19 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(11/11/04 6:11am)
Junior Derrick English is angry. He's angry voters in his home state of North Dakota overwhelmingly passed an amendment to their state constitution Nov. 2 banning both same-sex marriage and any legal recognition of same-sex relationships, such as civil unions. \n"Why should I feel patriotic?" English said. "If they want to label me as a second-class citizen why should I wave my American flag?" \nNorth Dakota and English aren't alone. North Dakota was just one of 11 states to pass bans on same sex marriage on Election Day, leaving many gay Americans — at IU and elsewhere — feeling alienated from their home states and even their country. \n"We felt betrayed and we felt empty," said Eric Neville, a freshman from Mansfield, Ohio.\nAn IU alumnus living in Louisville, Kentucky, Bryan Bear said he pays taxes, gives money to local arts organizations and the United Way, and volunteers his time to help teach kids how to read. He said the passage of Kentucky's amendment made him feel his contributions to his community are not wanted or valued.\n"My first instinct is if you don't want us, fine," Bear said. "I'll take my talents somewhere else." \nWhile amendments banning same-sex marriage passed in every state where they were on the ballot, including Kerry states Oregon and Michigan, the divide over same-sex marriage mirrors the nation's larger political divide. \nRural, Southern and Midwestern voters tended to be more inclined to support amendments than urban and coastal voters. According to Associated Press exit polls, 61 percent of voters who live in Oregon's large cities voted against amending the state's constitution to bar same-sex marriage while only 23 percent of rural voters voted no on the amendment. The margin by which Oregon's amendment passed was also much smaller than in Midwestern states such as Ohio. \nGay students said they thought the heartland's homogeneity as well as its greater adherence to conservative Christianity contributed to the passing of same-sex marriage bans. \n"All they know is farming life," English said of his native North Dakota. "Most farmers tend to be Christian."\nJunior Mike Williams said that growing up in Cleveland's larger and more accepting metro area made it easier for him to come out than if he'd grown up in a smaller community.\n"In large metro areas people are more willing to come out about their sexuality," Williams said. \nNeville said fear of negative reactions in his smaller hometown of Mansfield kept him from being open about his sexuality in high school. \nConservative students on campus agreed that the heartland's more traditional views on morality and family played into support for the amendments.\nJunior Adrienne Dunlap said she supports efforts to define marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman. She said smaller communities and the greater emphasis put on religion and family give people in the heartland a more traditional outlook. \n"The way of life is different," Dunlap said. "In bigger cities people don't know each other as well, and there are more options." \nDunlap said gay students shouldn't view the amendments as personal attacks, but rather as an attempt to protect marriage.\n"If you change the definition for one group of people, it could open up a slippery slope," Dunlap said. "If we change it once, what's to stop another group to try to move that line farther." \nPresident of IU's conservative Grand Old Cause, junior Chase Downham said he thought liberals were surprised by the importance people in the heartland place on traditional moral values. Downham said the elitism common among big-city liberals contributed to coastal ignorance about the heartland. \n"One thing's for sure," Downham said. "The Democratic party must understand the values of the heartland if they ever want to win Congress or the White House again."\nJunior Amanda Lagrange said that while she respects gay people, her Christian beliefs lead her to a traditional understanding of marriage. She said she thinks people in cities are more open to change than people in the Midwest. Lagrange said while people from the heartland and rural areas might not agree with their urban and coastal compatriots, heartlanders better understand the urban coasts' views. \n"People from the Midwest tend to go to larger cities," Lagrange said. "Very rarely do you hear of people from New York going on vacation to St. Louis." \nNeville said he thought greater exposure would eventually lead to greater acceptance of gay marriage, and if the youth surveys are any indication he may be right. Fifty-six percent of 15-to-25-year-olds support marriage rights for gay men and lesbians, according to a survey conducted by the nonpartisan Council of Excellence in Government.\nNeville said he believes voters should make an effort to get to know gay people before deciding how they feel about gay marriage. \n"Take the time to learn about the people you're discriminating against," Neville said, "and maybe you'll learn something new that can change what you believe."\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(10/26/04 4:42am)
In her talk Monday afternoon at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jane Eisner outlined three reasons she thinks young people don't vote in higher numbers.\n"Politics has gotten away from real people," Eisner said. "Politics is this kind of icky spectator sport that's like a boxing match on TV. Unless you live in New Hampshire or Iowa during a contested primary, the chances of you actually meeting one of these candidates is slim."\nEisner is the author of "Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy" and also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. She said she spent a year doing research into the reasons why young people don't vote and possible solutions to this problem. \nAlong with the distancing of politics from real people, Eisner said the increased emphasis placed on community service, coupled with a decline in civic education in American schools, also discourage young people from voting.\nShe said many young people think community service is a more effective way of solving community problems than voting, and they do not understand the connection between community service and politics. Eisner said volunteering in an inner-city school may have an impact on some students but it would never be able to close the gap between rich and poor schools.\n"Only government can address those issues," Eisner said. "Volunteering is not meant to be an end of its self."\nEisner said in the 1960s students received on average three semesters of classes on government and politics, but by the 1990s that number had fallen to just one semester. She said participation in extracurricular activities that help teach civics have also declined in popularity. As civics education has declined, many schools have added community service requirements for their students, Eisner said. \nEisner praised efforts to increase youth participation in the upcoming election, but said research has shown that most young people respond better to person-to-person contact than advertisements on TV. \nShe also questioned the wisdom of turning voting into the next fad without working to educate young people on the importance of political participation.\n"We run the risk of voting becoming the next commodity," Eisner said. \nEisner suggested polls with longer hours and combining Veteran's Day with Election Day as a means to improve voter turnout. \n"We're one of the few countries that does not have our election day as a national holiday or on the weekend," she said.\nEisner also said the state and national governments need to be pressured to place greater emphasis on civics education. \nSPEA graduate student, Elena Sokolow attended the talk and said that while she agreed with Eisner, she thought the two-party system was also to blame for the lack of youth participation in the political process.\n"I think a lot of young people are turned off by the two party system," Sokolow said. "They don't see themselves being represented by the candidates." \nSPEA and journalism graduate student, Maddie Stone said she agreed with Eisner that voter participation among young people would increase in the upcoming election.\n"I've never seen a push for it like I have this time,' Stone said. \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(10/22/04 6:14am)
Participation in presidential elections among 18- to 24-year-olds has seen a dramatic decline since 18-year-olds were first permitted to vote in 1972, according to the Federal Election Commission. \nPhiladelphia Inquirer columnist and author of "Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy" Jane Eisner hopes to do something about that. \nEisner will discuss the reasons young people don't vote and what can be done to encourage voting at 11 a.m. Monday in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs atrium.\nEisner said when young people choose to get involved, they tend to opt for community service over politics. \n"They're doing community service instead of voting." Eisner said. "I think that's very dangerous. There's a big gap between those who volunteer and those who vote."\nEisner also lists the decline of civic education, increasing rancor in politics and the depersonalization of the political process as other reasons young people don't vote.\nSPEA Professor Leslie Lenkowsky said SPEA decided to bring Eisner to campus because, with the election less than a month away, her work on youth voting is timely. \n Lenkowsky said young people have a difficult time connecting their volunteer work to politics. \n"Young people are into volunteering, but they have a hard time making the connection between working at a homeless shelter and the kinds of public policies that effect homelessness," Lenkowsky said. \nLenkowsky said he was uncertain about the effects of many of the media campaigns, such as the World Wrestling Entertainment's "Smack Down Your Vote" or MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaigns, aimed at increasing turnout among young voters.\n"They're very entertaining, but at the end of the day, they may not be enough of a reason to get up on a damp Tuesday morning in November," Lenkowsky said.\nEisner said she anticipates young people will vote this year in greater numbers than they have in the past. She said the close election, terrorism and the War in Iraq will all likely help increase participation.\nVice President of the IU's College Democrats senior Morgan Tilleman and Press Secretary for the College Republicans junior Mike Trevino both said they also thought voter participation among young people would increase this year.\n"We're seeing vastly increased interest in voting and in our group this fall," Tilleman said.\nTrevino said his group's meetings have grown from around 20 students last spring to around 70 or 80 students this fall.\n"We need to be paying attention to current events, be involved in our communities and learn how to deliberate," Eisner said. \nShe said it's important to learn to listen to people with whom you disagree and realize that they also want what's best for the country.\n"There's going to be other people on the other side who aren't just godless profligate liberals or crazy zealot conservatives," Eisner said. \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu
(10/01/04 5:17am)
As a high school student, junior Meredith Canada experienced the lack of understanding surrounding depression firsthand when many friends and family members failed to comprehend the severity of her affliction. \n"It was 'the everybody gets sad mentality,'" she said. \nWhen Canada heard the jokes and comments sparked by last April's suicide attempt at Ballantine Hall, she was inspired to use the understanding gained through her own bout with depression to educate students about mental illness.\n"It's a biological disease, just like cancer or diabetes," Canada said. "You wouldn't hear someone make a joke about someone with cancer."\nCanada is now working to start a chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill on campus.\nWith more than 1,200 local affiliates throughout the country, NAMI is a nonprofit support and advocacy organization for the mentally ill, as well as for their family and friends. \nNAMI concentrates on four areas: support, education, advocacy and research. \nJoan Lafuze, biology professor and chair of NAMI Indiana's Education Committee, said it's important for college students to understand mental illness because incidents of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression are common in young people and because the risk of suicide among the mentally ill is high.\n"Mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia, are illnesses that strike young people," she said. "One in 100 people will develop schizophrenia in their lifetime. Seventy-five percent of males who develop schizophrenia do so between the ages of 16 and 25." \nLafuze said bipolar disorder and depression are also very common in younger people.\nCanada said she wants the IU affiliate to focus on issues relevant to college students and would like the group to work on suicide prevention and awareness. Canada also hopes to begin advocating for the mentally ill through letter campaigns and lobbying state legislators. \nAccording to NAMI's Web site, 15 million Americans currently live with severe mental illness, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, with 1,100 students committing suicide each year. The current suicide rate among people aged 15 to 25 is 300 percent higher than it was just 50 years ago. \nCanada said the stigma surrounding mental illness often prevents students from seeking help. \n"I think a lot of kids are embarrassed by what they're going through," Canada said. She said she hopes having a NAMI chapter on campus will help students coping with mental illness realize they're not alone. \nStigma often surrounds a disease before its biological basis is understood, Lafuze said. Often the family or the individual gets blamed for the illness. \n"Cancer used to be considered a dirty disease, a punishment for sin," Lafuze said. "It's a slow journey to come out of the darkness and into the light."\nThough Canada decided to do something to combat that lack of understanding, she doesn't expect attitudes about mental illness to change overnight. \n"It's going to take generations," she said. \nTo learn more about NAMI, visit http://www.nami.org. \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(09/28/04 4:33am)
As a University of Missouri basketball player in the 1930s John Cooper invented the jump shot. As a professor, first at the University of Southern California and then at IU, Cooper helped invent the nascent science of biomechanics. \nHe's appeared on Wheaties cereal boxes for his sporting accomplishments and served as the president of academic associations for his ground-breaking research.\nAt age 92, Cooper can now add one more honor to the list. Thursday night at a reception in front of nearly 100 of his friends and family, IU's graduate kinesiology program was renamed the Dr. John M. Cooper Graduate Program in Kinesiology. \nFellow Missouri alumni and School of Health, Physical Recreation and Education Professor Phil Henson described Cooper's childhood hoop dreams growing up on a farm in Kentucky. \n"He played with a ball that didn't hold air," Henson said. "He'd warm the ball over the stove so he could get a few bounces out of it." \nHenson said Cooper and his friends had to pour car oil on their dirt basketball court to keep the dust down and that when they got the opportunity to use an indoor court, in many cases the ceiling wasn't much higher than the backboard. \nHenson said that as a player at Missouri, Cooper was often matched against taller players over whom he couldn't shoot. At the time, players shot from the chest and made free throws from between their legs. During one game, Cooper jumped to catch the ball and then shot the ball while still in the air. \n"The crowd went wild," Henson said. "The coaches benched him and told him that at the University of Missouri 'We shoot the ball with both feet on the floor.'" \nThree former players Cooper coached in the 1940s made the trip to Bloomington to pay tribute to their coach. \n"Everybody has to have a hero, and Coach John Cooper was that for us," said Rodger Meier, one Cooper's former players. \nCooper mentored Executive Associate Dean Jerry Wilkerson and Professor Betty Haven as graduate students in the 1970s.\n"He encouraged us, and he kept accepting women at a time when other places weren't accepting women," Wilkerson said.\nHaven said she thought sometimes Cooper even forgot they were women. She said once she was listening to Cooper while they walked when Cooper entered the men's room. Haven waited outside for Coopers' return. "He continued talking the whole time," she said. \nBoth Haven and Wilkerson said Cooper made learning exciting and fostered a sense of camaraderie among students. \nAssociate Dean for Research David Koceja paid tribute to Cooper's research contributions in biomechanics.\n"Most professors are associated with a University," Koceja said. "In the case of Dr. Cooper, IU is affiliated with him. He takes real-world problems and wants to find real-world solutions. He's 92, and he's still asking the question, 'Why?'"\nKoceja said Cooper's published over 70 articles on subjects ranging from aging, reflexes, balance, sport movements, falling and track starts. \nDespite all the attention, Cooper remained humble. He said he was surprised to learn the graduate program was being named for him. When asked about inventing the jump shot, Cooper raised his shoulders in a shrug and grinned.\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(09/28/04 4:32am)
In May of 2003 Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old black lesbian was stabbed to death while she waited for the bus in Newark, N.J. While five years earlier the murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old white gay male, in Laramie, Wy. triggered a media storm nationwide, Gunn's murder received little attention from the mainstream press or gay publications. \nThat discrepancy bothered grad student Tahirah Akbar-Williams and hit home the different and unique realities black gays and lesbians face. \n"Something needs to be done because people are just not talking about this," Akbar-Williams said. "That helped me to understand we're operating in two separate communities." \nNot one to wait for others to do something, Akbar-Williams began to seek out other black gay and lesbians with an eye to forming a group in Bloomington to discuss issues unique to their community. This summer her work began to pay off when Blacks Like Us held its first meeting in June. \nThe group met again earlier this month and plans to hold another meeting Oct. 2. According to its mission statement, Blacks Like Us is open to any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered black or bi-racial person regardless of where he or she is in the coming-out process. \nGrad student Kendra Clarke, an employee of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services at IU, helped Akbar-Williams to get the group off the ground. She said Blacks Like Us maintains a policy of confidentiality to help create a safe and welcoming atmosphere for students and community members still coming to terms with their sexuality.\n"What's said in the room stays in the room," Clarke said. \nA native of Arizona, Akbar-Williams felt alienated when she first arrived for graduate school at IU. She said the predominately white gay community didn't want to discuss racism and the unique challenges black gays and lesbians face.\n"I just felt totally out of place," she said. "They just wouldn't talk about it." \nThe black community was similarly uninterested in discussing issues of sexual orientation. \n"There's a lot of suspicion in the black community when it comes to homosexuality," Akbar-Williams said. "We're still living in a conservative Christian black community. I started this group so black people could get together and talk about these things." \nClarke expressed similar feelings of alienation from both the larger black and gay communities.\n"A lot of time you feel you have to choose one or the other," she said. \nDoug Bauder, coordinator of the support services center, said there's been talk of starting a group like this for the past couple of years. He credited Akbar-Williams with finally getting the effort moving.\n"Tahirah has really spearheaded this," Bauder said. \nMeetings are held on the first Saturday of the month and are open to both students and the local community. Akbar-Williams said Blacks Like Us is currently limiting its meetings to GLBT black and bi-racial individuals so that the group can come to a better understanding of the issues faced by black GLBT individuals.\n"This thing is coming from the ground up," Akbar-Williams said. "We need to come together." \nShe said eventually the group hopes to open up some events to public dialogue.\n"In the future we plan on having some panels and discussions," Akbar-Williams said. \nTo find out more about Blacks Like Us e-mail Blackslikeus@yahoo.com or call the GLBT support center at 855-4252. \n-- Contact staff writer Dan Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(09/17/04 6:05am)
Following a national trend, enrollment in Arabic language classes at IU has more than doubled since the 9-11 terrorist attacks three years ago. Seventy-four students were enrolled in Arabic classes in the fall of 2001 compared with 171 students this fall. \nChair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures John Walbridge credits this jump in enrollment to the increased awareness of the Middle East stemming from 9-11 and the war in Iraq. He said many students now see Arabic language skills as an asset to career advancement. \n"A lot of the students are interested in working for the government or the military," Walbridge said. "They think it will be relevant to work they'll do in the future." \nThe rapid growth in enrollment hasn't come without pains for the department. Walbridge said it's been a challenge to find enough instructors to meet the demand for Arabic classes.\nTo help meet this challenge, the Arabic department recently added two new faculty members, James Grehan and Abdulkader Sinno.\nInterest in the graduate program has also surged. While four years ago the department had fewer than 10 graduate students studying Arabic, Walbridge said the department now has more than 25 graduate students. \nSophomore Ben Woodson, a transfer student from Purdue, enrolled in the introductory Arabic class because he thought it would be useful for his career plans.\n"I'm a journalism major, so to be able to go over there and speak the language will be a big help," Woodson said.\nJunior linguistics major Meredith Morgan said she already had an interest in Arabic prior to 9-11. Morgan enrolled in the introductory Arabic class to fulfill her major's non-European language requirement. However, she welcomed the increased opportunities for Arabic speakers. Morgan would like to work as an editor in the future and sees Arabic skills as a likely asset in her future career. \n"There's probably going to be a lot of literature emerging from the Middle East," Morgan said. "Translation could come in handy." \nAssociate Director and Outreach Coordinator of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program Zaineb Istrabadi said many students have taken Arabic previously while in the military. But IU's Arabic classes do a better job of teaching students the fundamentals of the language, she said.\n"It's language, but it's incomplete," Istrabadi said of the military's Arabic courses.\nWalbridge said IU's Arabic classes also go beyond just teaching students how to read, write and speak the language.\n"You can't teach language without teaching a good deal of the culture," Walbridge said.\nHe said part of the role of the University is to provide educated people for the government and that teaching Arabic helps the University achieve this goal. \n"Clearly the United States is going to be engaged with this part of the world," he said. \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu .
(04/21/04 5:21am)
Faculty reported 150 incidents of plagiarism to the Office of Student Ethics in the 2002-2003 academic year -- the highest total in the last five years. \nIU's English Department is trying to lower that number by using the plagiarism prevention site, www.Turnitin.com to do more than just catch cheaters. It's now using the site to teach students how to avoid plagiarizing altogether.\nProfessor Kathy Smith, associate chair of the English department and composition program coordinator, said eight to 10 sections of W131 Elementary Composition I are currently part of a pilot program geared at teaching students how to use sources correctly.\n"We wanted to devise a way we could not just catch students but teach students how to avoid plagiarism," Smith said. \nSmith said some of the associate instructors using the Turnitin site had students summarize an article. The instructors then compared the students' summaries with each other, as well as to the original article. The instructors then were able to use the similarities the site found to discuss how to properly summarize and site sources. \n"Summarizing is extraordinarily difficult," Smith said. "You can't put something into your own words unless you really understand it. One of the nice things about the program is it gives the teacher the opportunity to show students the legitimate and illegitimate use of sources." \nPlagiarism includes more than just stealing someone's words verbatim. According to IU's Code of Student's Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct students must credit the source whenever they paraphrase or use another person's idea, opinion or theory.\nAssociate Dean of Students Pamela Freeman said while the number of plagiarism reports is rising, it's difficult to say if the rise is being caused by an actual increase in the number of students plagiarizing or whether instructors are just getting more sophisticated at catching plagiarizers.\nFreeman said poor planning and waiting until the last minute often lands students in trouble. She said many of the students she's seen because of plagiarism thought the plagiarized words were actually theirs. They just lost track of what they cut and pasted and forgot to cite their sources appropriately.\n"It's still plagiarism, even if it's unintentional," Freeman said. \nFreeman said the consequences of plagiarizing vary according to the seriousness of the misconduct, and can range from an automatic grade of "F" in the class with no option to "FX," to expulsion. On top of receiving an "F," students are often also placed on disciplinary probation. Students on probation are barred from studying abroad until the probationary period ends.\nDirector of the Teaching and Learning Technologies Centers David Goodrum said at least 150 IU faculty members are currently using www.Turnitin.com, and many more faculty use Google to check students' work for plagiarized passages. \nGoodrum said faculty can help prevent plagiarism by carefully constructing class assignments. He said www.Turnitin.com isn't perfect.\n"It just adds to the arsenal of tools available to faculty to teach students about plagiarism," Goodrum said.\nAll IU instructors have access to www.Turnitin.com through a pilot agreement between the University and the Web site. Goodrum said those interested in learning more about the site and its uses should contact the Teaching and Learning Technologies Centers at TLTC@indiana.edu. \nThe W131 pilot is set to continue next fall. Smith said her department will continue to evaluate the program before making any decisions about whether or not to adopt it for all W131 sections.\n"This is not something we want to enter into lightly," Smith said. "We want to make sure the investment pays off."\nFreeman recommended students talk to their teachers if they are unsure if they're putting their assignments together correctly. She also recommended students plan their assignments in advance to make sure they're not doing them at the last minute. \n"No one wants something about their integrity to be on file at the Dean of Students Office," Freeman said.\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(04/15/04 6:14am)
They walked silently. \nThe swish of a pair of corduroys and shoes striking the pavement rang out amid the silence. As the procession made its way down Third Street, drivers pressed their brakes and craned their necks in order to get a better look. At the front of the procession students carried a large banner reading, "Day of Silence."\nApproximately 40 IU students took part in the National Day of Silence Wednesday in order to draw attention to the ways American society silences gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. \nStudents took a vow to remain silent throughout the day. The march began at 4:15 p.m. at Showalter Fountain and made its way down Jordan Avenue to Indiana Avenue.\n"People expect loud raucous marches," senior Ronnie Houchin said. "By being silent it draws even more attention to the silence that we experience." \nAt the bus stop in front of Jordan Hall on Third Street, two male students took a break from their conversation on power point presentations to watch as the procession passed by. Farther down the street, a woman gave the group a thumbs up after reading their signs, which carried slogans such as "Unite against silence. Speak up." and "Equal rights are not special rights." \nOne marcher tied the ends of a rainbow flag around her neck to create a cape. Another protected herself from the sun's UV rays with a rainbow umbrella. \nThe march ended at the Sample Gates, and Houchin told the group through a bull horn to break the silence. "Be loud," he said. \nAfter a moment's hesitation, the group erupted in shouting and the dull thuds of inflatable noise makers being beaten together.\nThis was junior Elizabeth Ladd's third time taking part in the Day of Silence. She said the day provided her the opportunity to relate literally to ways people are silenced.\n"It's introspective in ways you wouldn't imagine," Ladd said. "In this heterosexist society we live in, it's hard for me as a straight girl to directly relate to GLBT people. National Day of Silence gives me a chance to stand in their shoes for a day."\nSenior Ryan Robison said the march had grown from prior years. \n"My sophomore year, it was just a handful of people," he said. \nRobison said growing up he never saw gay characters on television. The first time he saw two men kissing on television, Robison rewound the tape and watched it over and over again. He said demonstrations like the Day of Silence help gay people in situations similar to his, by letting them know that they are not alone.\n"It sends a message to them." Robison said. "I like who I am because of who I am, and it's OK to like who you are because of who you are."\nHouchin said he believes American society silences GLBT people in numerous ways. \n"Being silenced is as simple as turning on the television without being able to see a gay character," he said. "Being silenced is as simple as not being able to walk down the street holding hands with someone you love for fear of being harassed."\n"I think it's important to get out there and show some solidarity," Houchin said. "We all came together -- gay, straight, trans, bi -- to show we care about these issues." \nCoordinator of the Office of GLBT Support Services Doug Bauder told the group it was important to remember we can all be silencers. Bauder used the metaphor of a gun silencer to demonstrate the damaging effects of silencing others' voices. \n"If we want allies, we need to be there for other people, too," he said. \nIU's Day of Silence was organized by the Day of Silence Committee and received support from more than 20 organizations.\nLadd said visibility is important to bring attention to GLBT issues. \n"The louder the silence, the bigger the message," she said. \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(03/24/04 4:55am)
Two legal experts agreed that the debate over same-sex marriage ultimately hinges on personal values during a talk at the School of Law Tuesday afternoon. \n"At some basic level, you have to step back, and it depends on your world view," the Legal Director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union Ken Falk told the audience of approximately 200 law students and faculty crowded into the Moot Court Room. \nFalk currently represents three same-sex couples seeking Indiana marriage licenses by asserting the state's marriage statute unfairly discriminates against homosexual couples.\n"We are claiming that this statute is unconstitutional under Indiana's constitution," he said. \nFormer counsel to Ronald Reagan and 1998 U.S. Senate candidate Peter Rusthoven disagreed. \n"Every single statute, every single law is discriminating in this sense," Rusthoven said. That's what law does. The question is: is this the kind of discrimination we support?"\nFalk argued that Indiana's marriage law violates his clients' right to privacy. \nRusthoven assailed Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 U.S. Supreme Court case that established a constitutional right to privacy by stating that passing a law banning contraception is unconstitutional. He said though the law outlawing contraception was stupid, it was not unconstitutional. \n"Not everything that is stupid is unconstitutional," Rusthoven said. "Not everything that is bad is unconstitutional. The problem with the right to privacy is that it has no logical stopping point."\nRusthoven said the citizens of Connecticut in 1965 should have voted out their representatives if they wanted the law on contraception to change instead of allowing the U.S. Supreme Court to decide what is law. \nFalk likened the current debate to the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which struck down laws against interracial marriage. Falk compared gay marriage opponents to the supporters of anti-miscegenation laws who argued that allowing people of different races to marry would undermine the integrity of traditional marriage.\n"Tradition does not trump the constitution," Falk said. "The singular beauty of the Bill of Rights is that it is an organic document."\nRusthoven said while he personally was against same-sex marriage, he believed the legislative and not the judicial branch had ultimate say over the issue. He said the courts should not impose an artificial consensus on same-sex marriage when most Americans still oppose it. \n"This is a representative democracy," Rusthoven said. "This means that you and I can fight these things out peacefully. We can fight them out the way the founders anticipated. You may very well win this in the democratic process. What you will not have done is forced your views on what is still a majority."\nRusthoven said the American democracy suffers when the courts usurp the powers of the legislature, as he believed they were doing in the same-sex marriage debate. He said average citizens' abilities to affect the laws is diminished because decisions are no longer made by the elected officials representing the views of the majority, but instead by an unelected few insulated from the will of the people. \nRusthoven said amending marriage to include same-sex couples would have the unintended consequence of opening up the institution to polygamists and incestuous couples.\n"Once you take a step, you never go back," Rusthoven said. "One problem with slippery slope arguments is that they're always right." \nSecond-year law student Liane Groth, a member of the American Constitution Society, which helped sponsor the event, said the issue of same-sex marriage has moved to the forefront in recent months.\n"We wanted to bring that debate to the law school," Groth said.\nRusthoven said marriage, because of its importance to society, should be treated as something special and different from other relationships.\nFalk agreed marriage is a special institution, and said that is why it's important same-sex couples be allowed to participate in it. Falk said now we look back on the racist nature of the anti-miscegenation laws in Loving and we're embarrassed.\n"I'm hopeful that in 30 or 40 years from now, my children will look back on this debate and be embarrassed just as I'm embarrassed by Loving," Falk said.\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(03/08/04 1:27pm)
Members of IU's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community proposed strategies to combat the mounting backlash against gay marriage during an OUT-sponsored panel discussion last night at the Indiana Memorial Union. \nGay marriage has risen to the forefront of the national debate in recent months, with debate in Massachusetts, San Francisco and all across the country.\n"This really is a historic moment in time," GLBT Student Support Office coordinator Doug Bauder said. "It's an exciting time to be gay." \nBauder urged the approximately 50 attendees to make their voices heard.\n"Don't forget the power we have to share our stories," Bauder said. "All of us have stories to tell. I think what is ultimately changing peoples' minds is people who are telling their families and friends." \nPanel member and Center for University Ministry Rev. Rebecca Jimenez said she believed it was important for homosexuals to come out in their churches and synagogues. She said the Bible does say homosexuality is wrong but gay marriage is ultimately an equal justice issue.\n"Biblically, you can make a very strong case for slavery or the denigration and subjugation of women," Jimenez said.\nJohn Clower, a panel member and regional coordinator for Indiana Equality, an organization that works for gay rights, emphasized the importance of working to end discrimination against homosexuals in all areas of life. Clower said Justice Inc., a statewide GLBT organization, has received more complaints of job discrimination in the last seven weeks than in the last five years combined.\n"For both of these issues, it's going to be important that we register to vote and that we get out to vote," Clower said. \nOUT President Edyta Sitko offered a petition from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay rights lobbying organization in the United States. Sitko said the HRC's goal was to collect a million signatures in support of gay marriage from college campuses throughout the U.S.\nDiscussion facilitator and graduate student Jeff Bennett pointed out the importance of building coalitions outside of the gay community. He said gay community members should also take heart in the tremendous progress they've made in such a short period of time. \n"If you're having a backlash," he said, "odds are you're doing something right." \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(03/02/04 6:00am)
In his presentation before the packed Whittenberger Auditorium Monday night, architect Daniel Libeskind said the goal of his plan for the World Trade Center site was both to honor the tragedy of Sept. 11 while simultaneously creating a vibrant triumphant space in which New Yorkers can eat, work, shop and live.\nTo that end, Libeskind has designed a master plan which includes a new transit center, a memorial to the victims of 9/11 and five high rise office buildings, one of which -- the freedom tower -- will rise 1,776 feet into the sky, making it the tallest building in the world.\n"What is important is that the tower refers to the Statue of Liberty," Libeskind said. "It anchors the site in its verticality."\nIn Libeskind's Freedom Tower, the office space ends at the 70th floor. Above that, a spire resembling the Statue of Liberty's upheld torch rises from the tower. Libeskind said putting offices above that point requires costly infrastructure. \nLibeskind's plan calls for leaving the slurry walls from the old World Trade Center buildings intact. The slurry walls were built to keep the Hudson River from flooding the lower levels of the original World Trade Center. They now descend seventy feet below street level. \n"The slurry wall is not a design," Libeskind said. "It was there. It was something like a witness and a trace of the attack. It's a living a wall. Here in the midst of democratic New York City, there is a living wall." \nLibeskind also envisions for the site a public plaza which is bathed in sunlight every September 11 from 8:46 a.m., when the first plane struck in 2001, to 10:28 a.m., when the North tower fell. He calls this the "Wedge of Light." \nLibeskind acknowledged the difficulty of creating a plan for a site surrounded by so much emotion and in which so many parties share a stake.\n"It's something amazing," he said of the site. "There are always people standing there, even late at night in the rain."\nLibeskind said, among other groups, he had to take into account the needs of victims' families, the port authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, New York state and the city in creating his plan, although he said the stakeholders in the site went beyond these formal groups.\n"Every child is a stakeholder," Libeskind said. \nIndianapolis architect Randall Shumacher said he was happy to have the rare chance to hear a world-renowned architect speak. \n"You can always see the stuff in a magazine, but to hear him present it, that's something special," Shumacher said.\nShumacher said he thought Libeskind's plan contained some interesting ideas, but it remains to be seen whether those ideas will be implemented at the site. Libeskind's master plan for the site lays out the locations of future buildings, but other architects will design the new buildings. It is not yet clear how closely these new architects will adhere to Libeskind's plan. \nSenior Megan Bogard said Libeskind's plan finds the common ground between the need for a memorial and the need to rebuild. \nLibeskind said his own memories of arriving in New York inspired his design for World Trade Center site. Born in Poland in 1946, Libeskind immigrated to the United States in 1959. \n"It was the view that I had from the boat," said Libeskind. "There's nothing really to substitute the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty for the immigrant. It's ineffable."\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(03/01/04 6:16am)
The architect chosen for the World Trade Center towers site Daniel Libeskind will deliver the first talk in the Dorit and Gerald Paul Lecture in Jewish Culture at 7 p.m. tonight in the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union.\nLibeskind's talk, titled "Memory Foundations," will be the inaugural event for the new Institute for Jewish Culture and the Arts. The director of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, Professor Steve Weitzman, said bringing Libeskind to campus exemplifies the institute's mission to promote the understanding and appreciation of Jewish creativity.\n"He's one of the major shapers of culture and memory of our age," Weitzman said. "He's at the center of how we'll remember 9/11." \nThe institute's director, Alvin Rosenfeld, said he was overwhelmed by Libeskind's first major building, the critically acclaimed Jewish Museum in Berlin. \n"I was just balled over by it," Rosenfeld said. "He's built into that building cuts or gashes that reflect the traumatic history of Jewish life in Germany. Parts of the main floor are uneven. You almost feel like you're toppling over at some points. He really has absorbed the traumatic effect of the Holocaust and built that into his museum. He has a particular genius for finding architectural forms to link up with historical calamities."\nRosenfeld said the new World Trade Center site plan must reflect the past but at the same time transcend it. \n"The building will be a living building, not a mausoleum," Rosenfeld said.\nThe lecture will also be webcast to a room at Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning. The school's associate dean, Michel Mounayar, said Libeskind's solution to the problems with the World Trade Center site was brilliant.\n"You can imagine the complication that is loaded onto that site with its history and emotion," Mounayar said. "I think it's going to celebrate the resilience of New York. I think it's going to be a triumphant building." \nLibeskind's plan for the World Trade Center site includes a glass tower that, once built, would be the tallest building in the world. The tower's 1,776-foot height would represent the year the U.S. declared its independence from Britain. The footprints of the twin towers would remain empty, and the slurry wall, which formed the foundations of the towers, would be left partially exposed. \nThe final look of the buildings at the site is far from set though. Libeskind's plan lays out the location of the site's new buildings, but future competitions will determine which architects will design the specific structures. \nIU expects the lecture to attract a large and diverse audience. Rosenfeld said he knew of at least 58 Indianapolis architects who planned on making the drive to Bloomington to hear Libeskind. \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(02/26/04 6:32am)
Sophomore Shirley Payne beat out five other undergraduate contestants Wednesday night at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center to become the 2004 Black Knowledge Bowl Champion.\nThe bowl tested competitors' knowledge of black history from ancient times to the recent past and covered such topics as entertainment, science, medicine, sports and politics.\n"Black Knowledge Bowl is a time we challenge our students' knowledge of who we are," said Oyibo Afoaku, director of the culture center. \nOn her road to victory, Payne correctly identified Tuskegee, Ala., as the site of the infamous syphilis experiments conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service on black men from the 1930s to the 1970s. Payne correctly answered questions on "Shaft" composer Issac Hayes and inventors Granville Woods and Frederick M. Jones.\nShe received a $175 gift card to the IU bookstore and a trophy for her first place showing. \n"It's great," she said. "I didn't think I had a chance of winning, coming in here. I can really use the bookstore certificate." \nSecond place winner junior Rahsaan D. Bartet received a $150 gift card and a trophy, and third place finisher Cameron Beatty took home a $125 gift card and a trophy. \nBartet said the program did a good job of showing the many contributions black people have made to society. \nThe bowl consisted of three games each lasting a half hour. Three undergraduates and one graduate student competed in each of the first two rounds. The top two undergraduates from each of the first two games were then brought back for the final match up. \nThe graduate students never met in the same round, Instead their scores were compared against each other. Dionne McKaskle was declared the winner and received a $100 IU bookstore gift card and a trophy. \n"Being African American, you should definitely know your history because then you can see, yes, we do have inventors, yes, we do have teachers and professors," Payne said.
(02/20/04 5:49am)
On Monday, black students gathered at their usual spot in the Indiana Memorial Union, a small group of tables on the South side of the cafeteria. Other students filled in the rest of the tables. "It's rare to see black and white students sitting at the same table," senior Nekeda McClure said.\n"You sit where you feel comfortable sitting," said McClure, who was sitting with a group of black friends in the cafeteria. "For black people, when you come in here, that's where you're going to sit because that's where all the black people are."\nInterim Vice-Chancellor of Academic Support and Diversity Edwardo Rhodes said the self-segregation in the Union is not unique to IU.\n"It's a nationwide phenomenon," Rhodes said. "You're talking about changing some major cultural reference points. That's a big thing to ask people. You're not going to force it. When you're eating you just want to eat. You want to relax. You're going to sit where you can feel relaxed."\nSigns reading "Reserved" used to sit on top of a set of tables in the IMU, marking off the area where black students were required to eat and socialize. It's been more than 60 years since Herman B Wells had those signs removed, but a quick glance into the IMU's cafeteria during lunchtime any day of the week will show IU still has a long way to go to reach full integration.\n"Conversations on Race" is one example of the programs IU uses to help foster cross-racial conversations on campus, Rhodes said. He said the program might not affect hundreds of people at once, but over time, it helps break down barriers. The next "Conversations on Race" retreat is April 3. Students can register by sending an e-mail to cor@indiana.edu.\nMcClure's sentiment was echoed by others in the cafeteria, both black and white. \n"I don't think it's a conscious decision," said sophomore Katie Walton, who is white. "People migrate to people who are similar to them." \nAnother white student, senior Dianna Speisman spoke for many students of both races when she said the cafeteria's self-segregation reminded her of her high school. Speisman said IU does have some diversity, but she thought the University could do more. \nJunior Stephanie Walden, who is black, said she thinks many white students think IU is diverse enough. She told the story of a recent class in which students discussed diversity on campus.\n"Everyone in the class said IU was very diverse," Walden said. Walden said the only classes with significant black enrollment are African American Studies courses.\nMcClure said because of their smaller numbers, black students tend to gravitate to one another in class. She also said the small number of other black students in her classes sometimes makes her feel she must act as a spokeswoman for her entire race.\n"You have to be that person to defend or educate," said McClure.\nThe self-segregation goes beyond the cafeteria and the classroom. Black and white students said they seldomly interact socially with each other.\n"I have some (white) associates, but I don't really hang out with them as much as people who look like me," junior Tyrone Allen said. \nFreshman Libby Spille is from the small, predominately white town of Granville, Ohio. She said for many students from smaller rural communities like hers, IU seems diverse.\n"It's all about your frame of reference," said (Spille's friend,) sophomore Nick Clifton. He added that IU's large international student population helps add diversity to the campus.\nWhile many students would agree IU could work harder to create diversity and foster conversation between black and white students, most students couldn't think of concrete actions they would recommend to the administration.\nRhodes said he thinks IU is improving and it will take time before racial barriers in this country completely come down.\n"You can't do miracles," he said.\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(02/18/04 5:31am)
In a speech Tuesday night at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Walter Kimbrough, a national expert on historically black fraternities and sororities, outlined the history of Greek organizations to see what lessons they hold for today's fraternities and sororities.\nAn audience, made up largely of both black and white Greek students, packed into the center's Grand Hall to listen to Kimbrough, the author of "Black Greek 101." With the seating full, many students had to sit on the floor.\nKimbrough said fraternal organizations first arose in the mid 1700s as a response to paternalistic university administrations keeping students under tight control -- and from their inception, these organizations included only a very select group of students. \n"They gave essays, orations and debates at this time," Kimbrough said. "They were institutional expressions of grievances and exclusion."\nOver time, these debating societies evolved into the first Greek letter organizations and took on a more social aspect. And by 1930 the idea of Greek life was set. \nKimbrough said these first fraternities and sororities created a blueprint, which emphasized character development, scholarship, fellowship, service and religion. He then drew on this blue print to provide lessons for today's Greek organizations.\n"Fraternities are supposed to support the educational objectives of the whole institution," he said.\nKimbrough contrasted the older blueprint of Greek life with today's version, which emphasizes parties, alcohol and often hazing. He said hazing first began in this country in the 1850s and involved the entire student body. \nKimbrough showed a picture of three badly-bruised freshmen from this period to illustrate the brutality of early hazing.\n"They got their behinds kicked," Kimbrough said. "That's what happened when you went through rush."\nWhen universities began cracking down on hazing in the 1920s, the tradition was kept alive within the Greek system, Kimbrough said. \nThroughout his talk, Kimbrough showed slides of fraternities. He pointed out no matter the race of the fraternity brothers, the pictures all looked the same, with men in ties lined up in an orderly fashion. Kimbrough said pop culture's image of fraternities now stems more from the movie "Animal House," than it does from Greek organization's historic ideals.\nKimbrough detailed the many problems and dangers hazing poses to today's fraternities and sororities. He told about a white sorority at DePauw University that burnt pledges with cigarettes and related the story of another pledge who died of a heart attack after watching his pledge brothers endure a beating by members of his black fraternity.\n"We're at a crisis period in American higher education with fraternities and sororities," Kimbrough said. "It seems like every year we get further and further away from the blueprint. We've got to stop bystander apathy and confront your brother and sister when they're wrong."\nJunior Jason Watters, a member of Beta Theta Pi at IU, said the message particularly resonated with his fraternity's goal of changing stereotypes about the Greek community.\nSenior Oscar Banks, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, said he appreciated learning about the similar histories of Greek organizations.\n"If Greek organizations are going to last, we're going to have to make some changes," Banks said.\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(02/06/04 5:15am)
In a lecture peppered with allusions ranging from Socrates to Billie Holiday and Martin Luther King Jr. to John Coltrane, Cornel West urged his listeners to examine the ugly side of American history in his lecture Thursday at the IU Auditorium.\n"Who wants to talk about the darkness of the past and the underside of the present?" asked the professor, author and highly-regarded public intellectual.\nIn a voice which vacillated between a quiet growl and a leonine roar, West discussed the importance of Socratic thinking in bringing about a deeper understanding of oneself as well as America's past and present. West said Socratic self-examination fused with love and concern for the suppressed will lead one to the blue note, an attitude where although there's no realistic hope of change, one keeps on working to build connections and struggle against oppression.\n"I've been down so long, that's why I keep on keeping on," West said. "That's what the blue note is." \nWest likened Socrates' critical self-examination and the pain of losing one's illusions and prejudices to death. "To philosophize is to learn how to die," he explained.\nWest said African Americans have always been intimately acquainted with different forms of death -- from the social death of slavery to the physical death of lynching. This results in a paradox between the sunny light in which the United States regards itself and the reality of African Americans' experiences with racism and suppression, he said. \n"You can recognize already the clash between a hotel civilization, death-defying, death-ducking, death-dodging and these particular people on intimate terms with forms of death," West said. \nWest also addressed the conflict between America's fragile experiment with democracy and America's history of slavery and racism. He also said America's current status as an imperial power belies its professed democratic ideals. \n"We don't want to acknowledge that we're living in the age of the American empire," West said. \nWest's lecture emphasized the importance of working against divisions and the interdependence of Americans of all races.\n"In the democracy, in the end, our destinies are intertwined," he said.\nAn Auditorium employee estimated the attendance, which filled the lower levels of the auditorium, at 1,200. The audience interrupted West several times with applause, and reaction to the lecture seemed positive. \nBloomington resident and IU graduate Amy Graff said she thought the talk was inspiring and powerful.\n"I realized how easy it is for everyone to live in their own little bubbles and not be connected," Graff said.\nKeema Walden, a third-year doctoral student in the School of Health Physical Education and Recreation, said she was excited for the opportunity to hear West.\n"He's a part of black history," she said.\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Wells at djwells@indiana.edu.
(02/05/04 6:00am)
Cornel West, a renowned intellectual, best-selling author, recording artist and "Matrix" actor, will speak at 7 p.m. tonight in the IU Auditorium.\nAdmission to West's lecture, "Race and Democracy," is free and open to the entire Bloomington community. \nVice Chancellor of Multicultural Affairs Gloria Gibson, whose office partnered with Union Board to bring West to campus, said judging from the number of phone calls her office has received, interest in the lecture is high.\n"Cornel West is one of the leading scholars in our country and one of the foremost thinkers of our time," Gibson said. "His work covers a multitude of disciplines including African-American studies, philosophy, religion and politics. I'm certain he'll challenge us to think about issues in a new way and that lecture will be challenging as well as inspiring."\nCriminal Justice Professor Dennis Rome said he's had the opportunity to hear West speak numerous times before and although his work is very theoretical, West still manages to keep it from becoming intimidating to the average listener. \n"He speaks to all audiences," Rome said, "His delivery is very animated. He reminds me of the old school preacher in a way. It's not distracting. It actually helps bring the issues home in a way that only he can do."\nRome said West's work is particularly important now because he shows how racism still functions in America. \n"Racism is disguised in many ways and I think he can assist students in understanding the dynamics involved in covert institutionalized racism," Rome said. \nWest, who is currently a professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University, has written over 20 books including the 1993 best-seller "Race Matters." \nWest's writing ranges from academic books such as, "The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism," which deals with the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, to books written for a more general audience. "Race Matters" contains accessible essays, dealing with topics including nihilism within black America and relations between blacks and Jewish people. \nIn 2001 West released the CD, "Sketches of My Culture," which features spoken word rhyme set to funk beats. West also appeared in the "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix: Revolutions" as one of the councillors of Zion. \nUnion Board Marketing Committee Director Sarah O'Brien said West's unique thinking on race and democracy coupled with his dramatic speaking style were what prompted her organization to help sponsor the event.\nO'Brien also said West's message works well with Union Board's commitment to bringing diverse voices to campus. \nAfter his lecture, West will be available to sign any of his books at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.
(01/26/04 4:37am)
Bloomington resident Arletha Dabney doesn't like the term cancer survivor and plans to make her view known tomorrow at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life Celebration at the Indiana Statehouse.\n"I'm not a survivor," Dabney said. "I'm a conqueror."\nShe'll be joined by 300 other expected volunteers willing to brave the icy roads and freezing temperatures for the opportunity to discuss cancer-related issues with their elected representatives, tomorrow at the Indianapolis Convention Center. \nPatricia Richards, the society's Indiana government relations manager, said two bills will be the top priority this year. \nA school nutrition bill, passed out of committee last Wednesday, would require Indiana elementary schools to make sure half of the choices offered in school vending machines and school lunch lines be healthy. It would also mandate thirty minutes of physical activity be a part of every school day for elementary school students. \n"A third of all cancers are caused by poor nutrition and lack of activity," said Sharla Cretors-Daniel, a communications specialist at the society. \nA cancer registry bill would extend the cancer registration requirements already in place by requiring outpatient clinics to report to the registry. It would also allow the State Department of Health to record non-malignant tumors in the registry.\nThe American Cancer Society hopes improved data collection will allow cancer prevention agencies to better target high-risk populations within the state. \n"The bill will help us track the progress of the programs we have across the state," said Cretors-Daniel. \nFor volunteers, the day will begin with a light lunch at noon, followed by educational sessions to brief them on both bills. At 5 p.m., the volunteers will discuss the bills over dinner with their state legislators. Dinner will be followed by a luminaria ceremony to honor those who have passed away from cancer.\nBloomington's state representative, Peggy Welch, who is also an oncology nurse at Bloomington Hospital, said she planned to attend the dinner.\nWelch is co-author of the school nutrition bill and said eliminating obesity is key to the fight against cancer. \n"I'm really excited about being able to be involved in the event," Welch said. "We've really got to start with kids and change their habits." \nAccording to the Democratic Party Senate Office, Bloomington's state senator, Vi Simpson, also plans to attend tomorrow's dinner. Vi Simpson was not available for comment.\nDabney said she became involved in the American Cancer Society after a close friend became sick. A year later, she learned she had breast cancer.\n"It was a lot easier because I was already involved in the American Cancer Society," she said.\nDabney had friends and family members who've also beaten cancer sign her white sweatshirt with purple fabric paint. On the back of the shirt, Dabney wrote a single word, "Conquerors." \nDabney said she hopes to spread the word about the resources the society offers, such as its informational Web site. \n"God didn't save me just for me," Dabney said. "So whatever I can do I'm going to do." \nFor more information on tomorrow's event contact the American Cancer Society Bloomington office at 336-8423.