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(11/02/05 4:42am)
Columnist Edmund Morris of The New York Times thinks technology can be an enemy of the arts. He suggested in a recent column that contemporary society uses technology as a substitute for artistic creation. Artists themselves, both in creative writing and studio art disciplines, have debated the value of physical art versus that created by computers and word processors. Technology has inspired new approaches to and uses for art. But in the end, technology is just another tool for the artist, albeit a powerful one. \nIU's own School of Fine Arts has a digital media concentration within its studio art major, and the graphic design concentration requires fluency in technology techniques as well. In an age when computers and technological advances characterize every other facet of contemporary life, it's only natural for artists to manipulate the same mediums for the sake of art. \nArt Sinsabaugh, a photographer whose works are on exhibit at the IU Art Museum until December, used a camera intended for companies' commercial use to create poignant landscapes and cityscapes. Word processors and digital technologies are commonly used for "practical purposes" as well. But the artistic impulse to manipulate technology can create art at a wavelength digestible for society at large. \nTechnology is a tool to express the artist's aim in the same way a sculptor uses a chisel to create a sculpture. A computer cannot design on its own without programming or a click of the mouse.\nBut digital technologies are obviously more complex than most conventional artistic instruments. The distance between a sketching artist and the sketchbook is the length of a paintbrush, while the artist establishes a link with computerized images with series of commands and electrical impulses. \nWith complete mastery over digital media programs, the distance between the hand on a mouse and the final product is as short as an oil pastel. But without mastery of the medium, an artist could sacrifice artistic integrity to the computer's agenda. \nComputerized images in online galleries display many "digital" images that demonstrate new technology more effectively than an artistic effect. Other digital images stand alone as valuable works of art. Courses like those at SoFA help artists bridge the gap between the physical and the digital to create poignant, expressive works of art. With mastery over the newest technology, complaints like Morris' become moot. \nWhat technology does do is make the passionate evolution of art harder to trace and define. We have the good fortune to possess manuscripts-in-progress from the personal effects of artists like Beethoven, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. Such manuscripts provide, to historians and aspiring artists alike, windows into the creative processes of genius minds. Few such contemporary manuscripts exist because modern writers and artists often save only the final draft.\nHistorians might need to revolutionize their techniques of fact-finding to keep up with what is becoming a paperless -- and in the case of visual arts, canvas-less -- society. But the artistic process is as involved and passionate as ever, with or without a paper trail.
(10/27/05 4:47am)
IU's reputation for Internet accessibility could be its bane, thanks to the Federal Communication Commission's rule mandating that all "facilities-based broadband Internet services" be updated to allow for more effective surveillance by the government. The FCC's rule will force IU and other American universities to update their systems to FBI-friendly standards, a process with an unfair price tag in the millions for large universities.\nIU and other institutions of higher education cannot afford such an extensive update, especially when students in American universities are not demonstrated threats to national security in the first place. \nAlthough it was implemented in August, the rule was just posted Oct. 13 on the Federal Register. According to one provision of the rule, all university networks, including IU's, must be changed so that the data usually sent from sender to recipient can simultaneously be sent to a central location for surveillance by the government by spring 2007. Changes cannot be executed with the click of a button, but instead require physical alterations to thousands of routers and switches that make IU's Internet services tick. The cost of materials and staff required for such a concentrated effort is staggering. \nIU just made the transition from Insite to Onestart in the last few years, an effort requiring a significant investment of time and money. This year, the State Assembly reduced IU's operating budget by $4.7 million, and current efforts to provide excellent technology on campus already demand a significant amount of University resources. The FCC's mandate is unfunded and will demand millions from a University already strapped for funds.\nThe drain on IU's resources doesn't end once the expensive changes have taken place, either. The new system requires 24-hour surveillance, potentially rerouting IU employees who now spend their time troubleshooting our already problematic network. IU will likely find it difficult to redistribute manpower and money to comply with the FCC's rule, but what choice do we have? \nDeadline for compliance with this rule is fast approaching -- we have a year and a half to complete the necessary changes. The FCC has said it will consider making allowances for colleges and universities. On the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act Web site, however, the record of responses to petitions requesting extensions or exceptions to other rules is not promising. Most have been denied. \nStudents at American universities, international students in particular, are already subject to surveillance. According to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, the government reserves the right to monitor Internet communication and forces networks to make themselves available to surveillance. The FCC's rule puts CALEA into practice. But according to a recent New York Times article, the FBI has rarely requested wiretaps on university campuses. And, when wiretaps were requested, the FBI had no complaints about inability to retrieve necessary information. The mandate to update all university campuses to strict surveillance standards is overkill.\nThe danger posed by systems that aren't updated is hypothetical, but the price tag for IU is all too real. This mandate places a burden on universities too heavy to be justified by a purely potential benefit. IU-Bloomington should file a complaint for an extension, or better yet an exception. Meanwhile, we can only shoulder the heavy burden of the work that lies ahead.
(10/20/05 3:53am)
The University of South Carolina sent a group of 105 students to work toward the Hurricane Katrina relief effort last week during their fall break. Students at Purdue went home to visit their families. Some students at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., decided to stay on campus to unwind. Across the nation, college students are escaping from the stress of midterms. But IU-Bloomington students are once again in the pressure cooker this week. And they'll stay there until Thanksgiving.\nTelling the trustees we want it hasn't been enough. Placing it on the calendar committee's docket year after year hasn't been enough. Years of news articles, columns and complaints of high stress levels with little relief hasn't been enough. The overwhelming national trend of American universities establishing a fall break hasn't been enough, either. So how exactly does a student body in desperate need of a timely fall break convince its administration to make the switch? \nA shortened school week's potential to interfere with lab research has been the crux of the University calendar committee's argument against a fall break. Purdue has a fall break, however, instituted more than a half century ago. Adding a fall break in the 1950s obviously didn't sabotage Purdue's ambitions as a research university. \nPurdue is ranked higher than IU-Bloomington, according to the Lombardi Program of Measuring University Performance, as a public research university. Other schools at the top of the list -- University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for example -- have fall breaks as well. Purdue and other schools focusing on research have side-stepped obstacles to satisfy student demand for a fall hiatus. Surely IU-Bloomington could do the same. \nHow did other schools get the job done? Students at high profile schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology joke that suicides among the student body earn them a few long weekends each semester and a fall break in the bargain. IU's Counseling and Psychological Services is already well frequented during midterm weeks. Does IU need more students to crumble under the unrelenting pressure of midterms, exams and papers before it will take their request seriously? \nIU-Bloomington could feasibly adjust its fall schedule to accommodate a fall break. But in 2004, once again the University calendar committee voted against both a fall break and a Labor Day break, justifying its decision with protests from science departments and other administrators. Giving those concerns thoughtful consideration, IU-Bloomington must develop a compromise that allows us to jump on this bandwagon, at last.\nThe time is long passed when instituting a fall break would have been an act of generosity on the part of the administration. Students have made the request before. We'll make it again, continuing to demand what is now the standard for university academic calendars. IU is the only public school in Indiana, and one of the few schools in America, without a fall break. We deserve it. Let's keep pushing until we get it.
(10/12/05 4:50am)
Imagine you have a choice: ethernet cord or television cable cord. One has to go. \nIf you chose a high-speed Internet connection over cable TV, welcome to the growing number of college students who are leaving the couch for the computer chair. Because of a combination of poor programming -- note the reality television phenomenon -- and college students' busy schedules, TV ratings in the college-age demographic are on the decline. Internet use, on the other hand, is way up. IU students who still spend hours in front of the television should note the trend and turn off the boob tube. \nCollege students should turn to the computer for entertainment and news that, rather than dominating our lives, is coherent with our hectic schedules. Students often watch TV to escape from daily stressers, neglecting work they should be doing in the process. Instead of settling down in front of the TV for an hour, students on the Internet can browse Facebook.com, a favorite Web site, or online periodicals between classes and assignments for a quick entertainment fix. \nThe Internet obviously offers more resources for college students than TV. Television is limited, for the most part, to a set schedule of programs on limited subject matter. The billions of sites on the Internet include print and television media sources and serve as a conduit for communication. IU students check Webmail accounts several times a day -- almost as often as they check Facebook -- adding to the massive number of links the Internet completes between its users daily. \nTurning to the computer is a healthier choice for work or relaxation as well. People often lie completely still in front of the tube, but working at a computer requires upright posture and regular movement of arms and hands, burning calories in the process.\nThe Internet, in its simultaneous application to work and play, satisfies busy college students' need for relaxation without TV's sedative effect. Reading a periodical or Web site stimulates the mind, but watching "Will & Grace" requires less brain activity than sleeping does. \nWhen TV burst onto the American scene, it was a mode of communication absolutely unique in its potential to immediately communicate ideas and images to millions of people at once. TV did -- and still does -- hold influence over American society. American households watched more TV this past season than in any season since 1991, according to Nielsen Media. Even American college students watch an average of 11 hours of TV a week, a significant chunk of time. But this average is the lowest it has been in decades, and the numbers are decreasing. \nOur generation has begun to move on from Ed Sullivan nostalgia to which many middle-age Americans still cling. Let's continue that trend toward transition. Internet entertainment, a medium more immediately connected to the rapidly shrinking global scene, has brought more benefits and less risk than TV. We've been victim to our own escapism for long enough. College students would do well to switch off reality television and turn to a diversion more closely resembling reality and less detrimental to mental and physical health. Phase out the TV sets, Hoosiers, and save up for a new wide-screen Dell instead.
(10/04/05 1:42am)
Think back to the infamous "play days" in elementary school, when children sprinted and jump roped in pursuit of a hallowed trophy and a few first prize ribbons. In the decade since our own playground competitions, the trophy has been stowed away in favor of "participants' ribbons" for all contest participants, and maybe even a free pizza party to boot. The first place winner is lost in the now-popular emphasis on "equality" and a non-competitive spirit. \nThe college rankings process has been similarly diluted in the past decade, victim to the ideology that every child -- or college -- is a winner, deserving of a first prize ribbon. \nBrigham Young University has snagged the most recent ranking title from The Princeton Review and Men's Fitness magazine as the nation's fittest college campus. On http://www.collegeprowler.com, surveys and guidebooks rank schools in 20 different categories -- plenty of prestige to go around. Every college has a chance to be on top -- Washington's Whitman College offers the best college parking and San Diego State University has the best weather. \nPressures to perform well in subjective evaluations have motivated colleges and organizations to endorse a new ranking technique -- that of specialization. If a college can't have it all, it can at least take comfort in the best drug policy enforcement in the country, like Furman University in South Carolina. If academic rigor is lacking at University of Miami, according to College Prowler, it can flaunt its A-plus score for student nightlife.\nThe increased focus on individual disciplines and trivial criteria could be the product of a society for which every factor of college life is worth weighty consideration. Or maybe we all just want a prize. \nWhat's important in a college is the total package. While specific criteria can be useful in preparing to attend a university, some rankings range far from their original purpose: to measure the quality of universities as academic institutions, and to provide students with a single, coherent analysis of a number of factors that contribute to a positive university experience.\nEvery school has positive qualities, be they average student attractiveness and beautiful weather, or a stellar security force. But overly specialized rankings are beside the point, and more indicative of a non-competitive trend than helpful to potential college students. \nThe minutia can serve a purpose. An incoming freshman at Davidson College, if he or she has a car, will take comfort in expecting some of the best parking in the country. But quality parking will probably not heavily influence a pre-frosh's decision to attend any college.\nIn contrast, the impressive range of academic and technological resources that gave IU its red-hot status are crucial to involvement with and understanding of the contemporary world. IU hasn't snagged the trophy yet, but our recent ranking brings us one step closer to that goal. Brigham Young's fit college students can wave their participant ribbons as long as they'd like, but if any college wants to put stock in subjective rankings, it has no choice but to step up and go for the gold.
(09/27/05 3:49am)
IU turns out a lot of trash. To deal with waste from building construction and management of dorms and dining halls, many universities, including IU, have departments devoted to recycling and conservation efforts. It's not as common, however, for a Residence Halls Association to publicize and support those efforts. IU's RHA is doing exactly that. Bravo. \nThe novelty of recycling disappeared for many of us a long time ago, along with memories of fourth-grade science projects and field trips to the recycling plant. The mantra, "reduce, reuse, recycle," is a part of our world perspective, thanks to elementary school education programs, but one that loses importance in the face of tough courses, salaries, tuition and exams. \nRecycling is often left to "hippies" who major in environmental studies or dismissed as a project too complex for a large student body to tackle as a single force. The constant and pressing need for environmental awareness, however, is being effectively supported by IU's RHA, a campuswide organization.\nLast year, IU recycling services expanded to provide bins for newspaper, glass, aluminum, paper, printer cartridges and plastics in every dorm. Brand new this fall are bins for Dasani and milk bottles in Wright and Gresham food courts -- high traffic dining areas where, previously, the only way to dispose of an empty water bottle was the trash can. \nRHA did not fund the new recycling services; we have the Physical Plant to thank for that. But RHA has contributed to the new recycling efforts' success by shifting more bins to high-traffic buildings with the most waste, such as Wright and Gresham. By cutting slotted lids in bins to reduce contamination, clearly labeling bins and publicizing their locations online and in dorms, RHA has also increased the effectiveness of existing recycling initiatives. The significant increase in poundage of recyclable material leaving IU since August proves RHA's strategies are right on the money.\nIU still produces plenty of waste: about 600 tons per month, although 150 tons of that is recycled. Enthusiasm for the environment might not spike even with new policies. \nLet's face it, a new and improved recycling program is still not the most exciting development in a college senior's life. But new services make it easy for a student -- one living on campus at least -- to help IU recycle, even if the environment isn't his or her top priority. Students living off-campus are out of luck, however, since Monroe County only provides recycling services to single-family homes. All the more reason to appreciate RHA's efforts to make bins accessible on campus. \nClearly labeled bins and a well-publicized recycling campaign can go a long way toward establishing earth-healthy habits. With the spotlight on efforts to conserve and recycle increasing in intensity, students may begin to once again view recycling as a necessity, and apply that sense of responsibility to an even more crucial component of environmental responsibility: that of conservation. By integrating the program thoroughly into campus and dorm life, RHA is sending the right message: Environmental responsibility is a lifestyle, one with far-reaching consequences for all of us, from third graders to graduate students.
(09/20/05 4:04am)
The premise behind the implementation of Constitution Day is a true one: The majority of Americans are ignorant of the rights and responsibilities set down by the Constitution. \nNo doubt Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., by attaching a few Constitution Day clauses into a big-budget bill, was attempting to eliminate the epidemic of ignorance. The amendment mandated that all schools receiving federal money teach Constitution-related material Friday. But Constitution Day, in its short time span and with interventionist attitude, is ineffective and potentially dangerous to the rights our Constitution stands to protect. \nHigh schools and universities enthusiastically complied with the federal mandate last weekend. Bloomington's town hall panel Friday and the School of Education's Constitution Forum Saturday both encouraged awareness of the Constitution's structure and its relevance to daily life. The official Constitution Day Web site peddled star-spangled plush bears named "Uncle Sam" and pocket-sized constitutions with cute cover illustrations. An annual celebration of the Constitution is great, if it supplements a consistent focus. But one day simply isn't enough.\nHowever, direct intervention is not the right way to encourage Constitution education. Distributing knowledge about the Constitution to American citizens is far from damaging -- the more discussion of the Constitution in classrooms the better. But establishing a direct relationship between receiving government funding and the obligation to teach a specific subject matter sets a dangerous precedent. \nSchool boards surrendered jurisprudence over class curriculum to Congress Friday -- for what most agree is a good cause. But if Congress decided tomorrow, for instance, that evolution is the only acceptable perspective for an educated mind, could it then cite passage of Constitution Day to justify forcing all schools to exclude intelligent design from their curricula? Certainly not within the next three years, with a president in power who supports classroom airtime for intelligent design. And if Congress comes to that decision in a decade or two, so what? Most scientists, for whom intelligent design is creationism veiled in scientific jargon, would be glad to see intelligent design disappear from classrooms. Who cares then? Why, the Constitution, as a matter of fact.\nAccording to the 10th Amendment, unless the Constitution specifically delegates a certain power to the federal government, that power falls to the states or to the people. Education is one of those powers. To create a citizenry well-versed in the Constitution, Congress must give us the opportunity to build a foundation firmer than a day's worth -- and respect states' constitutional rights in the process. \nSen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has sponsored a bill that would implement history testing more often. It's not moving quickly through Congress, but it stands in positive contrast to Constitution Day's short attention span and its seemingly innocuous conquest of American school systems. \nWith the passage of Constitution Day, the lock protecting state school systems from direct federal intervention is being quietly pushed to the breaking point. States and school systems are more vulnerable than ever to future Congresses' conceptions of the educated American. Constitution Day enthusiasts would do well to bookmark the 10th Amendment in their pocket Constitutions, and beware.
(09/07/05 4:46am)
In the past week, Americans have demonstrated their gift for translating natural human empathy for the victims of Hurricane Katrina to donations of money and elbow grease -- the thousands of volunteers working to assist Katrina victims hail from dozens of religious groups, philanthropic organizations and conscientious businesses. But Hurricane Katrina has exposed debilitating weaknesses in more than just the levees of New Orleans. \nCity officials' responses to Hurricane Katrina last week took for granted the safety of poor New Orleans inhabitants at a time when the poor were in the most potential danger from the storm.\nNeighborhoods of those living below the poverty line, most of which were black neighborhoods, were among those nearest the levees that ruptured. \nIronically, the inhabitants of these neighborhoods were those who also could not afford transportation out of the city. Both their dangerous position near the levees and inability to travel trapped many poor New Orleans residents in a struggle for their lives. Those who escaped their houses fled as refugees to the Superdome, where they were met with quickly diminishing supplies of food and water, along with unbearable sanitation conditions. Even in the last push to remove victims of Hurricane Katrina from the hell the Superdome had become, guests and staff members of hotels like the Hyatt were bused out first on Saturday. Those not lucky enough -- or affluent enough -- to gain affiliation with a hotel were kept at the back of the evacuation line. \nThe devastation to poor black communities in New Orleans could have been reduced if Mayor Ray Nagin had followed up his evacuation request by ensuring those without the means to secure transportation had a way out of what would become a death trap. Safety should not have been a condition of a citizen's monetary significance. \nPresident Bush has stated no one knew the levees would be breached, absolving city officials of blame. An Army Corps of Engineers District Report released in May, however, pointed out that lack of funding would prevent New Orleans from making necessary upgrades to deal with hurricanes above Category 3. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 4 when it hit New Orleans. \nThe safety of the levee system was questionable before Hurricane Katrina hit, and evacuation of the neighborhoods near the levees was necessary. While the total number of casualties in New Orleans is not yet known, poor victims of Hurricane Katrina had questionable odds when left to find strategies for survival with severely limited resources.\nThe consequences of this inexcusable neglect should dictate future efforts to place equal priority on protecting all citizens from the effects of natural disasters. The suffering of the poor of New Orleans has turned the spotlight once again on the separate nation of poverty the United States often ignores. Americans shocked by similarities between media images of Hurricane Katrina's effects and those often shuttered in developing countries will do well to remember that none of us are immune to the wrath of Mother Nature, and all of us are entitled to the respect due to human life -- free of charge.
(08/30/05 4:23am)
If you cater, they will come. Food is a classic technique used by any and all organizations, speakers or departments at IU to attract college students. The Welcome Week programs last week were only acting according to this well-known fact. But tasty snacks stole the spotlight from the valuable information offered during Welcome Week.\nThe Office of Orientation Programs hosts CultureFest every year as a way to expose students, especially freshmen, to cultural, ethnic and religious communities on campus. The audience for CultureFest speaker Kevin Wanzer filled the IU Auditorium to the brim last Thursday. But most who arrived after the doors closed waited impatiently for food to be served instead of visiting the booths where representatives were stationed with information on a variety of cultural programs. \nFew Welcome Week events did not include a tasty snack. Once lured into an assembly, speech or festival with promises of food and prizes, many freshmenleft with their hunger satisfied, but with no greater recognition of what is in many ways a diverse and generous campus.\nMore than one freshman boasted success to this columnist in their personal Welcome Week ambition: to get through the week paying for as few meals as possible.\nHow can Welcome Week avoid becoming a series of buffets for students stress-eating their way to the start of classes? \nA significant amount of University money and student elbow-grease converge in the massive August effort to make every freshman feel welcome at IU. At the same time, Welcome Week costs are probably only a drop in the bucket of IUB's unrestricted $650 million budget.\nIf IU is willing to foot the bill, and if catering keeps the students coming, by all means keep serving delicious food at Welcome Week events. But let us also ensure that Welcome Week events not only satisfy the stomach, but also communicate information suited to the needs and interests of incoming students.\nBetter design for Culturefest booths placing information in greater prominence than snacks, or directing students toward information before reaching the food would encourage students to more seriously consider the sponsor organization before they chow down. \nWelcoming new students is a responsibility every institute of higher education should take seriously. The students' first week is the institution's first opportunity to wow students and their families - to motivate them to become involved in the University. Yet the Office of Orientation conducts no yearly survey to gauge the interest level in and perceived relevance of current Welcome Week activities.\nThe Office accepts unstructured feedback in the form of e-mail (orient@indiana.edu) and is considering conducting a survey this fall. If such a survey is indeed realized, we should applaud the Office for realizing the importance of reevaluating the effectiveness of this year's Welcome Week events. It would be about time. \nWhen Welcome Week programs served copious amounts of food, students attended in droves. But quantity of attendees does not guarantee a quality event. The Office of Orientation must make a concentrated effort to find out what wisdom students take away from Welcome Week events -- only then can it ensure future Welcome Weeks not only dish out a square meal, but a balanced perspective of IU as a dynamic academic community.
