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(10/03/05 4:01am)
Every time IU graduate George Starkey sits down for a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in Broad Ripple, a neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis, someone wants to know. It happens so often that Starkey even has a name for it: He gets "Lucas-ized."\n"First someone turns around, and then you can start hearing necks snapping," said Starkey, who learned as a teenager of his uncanny resemblance to "Star Wars" creator George Lucas. "People say, 'Are you him?' I say, 'Just call me George.'"\nBut Starkey's look is doing more than just turning heads. It earned him a role as the famed director in the movie "Saving Star Wars," which premiered locally Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. IU graduates Starkey and Jim Peterson, who also stars in the film, returned to Bloomington for the local reception. Though most of the crowd was on hand to meet Darth Vader actor Dave Prowse, the screening also served as a homecoming of sorts for Starkey and Peterson.\n"It's cool that people are interested in the movie and I'm proud to be representing the IU theater department, even though I didn't actually major in it," said Peterson, who plays Hank, the nerdy, "Star Wars"-obsessed sidekick and friend to Woody, the film's protagonist. "It's been a great experience and fun exposure. I'm not quitting my teaching job to go out to Hollywood or anything like that, but it was a lot of fun to do."\nFor Starkey, it all started when he ran into "Saving Star Wars" director Gary Wood at Celebration II, a colossal "Star Wars" convention held in Indianapolis. After one look at Starkey's face, Wood, who was searching for an actor to portray Lucas in the film, offered him the role. \n"I was like, 'Oh God, the last time I acted was a background football player in a high school production,'" Starkey said. \nAs the cast search continued, Starkey recruited a friend he met while studying at IU who had a few more acting credentials. He asked Peterson, a drama teacher at Carmel High School in Carmel, Ind., to audition. Three try outs later and the IU alumni and friends were reunited, dedicating their weekends to starring in the low-budget, all-volunteer production. \nIt has already paid off for Peterson. He won Best Supporting Actor at the London Sci-Fi Film Festival, an international competition that pitted "Saving Star Wars" against multi-million dollar productions. \n"Gary called me up one morning and I had just gotten out of the shower getting ready for work and he said, 'What would you say if I told you you won?'" Peterson said. "I had no idea what to say. I'm like alright, it's a really cool accolade. It goes on my resume, that's for sure."\nSome of Peterson's drama students have even watched the movie, after convincing their teacher to screen it. He was happy to do so, though he described one scene as "incredibly embarrassing," where Hank, dressed as a Jedi knight, urinates on the roadside while making spaceship noises. \n"Some of the kids have begged me at school to show them the movie and I've shown it a couple of times in different classes," Peterson said. "They laugh, they think it's really funny ... But it is kind of weird for them to see their teacher go up and act like a goof."\nNow that the movie has been completed, life has returned to normal for Peterson and Starkey. That is, until Lucas appears on TV or in the newspapers in the Indianapolis area, when Starkey can look forward to a new barrage of Lucas-izing. \n"I'm just a guy, honest to God, and I look like this all the time," Starkey said. "But I don't mind. I think it's fun. It's hilarious."\nProwse draws crowd\nSpringville, Ind., resident Will King saw the first "Star Wars" movie at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. So it was only fitting that he met Darth Vader at the very same venue. \n"Vader's been his hero since he was a kid," said King's son, Elisha, who attended the screening with him. \n"It ws pretty cool to meet Vader here where I saw the first one," he said. "It was definitely worth the trip."\nAfter the screening, Prowse spoke to the crowd, sharing stories and thoughts ranging from his experiences as Darth Vader to those on "Saving Star Wars." \nHe said he thought the crowd enjoyed the screening.\n"From your reactions, I could tell that you obviously thoroughly enjoyed the film," Prowse said. "Hopefully, it was as much as we enjoyed making it."\nAs for "Star Wars," Prowse said the response came as a surprise to him. \n"It's a phenomenon we never, ever thought would happen," Prowse said. "I thought we were making a load of rubbish and couldn't wait to get off it."\nHe asked the crowd for questions, and challenged them to ask one he'd never heard of. An audience member asked Prowse's best "Star Wars" memory, which probably didn't qualify as an original question, though it did spur a humorous response. \n"Receiving my first residual check," Prowse quipped. "I had never seen that much money before in my life."\nProwse closed his talk with a sing-along, set to the tune of the famous "Star Wars" theme by John Williams, with new lyrics: "'Star Wars' made me a fortune/ Paid off the mortgage/ Bought me a car."\nProwse then moved to a table to sign autographs and chat with fans, and a line quickly formed from the front of the theater all the way to the lobby. \nJunior Michael Rongo met with Prowse and talked with him about working with Stanley Kubrick on "A Clockwork Orange."\n"I had to see Darth Vader," Rongo said. "I used to be a huge fanatic. It's one of those childhood things coming back"
(09/30/05 4:47am)
With a vintage 1977 Darth Vader mug clutched firmly in hand, Gary Wood waited in line at an Indianapolis science fiction convention, hoping to get an autograph from David Prowse, famed for portraying the classic villain in the first "Star Wars" trilogy. Wood got the autograph, but he also got something he hadn't expected: a new cast member for an independent movie he was directing, titled "Saving Star Wars."\n"We started talking and half-jokingly, I think, I asked if he would be in (the movie), and he said 'Yeah, I could do that,'" Wood said. "It was amazing. On screen, I get to end up being choked and thrown up against the wall by Darth Vader. That was a dream come true. How many people do you know who've done that?"\nLocal fans won't have the option of being choked and thrown up against any walls by Vader, but they do have a chance to meet him and get an autograph. "Saving Star Wars" makes its Bloomington debut at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, and Prowse will be on hand to talk about the movie and meet fans. Prowse, who hadn't acted in a feature film since 1983's "Return of the Jedi," said he was happy to sign on to "Saving Star Wars" after Wood showed him the script. His role involved playing himself and rescuing George Lucas from kidnappers at a Star Wars convention. \n"It sounded like a lot of fun, so I agreed to come over and do it," Prowse said. "I think it's lovely and the fans totally enjoy it."\nFilmed entirely in the Indianapolis area and written and directed by Wood, the movie follows a father trying to fulfill his dying son's last wish that the "Star Wars" movies continue, parodying them along the way. \nThe film has played to warm reviews and audience receptions, even garnering Wood a Best Screenplay nomination at the London Sci-Fi Film Festival. There, it also won Best Supporting Actor for Jim Peterson, a drama teacher from Carmel, Ind., and an IU graduate, who plays Hank in the film.\nFor comparison's sake, Wood is proud to point out that the Best Actor category was awarded to Hollywood star Christian Bale for his role in "The Machinist," a multi-million dollar production. That's a long way from "Saving Star Wars," which was shot for $50,000 with a mostly unpaid cast and crew who donated their weekends to the production.\n"It's hard to explain the pride that you feel," Wood said. "It's pride for me, for the people that came together to make it and for the people that still support the movie."\nWood knows, though, that it might have been very different if it weren't for Prowse's \ninvolvement. \n"Absolutely, Dave's presence opened up many doors," Wood said. "But the movie had to keep the door open. If the movie was bad, it wouldn't have helped."\nProwse has been happy to promote the film at award ceremonies and screenings across the world, spurring even more success for the film. He encouraged local fans to come to the screening Friday.\n"It's obviously primarily for sci-fi fans, but it's a nice sort of quirky movie that appeals to all sorts of people," Prowse said. "I think it's quite good."\nTickets are $10 for the general public or $8 for students. For more information about the movie, visit www.savingstarwars.com.
(09/30/05 4:08am)
Dave Prowse estimates that 99.9 percent of "Star Wars" fans are perfectly normal, sensible human beings. Still, in the more than two decades since Prowse last appeared as Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi," that one-tenth of a percent has added up. \nWhether it's being bombarded by fans while on a plane or visiting houses completely turned into "Star Wars" shrines, Prowse has noticed the craze the movies and his character spur in some people.\nLately, he said, it's been fans having their love for Lord Vader tattooed onto all sorts of body parts.\n"Loads of people come up with them on legs, across backs, across arms," he said. "Just recently a man asked, 'Will you write Dave Prowse, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith' on my arm? I said, 'I don't mind if you seriously want it.' He came back the next day and he had it tattooed."\nProwse said he also routinely fields requests from fans to come visit their houses and view their "Star Wars" collections. He rarely does so, but Prowse said now and then he visits and is astounded by the lengths some fans go to. \n"It's strange, but that's how the 'Star Wars' phenomenon affects people," Prowse said. "There's a fair share of people who've been collectors and say they've got the biggest collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Sometimes I do go and their house is a shrine to Star Wars with everything connected to 'Star Wars.' That I can't understand."\nProwse's home in England is exactly the opposite. He doesn't display any of the many Darth Vader action figures, talking dolls or other popular merchandise, save for one statue.\n"I'm quite certain my wife wouldn't like the 'Star Wars' thing to invade our house," he said. \nStill, if the fandom gets to be too much, Prowse does have one thing going for him: Though his character is among the most recognizable in the history of film, hardly anyone knows what Prowse looks like.\n"That's one of the good things," he said. "Some actors, when they go to a restaurant, they have terrible, terrible problems because people just won't leave them alone. I'm lucky because I'm this character regarded as the ultimate screen villain of all time, and I get all the publicity I want. And I can walk (out) of the hotel without ever being recognized"
(09/23/05 4:50am)
Bloomington police arrested two people early Thursday morning on the 2300 block of North Headley Road after finding a substance appearing to be methamphetamine in their car. \nAccording to the report, officer Jeff Rees observed a man and a woman sitting in a car parked in the IU Research and Development Area trails parking lot. Rees identified the male driver as Bloomington resident John S. Payne, 35, who was wanted for failing to appear in court for an earlier charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, according to the report.\nAs Rees took Payne into custody, he noticed the female passenger, Bloomington resident Kathy J. Hatchett, 34, making suspicious movements inside the vehicle. Rees searched the vehicle and found a small box under the seat with a vial containing a white powdery substance, according to the report.\nHatchett told police that the white powder was not hers and she did not know where it came from. A preliminary test of the powder came back positive for ephedrine, an ingredient in methamphetamine.\nBecause the car was parked near the Lake Griffy Recreational Park, Hatchett was preliminarily charged with possession of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a park, a Class C felony. She also faced a prelimary charge of reckless possession of paraphernalia. Payne was preliminarily charged with failure to appear on a charge of OWI, also a Class C felony.
(09/20/05 5:43am)
A student had her purse snatched in a drive-by theft in the Indiana Memorial Union parking lot #1 Saturday night. \nSophomore Lauren Miller lost credit cards, wallet, cell phone and her Kate Spade cloth purse while walking to her car with her sister in the parking lot outside of the hotel. \nIU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said Miller was walking past the third row of cars at 11:13 p.m. when a speeding, white, four-door vehicle came toward her. As she moved out of the way, Minger said the driver reached his hand out of the vehicle and grabbed the purse and drove away. \nMiller said the driver sped toward her and she had to leap into the median just to get out of the car's path.\n"It was very, very scary. It was frightening," she said. "We had to jump out of the way. We jumped into the aisle because he was going to hit us."\nMinger said the suspect is a white male who was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt covering his head and was accompanied by another white male in the passenger seat. \nMinger said he's optimistic about the case, and he encouraged anyone with information to call 855-4111 and ask for an investigator. \n"It's under active investigation, and there's a good possibility we might be able to determine more information about the vehicle," Minger said. "Detectives are currently checking some other avenues."\nThe incident is the second case of theft at or around the IMU in just over a week. A Bloomington man was robbed at gunpoint on the sixth floor of the activities tower in the IMU Jan. 25. \nMinger said he doesn't think there is any relation between the cases or that it marks any sort of trend. \n"There's nothing to lead us to indicate that these two were connected," he said. "These are two different types, they're not even the same crime. Purse snatching and armed robbery are totally different."\nBloomington resident Ryan Corbin said he visits the IMU at least a couple times a week but security hasn't been and still isn't a big concern.\n"Yeah, I feel safe," he said. "In a way, (the crimes) surprise me. Because I can't understand why someone would really do that."\nMiller said the robbery took her by surprise because she'd always seen the IMU as a safe, well-lit environment.\n"I wasn't expecting it all," she said. "I thought I was safe there because it was a well-lit parking lot. It never even crossed my mind that something like that would happen. I'm definitely thinking about how I'll be carrying my purse now -- not that I have a purse anymore."\n-- Contact campus editor Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.
(09/20/05 4:35am)
Passers-by on the ground floor of the Student Building might notice a strange inclusion in its display case of animal bones. Nestled beside the posed skeleton of a squirrel monkey sits an alien skull with giant eye sockets, oversized head and small nose typical of a science fiction movie.\nSo is the Student Building the Area 51 of IU? \nNot exactly.\nThe mock-up skull is a creation of what an alien might look like, based on popular extraterrestrial lore in our culture. And even though the skull has a small disclaimer in front of it explaining that it didn't originate from another galaxy, Nick Toth, a professor of anthropology and the co-director of the Center for Research into the Anthropological Foundations of Technology, said it attracts students' attention nonetheless.\n"They do comment on it. They usually ask 'just what is that?'" he said. "Usually when you're looking at a skull, you have some sense of what it comes from, and that one throws them for a ringer."\nThe skull was created by California-based Bone Clones and "has the complete look and feel of the real thing," according to the company's Web site. \nIU acquired a copy of the skull partially to stimulate students' interest in bones and partially as a joke, Toth said.\n"It's not to be taken seriously," he said. "It's kind of based on the science fiction portrayal of aliens, and what would its skull look like. It gets students thinking about bones in general and what to expect in evolution."\nStudents who really like the skull can purchase one at www.boneclones.com for $185.
(09/13/05 5:11am)
IU students Otto Klopsch and Mathilde Zwicker met for the first time beside the sun dial near Maxwell Hall sometime in the early 1890s. \nBefore the century was over, the two campus sweethearts were married and their meeting spot became a part of IU's lore. Though the numbers on the dial are worn down and its time has been distorted over the years, the dial, built in 1868, still exists as a central point to that and other campus traditions and stories. \nKlopsch died in 1933 and his wife passed away two years later. In an emotional meeting with then-president William Lowe Bryan, the son, also named Otto Klopsch, received permission to scatter his parents' ashes at their meeting place in 1935.\nKlopsch did so and then donated the urn to IU to be preserved. It is still displayed in the reading room of IU Archives in Bryan Hall.\n"We have scattered their ashes to the winds at the sun dial on the university campus," Otto Klopsch wrote in a letter also signed by his two sisters. "May their spirit rest as peacefully as it lived happily while they studied and loved on these grounds."\nEven before Bryan, the sun dial proved the setting for a joke involving the fifth IU president, Cyrus Nutt, which may or may not be entirely accurate. Supposedly, Nutt tried to light a match one night at the dial to see what time it was.\nThe dial itself is in place thanks to professor C.M. Dodd, who came up with the idea. The class of 1868 then rallied behind the idea, raising the necessary $150.50 to build it. Originally constructed on IU's old campus -- where Bloomington High School South is now -- it was moved to its current position by Dunn Woods in 1906.\nThis dial is not, however, the only one at IU. Another dial was constructed in 1977 outside Assembly Hall. That one rotates on an axis parallell to Earth, which ensures it will always keep the correct time.
(09/07/05 5:43am)
Police arrested two men late Friday night suspected of brandishing weapons during an altercation outside a party in the 1200 block of North Dunn Street. Jameson Cassidy, 20, was preliminarily charged with intimidation with a deadly weapon, criminal confinement and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, and Andrew J. Franklin, 19, faced a preliminary charge of intimidation with a deadly weapon. \nBoth men are not students at IU.\nOfficers responded to a call at about 3:45 a.m. of a disturbance involving a man with a knife and a man with a handgun, according to the police report. \nThe altercation began at a party when a man yelled to Cassidy and Franklin to get away from his car after its alarm went off, according to the report. After a third individual began jabbing the car with a pitchfork in response, Cassidy and Franklin were asked to leave, the report said.\nAs they were leaving, a man and a woman said Cassidy pulled a knife on them, inducing a struggle that ultimately left the woman with a small knife scratch on her stomach, according to the report. \nPolice believe Cassidy then fled to a nearby apartment, returning with a knife and another man with a shotgun. According to the report, Franklin then followed and announced he had a black handgun, which he proceeded to display. Both Franklin and Cassidy fled the scene, according to the report, and were later apprehended at Cassidy's residence. \nThere, both admitted to the police to being involved, but said they acted in self defense when a group of guys followed them from the party and made them feel threatened, the report stated. \nIntimidation with a deadly weapon is a Class C felony, criminal confinement is a Class B felony and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon is a Class D felony.
(09/02/05 5:07pm)
A new IU Web site and hotline will bring together efforts to provide for students affected by Hurricane Katrina. The features, which debuted Thursday, are part of a campaign to reach out to students who are from the devastated regions as well as National Guard reservists who will be called up to aid in the relief effort there.\n"We are going to do our best to help the students most in need," IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said in a press release. "Efforts have been under way over the past few days, and we have already helped several students. I know that everyone in the IU community -- faculty, staff, students and alumni -- will come together to help."\nThere are about 85 students enrolled at IU who hail from areas hit by the hurricane. Each received a letter from Dean of Students Richard McKaig, who told them about services IU is providing, which include working with students having difficulty starting classes, facing financial difficulty because of the hurricane or seeking counseling. It also directed the students to the Web site, www.iub.edu/hurricane/, where all of the services are linked.\n"The events unfolding in your home region of the country are deeply troubling to all of us in the University community," McKaig wrote. "Although we may not be able to fully appreciate how you, your family, or your friends have been affected by this tragedy, please know that we want to do all we can to assist you, if our assistance would be helpful."\nMcKaig closed the letter assuring the students IU stands with them during these difficult times. \n" ...The University community joins me in saying that we are saddened by the tragedy caused by Hurricane Katrina, which continues to unfold," he wrote. "We wish the terrible problems faced by your home region were not so; but they are, and we all are left to deal with them together as best we can. Let us know how we might help. Our thoughts remain with you."\nThe Web site also has a section for publicizing events to benefit the hurricane victims, such as a student group fund-raising call-out sponsored by the IU Student Association and the IU Volunteer Students Bureau.\nIUSA President Alex Shortle encouraged students with ideas to come to the meeting, which will be held at 8 p.m. Monday in the Student Activities Tower conference room in the Indiana Memorial Union, to shape the campus relief drive. \n"We want to make sure we have an organized, cohesive effort on this or we'll be butting heads," Shortle said. "We want to promote this as an effort for Indiana University to get out there as the entire student body. The whole point is to get these groups together and see how we can help and make this a campus effort."\nThree students in the National Guard have had to withdraw from classes after being called up on active duty to the region, said Dot Kemp, who works with active duty call-ups in the Office of the Registrar. According to IU policy, students called to active duty may receive a complete refund of tuition and fees and can also receive an incomplete in the course. The new Web site offers information on how students who are called up can quickly get through the process. \nGros Louis said he's optimistic the efforts will be successful.\n"I have always been impressed with the willingness of Hoosiers to help in a time of crisis," he said.
(09/02/05 6:24am)
John Spotts strolled down Bourbon Street last Friday night, about to begin his freshman year at the University of New Orleans. The next morning, Spotts awakened to a city evacuating ahead of Hurricane Katrina and a college education put on hold. \n"It actually happened really quickly," said Spotts, a Brownsburg, Ind., native. "Friday night I was walking around the city and Saturday I woke up and evacuated. I drove to Houston and I realized I wasn't going to be back in New Orleans for awhile."\nSpotts is one of a growing number of students who are transferring to IU from universities forced to close in Katrina's wake. Colleges in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have been shut down for an undetermined time. IU has received calls from at least 25 to 30 families and 10 to 15 students have already begun enrolling, said Registrar Roland Coté.\nA number of offices on campus are working together to facilitate the students' arrivals as efficiently as possible. Those include the Office of Financial Aid, the Registrar, the Bursar and University Division, said Susan Williams, IU's assistant director of media relations.\n"All those areas are working to get them in as quickly as we can to minimize what is already a terrible situation for them," she said. \nIU still has dorm space for the students in Eigenmann Hall, and the University is working to waive late enrollment fees and to arrange financial aid and credit transfers, Williams said.\nFor Spotts, transferring to IU proved an opportunity he couldn't pass up.\n"I just need to start school back up," he said. "I was already starting classes and getting the rhythm of it. I don't want to lose any of the credits I was starting down there, and (transferring to IU) is a great way to do it as fast as possible."\nIndiana native Ryan McDonald, another displaced student who transferred to IU, was set to begin his sophomore year at Tulane when Katrina changed his plans. McDonald arrived in New Orleans Saturday at 3 p.m. to the tune of a mandatory city evacuation. Two hours later, he was on his way out, leaving town ahead of Katrina and its destructive force. \n"I never actually even went onto Tulane's campus," he said.\nMcDonald learned of IU's offer to accept transfer students and, along with nine others from Tulane, was fast-tracked through admissions, scheduling, advising and housing.\n"What it takes most students several months to do, I did in one afternoon at IU," McDonald said.\nFreshman Robyn Long from Sarasota, Fla., spent Thursday debating whether to transfer from Tulane to IU or Tennessee, which is also accepting students displaced by the hurricane. She said she was leaning toward IU after a whirlwind week which saw her moving into her dorm, evacuating it and finding herself without a school. Classes would have begun Wednesday. \n"This is definitely not how I expected my freshman year of college to go," Long said.\nLong arrived with her parents at Tulane where officials told students to move into their dorms and then get out of the city. Thinking it wouldn't be such a big deal, Long did so and left. \n"I'm from Florida and we get hurricane warnings all the time and it doesn't seem like a big deal," she said. "I thought we'd be back in like two days, so all I brought is a small suitcase with like two pairs of pants."\nLong moved into a sixth-floor room, so she said she's optimistic her belongings aren't ruined or drenched. \nShe said jumping into classes after the first week shouldn't be such a big deal.\n"It's just a week -- if it was a month it'd be a lot harder," she said. "But it will be difficult"
(09/02/05 5:32am)
A junior defender on the IU water polo team suffered a fractured spine after a car hit her while riding her bike Wednesday, according to Bloomington Police Department reports.\nEmily Schmitt, 21, was riding westbound on 10th Street Wednesday evening when she was hit by a 1994 Chevrolet Tiara van coming up behind her about 500 feet east of Grandview Drive. \nThe driver of the van, Ellettsville resident Timothy M. Scott, 17, told police the glare from the sun obstructed his vision directly before the accident.\nAccording to the police report, Schmitt did not remember anything about the accident. \nShe was transported to Bloomington Hospital, where she was diagnosed with a fractured spine, a concussion and various scrapes and abrasions. Schmitt was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, according to the report.\nA representative from the Bloomington Hospital said Schmitt was stable and doing well.
(09/02/05 5:11am)
Bowling class might have once been a place where students could kick back and strike out. But course changes, sparing no academic expense, are taking the bumper guards out of the greasy lanes.\nWith a new textbook, midterm and final exam, the changes in IU's bowling class might be making it tougher, but are also making it better, said Bowling Instructor Coordinator John Bower. Bower, who is also the Indiana Memorial Union recreational center manager, redesigned the class to better reflect the academic integrity of its parent department, the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.\n"The biggest difference is there's more structure," Bower said. "Now you are going to learn the same thing no matter what section you take."\nBower said the biggest difference was the introduction of a textbook for the first time. Students are required to buy Janis H. Martin's "Skills, Drills & Strategies for Bowling," which costs about $16 new. Bower said the book was added to benefit the students.\n"It really helps," he said. "Without the book, you have to really rely on your ability to take notes. It helps the students get through the course on their own, so they don't have to rely just on the instructor."\nSenior Michael Hall is taking the class for the first time this semester and said he wished he didn't have to pay extra for a book.\n"The fee for buying it is a little much," he said. "We're already paying an extra fee for the lanes and shoes."\nBower said he presented the new class to his students as though it had always been taught in the same way. He said students generally didn't have any problem, because they didn't know it had changed.\nBut Bob Kessler, coordinator of the physical activity instruction program, received one complaint from a student enrolled in the class. The student, he said, wanted an "easy A" and thought he or she didn't have to work. That mentality, Kessler said, won't last since HPER is trying to instill better academic standards in its physical activity courses.\n"As we're starting to find, I really believe all classes, including physical activity courses, should have the same academic rigor that any other University class would," he said. "They are all credit-hour courses that apply toward graduation. Many physical activity classes are becoming part of a curriculum for many minors and majors."\nKessler said bowling is just one part of that and the more than 250 sections of physical activity classes will ultimately follow similar academic guidelines.\n"There is a process to really standardize every class that exists," Kessler said. "We have a variety of areas with martial arts, dance courses, aquatic courses and in the future these will all become standardized to meet these expectations."\nSophomore Addison Rogers was not thrilled with the textbook, but thought the class was still appealing. \n"I have an easy schedule anyway, so it shouldn't really matter," Rogers said. "But it's been cool so far, so we'll see how it goes"
(08/31/05 6:51am)
With the heavy rains of Hurricane Katrina's remnants drowning the city, students across town could be facing flooded basements and drenched ground-floor rooms. To make matters worse, if students don't have flood insurance and have never lodged any problems with their landlord previously, they're pretty much out of luck.\nPaula Gordon, director of IU Student Legal Services, said if flooding happens for the first time, the landlord isn't responsible for damages.\n"If there's something that is perceived as an act of God -- in other words a torrential, torrential rain or a hurricane -- and the basement has never flooded before or the roof has never leaked before, there's nothing the student can do," she said. "Hopefully, they have insurance."\nGordon noted the landlord could be liable in certain situations, though probably not in an extreme scenario like this week when hurricane rains could wreak havoc, which has never been a problem before.\n"Every situation is going to be different, but what you have is a general proposition: the first time is too bad," she said. "But, if it's happened before and the landlord didn't fix it or didn't do it properly, then they are liable."\nGordon said the best solution is to invest in insurance that will cover any damages associated with flooding.\n"That's the best advice you can give them," Gordon said. "In general, the landlord is not an insurer. If anything goes wrong, that doesn't mean the landlord is responsible. And renter's insurance really is very inexpensive."\nRon Hardesty, a principal insurance agent with Hardesty Insurance in Bloomington, offers coverage that protects against flooding, but said he only sells about six or seven such policies a year. He said heavy rains spur a flurry of calls, but many come when it's already too late to buy any financial protection.\n"Today, with the creeks rising and the rain and the flood watch, there's no way to get it at this point," Hardesty said. "It's something that's way undersold. You hope everyone is made aware of it, but most seem to think it just won't happen to them."\nHardesty said he estimates the policies cost about $200 a year for up to $10,000 in coverage.\nSusie Johnson, director of Housing and Neighborhood Development with the city, receives calls from students whose basements are leaking and wonder how to work out the problem with their landlord. While Johnson said there isn't much her department can do besides asking the landlord to work with the tenant, she said the most important step to avoid problems comes before the lease is ever signed. \n"I've been doing this for 15 years (and) I can't tell you how many renters lease places and come August, they are surprised and shocked of the condition of the property," Johnson said. "The condition hasn't changed, they just didn't look carefully enough when they moved in. Be a good consumer."\nJohnson said her department will get involved if a landlord doesn't correct a problem after being given a reasonable time to fix it in.\n"If it's a hole in the basement wall, a reasonable time might be three to four weeks," she said. "If the landlord doesn't make the repair, they should give us a call and we'll do an inspection. If the complaint is valid, we'll issue an order to the landlord."\nGordon agreed and said storms like this underscore the importance of thoroughly checking the apartment and notifying the landlord immediately of any problems that could cause flooding or water damage.\n"Let the landlord know immediately of anything and put it in writing," she said. "But even more importantly is getting renter's insurance."\n-- Managing Editor Mallory Simon contributed to this story.
(08/30/05 4:43am)
IU's policy aimed at maintaining the beauty of its campus is never to remove a tree unnecessarily during renovations, expansions or construction projects. That proved a daunting challenge when the Chemistry Building addition began in 1986.\nUniversity administrators sat down with the architect of the project to see how to build it without compromising the large American Beech perched at the southern end of its \nfoundation. \nVice President and Chief Administration Officer Terry Clapacs was involved with the discussions and said it was an important task.\n"If there is any possible way to save a tree, we try to do that," Clapacs said. "That was such a beautiful tree that we sat down with the architect and talked about how to preserve it. What you see now is the outcome of that."\nThe architect didn't balk at building around a living tree, and it ultimately paid off. Designed by Harley Ellington Pierce Yee Associates Inc. of Southfield, Mich., the addition won an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects, partially for its sensitivity to its surrounding environment. \n"They were quite supportive and certainly understood that and thought it would be a very nice touch to create the right rapport between the building and the woods around it," Clapacs said.\nThomas Gaines noted IU's policy for defending its natural beauty in his book, "The Campus as a Work of Art," which called IU one of the five most beautiful campuses in the country.\nThe policy may have been born from legendary former President and University Chancellor Herman B Wells, who is said to have been a staunch defender of nature. In his last address as president, Wells called IU's "islands of green and serenity" a fundamental part of the campus.\n"(They are) our most important physical asset, transcending even classrooms, libraries, and laboratories in their ability to inspire students to dream long dreams of future usefulness and achievement -- dreams that are an important and essential part of undergraduate college experience," Wells said.\nBoth the bust of Wells and the statue of him seated at a bench beside Dunn's Woods are said to exist to watch over and protect the trees. \nIU Foundation President Curt Simic said in a 2000 press release that the trees were the only thing that convinced Wells to allow the creation of the latter statue, which was dedicated Oct. 16 of that year.\n"In typical fashion, he responded by saying, 'They can certainly find something better to do with the money!'" Simic said. "We convinced him that his likeness situated here would help protect the campus trees for future generations. He responded by saying, 'Good! Now, can we get rid of that bust in front of Kirkwood Hall? I've always feared that I really looked like that!'"\nOf course, the bust remains today, as do countless beautiful IU trees, including the one at the Chemistry building.\nClapacs said he's still pleased to this day the tree could be saved for future generations of students. \n"It says the building fits into the landscape rather than just intruding into it," he said. "It's still a good match and it was the right thing to do"
(08/29/05 6:42am)
Freshman Nicole Album spent the night before her first day of college thinking about home. Specifically, she wondered if it would be standing when she returns. \nAlbum is from New Orleans, where she lives a block away from Lake Pontchartrain, beneath sea level and directly in the eye of Hurricane Katrina's projected path. \n"Basically, my house is going to be underwater if it hits," Album said. "So I'm homeless. It's kind of scary considering my parents might have to buy a new house. Don't you think that's a little intimidating when they have to pay for college, too?"\nAlbum has been in touch with a handful of IU students who are facing a similar ordeal: trying to focus on the first day of school when their homes are facing the serious possibility of flooding or destruction. \nThat proved to be a support system for Album, who hasn't even been able to contact her family -- save an e-mail that said they were evacuating -- because the New Orleans area code has been almost completely inaccessible the day before the impending disaster.\n"I saw like five of them (Saturday) night and we were basically all freaking out about it together," Album said.\nAs of Sunday night, Katrina packed a powerful punch with 175 mph winds and a possible 28-foot storm surge. That forced a mandatory evacuation of the city, which is home to nearly a half million people and is completely below sea level. \nSophomore Brooke Rabin lives just blocks from the same lake and said she has found herself glued to the news, hoping that her house will somehow be saved. Rabin knows, though, that is unlikely. \n"The storm is headed directly for my house," she said. "The only thing protecting our house is the levee system and that is going to be demolished. It's very hard to sit back in Indiana and know you're homeless and not be able to do anything about it. It's just unfathomable."\nLike Album, Rabin has not been able to speak to her family except through text messages and e-mails. She knows they are safe, but Rabin said it's hard to face the possibility of losing her home and not even to be able to speak with her loved ones. The last time she spoke with her father, he had moved photo albums to the highest ground in the house and evacuated along with the family's dogs.\nAs of Sunday night, Rabin said she was holding up.\n"I just imagine a helicopter flying over and it being literally only rooftops," she said. "Imagine flying over Third Street and seeing only rooftops of fraternity and sorority houses -- that's what I'm thinking about. Emotionally, I'm holding up, but toward the end of the night I might not be as strong."\nNew Orleans native and junior Dimitri Loupakos said he expects to see parts of the city beneath 18 to 30 feet of water, wiping away a lot of "great culture and tradition," he said. \nLoupakos said most of his family and friends have evacuated, though some of them left for Houston Sunday at 6 a.m. and hadn't made it through the massive traffic jams by the evening. \n"There's going to be serious damage," Loupakos said. "Even in torrential rainstorm, the city is under water. Then you have sustained winds of 185 mph, gusts of 235 and levees that can't hold anymore than a Category 3. All these factors make a great recipe for a city heading for disaster." \nJunior and New Orleans native Shane Kupperman is still optimistic the storm will diminish or veer out of its projected path. Kupperman's family is staying at Touro Hospital in New Orleans to ride out the storm.\n"We've been through hurricanes before and it's really not such a big deal," Kupperman said. "But obviously this one is much worse than ones in the past." \nWith the storm expected to hit in full force early Monday morning, Rabin said she would not and could not sleep.\n"We knew that one day this would happen and an awful, awful storm would come and everything would be wiped out," Rabin said. "The local news is calling it Lake New Orleans because everything there is going to be one big lake"
(08/29/05 6:42am)
For five weeks each year, Bill Williams scurries across the country selling posters to college students and raising money for campus groups. By the time he's back home in New York, where he works as an actor and yoga instructor, he's so tired of the decorations that his walls are almost completely bare, save for one small French art print. \n"It's an intense five weeks," said Williams, estimating he routinely works 16- and 17-hour days by the time selling and stocking is complete. "And after five weeks, the last thing you want to see is more posters."\nWilliams is the tour director for the College Poster Sale, which stopped at IU last week and continues through Friday in the Indiana Memorial Union's Georgian Room. It offers students images of celebrities, paintings, postcards and posters of a motivational, educational, humorous or erotic nature to decorate otherwise bare walls.\nSophomores Kim Principe and Brittany Chenoweth were shopping at the sale Saturday to decorate their rooms in Alpha Xi Delta. The two bought a "Pirates of the Caribbean" poster with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, and Principe bought a beach scene to comfort her during the strenuous school year.\n"It looks so peaceful," she said. "And next semester won't be."\nThe "Pirates" poster doesn't surprise Williams. He said the most popular sellers this year are those, "Sex and the City," James Dean and George W. Bush quote posters. That last one is a new phenomenon, Williams said.\n"There's much more political stuff now," he said. "Seven years ago, political posters weren't really there."\nFreshman Yotam Gal perused the sale's selection Saturday afternoon, focusing on the historical and political posters. He said he could understand the demand for prints that reflect a political ideology.\n"They represent what I believe," Gal said. "I think it's 50 percent of the country is unsatisfied with the current situation, if you look at the last election."\nWilliams said he's also seen the sale transform from selling a lot of famous art prints to increasingly more images of top celebrities.\nPrincipe and Chenoweth had their own idea about the most popular poster, pointing to "Kiss" by Tanya Chalkin, a black and white photograph featuring two women kissing. \n"Every guy's room has that one," Principe said.\nIU is the first stop on this year's poster tour and Tennessee is the next destination. The sale has taken Williams all over the East Coast and as far west as Kansas. He said the demand for posters can be entirely different based on the region.\n"In one school you can't keep something in stock and then at the next no one is even looking at it," he said. "You go to one school and the Grateful Dead is really popular and then you go to a big city school and hip hop is."\nThe posters range in price, but most regular size prints run about $7 or $8. And for students who can't afford the prints, Williams hires them to help out and pays them in posters, about one an hour. \nJunior Joe Livarchik attended the sale for the second time in as many years, eyeing posters of David Beckham and Tupac Shakur. Like many of the students who stopped by, Livarchik was hoping to spruce up his blank walls. \n"My room looks like a prison cell," he said. "I really need to put stuff up in it"
(08/29/05 5:27am)
Bloomington Police arrested a man Thursday night suspected of causing two hit-and-run accidents within just one minute.\nAccording to the police report, Jordan M. Harris was turning right on 16th Street from Woodburn Avenue when he struck a parked vehicle at 6:30 p.m. The report states Harris fled the scene of that accident, heading west on 15th Street, where he allegedly ran a stop sign and hit another car at 6:31 p.m.\nA witness to both accidents followed Harris to his residence on the 1200 block of North Maple Street, the report said, and called police. Police found a silver 1988 Buick Century parked there with extensive front end damage and arrested Harris on two counts of preliminary charges of leaving the scene of an accident, according to the report. \nMan arrested for blowing mucus from nose at officer\nA man was arrested on the charge of attempted battery with a bodily fluid after he blew mucus from his nose at an officer, according to police reports. \nBPD officers were called for a trespassing complaint at 1:24 a.m. Saturday on the 400 block of West Fourth Street. There, officers approached Tracy K. Winter, 21, who appeared to have been drinking and bleeding, according to the report. Winter did not cooperate with officers, the report said, and was arrested when he refused to take dexterity tests. \nPolice transported Winter to the hospital, where the report states he tried to blow mucus from his nose onto officers. He was later taken to Monroe County Jail where the report said he continued to spit until a spit hood was placed over his mouth.\nWinter faces preliminary charges of public intoxication and attempted battery with a bodily fluid, a class D felony.
(08/24/05 5:25am)
A 20-year-old woman reported being raped early Tuesday morning in her apartment at the Varsity Villas complex, according to Bloomington Police Department reports.\nThe victim said she met a man she didn't know while she was at another apartment in the complex with about 10 to 15 other people, BPD Sgt. David Drake said. The report said the two then returned to the woman's apartment, where they drank and began kissing on the woman's bed.\nThe woman, Drake said, next remembered waking up in bed and realized that the man was having sex with her. She asked him what he was doing, at which point he stopped, dressed and left the apartment, according to the report.\nBPD responded at 2:52 a.m. Tuesday. Drake said police are still seeking a suspect in the case.
(03/24/05 5:00am)
There is a civil war brewing deep inside the head of graduate student Steve Cornett, with monsters, heroes, princes, emperors, demons and dragons all waging battle. But there is also a 200-page document he's virtually memorized detailing how those fantastic creatures and causes fit together in a massive digital card game he's developing. In the end, they will leave his head as "Guardians of Kelthas," a game in the vein of "Magic: The Gathering," but with the added technology and interactivity of a computer.\nCornett and a team of more than 20 students are developing the game together -- from sketching the various villains, creatures and landscapes to composing theme music to programming the code to voicing the characters. After nine months of work and more hours than Cornett cares to count, it's still a long way from completion. But Cornett, who is an avid fan of fantasy literature and computer and role-playing games, wouldn't want it any other way. \n"I think I was hooked on the first computer game I played," he said. "We got an old Mac when I was 4 or 5 and I tried the first couple of early games and really enjoyed them. I haven't ever really considered another career path."
(03/23/05 5:07am)
There is a civil war brewing deep inside the head of graduate student Steve Cornett, with monsters, heroes, princes, emperors, demons and dragons all waging battle. But there is also a 200-page document he's virtually memorized detailing how those fantastic creatures and causes fit together in a massive digital card game he's developing. In the end, they will leave his head as "Guardians of Kelthas," a game in the vein of "Magic: The Gathering," but with the added technology and interactivity of a computer.\nCornett and a team of more than 20 students are developing the game together -- from sketching the various villains, creatures and landscapes to composing theme music to programming the code to voicing the characters. After nine months of work and more hours than Cornett cares to count, it's still a long way from completion. But Cornett, who is an avid fan of fantasy literature and computer and role-playing games, wouldn't want it any other way. \n"I think I was hooked on the first computer game I played," he said. "We got an old Mac when I was 4 or 5 and I tried the first couple of early games and really enjoyed them. I haven't ever really considered another career path."
