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(09/29/03 5:45am)
This weekend has brought yet another turn in the ongoing legal saga regarding the firing of former men's basketball coach Bob Knight.\nThe Indiana Supreme Court declined Friday to hear the lawsuit filed by the Indianapolis Star, and the case was passed back down to a Morgan County Judge to make the decision. \nFred Eichhorn, president of the IU board of trustees, said the Indiana State Court of Appeals made partial ruling, but the final aspect of the case was still to be decided. \n"There is still a small part that remains in court relating to my notes and [John Walda's] and whether they are public material," Eichhorn said.\nEichhorn and Walda, who were members of the board at the time of Knight's firing, led the investigation into Knight's case.\nThe case dates back to October 2000, just a month after Knight's firing, when the Star sued IU over the release of information regarding the firing.\nStar Editor Dennis Ryerson said in a previous IDS article that any information regarding the dismissal of a public official should be made open to the public.\nAs Eichhorn explains it, there are two possibilities as to how the judge can rule.\n"The court can rule that our notes and investigatory records are public documents, or that they cannot be released, and that would be the end of it," Eichhorn said.\nThe argument for keeping the information private is that Walda and Eichhorn are also lawyers. Thus, IU is arguing that the documents would be confidential under attorney-client privilege.\nThe information in question regards IU's findings in the decision to fire Knight after he allegedly was involved in inappropriate physical conduct with then-freshman Kent Harvey, which violated a zero-tolerance behavior policy. Any other information that may contain students' personal information, however, might be kept confidential.\nEichhorn said he did not know how long it could take for the case to be resolved.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.
(09/26/03 5:46am)
Members of the Citizen's Alliance for the Legalization of Marijuana found themselves in an unfamiliar situation Tuesday, as the IU Student Association denied funding for an upcoming festival.\nIUSA refused CALM's proposal of $1,375 from the Grass Roots Initiative Fund, which had been authorized in 1991. CALM was looking to use the funds for their "Fall Fest" to pay for musical acts and guest speakers.\n"I was surprised by the vote," IUSA Congressional Secretary Alan Grant said. "For the last four or five years they have received the funding."\nThe proposal received 13 yes votes, 21 no votes, and 8 abstained.\n"I didn't feel it was fair to spend student money on a full student-supported event," said Greek South Representative of Congress Liz Senn. "It didn't seem like something for all of the students."\nJesse Laffen, Chief Policy Advisor, was one of the first to see the proposal and had to recommend some changes before it even went to the floor.\n"The GRIF budget is only $10,000, and they (CALM) were originally asking for $2,700," Laffen said. "That was over a quarter of the budget so $1,375 was what I sent to committee."\nLaffen said CALM originally told him they would be looking to advertise off-campus, and that $300 of the funding would be used to buy the guest speakers' and the bands' dinner after the show. Laffen felt it unnecessary to purchase dinners for the bands and speakers if they had done the show for free to support the cause in the past.\n"When they went to floor, their story changed," said Laffen. "They said that the $300 was going to be for a state-wide recognized band, and that they were planning to advertise in the IDS."\nLaffen also said that in the past, the group had always asked for less money than this year's request, but had always received the funding.\n"Had the bill passed I would have gladly signed it," IUSA President Casey Cox said. "But it all depends on presentation and whether or not Congress feels it's worth the funding."
(09/25/03 6:01am)
Thousands of freshmen enter IU each year bringing their own list of accomplishments and scholarships. But few can be held in the same light as 18-year-old freshman Aaron Allen, from Irvine, California.\nAllen has received multiple awards in areas ranging from art, music, photography and writing. But the real highlight of Allen's list of accolades came recently when he received the 2003 American Legion National Eagle Scout of the Year.\nAllen said he fit the requirements for the contest well.\n"You had to be an Eagle Scout, and to apply to the American Legion, you had to have a family member in it. My dad is a member," Allen said. "I just turned in an application and I won."\nBut it was Allen's work and dedication that went into each aspect of the application that made him a quality candidate. \nAllen acquired roughly 85 different merit badges over his 10 years in scouts and seemed destined for high honors from the start.\n"(Allen) started in second grade in Cub Scouts and received the 'Arrow of Light Award,' which allowed him to enter the Boy Scouts early," said Allen's father, Ron Allen.\nAaron continued getting more involved in the community while receiving honors all along the way.\n"Scouting was a natural fit for Aaron," said Keith Ingersoll, a childhood advisor and mentor of Aaron's. "Once he got in there, he just started knocking down merit badges left and right." \nWhile all the awards were well received, Aaron said his Heroism Award carried the most weight. He obtained the award after saving his friend's life atop a mountain.\n"A friend and I were hiking to the top of a mountain with my dad when my friend collapsed (from kidney failure)," Aaron said. "We were at the top of a mountain with no water, so we squeezed the water out of a tuna can and gave him that. We just kept him from going into shock. Then we had a miracle -- the cell phone worked from the top of the mountain, and he was rescued about 45 minutes later."\nAaron's Heroism Award isn't the only thing parents and supporters said put him in the spotlight.\n"Aaron distinguishes himself by bringing it all together," Ingersoll said. "He just brings talent, intelligence and motivation and puts it all there in one package."\nRon attributes his son being well rounded as the number one factor, but also the fact that Aaron simply stuck with it and kept going.\n"After Eagle Scout, a lot of kids just disappear," Ron said. "But Aaron just kept going and started really making a difference."\nAaron Allen came to IU to pursue a double major in music composition and public affairs. Accrediting the fact that IU ranks numbers one and three in those fields, and the great atmosphere, Allen said his choice was pretty easy.\nNow that Aaron has reached IU, he has not stopped trying to make a difference.\nHe has recently been looking to start up a "Scout Ship" in Bloomington, which he explained as a group similar to Boy Scouts, but with out the same "preppy" stereotypes. Plus it would be open to boys and girls, he said. \nAaron said he has already found a few other people around IU who seem interested, but is looking for at least six to get the group started. \n"It would pretty much involve going out to lakes and hiking," Aaron said. "It would be dedicated to making them a better person, but a lot of it revolves around water."\nAaron said that he has learned area scout chapters have wanted a ship for a long time, and he said he is hoping to make that happen.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.
(09/22/03 6:22am)
Students may have noticed a slight change in some of their classes this semester.\nThe usual packets for course readings are fewer as many teachers have been making the switch to a new Web-based system put together by the School of Library and Information Science. \nThe new system -- called E-Reserve -- allows for any printed or electronic material, such as book chapters, journal articles, web links and more, to be placed on an IU server and then made available to the students.\n"For as big an installation as we have, it would have been a quagmire for us to do it ourselves," said Pat Steele, head of customer and access services for the Main Library. "We found a system called Docutek that was affordable and improving constantly."\nBy the fall of 2001, the library had received "strategic fund" money from the University to get the program started. The hope was that eventually the campus could establish a digital library.\nThe primary concern when dealing with published works is the issue of copyright infringement. All the necessary steps have been taken by those involved, and keeping everything legal is the most important element in making the system work, Steele said. \n"We follow strict guidelines regarding copyrights," said Catherine Berndt, reserve coordinator for the Main Library. "We can use 10 percent of a journal, issue or book, and if there are any discrepancies, we contact the publishers."\nUnder the Copyright Act of 1976, section 107 sets strict guidelines as to the purpose, nature and amount of any text that the E-Reserve system wishes to use.\n"We make sure to buy the book if it's not already owned and wanted on the Web site," Steele said. "I feel comfortable with the fact that we own everything we're putting up."\nJohn Bowles, an art history professor, said he and other professors decided to use the new system so they wouldn't get caught up in the current lawsuit filed against Collegiate Copies for copyright infringement.\nBy 2002, the IU-Bloomington system was made available for other IU campuses to pick up. IU-Purdue University Indianapolis dropped its homegrown system and picked up this system, along with IU-South Bend and IU-East Richmond.\nSteele said the system has only had one disruption since it got under way. The product has worked so well that nearly all the other campus libraries have picked up the system and contributed, she said. \nWhen the system first started, only the Main Library and the education school's library provided texts. Since then, all but two or three campus libraries have joined in adding to the now 22,000 documents that are in the system.\nWhile all of this brings about an exciting change of pace, the E-Reserve system is far from reaching its peak. \nThe libraries are currently working with Oncourse to try and collaborate in order to make things even easier for students. The plans would be to make the E-Reserves available directly from the Oncourse browser. This is just one of many possibilities for extended use out of the system.\n"(The E-Reserves) supports all format (including) video, sound, and images," Steele said. "Most people, when they get a new system, are just replicating what you did before, but I expect it to come around soon."\nSteele added that by January the libraries hope to be out of the paper business entirely. \nMore information on the E-Reserve system can be found through www.libraries.iub.edu.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.
(09/19/03 6:03am)
The Bloomington chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays kicked off its new year on Wednesday night with a panel made up of four educators and experts on related topics. \nThe panel included Jennifer Bass, the Head of Information Services at the Kinsey Institute; Frankie Presslaff, who runs a program called "Teen Options" at Bloomington Hospital; Kathryn Brown, who moderates panels of educators for the IU Health Center; and Carol McCord, a sexuality and marital therapist and assistant dean for women's affairs.\nThe evening started off with each panel member introducing themselves and addressing some of the commonly asked questions in each of their fields. Some of the topics discussed were gay marriage, use of language, family reactions, media images and the recent hype surrounding the controversial Web site of IU Business Professor Eric Rasmusen. Rasmusen hosts a Web log on the IU server which criticizes homosexuality, including a comment that gays should not be teachers.\nAfter Brown brought up the Rasmusen Web site issue and briefly explained the situation to those in the room, questions were asked.\n"What would (IU) do if it was another minority group?" Brown said.\nMuch of the audience, however, seemed quite pleased with the actions taken by IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm.\nAfter the meeting, several of the panel members described some of the reactions to the controversy they have seen through their work from students around the campus.\n"People are disgusted by it," Brown said. "I had a young woman who said it just really, really hurts … a lot of people are taking it personally." \nHowever, Brown said most students understand that it is a First Amendment right to post opinions on Web sites. "The bottom line though, even from gays," she said, "is that it should stay because free speech trumps all this."\nMcCord said it is scary for students to know that the person responsible for deciding their grades might hate them for who they are.\n"I don't know his motivation," McCord said, "but it seems surprising that in an education system based on facts, he's saying things that are not facts."\nHowever, Brown pointed out that there are some positive coming out of the controversy..\n"The good thing to come out of it, is non-gay students are responding in a negative way," she said.\nThe night had a much larger focus than one particular issue. In fact, the majority of the evening was spent praising the positive steps in attitudes toward homosexuality the panel members have noticed over the past few years.\n"There is a change," Bass said. "We are in the middle of it, so we don't really notice it, but there is a change."\nToward the end of the meeting, the panel took questions from the audience that looked into some of the misconceptions about homosexuality that are still prevalent. They discussed several issues about gender roles, marriage, and how to reach people who don't understand homosexuality. One thing that was evident though, was that the panel itself was proof of all the help available for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders in the Bloomington area.\n"To be gay in Bloomington is a lucky place to be," Presslaff said.\nThe next PFLAG informational meeting will be on Oct. 15 and will be open to the public.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.
(09/17/03 6:53am)
The Bloomington chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is set to open up a new year of meetings 7 p.m. tonight at the Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 S. Grant St.\nPFLAG is a national organization that provides support, education and advocacy toward gay, lesbian and transgender people. The local chapter of the organization is entering its 11th year.\n"These meetings aren't just for parents and friends, but for anyone who supports gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders," said Leslie Skooglund, Bloomington PFLAG director. \nTonight's meeting will feature a panel of educators and experts on multiple topics. The panelists include: Jennifer Bass, head of information services at the Kinsey Institute; Kathryn Brown, health educator and certified sex educator at the IU Health Center; Carol McCord, IU assistant dean for women's affairs; and Frankie Presslaff of Bloomington Hospital's Teen Options.\n"This is a very good, strong organization in the community with a great combination of people," said Doug Bauder, coordinator of IU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services. "It is a good town example of how we are attempting to deal with tough issues."\nThe panel of educators is set to discuss common misconceptions and the expanding knowledge about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender sexuality. Each panelist will introduce his or herself and address several frequently asked questions each receives in his or her field. The panelists will speak on these issues, then open the floor to those in attendance.\n"When we selected the board, we tried to get (people who could answer) a wide range of questions," Skooglund said. "We have people who deal more with transgenders; Kathryn Brown deals more with students; and of course, (we have) a representative from the Kinsey Institute."\nDespite the recent debate about IU business faculty member Eric Rasmusen controversial Web log, Skooglund said it was not on the group's mind when putting the panel together.\nStill, she said it could be brought up by the audience. \n"It wouldn't surprise me if it did come up," Bauder said. "It certainly has been a point of discussion among lots of people these days."\nThe key point stressed by PFLAG directors is that the meetings are open to everyone. While the panel should provide advice and education on topics about gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders, the information will be beneficial for all who attend.\n"Everyone is welcome. It is wonderful for people to come and just listen," said Daniel Soto, PFLAG director. "That is the great thing about PFLAG, you don't have to say anything. You can just come and listen, or participate all that you want."\nThe meeting will be in the second-floor classroom of Trinity Episcopal Church at 111 S. Grant St., and is open to the public.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.
