowledge,” Ding said. “This can lead to a better understanding of data and where’s it’s going. It’s important to know what we can about the future of collaborating our data.”Ding related this talk to the School of Informatics and Computing’s new Online Data Science Program. Starting in January, students will be able to receive a certificate in this program and take courses on data collection, management, infrastructure, analysis and visualization.This talk also gives IU upperclassmen insight into the job markets they’re about to enter, Ding said.“It’s important to find out what challenges the different industries will be facing because of this collaborative data,” she said.Allemang proposed a solution for the control of competition for data among those businesses unwilling to share and collaborate. If businesses work together to collect the data that, essentially, they all need, it will allow for a more open discussion and development among companies, he said.“The private sector poses the questions. The public sector selects the answers,” Allemang said.Allemang related Industrial Big Data and data sharing back to business’ main goal: maintaining a successful business in a growing and developing economy.“This all goes around to improving the business,” Allemang said. “The goal is to do business better.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Assistant chef Brandon Varney cooked an eggplant parmesan dish from scratch Sunday afternoon for the Phi Mu sorority. Varney works for College Chefs, a food service company that aims to provide distinct food experiences for sororities and fraternities. The company offers personal chefs that cook all meals from scratch for the fraternity and sorority members, said Dave Tarrant, general manager of business operations. College Chefs works to supply food that one wouldn’t normally find in a greek house, Tarrant said. “Our chefs make everything the right way,” Tarrant said. “We try to make as much from scratch as we can. We try to eliminate processed foods and only have the healthy ones. We’ve found immense success in that platform.”Currently, the company has four clients at IU: Alpha Delta Pi, Phi Mu, Alpha Omicron Pi and Delta Gamma sororities.Each house has its own professionally trained chef and staff. Depending on the size of the house, there may also be a sous chef and additional assistants, Tarrant said.“This is all from a chef’s perspective,” Tarrant said. “Many chefs are trained in the classics. They understand the science of cooking. While cooks might follow a recipe, a chef writes it himself.”Some of their menu items include Italian braised chicken, teriyaki salmon and all-beef pigs in a blanket. However, the chefs also prepare traditional meals such as grilled cheese, Tarrant said.“Even if we do something as simple as grilled cheese and tomato soup, we make sure everything is from scratch,” Tarrant said. “The soup will be homemade, and the bread will be fresh.”Each chapter can decide what type of meal plan they would like, though providing meals Monday through Friday is a minimum, Tarrant said.Some chapters can opt to have chefs prepare meals every day of the week.Though the company mainly provides lunch and dinner, a chapter can also ask for a continental breakfast from their chef.The pricing for each chapter depends on the type of meal plan they have asked for, Tarrant said. “Sometimes we only take into consideration members who live at the actual house, so we can do it on a per-person basis,” Tarrant said. “Sometimes we can also create a meal plan based on the budget of the house.”College Chefs has clients at many different colleges, including Purdue University and Butler University.The chefs make an effort to form a relationship with their clients, Tarrant said.“They can pick and choose what they want,” Tarrant said. “They can pick everything they want down to the day they want service. If the chapter really wants a certain meal, we can always provide that.”Each chapter has a weekly menu created specifically for it. College Chefs has aimed to be conscious of the sisters’ dietary needs, junior and Phi Mu Housing Manager Caroline Dusenberry said. “We always have gluten-free and vegetarian options,” Dusenberry said. “We’ve had a lot of food allergies lately, so they do a good job of accommodating the menu for us.”Grilled cheese with tomato soup and Tex-Mex style food such as tacos and quesadillas are popular with the Phi Mu members, Dusenberry said. “We had a recipe for Phi Mu cookies that we had lost,” Dusenberry said. “Once we found it, we gave it to our chef, and they made the cookies for us.”This is Phi Mu’s third semester with College Chefs. Dusenberry said Phi Mu will look to renew its contract for the next academic year when the contract expires at the end of the spring semester.“The biggest key for us is being on top and promising a high-end product,” Tarrant said. “We take pride in the constant care and management of both our chefs and our clients.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU students and community members experimented with stickers, glitter and markers Wednesday night.The group created holiday greeting cards for the military and the homeless in celebration of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity’s 107th “ALPHAversay” event, Joy To The World.Attendees enjoyed food, ping-pong, pool and stereo music at the event, which was free and open to the public in the Briscoe Quad basement. Senior and Alpha Vice President Tyler Kelley said this is the first time the Alphas have done an anniversary event like this.“We wanted to find a way to give back to the Bloomington community and the community at large,” Kelley said. “We also wanted to bring other minority organizations together to create gifts for the holiday season.”In the past, the Alphas have organized events such as a mini step show in order to celebrate their anniversary.“This lets us tell the campus what we’re about while being able to do great things for our country as well,” Kelley said. “We want to lead our legacy on.” Senior and Alpha President Ron Gilbert said he is honored to be a part of the organization. “We’ve been here for years, and we’ve continuously grown and have consolidated a high standard of excellence,” Gilbert said. “Not just within the African American community.”Kelley emphasized the growth of the fraternity over the years.“Being the first Black greek organization to exist, it means a lot to us,” Kelley said. “We’re 107 years strong, and we’re continuously growing in numbers.”For the holiday event, the Alphas collaborated with multiple minority student organizations, including Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Honor Society, Chi Alpha Epsilon National Honor Society and the Black Graduate Student Association.Kelley said he was glad this event gave the organizations the chance for group collaboration. “We want to bridge the gap between the fraternities and the honor societies,” Kelley said. Senior Mariah McGhee, the President of Chi Alpha Epsilon, said she was excited to work with these other organizations for the first time.McGhee said she made four holiday cards.“Some of them don’t have families, and this is the closest thing they’re going to get to a gift,” McGhee said. “It’s nice to be able to spread that joy.”The Alphas were first founded at Cornell University. They were the first organization to be a part of the National Panhellenic Council and the only one to be founded at an Ivy League university, Kelley said. Some of their previous members include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Dubois and Thurgood Marshall.Though the destination for the holiday cards hasn’t been finalized, Kelley said they are looking into the Shalom Center and the Middle Way House.“Service is something universal,” Kelley said. “We wanted to reach back to the community and uplift its members.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Independent Council, a student philanthropy organization, reached a milestone this semester, increasing its membership by 60 percent due to extensive tabling and self-promotion.IC offers women the social and philanthropic opportunities of greek life without the greek letters. “This is an organization for people who identify as independent but still wish to meet new people and become involved on campus and within the community,” senior IC President Lena Reifinger said.IC, much like greek fraternities and sororities, has an executive board with members including president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Established at IU in 2009, the IC has several committees within the organization that organize social events, philanthropy and fundraising.“This is a way to get groups of girls to work on projects independently from the organization,” Reifinger said. “It gives members options for different types of involvement.”In addition to volunteering at community organizations, such as the Bloomington Boys and Girls Club, they also volunteer at 5k races.This year was their first year participating in IUDM as well. IC members raised more than $15,800 and won the IUDM award for “best new organization,” Reifinger said. “It was a great way for us to get involved on campus,” Reifinger said. “It was great to have an independent organization at IUDM since there are so many greek organizations representing themselves there.”Next semester, IC will work with Front Row Foundation, an organization that gives individuals battling health challenges and their families front row tickets to their favorite concert, sporting or other event.Sophomore IC member Erika Eads said she was impressed and surprised that IC membership has more than doubled.Currently, IC has 120 registered members. Dues are $40 when first joining and $30 after each semester. The women have a recruitment process each semester, and there is no interview process. “Anyone who wants to can join,” Reifinger said. However, there are some restrictions, she said. If someone is a member of a social greek organization, they cannot join IC. If they are involved in an academic greek organization, they are still eligible for membership in IC.Reifinger joined during her sophomore year.“It’s an organization I’m super passionate about,” Reifinger said. “Everyone finds a place they feel comfy with on campus, a place you fit in. For me, IC has been that place.”Eads, who joined this semester, said one of the aspects she likes about IC is the flexible time commitment.“It’s a great organization because I work while I’m in school, and school itself is a busy thing. So it’s nice that I don’t have to commit a lot of time,” Eads said.In addition to IC’s philanthropic activities, it also has social events such as group dinners and attending Little 500.“It’s a great way to get involved with the community, but it’s also campus-wide,” Eads said. “Along with our volunteering, we also do social things, so there’s that fun aspect of all of us getting together.”Reifinger said she also liked the financial aspect of IC.“I was looking for ways to get involved on campus, but I knew I didn’t have the time to commit to a greek organization or the financial abilities,” Reifinger said.Reifinger said though greek organizations have significant campus and member involvement, it is also beneficial to look at every organization available.“Just look around and see what’s best for you,” Reifinger said. “Check out your options, but always remember that it’s okay to be independent on this campus, and there’s plenty of opportunities to get involved.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Members of the 2013 Interfraternity Council Executive Board handed control of the board to eight new men on Monday.This transition, which happens every calendar year, provides fraternity members new leadership positions within the IFC.The new executive board members will stay in office until the end of the fall 2014 semester, when a new board is elected to lead starting spring 2015.Among the positions replaced were IFC President, Vice President of Membership Development, Vice President of Standards Board and Vice President of Communications.Similar to that of the IU Panhellenic Association Executive Board, each member of the IFC Executive Board oversees a different aspect of IFC, such as membership, finance and community involvement.Sean Jordan, a former IFC President as of Monday evening, reflected on the previous year of IFC.“We’ve accomplished a lot in our initiatives,” Jordan said. “We’ve really created a foundation for these guys moving forward, and we’re excited to see what they can do in the coming term.”Each vice president of IFC reflected on their past experiences and welcomed their new replacements.“We’ve had a lot of risk management this semester,” Ben Weisel, former Vice President of Risk Management said. “But I think we’ve started a strong foundation with recognizing sexual assault and hazing, and we’ll see what the coming semesters hold.”Aaron Millberg, the former Vice President of Standards Board, said this was the first year IFC held a universal set of standards for all IU IFC chapters to follow.“We held our chapters accountable for living out their values,” Millberg said. “We were able to get different chapter members to collaborate on different projects, we were able to get men who normally wouldn’t be in a room together and get them to work together to continue with our standards.”The new Vice President of Recruitment, Dylan Nash, said he hopes IFC will continue a sober, value-based recruitment process that he first started within his own fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha.“It’s important for people to find the right fit for them,” Nash said. “There are going to be a lot of great changes to the recruitment policies.”In addition to welcoming the new executive board, IFC also bestowed its first three scholarships, one to a fraternity president and two to general members.The President’s Scholarship of $1,500 was awarded to Joseph Moheban while the two $1,000 General Member Scholarships were awarded to Spencer Krug and Chris Tarpey.Jordan spoke of the hopes and prospective plans for IFC moving forward.“This is a field where we have a large opportunity for growth,” Jordan said. “I know these guys are going to have some great initiatives to get started on.”The new Vice President of Community Programs, Wes Cuprill, also spoke of his future plans for IFC.“One thing I noticed was that there really wasn’t any unity between chapters,” Cuprill said. “I’m going to encourage joint philanthropy between houses, and I want to bring back Greek Week. I want us competing with each other rather than against each other.”Jordan welcomed his own replacement, Russ Siadatian.“For my upcoming goals, there is one big, overall theme, getting general members on the same page as all of us,” Siadatian said. “Both how we feel about the fraternity system and greek life in general.”Siadatian said he hopes the greek system will move forward as a whole.“We have to come together as a community,” Siadatian said. “This upcoming year is a big year for the greek community. With everything involving social media, I look forward to tackling through this with our guys and moving the greek system forward.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A group of students from the School of Education performed a freeze mob Thursday to raise awareness of stigma directed toward special education students.“Retard,” “handicapped,” “autism” and “special” were a few of the words that appeared on big, white posters held by the freeze mob in front of Ballantine Hall on Thursday.The event was part of a research study conducted by the students, who are members of the Teaching All Learners Program in the School of Education. The program focuses on elementary and special education.For their project, the students interviewed people about the first word they thought of when they heard the term “special education,” senior Stefanie Wettersten said.They discovered the word that received the highest usage was “retarded” or some form of it, such as “mental retardation,” Wettersten said.“We were a little shocked and disappointed that some people were using some form of ‘retarded,’” Wettersten said. “We’re trying to shed some light. We want to bring awareness to the campus to make people change their vocabulary.”The group decided to present the results through a freeze mob and promote it on Twitter using the hashtag #TALFreezeMob.“We wanted our findings accessible to everyone, more accessible than they would be in a research paper,” Wettersten said.Their class, taught by professor Meagan Call-Cummings, required students to produce a research project and present their findings at the end of the semester.Call-Cummings wanted their methods to focus on participatory action research, a method that aims to improve the world by changing it, specifically with data collection and participant reflection.The class split into two main groups with one group focused on conducting interviews and the other conducting surveys. The survey, promoted through Facebook and Twitter, received more than 600 responses, Grannan said, and there was no age limit.Senior and classmate Caitlin Grannan said the results weren’t as surprising as they could have been.“It’s sad, but it’s also not very surprising,” Grannan said. “It’s a very common word. Although I am happy with some of the people who put uplifting words.”With the various word responses they received, the researchers decided to turn their work into a Wordle, a “word cloud” that causes words to appear bigger or smaller in a picture depending on how many times that word is used.Though there were a lot of negative words associated with “special education,” an assortment of positive words did make an appearance. Words such as “disabled,” “patience” and “important” were in the Wordle as well.Grannan said she appreciated being able to conduct interviews as part of the study.“Instead of a focus study group, we could watch them ourselves,” Grannan said. “We could give them the chance to put their thoughts in as well.”Grannan said she also liked the interactive aspect of the freeze mob.“We want to let people see these common words, and hopefully they’ll think about some of the more negative words before they use them,” Grannan said.On Oct. 5, 2010, President Obama signed Rosa’s Law, a law in which the term “mental retardation” is replaced with “intellectual disability” in regard to federal health, education and labor policy.Not only do the students wish to raise awareness of the way special education is perceived, but they also aim to show that the term “mental retardation” is no longer politically correct, Grannan said.“The law has changed, why haven’t you?” the students shouted in unison at the end of the freeze mob. “End the R-word.”As an aspiring teacher, Wettersten said the experience opened her eyes to perceptions about special education.“The more people understand, the more we’ll see positive words in the future,” Wettersten said. “It’s been an interesting process.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Panhellenic Association is seeking eight greek women to complete its executive board.Applications were distributed to all IU PHA chapter presidents and are also available on the IU PHA website.PHA executives will serve for a full calendar year, IU PHA president and senior Anjulia Urasky said.Greek women may apply for several positions, including the president and seven vice presidents. The president oversees the entire executive board, leads executive board meetings and communicates with the IU administration.Urasky said though juniors usually make up the bulk of the applicants, sophomores are also encouraged to apply.The vice president of community involvement organizes joint events and philanthropies, working closely with the Interfraternity Council, the Multi-Cultural Greek Council and the National Panhellenic Council. The vice president of extension supports current sorority chapters in addition to helping newly-established chapters on campus, such as incoming sorority Delta Phi Epsilon.The vice president of leadership development works with the other executive board members to organize leadership events such as the Indiana Greek Emerging Leaders Retreat. The position’s responsibilities also include running the Honor Board, a standards board that every IU PHA sorority is required to follow.Other positions available are vice president of communications, vice president of finance, vice president of recruitment and vice president of personal development.Applicants will be interviewed by the current executive board during the first week of December.On Dec. 10, applicants will give short speeches during an IU PHA gavel meeting. One delegate from each IU PHA chapter will then vote for each position.“We encourage all women to apply who have a passion for the greek community as well as a vision for positive change,” Urasky said.Fulfilling the role of PHA president has been a rewarding experience, Urasky said.“I love being able to have the unique experience of working with both the greek community and the administration,” Urasky said. “Being that liaison is a huge privilege.” Senior Leila Palizi, vice president of communications, said her position within the executive board has allowed her to directly see the effect she has on the greek community.Palizi said she also enjoyed participating in Greek Opportunities For Women, the official start of the sorority recruitment process.“I made the video for that explaining why you should go greek,” Palizi said. “Being able to have that play for 1,200 people, it was just a manifestation of my contribution to the greek community.”Palizi also emphasized the networking benefits that come with being an IU PHA executive board member.“You get to meet a lot of the awesome leaders and advisers that we have comprising the greek community,” Palizi said. “I’ve built great friendships and bonds with these people.”Applications are due at 12 p.m. Friday. Applicants must turn the forms into the IU PHA mailbox in Room 374 of the Student Activities Tower in the Indiana Memorial Union, and they must email an electronic copy to iuphapresident@gmail.com.Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.This is the motto that juniors Logan Weisberg and Chad Silver have abided by in their efforts to raise money for the Lymphoma Research Foundation.In the past two weeks, the two IU students, with the help of various family members and friends, have raised about $50,000.Weisberg and Silver created the fundraiser because of their friend and fellow former Zeta Beta Tau fraternity brother, junior Brian Levitas.Two weeks ago, Levitas revealed to them he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that causes white blood cells to divide faster than normal cells.Through Crowdrise — an online fundraising site — friends, family members, and fellow and former ZBT brothers have donated money. The event, called “Zeta Brian Tau,” is essentially a “No Shave November” fundraiser.The participants ask for donations to the website account. The donors can either donate to a specific team or form their own team.Pictures of the participants’ “No Shave” progress can be found on their Shutterfly accounts.The participants will stop growing their facial hair Nov. 30.“Our first goal was $500,” Weisberg said. “Although it wasn’t about the money. For us, we just wanted to have Brian’s name out there, knowing there were people supporting him.”Weisberg said he is amazed at the support friends and family have shown.“This really shows what kind of person he is,” Weisberg said. “So many people are willing to support him. What we’ve seen so far is amazing.”Weisberg has been friends with Levitas since their freshman year.This is the first time he has dealt with one of his close friends being diagnosed with a serious disease.Levitas declined to comment about the situation.Weisberg said he hopes the fundraiser will help keep Levitas’ mind off the challenges he’s facing. “Having someone in your life that means so much to you ... few have that one person they would drop everything for,” Weisberg said. “This could change a person’s life.”Silver also talked about another charity event that launched Wednesday.He and Weisberg designed Lymphoma awareness shirts that will not only be sold at IU but also at universities in Illinois, Texas, Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin. The long-sleeve shirts will be lime green, the color of Lymphoma awareness, with “Team Zeta Brian Tau” on the front.The shirts are available for purchase at zetabriantau.com. Silver and Weisberg will distribute them on campus.The website will also have updated information on upcoming fundraisers and Levitas’ condition.The proceeds will go to the Chicago branch of Children’s Oncology Service, which provides camp experiences and other programs for children suffering from cancer. “We chose this organization because they believe that half the battle is mental,” Silver said. “They support the mental side of cancer through programs, camps and sessions. We wanted to raise the money for them.”Part of the reason a children’s organization was chosen is because Levitas decided to take the pediatric treatment for his condition, as opposed to the treatment for adults, Silver said.Levitas was given the option to choose between the two, and he chose pediatrics because the treatment is more immediate, Silver said.Silver said he is thankful for the vast support network that has been apparent in this fundraising process.“We had no idea of the power of the people that care about Brian,” Silver said. “I could never expect that, but if it puts a smile on his face and his family’s face, we’re one step closer to reaching our goal.”Silver said the support he has seen for Levitas has been vast, and it has sparked involvement in multiple states.“If there’s one person in the world that can get through this, it’s Brian,” Silver said. “There’s no doubt in my mind.” Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Interfraternity Council members are learning techniques to prevent, recognize and intervene in situations of sexual assault.The Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault Program is an educational program for greek men that teaches them about sexual assault and how to recognize or stop it.The MARS program was created spring 2013 by senior Grant Ryan, IFC vice president of membership development, along with Debbie Melloan and Mark Houlemarde from the Sexual Assault Crisis Center of the IU Health Center.“The amount of sexual assaults that have been occurring in the greek community are alarming and terrible,” Ryan said. “I wanted to create a program that would combat this.”The IFC Presidents’ Council made the program mandatory. Each of the 33 IFC chapters are required to have two members complete this program. There have been about two sessions this semester, and several sessions were offered last spring. Ryan said IFC is pushing for sophomores to attend this training.“Internal elections are coming up for each chapter,” Ryan said. “I really want the future executive boards to have this training and be knowledgeable in this area.”Houlemarde, a Ph.D. student and outreach coordinator for the Sexual Assault Crisis Center, said the MARS program is an evolution of a previous SACC program, Fraternities Reducing Assault Together, which was created about four years ago.The educational sessions are four hours long and are taught by Melloan and Houlemarde at fraternity houses such as Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Beta Theta Pi.Houlemarde said even though MARS is relatively new, the program is steadily progressing.“We’re really pushing MARS forward to make some headway,” he said. “We’re making some progress, and we’re currently working to make it a permanent part of the greek community.”The program tackles specific aspects of sexual assault, such as separating myths about sexual assault from facts and working through hypothetical scenarios.Houlemarde stressed the importance of integrating the training into the fraternity chapters as a whole.“We want to help those representatives bring back useful and valuable things to their communities,” he said.The training gives a realistic representation of sexual assault situations, Houlemarde said.“Men can actually play a large part in preventing sexual assault,” he said. “We want them to be active bystanders and be able to intervene during any situation.”The training also incorporates recent, real-life incidents of sexual assault and similar situations, such as the Georgia Institute of Technology chapter of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity’s email to its members which condoned forced sexual encounters.Ryan said he also plans for the MARS program to collaborate with the IU Panhellenic Association’s Safe Sisters Program, a sorority counterpart to the IFC program.He said he hopes the two programs will be able to come together to be host to a joint sexual assault prevention program.Their first joint session is planned for early December, Ryan said.He said he hopes this program will continue in the coming semesters in addition to the all-male program.Though he said he believes it would be valuable to attend both programs, the IFC program maintains its value.“Sometimes it’s difficult to talk about sexual assault in front of women,” Ryan said. “The strictly men training is valuable, and once they complete that they can move on to the other program.”Almost 100 men from 32 IFC chapters have completed the training. “If they can stop just one sexual assault from occurring, then they’ve been successful,” Ryan said.Ryan also stressed the importance of the program and its teachings.“You could intervene in a situation that could potentially ruin the rest of someone’s life,” Ryan said. “These skills they learn are going to be valuable that they can hold on to for the rest of their lives.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Planning has begun for Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity’s cross-campus philanthropy, a scholarship pageant for female students.The annual Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant will have its call-out meeting at 7:30 p.m. today in the Neal-Marshall Grand Hall.This event aims to provide scholarship money to students who demonstrate strong academics and community involvement.Women who wish to compete in this scholarship pageant will be judged on grade point average, community service, attendance, poise and attitude, said Alpha Phi Alpha president and senior Ronald Gilbert.“This pageant is a great opportunity to get involved with the community and showcase your talent,” Gilbert said. “We hold our women to a higher standard, and we want the community to see that.”There will be three winners of the pageant, ranking first, second and third. The winners will receive $2,000, $1,000 and $500, respectively. Alpha Phi Alpha is a part of IU’s National Pan-Hellenic Council. Though this event is put on by a fraternity, none of the contestants have to be greek.The pageant aims to foster personal growth for all female students, Gilbert said.“I’ve seen some amazing girls come out of these pageants,” Gilbert said. “This is a great outlet for young women.”About half of the judging happens before the pageant, Gilbert said. This judging includes community service hours from an organization of Alpha Phi Alpha’s choosing, attendance at pageant practices and positive attitude. The contestants will work with local organizations, Gilbert said. In the past, the contestants have worked with non-profit groups such as Habitat for Humanity.The women will sell advertising in order to raise money for a portion of the scholarship, Gilbert said. They will be attempting to sell ads to local businesses. These ads will then go into the programs of the pageant.The current Miss Black and Gold, senior Peyton Conners, is the current district champion and third-place regional finalist in the national Miss Black and Gold pageant.“This is a pageant to promote education,” Conners said. “It’s academic oriented and isn’t degrading to women.”Conners, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, said the pageant allowed her to form strong bonds with her fellow contestants.“Four of the other women actually became my sorority sisters,” Conners said. “This pageant really helps with developing friendships, and you’re put in a positive light on campus.”Conners will be hosting this year’s pageant. She will also be at rehearsals, interviews and helping the other contestants.The thought of crowning a new Miss Black and Gold is bittersweet, Conners said.“I want to see women on this campus succeed,” Conners said. “When the new Miss Black and Gold is crowned, I won’t exactly lose my title, I’ll just say I’m Miss Black and Gold 2013.”The contestants will be judged by faculty and staff, Gilbert said.Gilbert said he aims for the pageant to be Feb. 2. There will be a cost for attendance, but it is open to the public, students and non-students. “These women grow bonds with each other,” Gilbert said. “It’s almost like a sisterhood. In the end, they all gain confidence and put on a great show.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As of Oct. 22, only 12 handles of hard liquor are allowed at greek parties. After midnight, all liquor will be locked away.A handle is equal to about 42 standard 1.5-oz. shots. With the new rules, all greek partygoers will be able to drink a total of about 512 shots before midnight. The new rules were formally introduced at a Joint Gavel discussion between the presidents of all 33 IU fraternities and 21 sororities Oct. 22.All 33 fraternity chapters must now comply with the new alcohol regulations at all of their social events.The IFC Presidents’ Council developed the policy, and the IFC Executive Board will enforce it, IFC President Sean Jordan said.The policies were enforced during Homecoming Week as a test run for a program, he said. The final version of these policies is still in the works.“We recognized a lot of unhealthy behavior going on in the greek community and IUB as a whole,” Jordan said. “We want to lower the BACs and promote a healthier culture.”In order to limit drinks, many fraternities implement bartenders who pour drinks and determine whether party attendees have reached their limits.Recent student deaths might have been a contributing factor, Jordan said, but no single event spurred the changes. Jordan said IFC policy already bans underage drinking, but the freshman attendee policy has been reemphasized. No non-greek freshmen, male or female, are allowed at fraternity parties.“This is a safety measure,” Jordan said. “Freshmen aren’t accustomed to college, especially greek culture.” Alpha Sigma Phi President and sophomore Erik Bailey said the policies address a serious problem with IU’s drinking culture.“If you go to other colleges, you only see beer,” Bailey said. “It’s a problem when you come to IU and see everyone pounding shots.”For some fraternity members, the new rules are a step in the right direction. But others say the rules will make the problem even worse.The limited drinking time could make drinking more dangerous, said Tau Kappa Epsilon Risk Manager and junior Sam Kapitan. Because of the limited time hard alcohol is offered at parties, some greek students believe the regulations could lead to increased pre-gaming before parties. “Parties usually start at 10 p.m., and eventually people will learn that they only have about two hours to drink,” Kapitan said. “People will probably start drinking a lot faster.”Last year, IFC had one weekend each semester where no hard alcohol was allowed. The new regulations are a continuation of that, Jordan said.“We aren’t too concerned,” Jordan said. “People might be inclined to drink more, but the number of quantities will be drastically limited.”Fraternities are enforcing these rules internally, Jordan said. The IFC Executive Board is asking all chapters to inform the board if they see that other fraternities aren’t upholding the policies. Members of each chapter’s executive board, along with risk managers and sober brothers and sisters, are observing the parties and enforcing these rules, Jordan said. “We will hold each chapter directly accountable for this,” Jordan said. “We’re going to make ourselves apparent at these functions.”Some IFC members, including Bailey and Phi Sigma Kappa President and junior Jimmy Blodget, agree with these new rules.”These new policies stem from the fact that there is a problem on the campus,” Blodget said. “It can be difficult to change a culture overnight, and there could be unintended consequences.”Because these regulations are new, IFC will have to wait to see how all of these factors will play out, Blodget said.“IFC is trying to create a culture of care, and I don’t think anyone can argue that is a good thing for this campus,” Blodget said.Bailey also stands in favor of these changes.“We are all trying to create a cultural change at IU, and IFC is going to lead the way with this,” Bailey said. “Hopefully the entire campus will change.”Though the bartender can help eliminate binge drinking, Kapitan said he is still concerned about pre-gaming.“When you only have 12 bottles ... I don’t see how people are going to follow that,” Kapitan said. “I don’t see it working out in the long term. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”Pre-gaming is a concern, but Bailey said he thinks it is the sororities’ responsibility not to pre-game beforehand.Another concern about the new rules is the storage of hard liquor in bedrooms of after midnight.Sigma Pi member and senior Peter Hull said he believes the rules will increase unsafe drinking.“If people store hard liquor in their rooms and end up drinking it past midnight, there is no one around to look out for one another,” Hull said. “You can’t cut anyone off.”Bailey acknowledged this concern.“When guys have it in their rooms and they invite girls up, it’s a big problem,” Bailey said. “The chance of sexual assault drastically increases.”Another concern is the number of upperclassmen who leave at midnight to go to bars to continue drinking, Hull said.“At midnight, it’s immediate,” Hull said. “The seniors are gone.”Hull said he believes these changes are a knee-jerk reaction to the recent student deaths.“What happened was awful and tragic, but this is the first time it has happened in years,” Hull said. “These actions are a overreaction.”Hull said though he believes pre-gaming will increase, he and his Sigma Pi brothers are prepared.“We know how to contact an emergency response team, and we’ll let the sober brothers and sisters know,” Hull said. “That’s the worse case scenario, but houses all over campus need to see this as a potential situation with more pre-gaming.”Kapitan said he believes instead of implementing new rules, alcohol education and awareness should be increased.“IFC should partner with IU Health every year and build awareness with each pledge class,” Kapitan said. “The greek community needs to be educated as a whole.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hundreds of IU women gathered at Alumni Hall on Sunday in hopes of learning about their future sororities. Greek Opportunities for Women is an annual event established by the IU Panhellenic Association.There, women can learn about the 21 IU PHA sororities available for recruitment, which begins in January.Sunday’s event marked the official opening of registration for recruitment. “This is an overview of what each chapter has to offer,” said junior Emily Gammon, IU PHA vice president of extension. “Here, girls will learn what to expect during recruitment and the outline of times of the different recruitment parties.”Attendees also learned the rent prices for each sorority house should they choose to live in one during future school years. There were two informational sessions, each lasting an hour. The IU PHA council welcomed the women and showed them a PowerPoint slideshow that emphasized the various values of the greek community such as leadership and excellence.Gammon emphasized the difficult process of going through recruitment.“These women are taking on a lot,” Gammon said. “They don’t know what each chapters have to offer. They don’t know what the full package is.”Gammon said this informational session sets the stage for the future recruitment process.“This gives girls a better understanding of how they can fit into the greek community idea,” Gammon said. “This is so they can be prepared of what to expect. The recruitment process is days long. It’s a lot to take on.”This year, the official recruitment process is Jan. 9-12.The women get a week-long break and the process will end with two final days on Jan. 18 and 19.A week after formal IU PHA recruitment ends, the newest sorority on campus, Delta Phi Epsilon, will begin its informal recruitment.The sorority will not participate in IU PHA’s formal recruitment.IU PHA’s extension committee had to decide between the establishment of two sororities, Alpha Sigma Tau or Delta Phi Epsilon, on the Bloomington campus, Gammon said.“We had to decide what the sororities had to offer and how well they would fit with the IU campus,” Gammon said.The main reason for the establishment of a new sorority was the high volume of interest, Gammon said.“There just wasn’t enough space for all of the girls who wanted to join a greek organization,” Gammon said. “Ultimately, it came down to a vote.”At Greek Opportunities for Women, three members from DPhiE’s headquarters promoted the new sorority. “This is absolutely fabulous to be back on campus,” membership manager Melissa Reilly said. “We really want well-rounded women that are going to fit into the name and want to be involved with the community right away.” After formal recruitment, the individuals from the headquarters will stay on campus and begin to recruit the colonization class.They will have tables set up with information about their recruitment in addition to various informational sessions, Reilly said.If students wish to participate in formal recruitment, they must register on www.iubpha.com.Registration closes Nov. 24.If a student does not register, she will not be able to participate in recruitment.Each woman registering must be a full-time IU student and have a grade point average above 2.75.With the establishment of the Delta Delta chapter of DPhiE, IU will possess 22 of the 26 national sororities.“When students go to such a large university the women should be able to join any organization they’d like to,” Gammon said. “Letting more chapters join these communities will create more space and open so many doors for these girls.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Vampires, superheroes and witches invaded the North Jordan Avenue extension Wednesday evening.Every year the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Multi-Cultural Greek Council come together to create Safe Halloween, a two-hour event in which Bloomington children trick-or-treat at different sorority and fraternity houses.Children and their parents walked up to several fraternity and sorority house lawns and driveways where greek members distributing candy awaited.“Hundreds of kids and local parents show up every time,” said senior Hayley Gunter, PHA vice president of community involvement.”Bloomington resident Jessie Lydy took her young son, dressed as a boxer, to the houses.“This is a really safe alternative than going and knocking on random strangers’ doors,” Lydy said. “It gives them something to do that’s safe that we can do together.”Each of the 16 houses on the extension has been paired with three or four other sorority or fraternity chapters, meaning each house has three or four different fraternities and/or sororities occupying it at a given time.“This is a great way to get all four councils together,” Gunter said. “We don’t always collaborate on events, and it’s hard to get everyone interested in one thing, but we all come together for this.”Safe Halloween unites multiple chapters, sophomore Kappa Delta member Maddy Brown said.“My whole pledge class is really excited about this event because it’s an awesome way to unite the whole greek community for a fun and worthwhile cause,” she said.Kappa Delta was paired with Kappa Sigma and Zeta Beta Tau fraternities. They occupied Kappa Sigma’s house on the extension.This event pairs multiple chapters together that wouldn’t normally all be paired together, Gunter said.“It’s a great chance to interact and talk to people we may not normally be paired up with,” Brown said. “I wish we had more events like this that don’t involve alcohol so you can get to know other greeks on a deeper level than you might be able to at a tailgate or pair.”Gunter said many greek chapters’ have had previous experience working with local families.“We wanted a collaborative, service-oriented event,” Gunter said, “Several houses already do philanthropies with children. This is just an extension for their community involvement with local kids.”Interaction with other chapters is an important part of this event, sophomore Theta Phi Alpha member Ashley Weishaar said.“We aren’t really ever able to meet with some of the houses since it’s such a big community,” Weishaar said. “The only time that many girls are able to talk with other houses is when we go through the recruitment process.”Many greeks wore costumes in the Halloween spirit.Weishaar and her fellow sorority member, sophomore Hadley Catron, were dressed as ballerinas.“It’s a great opportunity to meet new people while wearing ridiculous costumes, which usually makes us more outgoing,” Weishaar said.Theta Phi Alpha was paired with Delta Zeta sorority and Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi fraternities.They all occupied Delta Zeta’s house on the extension.“Halloween is already such a fun holiday,” Gunter said, “The attendance and participation of the Bloomington residents just make it better.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twiter @ToriLawhorn.