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(11/30/06 4:38am)
The IU Student Building's iconic clock tower hasn't chimed for weeks due to water damage, IU Physical Plant officials said.\n"Apparently, it has had some water that has dripped into its electronics," said Bruce Williams, service center manager at the physical plant, the University's maintenance department. \nThe ringing bells of the clock tower, which was completed in 1906 and renovated in the early-1990s, are electronically automated. \nHank Hewetson, the physical plant's assistant vice president for facility operations, said plant workers must inspect the problem more closely before he will know when the bells' chiming can be fixed.\n"If they can't fix it internally, they'll have to get the company that manufactured it in to repair," he said.\nHewetson said he wasn't sure when exactly the bells stopped chiming.\nThe bells were made by the Verdin Company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. A Verdin spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon that the University had not contacted the company requesting a repair.\nPhysical plant workers inspected the tower Monday, but the plant did not say what, if any, additional information was learned.\nIn addition to the absence of the chimes, the tower's four-sided clock lagged more than an hour behind schedule as of Wednesday afternoon.\nIt's not the first time the clock tower has been silenced, whether by school officials or Mother Nature.\nThe University stopped the chiming in respect for an illness suffered by former Dean of IU's Department of Music Barzille Winifred Merrill, who was appointed dean in 1919. In December of 1990, a fire ripped through the Student Building, destroying much of the clock and tower, including all the bells. At the time, the Student Building was undergoing a $4.5 million renovation.\nThe most recent clock and bells cost about $200,000, according to a July 27, 1991, Herald-Times article. IU staged a rededication ceremony outside the Student Building in October 1991.\nOn June 16, 1905, the IU board of trustees approved the original purchase: $1,490 for the clock and $3,650 for the bells. Adjusted for inflation to 2005 rates, the costs are $34,000 and $84,000, respectively.\nToday, it seems the clock tower serves as a historic showpiece but little else. The landmark, a favorite of budding photographers, is regularly seen on postcards, IU marketing materials and gift shop trinkets.\nWhile many might not even notice the chimes have been silenced during the past few weeks, graduate student Justin Otten said he misses the familiar jingle.\nThe clock's chimes, he said, became part of his work routine as an assistant in the Office of International Services, which is housed in Franklin Hall, next to the Student Building. The bells, which chimed twice an hour until recently, reminded him and his coworkers to open and close the office doors at certain times during the day.\n"Plus, it just adds a nice feel to campus," Otten said. "Its absence (is noticeable) when it's not ringing"
(11/29/06 4:00pm)
In 1960, a father lost his son. He’s spent the past 46 years searching for answers.
(11/16/06 3:52am)
Professor Alan Rugman wanted to put his already-extensive credentials to better use.\nWhen he was offered the opportunity to be the keynote speaker at a nationwide symposium on South Korea's foreign direct investment policy, he jumped at the chance.\nIn his second trip to the country, Rugman — the L. Leslie Waters chair in international business, professor of management and business economics and public policy and director of the IU Center for International Business Education and Research — visited South Korea from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4 of this year. While visiting the country, Rugman met with the country's president, prime minister and the minister of commerce, industry and energy.\n"It was a long trip," Rugman said. "The events I was involved (in) were very interesting. I was impressed with the competence of the ministry of commerce, industry and energy. They have largely English-speaking officials, and they interact with foreign investors."\nDuring his visit, Rugman attended various events with the chief executive officers of companies such as Fuji Xerox, 3M Korea and Magna International Korea. These corporations are sending signals that they want to attract foreign investment and want to have high quality knowledge-based investment, he said.\n"Korea has come up the curve; it's no longer a cheap labor place," Rugman said. "That role is filled by China. Korea has very skilled workers and is developing clusters of firms, which include foreign and Korean firms."\nOne of the issues discussed on his trip was the need for free-trade agreements between South Korea and other major industrial countries. Currently, negotiations are underway for a free-trade agreement between South Korea and the United States and between South Korea and Canada, Rugman said. When he met with the Korean president, Rugman learned there is talk of free trade between South Korea and the European Union. \n"The reason they need these free-trade agreements is that the (World Trade Organization) has failed to include a multilateral agreement," Rugman said. "Countries like Korea have to do these bilateral trade agreements with Canada, the European Union and so on."\nRugman said he spoke in favor of these agreements because they help promote the economic development of Korea, they give access to the American market and they allow American firms to invest in the country.\nPrior to his visit, Rugman co-authored a paper titled "Multinationals, Globalization, and Public Policy Towards FDI in the Republic of Korea" with In Hyeock Lee, a graduate student. The paper details his reasons why South Korea should have an open door for foreign investment. His argument is that foreign investment would help upgrade its economy and, in turn, produce Korean multinationals.\nLee, who had experience working for the Korean government under the minister of commerce, industry and energy, said Korea started to attract foreign direct investment because the country wanted to overcome a financial crisis. This is why Rugman was contacted to give the keynote address, he said.\n"Professor Rugman is a big name in international business, focusing on foreign direct investment," Lee said. "So, he must be the most credible expert in foreign direct investment."\nLee said Rugman's meeting with Korean officials is important because he can give advice so the Korean government can formulate better ways to make direct foreign investment.\n"I believe he made a great contribution toward public policy in Korea," Lee said.\nP. Roberto Garcia, clinical associate professor of international business and one of Rugman's colleagues, referred to him as one of the leading scholars in the field of international business. Garcia also said Rugman is a very important academic and researcher in the field.\n"He's very active in the application of international business theory by helping governments and companies," Garcia said. "That's very valuable. It's valuable in terms of students and our field. It communicates that his research is applicable and has relevance in the real world"
(11/09/06 3:49am)
I had Mr. Gordon Kato as an instructor in PSY P154, the accompanying lab for Introductory Psychology II for Majors (PSY P152). Though it took me a while to understand all the statistics involved in the results section of a psychology research paper (sounds mind-boggling already), Mr. Kato really took the time to help me individually so that I could better understand the material. Even though it was difficult material to understand, Gordon was committed to making sure we understood it so that we would have great experiments and papers. I am very saddened to hear about his death. I would like him to know and want to thank him for helping so many of us students with the difficulties of psychology. You will be missed greatly, Gordon!
Sarah Wells
,
Junior
(11/02/06 6:03am)
Social psychology graduate student Gordon E. Kato was found dead Tuesday, said Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Daniel Carnes. Police could not provide a cause of death or other details.\nKato was 41, according to an e-mail from Heather M. Winne of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.\nJim Sherman, professor of psychological and brain sciences and Kato's faculty adviser, worked closely with Kato on research projects and said Kato didn't show up to work Monday.\nSherman said Kato's absence was not too unusual because Kato had no professional obligations on Mondays. However, he began to worry when Kato, who is a teaching assistant, didn't show up to teach his Tuesday afternoon class. \n"I know Gordon, and he's very responsible, and he's very reliable," Sherman said. "He wouldn't just miss these things without telling people."\nTwo graduate students drove to his house Tuesday. When no one answered, they called the police, Sherman said. Police found Kato dead in his home, Sherman said. \nKato, who was originally from Hawaii, was a third-year graduate student in social psychology, Sherman said. Kato's mother still lives in Hawaii, he said. \nSherman helped get Kato acquainted with IU and learned they were interested in similar research work. He said Kato previously had his own publishing company in New York City for a few years. When he arrived at IU, he immediately made friends.\n"He was older than most grad students," Sherman said. "He was in a different stage of life, but he fit right in."\nDrew Hendrickson, one of Kato's best friends and another graduate student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, said Kato was hoping to go back to Hawaii and teach at a university there after getting his degree at IU. But at the same time, Kato was happy with what was going on currently.\n"Gordon was the kind of person who was enjoying what he was doing right now," Hendrickson said. "He wasn't all consumed with that was down the road, which I think too many grad students get (caught) up in."\nFellow grad student Elise Percy Hall recalled one of her favorite memories of how Kato used his unique humor to calm her nerves just before she gave a speech. He sang the song "Muskrat Love," which sent them into minutes of laughter, she said.\n"And he just knew exactly how to make someone else laugh even when they are nervous and calm them down," she said. "I'll just always remember how he was willing to give of himself and not take himself seriously in order to help someone else feel better."\nJohn Petrocelli, co-teaching assistant in a statistics in psychology course, said he had received e-mails from Kato's students throughout the day after they heard the news.\n"Everybody that knew Gordon loved Gordon, I can tell you that," Petrocelli said. "He's just a wonderful guy, a giving guy. He always had a great sense of humor -- he could give anyone a laugh about anything probably."\nStudents respected Kato, Hall said, but most of all, other graduate students recognized his humility.\n"He was one of the most humble people I've ever met," Percy Hall said. "We're all crushed. We loved him very, very much"
(10/25/06 4:23am)
Graduate students at IU have experienced higher tuition costs and face greater debt when leaving the University, as state funds for higher education have withered away over the past decade. \nWith the upcoming Nov. 7 elections, many are questioning how politics and government spending can affect graduate students. \nThe funding slash in large part has caused expected debt to surge among graduate students by more than 250 percent during the past decade and has made competition to become student academic appointees -- teaching assistants, assistant instructors and research assistants who are paid part or all of their tuition -- more fierce. \nWith higher education allowances dissolving, graduate students at IU have especially been affected. Tuition has doubled in some graduate programs during the past decade. In 1996, Indiana residents could expect to pay $7,800 per year in tuition to earn a Masters of Business Administration degree. Today, tuition for the same degree surpasses $14,000, according to the IU Factbook. \nPatrick Bauer, D-South Bend, the Indiana House of Representative Democratic leader, said the only way to reverse this trend was if the people demanded a change.\n"It depends on whether people in the higher education community realize (the funding) has slipped," he said. "Now the only way to help that is to raise tuition -- and we don't want that in Indiana. We want to make it affordable."\nAcross the aisle, Republicans who hope to retain control of the House and the Senate disagree with Bauer's calls for higher education funding. \n"When the Democrats were in control, we had overspending every year. When Gov. (Mitch) Daniels entered office, the state was in $1 billion in debt because of failed Democratic leadership over the past seven or eight years that robbed nearly every account out there," said Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, chairman of the House Education Committee in the Indiana House of Representatives.\nAlong with the skyward rise in tuition, graduate students also saw a pinch in tuition-deferring opportunities. \nThough each of the University's graduate schools offer some employment program aimed at helping offset tuition costs, some reach further than others. Currently, the College of Arts and Sciences employs the most graduate students with 1,825 serving as student academic appointees -- down about 200 from 2004, according to information gathered by the Office for Academic Personnel Policies and Services. \nSince the General Assembly started actively deflating University funds almost a decade ago in hopes of leveling off the growing state deficit, only about 30 percent of graduate students have served as appointed student employees. \nPaul Rohwer, moderator of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization, said higher education funding is one of the issues that could influence the way students vote. He said it seems the Democrats have really worked to make education their primary platforms but added they failed to reach out enough to student voters.\nAvraham Spechler, School of Education representative to the GPSO, said that no shift in concessions would be seen until both citizens and legislators felt an increase in funds could directly boost the state, adding this was an issue a single election could not resolve. \n"If you're a Hoosier who has lived here for a number of years, how are these higher education services going to help you? And how are these graduate students who will most likely leave the state anyway going to help you?" he said. "It's going to take a shift in the political constellation. It is going to take a shift in the economic base that can support these more educated workers." \nSince 1975, IU's portion of the state's general operating budget has dropped more than 3 percent, according to information from the IU Office of Government Relations. Though damaging to public universities throughout the state, other areas under current allocations have flourished. Medicaid funding skyrocketed 40 percent since 2000 and funding growth for the state correctional and public safety systems doubled that of higher education, according to the IU Office of Government Relations. \nWithin the University, areas like financial aid programs for graduate students have endured the most brutal cutbacks, while other sectors remain less affected. Full professors, for instance, have seen a 22 percent hike in salaries since 2000 -- increasing the average wage to more than $130,000 per year, according to the IU Factbook. \n"Getting professors is becoming a very competitive element to higher education," said Debbie Sibbitt, director of Hoosiers for Higher Education, an advocacy group that works to lobby public officials on higher education funding. "If you look at all of these baby boomers getting ready to retire, there is not nearly the influx to support all of those baby boomers who will be leaving those positions. This makes it a truly competitive venue."\nAs elections inch closer each day, some students and staff have spoken against what they believe to be detrimental behavior toward Indiana's economic future. Sibbitt said the outlook of this issue rests upon voter results. \n"It's going to depend on Nov. 7. That is what is going to make a determination about what happens," she said. "Both legislative areas -- the (state) House and the Senate -- are both Republican now, and that could very easily change things if the House especially goes Democrat"
(10/24/06 2:40am)
Challenging friends to dares, double dares and even triple-dog dares reigns as a schoolyard staple for earning peer respect. For the Bloomington Playwrights Project's Richard Perez, a dare even led to his life's work -- theater.\n"It gave me a voice at that point in my life when I felt I didn't have one," he said of the impact his beginning days in theater had on him.\nAn actor, director, teacher and now producing artistic director at the BPP, Perez first took a theater class on a dare he proposed to his younger brother as an upperclassman in his high school north of San Francisco. Perez said he knew subconsciously he was interested in theater but needed a specific reason to take the class. The dare provided that opportunity. \nInspired, he left California after graduation to study acting in New York. He now lives in Bloomington, which he has called home for four years. \nPerez describes the BPP as a way to help new plays and playwrights.\n"In a business that always forgets about it, you have to infuse theater with new blood," Perez said.\nPerez started as "new blood" at the BPP four years ago as a volunteer, following the dream of owning his own theater company. When the former producing artistic director left, Perez applied for and took the position.\nAs producing artistic director, Perez's responsibilities are numerous. He does everything from choosing shows and reading new plays to hiring new talent and promoting the BPP's ideas to other theater companies nationwide.\n"Some people say I do nothing," he said jokingly, drawing laughs from two of his colleagues working at desks nearby.\nThe BPP kicked off the 2006-07 season -- "one of the best seasons we've ever put together," Perez said in September with "Border Lines," a festival of plays by Hispanic writers.\nBreshaun Joyner, the BPP's education director, said audience response and turnout for the show was successful, particularly because the audience was encouraged to take part in the performance and interact with the performers on stage.\n"When the audience gets permission to call out to the performers, they definitely go for it," she said.\nThe season continued this weekend with "Boomer," an autobiographical improvisational movement show performed by Nell Weatherwax. Perez said he was impressed by the show and the audience's reaction to it.\n"It was a wonderful turnout, and the response was very positive," he said.\n"Arrangement for Two Violas," a play detailing the two male doctors' relationship, set in 1938, will be the next show for the BPP and will be directed by Perez. It runs Nov. 2-18.\n"We are always looking for plays with purpose, plays that tell a story and make a point without hitting the audience over the head with it," Perez said in a BPP press release. "At its heart, this play is a love story between two men, and the bias toward that sort of relationship in that period of time."\nAlthough Perez's influence on the choice of shows is important, he said volunteers make a large impact on the organization as a whole.\n"Volunteers are crucial to the day-to-day operation of the organization," he said.\nPerez counts volunteer Sonja Johnson as one of the biggest influences in his career. He said Johnson, a full-time volunteer, also serves as director of development.\n"She constantly reminds me what it is to have integrity," Perez said.\nPerez's co-workers are equally quick to praise him. Rachael Himsel, the BPP's public relations director, said she admires many of his qualities but especially his passion for theater.\n"He loves the process of directing and the process of creating a play," Himsel said. "(Perez is) really dedicated to doing theater that matters"
(10/23/06 4:31am)
The last time Monroe County had an non-presidential national election only 17 people from the Bloomington Five precinct showed up to vote.\nThe precinct, which had 1,281 registered voters at the time, is entirely on-campus -- it includes any land between Fee Lane, Jordan Avenue, 17th and 10th streets. The precinct includes Foster Quad and seven greek houses. Only 1.4 percent of Bloomington Five residents actually voted in the 2002 congressional election. \nBut the low turnout numbers that appear every year in student housing precincts in elections are misrepresentative, said Jessica White, elections supervisor for Monroe County. Many of the voters who registered to vote in Monroe County don't actually live in the county anymore -- they moved away after they graduated from IU but never transferred their registration. According to a 2005 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, Monroe County has a population of 87,000 people ages 18 and older, but there are currently more than 102,000 registered voters in the county. \n"Our percentages, they're not even close to being accurate," she said.\nIn order to come up with more accurate numbers, Monroe County will begin eliminating names of "inactive voters" — registered voters who have not voted in the previous two general elections — from the registered voters list.\nVoters become inactive when they do not vote in a general election, meaning a registered Monroe County voter who did not vote in the 2004 election and this year's election will become unregistered this year.\nRight now, about 46,000 of Monroe County's registered voters are inactive, White said.\nThe low turnout rates from 2002 in predominantly student-populated areas are nothing new, White said. White is in the process of planning this year's election, which is of similar caliber to the 2002 election and even includes a race between the same two Congressional candidates. \nWhite said it's important to note that voters who are taken off the registration list can register again whenever they choose. The county attempted to send postcards to inactive voters to warn them they would be taken off the list, but many of the postcards came back because the voters had moved away.\n"This isn't like a permanent you-can-never-vote-again type of thing," White said.\nIn the Bloomington Five district, more than 75 percent of registered voters are inactive. In the Bloomington Nine district, which includes Forest Quad, Read Center and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, 1,400 of the 2,000 registered voters are inactive. This year, the combined polling sites will serve about 900 active registered voters.\nEven though the numbers are skewed, White said, they still give some accurate facts at surface value. Many of the 46,000 registered voters may no longer live in Monroe County, but the numbers still indicate that they're not voting, at least not in Indiana. Indiana law only allows voters to be registered in one county at a time.\nTo avoid overstaffing the polls this year for a low turnout, the county is combining several precincts with high student populations. This year, Bloomington Five will vote at Read Center with Bloomington Nine's precinct, which had a 4.66 percent turnout for the 2002 election.\n"Instead of paying 10 poll workers, we'll pay seven," White said. "There's no point in having five people out there (at each precinct)."\nWhite said combining predominantly student precincts will save the county money. Monroe County spends about $40,000 for each election to pay poll workers.\nElection Day is Nov. 7. Voter registration ended Oct. 10. Registered voters can now vote early in the Monroe County Clerk's Office Annex in the Curry Building, 238 W. Seventh St.
(10/20/06 4:43am)
MARTINSVILLE -- Four days into the murder trial of John R. Myers II, Jill Behrman's parents accused the defense of breaking Indiana legislative code and denigrating their daughter's character.\nIn a press conference held at the end of the day's testimony, Marilyn and Eric Behrman read a statement to reporters stating they were "appalled" at the statements defense attorney Patrick Baker was making to the press in regards to Jill Behrman's character. \n"Must we be forced to live with Mr. Baker's accusations?" Eric Behrman asked. "Jill is certainly unable to defend herself, just as she was that day in May 2000."\nBaker theorized that Jill Behrman fled her home May 31, pregnant with an older man's baby that she was hiding from her parents.\nThe Behrmans highlighted a part of Indiana law that asserts a "victim has the right to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect throughout the criminal justice process" and asked if Baker was being held to the same standards as the witnesses who are swearing oaths before they testify.\nOn Thursday, Baker continued to cast doubt over Jill Behrman's intentions the Saturday she disappeared, suggesting the 19-year-old was having an affair with a former co-worker and arguing that he should be considered a suspect just as much as Myers.\nBrian Hollars, a former labor coordinator at the Student Recreational Sports Center, denied being romantically involved with Behrman when he testified Thursday. He told the jury he had never dated her, had a romantic interest in her or argued with her. He also denied ever working out with her, sending her e-mail or even knowing her phone number.\n"I absolutely had nothing to do with Jill Behrman's death," the Bloomington firefighter said when asked by the prosecution if he had killed her.\nHollars, who hired Behrman in the early spring of 2000 to work at the SRSC, said he had little personal contact with her as an employee, since she was directly supervised by another co-worker, Wes Burton, who testified Wednesday.\nThe crux of the defense's questioning lay in the 20- and 12-gauge shotguns Hollars owns and uses for hunting birds with his father-in-law. The guns, which are both over-under double-barrel shotguns, have never been examined by the police. Hollars said he offered to show them to police officers when they questioned him at his house, but they declined.\nHe also uses size eight shot, a common size for bird hunting. Lead pellets of a similar size were found near Jill Behrman's remains. Hollars said he does not carry the guns in his vehicle routinely.\n"I believe I was considered a suspect for a lot of coincidental reasons," Hollars said, citing the location where he and his wife used to live, on the corner of Maple Grove Road, as being close to the location where Jill Behrman's bike was found and the fact that he owns a weapon similar to what killed her.\nDuring the intense questioning from both sides, Hollars said on May 31, 2000, he arrived early to work at about 6:30 or 7 a.m. to assist in loading ice chests into a truck for his boss's wife. The only time he might have left the building during the day was to check four athletic fields on campus to ensure their upkeep, he said.\n"I wanted to come in here and at least defend my name and help out at least in this trial," he said. Myers swiveled slightly back and forth in his chair as Hollars testified.\nProsecutor Steve Sonnega told reporters during the lunch break that Baker's legal tactics were only going to alienate him from the jurors. \n"There's not a single piece of evidence tying (Hollars) to her." he said. "There are just a lot of unfounded accusations."\nThe prosecution called Greg Bartlett to the witness stand Thursday afternoon. He told the jury he saw a bicycle, later identified as Jill Behrman's, laying on the side of Maple Grove Road shortly after 4 p.m. May 31, 2000.\nBartlett said he looked around to see if anyone was nearby, and when he saw that there wasn't, he looked in the tool pouch affixed to the bike seat to see if there was identification inside. There wasn't, he said.\nA few days later, while at work, he said he saw in the newspaper that Jill Behrman was missing. The description of her bike and the one he found and put in his barn "matched to a T." He said he thought he had her bike, and then two detectives came to see it. When the jurors asked questions via a slip of paper handed to Judge Christopher Burnham, they wanted to know if Bartlett could have damaged the bicycle while handling it. He said no.\nFour other witnesses testified they saw the bike in that location the afternoon of Jill Behrman's disappearance.\nBrian Behrman, 27, also spoke Thursday morning, recounting his sister's love of biking. \n"She always wanted to keep up with me," he said, explaining how her cycling skills had outpaced his by the time she graduated from high school.\nBrian Behrman said he was "fairly close" to his sister and said she didn't date anyone in particular during her freshman year. He also told the jury she had no favorite route that she normally took while bicycling, disagreeing with the defense when they tried to suggest she might have been riding on the south end of town, near South Harrell Road.\n"There were multiple reports -- she was placed all over Bloomington (by witnesses after she disappeared)," he said.\nWhile he remained calm and focused during most of the questioning, Brian Behrman broke down in tears when remembering the day his sister disappeared, explaining how his father came to him and told him she was missing.\n"I wanted to be able to say more at the end, but I was choked up," he said in the hallway after his testimony. "It's something I've been nervous about for a long time."\n-- IDS Managing Editor Kacie Foster contributed to this article.
(10/18/06 3:07am)
On Oct. 10, the Indiana GOP proposed stiffer enforcement of illegal immigration laws by denying \npublic social services and broadening police authority to investigate and detain offenders. While Democrats in the state legislature also oppose illegal immigration, they propose penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants as opposed to the immigrants themselves. Republican state Rep. John E. Smith says illegal immigration harms Indiana taxpayers in the entire state. Our columnists debate the GOP proposal.
(10/12/06 2:52am)
No Sweat! against Coke contract, not all big business contracts
(10/11/06 3:35am)
NEW YORK -- Columbia University professor of political economy Edmund Phelps was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday.\nPhelps will receive the honor and a $1.37 million prize for his work in understanding the trade-off between inflation and unemployment. According to the Nobel Foundation's Web site, Phelps is the first solo economics award winner since 1999, when it went to Robert Mundell, also a Columbia professor, for his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy in relation to exchange rates.\n"When someone in your community wins a Nobel prize, everyone feels a lot better," Columbia President Lee Bollinger said at a press conference in Low Memorial Library. "The truth is we all feel a little bit smarter. It gives us enormous satisfaction and pride."\nBollinger was joined by Phelps, who is also director of the Center for Capitalism and Society; Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute; and Janet Currie, chair of the economics department.\n"This is a fantastic day for economics at Columbia," Currie said. \nShe praised Phelps for "putting the worker back in the macroeconomy" and for the broad range of subjects his work has benefited.\n"Ned is really the economist's economist," Sachs said. "Everybody loves him."\nThe guest of honor spoke about growing up in Evanston, Ill., thanked the many colleagues he's worked with during his career and went on to describe how he became interested in his current field.\n"My father asked me to take one economics class," he said. "I had been intending to major in philosophy, which I continued to work on surreptitiously."\nFrom that first class to his post-graduate research, Phelps was troubled by what he saw as a large gap in his mastery of the subject.\n"Here I am ... and I still don't know how to reconcile macroeconomics and microeconomics," he said. "I have to do it myself, then, if it's going to be done."\nIn the 1960s, Phelps conceptualized the natural rate of unemployment, which followed from the Phillips model of inflation-unemployment trade-offs. The theory led to the rethinking of monetary policy within central banks. More recently, he has worked to push for a federal system to subsidize low-wage workers but said such work has "struck out" in the United States.\nDespite his newfound fame and wealth, Phelps will continue with his teaching. \n"I'm a workaholic," he said.
(10/05/06 2:37am)
In a march Wednesday from the Indiana Memorial Union to Ballantine Hall, a group of 14 students protested IU's contract to sell Coca-Cola products. The students were members of No Sweat!, a student organization opposed to labor abuses and corporate globalization, according to the group's Web site. \nNo Sweat! protested the University's contract with Coke in response to ongoing allegations that Coca-Cola is part of human and environmental rights violations in several countries and that it had a hand in assassinating union leaders at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia. \n"It's not just a matter of treating workers badly," Ursula McTaggart, a graduate student part of No Sweat!, said. "Union leaders have been murdered, kidnapped (and) tortured in Colombia since 1989." \nSome marchers carried cardboard headstones with the names of the eight workers who No Sweat! claims have been killed in Coca-Cola bottling plants. \nOthers carried a life-sized cardboard coffin with "Coca-Killers" written on the front in Coke's trademark script. \nThe coffin was draped with a Colombian flag. "We're trying to raise aware\nness among the student body so that we can push the administration to not renew the contract with Coca-Cola unless (Coke is) willing to change their human rights policies," said senior Solomon Boyce, another member of the group.\nThe IDS reported in January that IU receives approximately $1.7 million annually from its contract with Coca-Cola. The contract is set to expire in 2009, according to the article. \ntion," said senior Cara Berg, who witnessed part of the march. "I think it's really excellent that No Sweat! continues to bring international issues to our atten\n"Often --our students are unaware of what's going on in the world."\nFreshman Kevin Sheehan said he thought the march was an effective way to bring attention to the charges against Coke since he was unaware of them before yesterday's protest. \n"It's not that often you see a coffin on the street corner," he said, pointing to the demonstration. "It's a cause I have not heard about. It's interesting, but before I\ngive any support I'd probably have to research it a little more to see what the facts are." \nOther students said they had already formed opinions about the soft-drink giant before the march. \n"I don't like Coca-Cola anyways because I heard it kills (workers)," freshman Jessica Harden said. \nSophomore Connor Shea said he was wary about IU canceling its contract with Coca-Cola because he has not seen hard evidence that Coke was directly related to the deaths in Colombia. He also said he is not sure that Coke is the only corporation capable of human rights abuses. \n"Pepsi might do the same stuff," he said. \nSenior Andrea Kopp voiced similar sentiments. \n"I would be concerned with what would happen if we changed our contract," she said. "Would we get a contract with someone else who has similar problems?" \nRegardless of whether the University takes notice of the march, McTaggart said No Sweat! would continue to try to educate students about IU's Coke contract. \n"You have to keep talking about (this issue) if people are going to be aware of it," she said.
(10/04/06 4:18am)
A new study co-authored by an IU professor reports crime directed toward abortion clinics in the United States has not dwindled. \nThough such criminal activity has fallen from national headlines, the study claims workers at abortion clinics often confront "vandalism and harassment." \nAccording to the press release, 361 abortion clinics across 48 states responded to the survey. The figures they provided said 7 percent of clinics and 9 percent of their staff were victims of "major or minor violence." In addition, 7 percent reported minor acts of violence, 27 percent said they had dealt with minor vandalism and 44 percent reported they had been harassed. \nIU criminal justice professor William Pridemore said the study is part of an arching study of the "right-wing social movement." \nPridemore worked with professor Joshua Freilich of the City University of New York. Pridemore said Freilich's area of expertise is such social movement, and the two have teamed for similar studies and projects since meeting in graduate school. \nPridemore said the study fit well into Freilich's research. He also said he and Freilich had only been able to find one similar study, and it did not go into as much depth. \n"This is just kind of one of those areas that fall under that larger umbrella of research," Pridemore said. "There'd only been one study in the past conducted about crimes against clinics."\nThe study was conducted by the Feminist Majority Foundation. Pridemore said he and Freilich took the data and fit it into the larger study.\nPridemore said all surveys were answered anonymously for safety purposes. \n"We don't have exact information about any of the clinics, and that's just for normal anonymity purposes," Pridemore said. "This is a very sensitive political issue, and so there can't be any identifying information about any specific clinic."\nThe study did not find a correlation between state laws protecting abortion clinics and reduced violence. The study found that states with stringent anti-abortion violence laws were no less likely to experience some form of criminal activity targeting abortion clinics, according to the press release. The study found neither a backlash against such legislation nor a drastic reduction in violence and vandalism. \nBoth scenarios were hypothesized right after a wave of such legislation was passed at the beginning of the last decade, according to the report. Pridemore said testing both hypotheses was more for informational purposes than to try and establish trends. \n"That to me was the motivating factor ... just the interest in testing these hypotheses and seeing which one is correct," Pridemore said. "Essentially what we found is that ... neither one is correct.\nPridemore said they found serious criminal activity was down from the late 1990s. He said it still happened, but people didn't pay as much attention to it since it had been pushed from the headlines.\n"Sometimes they're very serious acts, you know, like a bomb or rarely a murder or a very violent assault," Pridemore said. "We thought (the data) needed to be seen."\nPridemore said both he and Freilich thought the information was important to release because people tend to overlook this particular brand of terrorism.\n"We certainly think domestic terrorism is an overlooked issue," Pridemore said. "I would think that any serious attack against an abortion clinic ... would fit under that"
(10/04/06 2:32am)
A U.S. Postal Service employee and Bloomington resident confessed Monday to stealing gift cards while on her mail route earlier this year, police said. \nPenny M. Duerksen, 30, faces preliminary charges of theft for stealing the cards May 27 this year. The investigation began from a case report June 21, Bloomington Police Department Capt. Joe Qualters said. A Bloomington resident's family member called asking if the Bloomington resident's son had received a Best Buy gift card sent as a high school graduation gift. After checking with Best Buy, it was determined that the gift card was used in Bloomington on June 18, Qualters said. The Bloomington resident then contacted the BPD. \nWhile investigating the case, Qualters contacted a special agent from the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General who was working on a similar complaint regarding an outgoing $50 Wal-Mart gift card that never made it to its destination. Both thefts occurred May 27 on Duerksen's route. \nDuerksen made a cash transaction at Sam's Club moments before the missing Wal-Mart gift card was used May 27, Qualeters said. On Sept. 27, Qualters and the U.S. Postal Service special agent entered Duerksen's home with consent to search from Duerksen's boyfriend. A cordless phone was found inside the residence that matched the Best Buy purchase made June 18.\nDuerksen was arrested and interviewed Monday, at which time she confessed to the charges, police said.
(09/20/06 4:49am)
Funeral services for senior Brad Dugan, 24, of Bloomington, who was killed Sunday morning in a motorcycle crash, are being held at 2 p.m. today at the Day Funeral Home, 4150 E. Third St. \nDugan, an avid biker, called his friends early Sunday morning, asking them to take a late-night ride on their motorcycles with him. He had finished his shift at a local retirement community, eaten pizza back at the house with his roommates and was eager to go riding. \nBy about 4 a.m., Dugan's ride turned fatal when his vehicle crashed along State Road 446, just north of South Swartz Road, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, which received a 911 call at 4:10 a.m. \nJunior Rachel Gill, a passenger on another motorcycle riding with Dugan, said they started driving around at about 3 a.m. and had separated when Dugan's bike, which was faster, passed them and drove ahead. Sometime later, Dugan's bike veered left off the center line as it was traveling northbound, Monroe County Sheriff's Department Deputy Nathan Peach said. When the bike hit the grass on the opposite side of the road, Dugan and his passenger were thrown from it. \n"They were well over the speed limit," Peach said, adding that the motorcycle traveled 550 feet after it left the road.\nPeach said sophomore Alexandria Willhardt, the passenger on Dugan's motorcycle, was able to flag down a vehicle and was given a ride to a nearby apartment complex, where she then called 911. \n"The only thing she does remember is that she was on the bike that morning," Peach said. \nAt this point Willhardt is the only witness to the accident, he said.\nThough Dugan's motorcycle remained intact, there was a large debris field caused in part from the bike hitting a picket fence along the road. Peach said Dugan likely died from head trauma. One helmet was found at the scene but was not on anyone, he said. The Monroe County coroner could not be reached for comment.\nWillhardt, 18, sustained broken wrists, a broken ankle and multiple lacerations to her face, Peach said. She was listed in stable condition at Bloomington Hospital on Tuesday night.\nFriends and family of Dugan mourned the loss of a good friend and son as they gathered at his viewing Tuesday.\n"It came as a big surprise," Glen Inman, a co-worker of Dugan's, said. "We were all in shock."\nOne of Dugan's riding buddies, T.J. Hall, an IU alumnus, described him as a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky guy. \n"Life was one big fun game to him," Hall said. "He just enjoyed life."\nInman said Dugan, who was a dining room supervisor and five-year employee at the Meadowood Retirement Community, was an easy-going guy who could always make people laugh and was very patient with the elderly.\n"I always looked forward to coming in and hearing his stories," Gill added. "He was awesome to work with, and I'm going to miss him terribly."\nFor Dugan's roommates, the loss of their constant source of humor is especially hard.\n"There's not a whole lot I can do today without it reminding me of him," said Christopher Quackenbrush, who graduated in 2004. \nHe said he and Dugan's girlfriends always teased the two of them, saying they would end up buying houses next to each other so they could grow old together.\nQuackenbrush said Dugan was always the one who could drag him and his friends out for a night of fun, even if they thought they were too tired. He would constantly make people laugh with crazy stories and silly comments, he said.\n"He didn't always do the right thing, but he did the Brad thing, and that's what made him special," Quackenbrush said.\n"He always brought a smile to everybody's face," said Nick Campbell, a 2003 IU graduate who was another roommate of Dugan's, adding that Dugan always said, "not a problem," no matter what situation was thrown his way.\nDugan was also always there for his friends and was close with his family. \n"He was like a brother to me," said his roommate Scott Colglazier, who graduated from IU in 2004. \nQuackenbrush recounted a story from his 21st birthday. He said Dugan had sat him down and told him that he was the first one there and that he would be the last one to leave, "to make sure I'd be OK," Quackenbrush said.\n"I was always happy to be with Brad," Quackenbrush said. "I plan on leaving an open spot in my wedding for him."\nDugan was planning to graduate from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs in December and looking into a career in management, his friends said.
(08/02/06 10:30pm)
With a donated TV, VCR and generator, Rev. Reuben Lubanga and his brother set off into his Western Kenyan community wielding the message of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. Lubanga piled the equipment into a wheel-barrow, destined for all the schools, churches and community centers he could reach in the impoverished county.\nSpeaking at a presentation for his organization, Volunteer Kenya, Tuesday in the Indiana Memorial Union, Lubanga said 600 people die each day in Kenya from HIV and AIDS. He said Volunteer Kenya is working with people from IU and around the world to deliver relief and education to a population, like so many others in Africa heavily burdened by the disease.\nVolunteer Kenya, a partner of the IU student organization Outreach Kenya Development Volunteers, has placed about 100 IU students in rural Kenya as teachers, health educators and medical workers since its inception in 1998. \nBeyond his call to become an Episcopalian priest, Lubanga said he heard another calling to fight AIDS, poverty and improving health care and education in Kenya, which became the four pillars of his organization. \n"I knew I didn't have the gifts but I new the gifts were amongst the people," Lubanga said.\nBarbara Bandera, IU graduate and teacher at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Bloomington, previously made the 10,000 mile journey to Bungoma, Kenya to teach 48 first graders at the organization's school, the EPICO Jahns Academy. She said she was amazed by the welcoming spirit of all the people. \nw"You had to take it in your hands to go out and see the people," she said. "That was the most enriching part." \nShe anticipates her upcoming return to Africa for a year long post with Volunteer Kenya.\n"(The Kenyans) see you and know you are there to help," she said. \nWhen Bandera returns, she will find the school has grown along with the organization's outreach. Though the school started as a small mud house, one new classroom is added each year -- six have been added to date -- in order to expand the EPICO Jahns Academy. From its roots as a preschool, Lubanga said he envisions the completion of the grade school to soon offer classes through eighth grade, and eventually to serve as a high school and even a college. \nFor those dreams to come to fruition, he said Volunteer Kenya currently needs a great deal of support. He said every resource is greatly valued in a land where a small loan of just $600 can transform a community. \n"It is enough to get 60 women into a lifetime of business," Lubanga said of the success of the micro-enterprise development for women component of his organization. \nThs only funding the group recieves comes from IU's OKDV program and through the generosity of its volunteers and their families, he said.\n"One month of volunteering gives (Volunteer Kenya) six months of life," said Lubanga. \nAlong with personal transportation to and from Kenya, each volunteer pays a fee of $800 that directly supports Volunteer Kenya's programs. \nKatherine MacDonald, OKDV representative and former volunteer, said there are five positions reserved for OKDV members each year, often with a wait list. Through fund-raising events, OKDV offers $625 for each volunteer to help with Volunteer Kenya's participation fee. \nMore information can be found at www.volunteerkenya.org or by contacting OKDV@indiana.edu.
(07/26/06 10:27pm)
Last Sunday, a beautiful 18-year-old woman from Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, won the title and a $250,000 crown of Miss Universe.\nAbout 40 minutes later, at a news conference, she passed out. The Associated Press and Reuters News Online reported she'd been standing under hot stage lights for hours "in a stifling auditorium" while wearing a dress composed of metal chains, causing her fall.\nA valid explanation -- but I can't help but think there's more to it.\nUpon studying beauty pageants, their complexities and cultural implications in class (going well beyond the 'they are degrading for women' argument) and screening documentaries about contestants' experiences in the pageants, I can't help but think that Mendoza passed out partly because she hadn't consumed a substantial meal in days -- or even weeks.\nBeauty pageants are not inherently "bad," and their contestants are not (all) shallow or participating with a false consciousness -- that is, being unaware of mainstream pageants' connotations for women and, really, society in general.\nIn fact, I would argue that many pageant participants, especially those in Miss America-esque pageants, are extremely admirable in their philanthropic endeavors and academic ambitions. For example, Miss IU, graduate student Betsy Uschkrat, was reported early this month to have founded a concert whose proceeds (up to $70,000) go to feed hungry Hoosiers. Additionally, Uschkrat is pursuing a masters degree in opera at the Jacobs School of Music, one of the best (if not the best) music schools in the country. \nMeanwhile, Mendoza has aspirations to become "an actress of infinite range," according the Miss Universe Web site. Ambition. Good.\nStill, neither Mendoza nor Uschkrat or any crowned beauty queen would win if she were not pretty. She could be a tenured professor of political science at Yale. She could be a social worker who works daily with children with cancer. But if she's not pretty, in shape, under 25 and thin, she will not be crowned queen.\nThe Miss America pageant tries to hide the fact that an ideal feminine body is crucial for winning. They do this by providing her a scholarship, requiring her to champion a cause and making only women who have never been married or had a child eligible for the crown (because she must be a virgin? yyyyyyeah). But the fact of the matter is that the women are judged upon their bodies.\nMore unfortunately, women in these types of pageants put in effort that sometimes causes them health problems (malnourishment, for one) to achieve the beauty ideal essential for winning. More disturbing is when contestants undergo plastic surgery, perpetuating a beauty standard that is naturally impossible.\nI acknowledge that atypical beauty pageants exist that also may have unfortunate implications: male beauty pageants, drag pageants, pageants for obese women. But those contests aren't broadcasted and viewed by millions.\nBottom line: The beauty of a woman is essentialized in her being perceived as successful and deserving of a title which allows her to "represent" a nation (or a universe?). \nSo, what does that mean for the rest of us?
(07/17/06 2:31am)
The air conditioner is still on and vacuum cleaners are running, pushed by red "staff"-imprinted T-shirts wandering about like mildly agitated ants. The Thomas Hart Benton murals look down, clamoring "respect me, for this is a house of the arts." The box office is open, taking ticket orders for the upcoming season and for events held at other venues, but no ticket events are held there this summer. Are the people vacuuming in vain? \nDoug Booher, director of the IU Auditorium, said the box office is not the only vestige of the large space open for service. More frequently, parents of incoming freshmen come in to watch introductory videos, inundating them with IU-is-groovy-ness and attempting to ease the paranoia associated with sending children off to school. The IU Auditorium also plays host to a number of conferences over the summer months: the National Junior Classical League Convention, the Southern Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church and several scientific assemblies. This weekend Walden University, an online institution, held its graduation in front of the IU Auditorium.\nIU Auditorium Stage Manager John DeLong said that half of summertime is spent doing paperwork. \n"We spend a lot of time catching up on documentation and paperwork," he said while taking a breath from setting the stage for Walden University's graduation ceremony. "It's also a good time to take time off."\nBut freshman orientation and weekly weddings keep the staff somewhat on-guard. If you've got $3,000, you could have a wedding reception for 250 held in the "Hall of Murals" also known as the foyer, for which a limited staff of part-timers will assemble stages and all the understood elements of ceremonial celebration. Booher said there's usually one per weekend. \nWhile the IU Auditorium employs 65 full-time staff during the school year, the number goes down to 15 in the summer, with only a fraction of the number of part-time student and volunteer workers. \nSarah Myers, a student employed at the Ticketmaster box office, said the IU Auditorium ticket office takes orders for only non-Music School events, including the Wells-Metz Theatre, Ruth N. Halls Theatre and the Brown County Playhouse. These venues are hosting events during the summertime. For this and for booking fall-spring tickets in advance, the IU Auditorium box office remains open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m Monday to Friday. \nFor more information or to purchase tickets for the upcoming season, call the box office at 855-1103 or visit www.iuauditorium.com.
