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(04/14/14 3:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Clusters of IU social work students sat around the house at 1127 E. Atwater St., working on projects and studying for end-of-the-year tests Sunday afternoon.They were participating in the Social Work Student Association’s annual Study-a-thon to raise money and awareness for the Ubuntu homeless shelter in Bloomington. Ubuntu is what the Association is hoping will become the first year-round, low-barrier homeless shelter in Bloomington. Currently, such shelters are rare and close after winter.The SWSA is working with Ubuntu, a coalition of students and others in the community — some with jobs and some without — to start a low-barrier shelter for the homeless during the summer months.“Hopefully it eventually transitions to year-round, but we have to focus on immediate aid right now,”social work student Stephanie Waller said. “Since April 1, when Interfaith Winter Shelter closed, there isn’t a homeless shelter, so people are sleeping wherever they can sleep, and it’s not a good situation.”From April through November, there are no low-barrier shelters for people experiencing homelessness in the Bloomington community, Waller said. Waller said although they can’t raise enough money to buy a building, they are doing as much as they can. She said they are looking into getting waterproof sleeping bags.Aside from raising money and collecting monetary donations, many have donated other supplies and clothing. Students raised money through pledges their friends and family members sponsored — they would pledge a certain amount of money for every hour the student studied. “We just got involved in it because we happened to be social work students (who cared) when not a lot of people initially cared about what was happening,” social work student Sarah Dora said.About a year and a half ago, a graduate from the School of Social Work started the Ubuntu project. Throughout the past couple years, students began to advocate for the cause and raise awareness for it.The charity that receives the Study-a-thon funds changes from year to year.With their involvement in the Ubuntu shelter growing, the SWSA thought it was the perfect cause for this year’s event.“We had planned to do it earlier, and then when students really started getting involved and invested in shelters and people who are homeless, we just thought that would be a natural tie-in to have it now,” said Bruce McCallister, SWSA adviser and lecturer in the School of Social Work.About 25 students were in and out of the study session, which lasted from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.Several local businesses, such as Orange Leaf, Noodles and Co., Chipotle, Pizza Hut and Starbucks, donated food to the event. Social work student Madinah Luqmaan said any leftovers would go to people in the community who needed it.Junior Megan Potter said this cause ties into the larger mission of the school.“One of our values is social justice, and we believe as a whole that the lack of summer shelter for the homeless people in the community that we live in is an injustice to them,” she said. “The fact that there are so many barriers to prevent that from happening is disheartening and goes against a lot of our core values.”Potter said so many homeless people here are unable to prove they are citizens of Monroe County. Building a low-barrier shelter would eliminate that problem and several others.The shelter would benefit more than 60 people who need a place to sleep at night.McCallister said talking about an issue is one thing, but it’s another to actually make a change.“To be around this enthusiasm and the sense that they can accomplish things, it’s just really refreshing to be around that sense of optimism,” he said. “The idea that you can’t just complain about something but you can actually go out and try to do something about it.”
(04/09/14 3:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Union Board’s “Live from Bloomington” will release its first album since 2010 today.The 2014 album is a compilation of songs by local artists, mostly IU students.LFB Director Connor Foy said she and other directors decided local music should have a greater voice in Bloomington.“So why not bring it back and why not bring it back in full force?” Foy, said.For the first time ever, they have added a “Best of Live from Bloomington” album, too. There are 30 songs altogether in the disc set.Foy said that although last year’s LFB director did most of the work with this year’s album, he still wanted to be personally involved.That’s when they decided to make a second album. Foy and his assistant directors looked through all the songs from the past 25 years and formed a list of the best.“I thought it’d be a really cool thing to make it more of a hyped release,” Foy said. “If we haven’t done it in four years, we should release a double album. That’s never been done before.”Creating an annual album became a tradition in 1986 but was discontinued because of people not wanting to purchase music, Foy said.Since the beginning, all proceeds from album sales have gone to Hoosier Hills Food Bank, and will this year, as well.The album release will coincide with Wednesday’s Gallery Evening Music Series featuring IU’s Bryce Fox.Fox is best known for his song “This is Indiana.” He is now working as a songwriter for artists such as Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.“(Fox) released an EP of his own this summer, so we just figured it would fit really well just to bring him back to the Union and to have kind of a welcome home show for him,” Foy said.The LFB album will be sold tonight at GEMS for $6. Foy said they pressed 150 copies, and he expects them to sell out.Free Little 500 concert tickets have been randomly placed in six of the albums to add an extra incentive.Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @grace_palmieri.
(04/08/14 4:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With shows like “Shark Tank” and movies like “The Social Network” released in the late 2000s, young entrepreneurs across the country were inspired to make their ideas a reality.Deuce Thevenow and Jack Shannon, former IU students from the Kelley School of Business, saw the emergence of entrepreneurship among college students and wanted to help.The two created RECESS, a touring college music festival that includes performances, a speaker series and interactive networking opportunities.“The whole point of it is that we’re bringing all these companies to campus essentially to promote entrepreneurship, to get students excited about potentially going to work for a start-up or being an intern,” Shannon said. “In general we’re just trying to make students more aware of all these cool opportunities to work at these really exciting young companies.”RECESS came to IU for an all-day event Monday.The idea for RECESS stemmed from Thevenow and Shannon’s first start-up, GLOWfest, which began four years ago.GLOWfest was started at IU, but eventually brought artists like Avicii, Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 to colleges across the country.Thevenow said though they loved what they were doing, it was missing a purpose.“We were noticing that entrepreneurship on campus was exploding,” he said. “So we were like, ‘OK let’s take GLOWFest, the musical component, and put a positive message on it and figure out how to help these kids launch a business.’”RECESS was launched last year with a number of smaller events, but this is a part of their first real tour. About 200 students signed up to attend, and walk-ins were also accepted.RECESS’ visit to IU Monday was the second stop on a cross-country tour of seven campuses. It was a four-part event including interactive networking, a speaker series, pitch competition and concert.Jake Udell, the manager of Krewella, and Tony Conrad, the Founder and CEO of About.me were among the speakers.Shannon said he and Thevenow wanted to base the speaker series off of TED Talks.“We wanted to take that general concept of 10-minute-long speakers sharing their experience and their story but make it relatable to college students and actually give practical advice,” he said.RECESS was put on with the help of Union Board. Brett Bassock, UB Live Entertainment Director, said he didn’t have to think twice about bringing the event to IU.“Deuce came to me asking for Union Board to be involved and explained to me the concept,” he said. “I immediately thought it was an incredible idea what they were trying to do. I love their vision. I love their mission.”Before a Paper Diamond concert at the Bluebird Monday night, the day ended with a pitch competition where students with start-ups could pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.Five businesses were chosen by Shannon and Thevenow from around 30 online submissions. Those students were given five minutes to pitch their business and then had five minutes of Q&A.Haley Gedek and Max Brickman, founders of Clean Slate, won the pitch competition. Clean Slate is a cheating prevention tool with specially made scantron sheets that are unreadable from either side.The two will be one of 10 chosen businesses to travel to Las Vegas to compete in the final competition.“This is unbelievable, just the experience of being able to go pitch to investors, go to Las Vegas and be able to get some funding from that,” Gedek said. “This could really change the course of our product right now and allow us to do something we obviously wouldn’t have been able to do without it.”Although there is no cash prize for the overall winner, the final competition provides an opportunity for Gedek and Brickman, as well as the other finalists, to network with entrepreneurs from around the world.Shannon said ultimately he’s glad that, after years of building their company, they could finally give back — especially to IU.“For us, we loved the concert element of it, but this is the stuff that will have an impact and will actually change students’ lives potentially, for the better,” he said. “That’s the stuff that we’re the most excited about.”
(04/07/14 3:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Four committees within IU Student Association work throughout the year to improve the respect, sexual well-being, mental health and alcohol and drug abuse awareness among IU students.All their efforts come together for Culture of Care Week.This year, the Residence Halls Association and IUSA worked together to organize activities for students from Sunday through Friday.“Basically, all four committees help make a well-rounded circle of how one should be stable and healthy in college,” said Lexie Heinemann, RHA vice president of student affairs. “They point out four big key areas where a lot of issues can come from, and they do a lot of awareness of them for students.”Culture of Care is a student-based initiative organized by IUSA that began three years ago. It focuses on educating students about bystander prevention.Andy Braden, one of three co-chairs of Culture of Care, said they spread awareness through programs, partnerships with other student organizations and tabling.“We also directly train students in bystander intervention through our StepUp! program,” he said. “It’s our vision that we can create a more safe, open and welcoming campus where all Hoosiers look out for one another.”This is the first year that RHA is directly involved in Culture of Care Week.Heinemann, a member of Culture of Care, brought the idea of being more involved in the event to RHA.A new RHA executive board has just taken office and is working to build the organization. Heinemann said this is a great way to bring members together.“The past administration has made a lot of progress with getting RHA in with CoC week and helping spread our own name with IUSA’s CoC,” she said. “It’s actually really cool because getting your foot in the door this early and being able to help each other could lead to a stronger or more cohesive unit in the future.”Events including educational tabling will take place Monday through Thursday during the day and activities such as yoga at night. Activities are sponsored by IUSA, RHA and Counseling and Psychological Services.Heinemann said this is a great opportunity for students to destress before a hectic end to the year and final exams.“What Culture of Care week focuses on is bringing these potential issues to light and helping (students) find resources and ways to decrease that stress,” she said. “It’s helping students have a safer environment at IU.”Each Culture of Care committee brings its own special message to students, Heinemann said.She said this provides an opportunity for students to learn something new each day.Culture of Care was originally formed in response to student activity on campus that may threaten the physical, mental or emotional health of others.Braden said when administrators and faculty aren’t there to control student behavior, such as at parties or in the dorms, students need to be educated about how to help each other.“I believe it is important for students because they are the only line of defense against a lot of incidents that occur on campus,” he said. “Students need to have the tools to know how and when to help each other.”
(04/01/14 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When it comes to the largest collegiate debate tournament in the country, practice and preparation is neverending.Over three days of eight debate rounds, each lasting two hours and 45 minutes, George Lee and Rashid Campbell spent even their down time getting ready for the next opponent.“Lil Wayne has a quote: He says ‘repetition is the key to perfection,’” Lee said. “I go to the case list and see which arguments you’ve had in the past and try to guess how you’re going to come at me.”Lee and Campbell, from Oklahoma, were joined by 79 other college debate teams from across the country at IU this past weekend for the 68th National Debate Tournament.Lee said this isn’t just another debate tournament.“It’s kind of like March Madness basketball,” he said. “You have to qualify for it. You have to be invited. The NDT is literally the best debaters the country has to offer, so the competition is fierce.”Debaters arrived on campus Thursday morning, competition began Friday and concluded Monday night.This is IU’s first time is host to the tournament. It was host last week to the Cross Examination Debate Association tournament.Debate teams spent all year with the issue of having congressional or judicial restrictions on presidential war powers.Lee said a strategy is to scout out the other teams’ previous arguments. “If the individual is talking about the economy, I’m going to read a whole article about capitalism and socialism,” he said. “Or if it’s a question of race, I have to read a whole bunch of African-American literature to be able to engage with that particular debater.”Sophomore Linda Pei, from Northwestern, said to get to this point takes a lot of time committed throughout the year, including giving up her spring break.Pei said the competition at the NDT is unlike any other she has seen.“Every debate you have is going to be tough because it’s against the best teams in the country,” she said. “Not only are all the teams better but they put more into it.”Universities represented at the tournament ranged from Dartmouth and Georgetown to University of Texas and University of California, Berkeley.Campbell said the tournament is a great opportunity to meet a diverse group of people.“The biggest advantage of debate is you’ll meet people in debate you never would in real life,” he said. “That education in itself is beneficial when you understand how the world sees you. It makes you a better person.”Though winning the National Debate Tournament makes a team the best in the country, Lee said it’s about much more than that.Not only does it make you a better student, but it’s beneficial to your future as well, he said.“Debate is like a collision sport,” Lee said. “It’s a lot of things colliding throughout the whole debate — different ideas, different morals, different ethics. It makes you understand the world.”
(04/01/14 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The new Residence Halls Association executive board will take office today.In early March, students across campus elected a new president, vice president of internal affairs, vice president of programming and vice president of student affairs.Stephanie Corona, incoming RHA President, said she thinks coming into the new roles should be a smooth transition.“It is very much a hit-the-ground-running situation,” she said. “We are jumping right into directorship selection, planning summer training and ushering in next year’s center presidents.”The first change they will make as a group is setting aside an hour each week to meet as a board, Corona said. She said she hopes this will allow them to stay on the same page and work out any issues they have as a team.With the new executive board comes new members of RHA. Corona said they will catch them up on RHA policies and duties.The other members of the executive board must also appoint directors.Mark Wise, VP of internal affairs, said the goal is to make these new members feel comfortable as a part of RHA.“Once our members begin to feel the heartbeat of RHA, there is truly no limit to what we will accomplish,” he said.Each vice president has plans for change within their committee that they hope will not only form a more cohesive unit within the organization, but ultimately serve the IU student body.“I would like to see RHA develop an identity across campus,” VP of Student Affairs Lexie Heinemann said.“The executive team for the upcoming year together holds a strong belief RHA has made progress in expanding our name, but now we need to really deepen our connections to the centers and other student organizations to bring our presence on campus out more with this upcoming year.”Heinemann said the number one change she hopes to make is expanding RHA digitally across campus.“I plan on creating a YouTube page to film and profile events so that students will not have to wonder what it is that RHA does but rather they can see it with their own eyes and at their convenience,” she said. Megan Vanpelt, the VP of programming, said before any further large-scale programs can be planned she will ensure she has a stable group of leaders.She said she wants to create a sense of family within the programming board.“Yes, we will still be putting on great programs,” Vanpelt said. “However, this coming year I plan on having a more set schedule for programs so students know what they will be working on when.”Corona said the new media strategy, as well as holding a conference for the RHA in-center leaders, will help build a network of common goals for RHA as a whole.“I want to continue to build relationships between RHA and the rest of campus, the groundwork of which was laid by the previous administration,” she said. “We really invest in our people, and having that positive energy really propels us through the year to accomplish our goals.”With each new year, the organization rebuilds from the inside out.Corona said she believes in the past year they were successful in getting RHA’s name out to students.Now, they hope students begin to see what RHA really does for them, Heinemann said.“RHA makes changes here or there to adapt to the always-developing needs of the students because each year is different than the last,” she said. “Our executive team realizes that change is a good thing and that the students are who we serve.”
(03/31/14 4:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>ScHoolBoy Q will headline the Little 500 Concert with special guests Isaiah Rashad, Vince Staples and Audio Push, Union Board announced Sunday night.As a part of his Oxymoron World Tour, ScHoolBoy Q will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 24 in the IU Auditorium.“Schoolboy Q has established himself as one of the hottest new rappers in the hip hop world,” said Mike Zak, Union Board director of music. “We are so lucky to host him for this year’s Little 500 concert.”ScHoolBoy Q is a hip-hop recording artist, most known for his “energetic performances and original dynamic beats,” Zak said. The artist is a member of Black Hippy, a West Coast hip-hop group that includes Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Kendrick Lamar.ScHoolBoy Q first signed to Top Dawg Entertainment in 2009 and secured a recording contract with Interscope Records in 2011.Since gaining recognition for his singles “Collard Greens,” released in June 2013, and “Man of the Year,” released in November, he released his debut album, “Oxymoron,” at the end of February.“His new album, ‘Oxymoron,’ is currently topping the charts on iTunes and reached No. 1 on U.S. Billboard 200, No. 1 on U.S. Top R&B and hip-hop albums and No. 1 on U.S. Top Rap Albums,” Zak said.Although Union Board hasn’t always organized a concert for Little 500, it has become a tradition in recent years, said Paul Yoon, Union Board vice president of marketing. Popular artists have included Macklemore in 2013, and Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj in 2009.“Students look forward to not only the race, but events that go on during the week as well,” Yoon said. “The Little 500 Concert is one of the iconic Little 500 week events to go to.”Three supporting acts will also take the stage.Hip-hop recording artist Isaiah Rashad, rapper Vince Staples and hip-hop duo Audio Push will accompany ScHoolBoy Q.“Isaiah Rashad is also on the TDE label with ScHoolBoy and Kendrick,” Zak said. “Last year during the 2013 BET hip-hop awards, Isaiah created a buzz around him and it kind of got his name out there in the hip-hop world and helped further develop the TDE label.”After being presented in Assembly Hall a year ago, the 2014 Little 500 concert will move back to the IU Auditorium.Union Board will target Bloomington, Indianapolis and possibly West Lafayette to fill the 3,200 seats, Yoon said.While the artist announcement is coming nearly a month later than past years, Zak said Union Board worked with a $140,000 total budget to bring the best possible concert to the students.Because the concert is back in the auditorium, students can purchase tickets by charging the cost to their bursar accounts.Student tickets go on sale Tuesday, priced between $35 and $45. Wednesday, tickets go on sale for the general public for $45-$55.Zak said Union Board is excited to bring an artist who is newly popular in the hip-hop world.“He’s the next Kendrick Lamar,” Zak said. “He’s next in line to be a huge star.”
(03/28/14 5:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Contestants took the stage to compete for the title of Miss and Mr. Gay IU on Thursday at the Willkie Auditorium.Silky N. Ganache won Miss Gay IU, and Joey Sparks took the crown as the first Mr. Gay IU.Miss Gay IU is the oldest and longest-running university drag pageant.“I think IU is one of the most open places you can be,” said Patricio Battani, director of the pageant. “It’s 25 years old now, so it’s a tradition. I think it’s just a way to showcase what the LGBT community has to offer in general. It allows people to see that and be a part of that.”Participants were judged by how they performed in several categories. These included evening gown for Miss and creative swimwear for Mr., on-stage question and answer, talent, an interview prior to the competition and an HIV 101 course.The Mr. Gay IU segment may be new to the pageant, but the two contestants, Joey Sparks and Vincent T. Debeaute, said they had fun with the experience.“I enjoy everything about it,” Debeaute said. “The outfits, the lipstick, the audience, the participation, the camaraderie, all of it. It’s gone quick, but it’s been fun.”Battani said having a Mr. Gay IU pageant was in large part due to the growing popularity of Mr. pageants. “Mr. pageants have become kind of a bigger thing at Indiana and across the nation,” he said. “They’re growing, and so we decided that we wanted to give people the opportunity that did not want to perform in drag to perform and hold the title and represent the gay and bisexual male community here.”The pageant is organized by Illumenate, an social organization for gay, bisexual and transgender men that is known nationally as Empowerment.One of 75 chapters, the purpose of Illumenate at IU is to help curb the HIV epidemic, provide a safe space and educate about HIV and AIDS, Battani said.Participants were chosen through an application process. In the coming year, Sparks will represent Illumenate in the Bloomington community.Sparks and Ganache will be on LGBT panels on campus and talk about gender performance in human sexuality classes.Mahogany Charlotte, a first-time participant and Wabash College graduate, said she chose to participate because of what the pageant stood for.“One of the things Miss Gay IU does is educate and advocate for HIV and AIDS education, and that’s something that’s important to me,” she said. “I did know someone who died from HIV complications. I think part of the reason people have a hard time talking about it is because they aren’t educated about it.”The pageant was largely sponsored by Illumenate. Contributions were also made by the OUT! and the Back Door in Bloomington, among others.“To me, the crown is a symbol of excellence,” Debeaute said. “It is the lasting memory — that’s really the thing people are watching. Anyone can have a crown, but the reign lasts a lifetime.”
(03/27/14 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a second-place finish at the men’s Big Ten Championships, four swimmers and two divers from IU’s men’s swimming and diving team will compete at this weekend’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas.They will try for a third consecutive top-10 finish. Last year, the Hoosiers placed ninth, their highest finish since 1980 and with their highest point total (201) since 1975.IU Coach Ray Looze said this year they will rely on quality rather than quantity.“We’ve got less people here than we did last year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll score less points,” he said. “We’re not as deep, but I believe we’ve got pretty good quality.”IU will have a total of nine competitors. Freshmen Max Irwin and Anze Tavcar and sophomore Tanner Kurz are relay-only swimmers.Senior Eric Ress enters the meet as the top seed in the 200-yard backstroke. He has the top five times in IU history in the event and most recently won the Big Ten title.Ress said despite high expectations, he will treat the race like any other. He said, more than anything, relays will be important to the team’s success.“The mentality for the guys as a whole is really geared toward relay performances,” Ress said. “That’s where you get the most points. And rather than just swimming for ourselves, we’re swimming to try to get the most points individually as we can to contribute to the team score.”At the 2011 NCAA Championships, Ress was runner-up in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke.This year, he is joined by junior Steve Schmuhl and seniors Cody Miller and James Wells as the four individual qualifiers.Schmuhl, Miller and Ress are returning All-Americas from 2013.Miller said the team’s preparation since the Big Ten Championships stands out from previous years.“Last week everyone was hitting the fastest pace times we’ve ever seen,” he said. “We have four individual qualifiers this year, and all of us have been in A finals at this meet in previous years. The team is more prepared than we have ever been before.“Senior divers Darian Schmidt and Emad Abdelatif will compete in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard competitions. They qualified at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships.Schmidt was the Big Ten Champion in both the 1-meter and 3-meter and was named Big Ten Diver of the Championships for the third consecutive year. This is Abdelatif’s second trip to the NCAAs.The team arrived at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center at the beginning of the week.Looze said having a few days at the pool before the meet starts is crucial for both mental and physical preparation.“NCAAs are such a brutally punishing meet from the event load to the intensity,” he said. “You have to take everything into consideration, making sure that we are completely well-rested going into this. This is one of the only meets where an Olympian can get beat around.”The Hoosiers will compete for the 25th top-10 finish in IU history.Looze said he looks forward to how his swimmers will take advantage of the opportunity to swim at a national meet.“This has the least margin for error of any meet I’ve ever been to,” he said. “It really just matters what you do here in any given year. Right now, this book is yet to be written.”
(03/25/14 3:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Debate teams from Harvard, Vanderbilt, NYU and 62 other colleges from across the country came to IU this weekend for the Cross Examination Debate Association tournament.The tournament began Friday morning and concluded Monday night. In the final round of debates, the Towson University team defeated the University of Oklahoma team 7-4.Brian DeLong, Director of Debate at IU and host of both this tournament and the National Debate Tournament, said it was four days of rigorous competition.“In a public speaking class, students will likely give anywhere between four and six speeches in that single course,” he said. “Our students, especially the ones that are making the finals, will triple that number in a weekend.”A total of 170 teams of two competed. During the first two days, each team competed in eight debates. Those who finished with a 5-3 record moved on to the single elimination rounds.Going into the second half of competition, 60 teams remained. Each debate lasted two hours and 45 minutes and had one judge.“There are no clear guidelines on how the judge will evaluate the round,” DeLong said. “Each judge is extremely dynamic and often times the debate rounds will be altered by debaters as they adapt to the judges that they have and attempt to meet some of their requirements.”The topic for this year, announced in early August, was the issue of having congressional or judicial restrictions on presidential war powers.With debate season beginning in mid-September, debaters prepared by researching the topic for the tournament throughout the year.DeLong said the policy debate students are participating in is often considered research-based debate.“Our students do an equivalent of a masters degree worth of research on this topic alone throughout the entire year,” he said. “They really do it just for the love of the game and the academic rigor that’s associated with it.”For this tournament, rather than needing to qualify like debaters do for the National Debate Tournament, it is just a matter of how many teams the host school can accommodate.Most of the schools brought several teams. Oklahoma had more than 10 teams entered, two of which made the final four.George Lee, of Oklahoma, said preparation for a national tournament like this involves research on the teams they will compete against to know their argument and what to say in response. He said they have been building on their arguments throughout the year.Lee said aside from debate being an intellectual challenge during college, the concepts do transfer to the real world.“Particularly for me, being an African-American student, I look at debate as just a training round to be able to go transform the outside world, kind of understanding the systems and structures that make the world go round,” he said. “I think debate can be beneficial to the smartest people our country has to offer, from coast to coast.”The host of the tournament changes every year.DeLong worked with Eric Morris, the president of CEDA and an assistant professor at Missouri State University, and many others to organize the tournament.DeLong said it is an honor for IU to be able to host both CEDA and the National Debate Tournament, considering IU’s debate program is now rebuilding after 13 years of not having a team.“To be able to host the two most important tournaments the entire year after only four years of being here shows the confidence this community now has in us as being a stable debate program in the country,” he said.
(03/25/14 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Admissions Twitter account was hacked by an unknown source Saturday.Hundreds of spam tweets had been sent out to some of the account’s followers.The Office of Enrollment Management did not disclose the content of the tweets.Jackie Fernette, the director of communications for the Office of Enrollment Management, said it is unlikely that it was a student pulling a prank.She said it was probably a phishing operation of some kind.Immediate action was taken when the problem was discovered. IU social media strategist Tom Atkinson directed the Office of Enrollment Management staff on how to deal with the incident. Within a couple hours, the tweets were deleted. Account administrators also made sure the account password was changed, Atkinson said. Also, access to third-party apps was revoked, Fernette said.At 8:57 p.m. Saturday, IUB Admissions tweeted an apology for any disturbance caused.“We sincerely apologize to anyone who may have received a spam tweet in the last hour,” it said.One minute later, the account tweeted again to assure followers measures were taken to clean up the mess, and that the account’s privacy settings were reset.“We have remedied the issue and expect no further disturbances for any of our followers. Thank you for your understanding.”Monday afternoon, the Office of Enrollment Management met to attempt some additional diagnostics to determine the cause of the hack.Fernette said there is no new information to report at this time.
(03/24/14 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the second time in the University’s history, IU swimming has an NCAA champion.Sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass won the 200-yard backstroke in one minute 50.52 seconds, and the IU women’s swimming and diving team finished 12th at the NCAA Championships Saturday in Minneapolis.Snodgrass joins Kate Fesenko, the 200 backstroke winner in 2010, as the only two NCAA champions in IU swimming’s history.“My strategy for the 200 back was not meant to develop a win,” Snodgrass said. “I just wanted to get the best performance out of myself possible. I have been training all year to get my splits close, and I finally did it. It’s really unbelievable right now.”Just before Snodgrass’s preliminary race, an IU relay team entered to race in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Snodgrass said just minutes before the relay, the coaches decided they wouldn’t compete.That would have been the last collegiate race for seniors Kait Flederbach and Stephanie Armstrong.“I will never forget the fact that Kait and Steph gave up their last college relay swim ever in order for me to rest before my backstroke,” Snodgrass said. “I wasn’t going to let them down in the race.”Snodgrass now owns the second-fastest time in school history. She and Fesenko are the only two Hoosiers to finish under one minute 51 seconds in the 200 backstroke.IU Coach Ray Looze recalled Snodgrass telling him after the race that her strategy was to lie back the first 50 yards and then go.“The backstroke field here, the 100 and 200, were among the best compilation of backstrokers that the NCAA has ever seen,” Looze said. “It was just a genius stroke of strategy on her part, and it paid off with an NCAA title.”Just before Snodgrass’s win, senior Lindsay Vrooman set a new school and Big Ten record during her final race as a Hoosier.Her time of 15 minutes 44.45 seconds in the 1,650-yard freestyle was fifth overall.Vrooman was also fourth in the 500-yard freestyle on the first day of the meet. She earned the second-fastest time in school history and now has six of the top seven times.Battling a stomach illness all week, Vrooman said she had hoped to place better in her final meet.“I started feeling worse as the meet went on, and I knew the mile would be rough,” she said. “(By the 1,650) I was feeling a little bit better, but still wanted to do what I could — which was better than I thought considering my circumstances.”Snodgrass and Bronwyn Pasloski both set school records on the second day of the competition.In the 100-yard backstroke, Snodgrass placed fourth in 51.05 seconds, breaking a six-year-old school record. Pasloski won the 100-yard breaststroke consolation final in 59.39 seconds.Senior diver Kate Hillman earned her first-ever NCAA points.She was 10th overall in the platform competition, finishing with 307.20 points, and less than two points away from making the championship final.“I don’t think this team could’ve given anything more, from Kate Hillman scoring here for the first time ever to Lindsay Vrooman swimming the mile sick,” Looze said. “I don’t know if a team has given more. They just would never say die.”Looze said that although they hoped to place higher as a team, he is proud of how they ended the season.“We wanted to be eighth or ninth, but we just didn’t have everybody rolling like we hoped,” he said. “Sometimes a national ranking doesn’t fully tell the story, but 12th is a great place to finish.”
(03/13/14 2:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Shafi Goldwasser, winner of the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award, will speak Friday at IU.Her lecture is part of the School of Informatics and Computing’s Distinguished Speaker Series.Goldwasser is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.An expert in the field of provable security — any type of security that can be proven — Goldwasser will speak on “The Cryptographic Lens.” Chung-chieh “Ken” Shan, an assistant professor in the School of Informatics and Computing, said the lecture should appeal to anyone interested in how their private information is made accessible.“As an elder in computer science once said, in computer science, a result after 10 years is either classic or incorrect. Goldwasser’s work is classic,” Shan said, according to a March 12 IU press release. “Everyone in the world depends on her work, and anyone who cares about how their medical, financial and other private information should be kept secret from governments, corporations and other individuals should come to her talk.”The A.M. Turing Award, which Goldwasser received in 2012, is given for major contributions of lasting importance to computing. It is the ACM’s most prestigious technical award. With the honor comes a cash prize of $250,000 underwritten by Intel Corporation and Google in recent years.Goldwasser wont the Turing Award — considered the Nobel Prize for computing science — for her work in mathematics that makes modern cryptography possible. She received the award along with MIT’s Silvio Micali.In addition to her most recent accolades, Goldwasser won the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award.She is also a recipient of the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award for exceptional young computer professionals.Goldwasser was awarded the Godel Prize twice. As well, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.Grace Palmieri
(03/11/14 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was 2009 and the Obamas had just moved into the White House. Several families were visiting, including an African-American family with a young boy, age five.Looking up at the president, the boy asked Obama if he could feel his hair. The president bent over.Stroking his head, the boy said, “It’s just like mine.”At that moment, a photo was snapped, a photo that would be hung in the west wing of the White House.“People can see the symbolism of that story,” said Robert Lehrman, a political speechwriter, in a talk Monday in the Ernie Pyle Auditorium. “You can move people with a story like that in a way that nothing else can.”He explained the essentials of political speechwriting to IU students in his lecture called, “What’s So Hard About Writing a Great Speech?”Lehrman spoke about speech writing style and being able to write in a way that is accessible to many different audiences.Recounting his personal experiences writing speeches for politicians, he discussed the limits and opportunities of political communication.“What people like to appreciate is that speakers have a number of limitations,” Lehrman said. “We’re limited by what people understand, by what they know and what they believe.”Lehrman was the first Chief Speechwriter in the White House for Vice President Al Gore, and he wrote more than 250 speeches for him. He said he has spent the majority of his career writing speeches for politicians, as well as CEOs and celebrities.A public speaking professor at American University since 1998, Lehrman created the school’s first speechwriting course in 2005.Lehrman, a graduate of Tufts University, now teaches classes at four different universities in Washington, D.C.He also writes political articles in his own name, which have been published in the Washington Post and New York Times, among other publications.His most recent book is “The Political Speechwriter’s Companion: A Guide for Speakers and Writers.” Among a plethora of speechwriting tips Lehrman gave students, he said using simple language while speaking publicly is most effective.“The average American reads at a seventh-grade level,” he said. “That means, to me, accessible words. I don’t say ‘currently,’ I say ‘now.’ I don’t say ‘utilize,’ I say ‘use.’” Lehrman scheduled time to sit in on a journalism class, dine with students at the Hutton Honors College and have breakfast with students who are part of the Political and Civic Engagement program during his visit.That extra time spent at IU was much more beneficial to students than simply the lecture itself, said Paul Zuradski, former director of speakers and lecturers for Union Board.“Lehrman is being extremely generous with offering to come for the full two days,” Zuradski said. “A lot of times we’ll bring in a speaker for a one-time lecture, but we do want to get them involved in additional activities so they can interact with students in relevant classes and also more informal settings like lunches.”Planning for Lehrman’s visit began at the end of last semester. Ryan Myers, who attended a class with Lehrman in Washington, D.C., pitched the idea to Union Board.Since then, Union Board has collaborated with the Hutton Honors College to organize the event.“I think the general goal of these lectures is to be both entertaining and educational in some way,” Zuradski said.“With this lecture specifically, I think as long as students walk away having learned something new and also maybe feel like they can critically analyze political communication a little bit better, that would be a good outcome.”
(03/10/14 2:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A new executive board for the Residence Halls Association was elected last week, and it will take office April 1.Tuesday, students across campus voted to elect a new RHA president, vice president of internal affairs, vice president of student affairs and vice president of programming. After the tallying of the votes, four RHA members were announced as the executive board for the 2014-15 academic year.Junior Stephanie Corona, currently the center president of Collins Living-Learning Center, will replace senior Claire Houterman as RHA president.“I love the ways that RHA provides leadership opportunities for students in the residence halls to grow, learn and have a real impact at Indiana University,” Corona said. “While working with RHA, I have grown a lot, and I am really passionate about making sure that that experience happens for others.”Corona began as floor governor at Collins. When she became the Collins finance director she was a voting member of the RHA funding board and began attending RHA General Assembly.Corona was elected Collins president this past year, and since then RHA has consumed the majority of her time, she said.Corona will be joined by Mark Wise, who is the new vice president of internal affairs. Wise has served RHA for three years.He said he hopes RHA can more effectively collaborate with other student organizations.“One of my goals is to make RHA more visible to the Bloomington community,” Wise said. “I am going to strive to increase awareness of and student involvement in RHA by attending student government meetings in every residence hall each semester.”Lexie Heinemann and Megan Van Pelt, who both ran unopposed, complete the executive board. Heinemann is the vice president of student affairs and Van Pelt is the vice president of programming.Houterman said through working with all four officers in the past two or three years, she has been able to see them develop into leaders.“I’m truly excited to see what the four of them can accomplish,” she said. “Each brings a different area of expertise to the organization, and while there will certainly be a learning period, as there is for every new exec board, I believe that the four new elects will be successful.”In the past year, RHA has built stronger partnerships with Union Board and the IU Student Association, Houterman said. RHA works with Union Board to plan the Welcome Week Concert and with IUSA to organize Culture of Care Week.Houterman said RHA has also restructured the Programming Board to increase collaboration between both RHA members and other student organizations on campus.Though RHA has increased its name recognition among IU students, Houterman said she hopes it can take that a step further in the coming year.“In listening to platforms and talking to the four elects, I know they are passionate about continuing to build relationships with other student organizations,” Houterman said. “I know they are also focused on building off of our name recognition goal so that more people understand what RHA does, not just what it is.”Once the executive board takes office, it will have a month to organize before students leave for the summer. It hopes to quickly get center president and directors comfortable with RHA, Corona said.She said she hopes RHA can establish working relationships with other organizations and administrators so they can begin work right when students return in August. They will also begin work on the Welcome Week Concert immediately, she said. She also said in the past year, the current administration has gotten RHA’s name out better than ever before, but they now need to back that up with action.“Right now, we have so many student leaders at the center level who don’t even know that they are a part of our organization,” Corona said. “I want to really make sure that RHA has a strong presence in all of our residence centers and that our leaders are empowered to make a difference in their communities.”
(03/07/14 5:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the Indonesian government was overthrown by its military in 1965, inconsequential gangsters turned into death squad leaders. They assisted the military in killing more than one million people in a single year.Congo Anwar, the main character of Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary film “The Act of Killing,” was one of the perpetrators.Oppenheimer spoke at the IU Cinema Thursday afternoon.“The film was meant to be kind of an antidote to the fear that underpins a present day moral and cultural vacuum built by the killers and it still remains in the present,” Oppenheimer said. “That was our guiding ambition, but I never expected it to succeed.”The film won a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and was most recently nominated for a 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.Brandon Walsh, the former Director of Film for Union Board, organized Oppenheimer’s visit, which consisted of a lecture, film screening and Q&A session.Walsh led the lecture, during which Oppenheimer discussed how he developed the idea for the film, problems he faced in Indonesia and what the film has done for the country.“Whatever the film has done is partial and I don’t think a single film can transform much in the world,” he said, “but I think that the film is such an apocalyptic vision that a big part of me in making it has to be a pessimist or I couldn’t create something so dark.”Oppenheimer showed video clips of the killers reenacting how they treated the victims of the murders.He said once he began filming them, there was no end to the number willing to boast about what they had done. Torture was being celebrated.“I was afraid to approach the perpetrators because I didn’t know if it was safe,” Oppenheimer said. “But when I did, I found an astounding openness, a willingness to talk about the most awful details of the killings, often with smiles on their faces.”Oppenheimer said almost every perpetrator he encountered was willing to give him detailed accounts of the killings.“I had this queasy feeling that I had wandered into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust only to find the Nazis still in power and thought this must be what it would be like,” he said.The Academy Award nomination has brought much attention to the film in recent months, leading the government in Indonesia to acknowledge that the killings were wrong, rather than being heroic and something to be celebrated, Oppenheimer said.He said getting the word out in Indonesia, though, was dangerous.When the editor of Tempo magazine, the largest news magazine in Indonesia, watched “The Act of Killing” for the first time, he contacted Oppenheimer. He said he wanted to show Indonesians the killings talked about in the film could happen anywhere in the country.As of last summer, there were 1,200 public screenings of “The Act of Killing” in 118 cities.Oppenheimer said he hopes his film persuades people to acknowledge a significant problem that they may not have been fully aware of.
(03/06/14 3:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Reza Aslan, a scholar of religion and well-known author, will speak as part of Islamic Awareness Week from 7:30 to 9 tonight at the Indiana Memorial Union Alumni Hall.Aslan, whose July 2013 Fox News interview gained viral levels of attention, will discuss diversity. His newest book, “Zealot: the Life and Time of Jesus of Nazareth,” is a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller.Romaze Akram, president of the IU Muslim Student Union, said Aslan’s lecture will focus on unity within the diversity of religions and cultures.“He’s going to talk about how although we are all different in America with religion, things we like and everything, we can find unity within that diversity and accept each other even though we are different,” he said. “He is going to intertwine his personal story into that.”Akram said Aslan’s lecture is about eliminating negative stereotypes of Muslims. “During this week, we wanted to have events that showcased real Muslims, so people could see that Muslims aren’t really much different from your typical Americans, and that we definitely don’t fulfill the radicalized stereotype portrayed by the media,” he said in a March 4 IU press release.Now an author of several books, Aslan’s first published work was “No god but God: the Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam,” an international bestseller that has been translated into 17 languages.Aslan is a contributing editor for the Daily Beast, an American online news and opinion publication. His articles have been published in the L.A. Times, New York Times and Washington Post, among other publications.Aslan was born in Iran and received his Ph.D. in the sociology of religions from the University of California Santa Barbara. He went on to receive a master’s of fine arts from the University of Iowa.In addition to writing, Aslan teaches in the religion and creative writing programs at the University of California Riverside. He is an associate professor of creative writing and cooperating faculty in the Department of Religion.Akram said Aslan’s experience in different cultures makes him someone everybody can learn from.“The thing about Reza Aslan is he is so well-educated and he’s such an expert on what he’s going to be talking about,” Akram said. “It’s crucial for you to know what to expect when you might not be in Bloomington, so having programs that talk about diversity and how to appreciate the differences we all have is crucial.”Aslan is also the founder of AslanMedia, a social media network for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world.He also co-founded and is the chief creative officer of BoomGen Studios. BoomGen is an entertainment brand for creative content from or about the Greater Middle East.Union Board worked with the Muslim Student Union to plan the event for Islamic Awareness Week. They wanted to do something memorable and something people would want to come to, Romaze said.While Union Board marketed the event through social media and set up the venue, MSU was in direct contact with the agency and marketed to religious studies classes. In addition to presenting this evening, Aslan will be sharing lunch and dinner with Union Board and MSU.Victoria Stevens, Union Board Canvas director, said the lecture will be beneficial to IU’s diverse student body.“Especially with this campus being so diverse, I think students hearing from him talking about diversity can really help them begin to understand how to come together as a university,” she said. “It’s great for IU because he’s so great at what he does.”
(03/05/14 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Bloomington Faculty Council special meeting Tuesday was the main opportunity for Provost Lauren Robel to outline the Strategic Plan and address questions faculty had regarding it.She said she hoped to clarify the most frequently asked questions she had received since the plan was released.Robel made clear the distinction between the campus and the faculty.“When I talk about the campus, I’m talking about the resources and the services that I am directly responsible for, but not the schools,” she said. “The deans and the faculty are responsible for the academic programs in the schools and the departments.”Robel said the Strategic Plan “charts a vision for the academic aspects of the campus along a reasonable time horizon.”It must be specific to this place, account for trends and environment, be focused in order to guide activity at the campus level and flexible enough to allow for changing conditions, she said.“This is not a plan for your school,” she said, addressing the faculty council. “This is not a plan for your department. This is a plan occupying a different territory than that.”In the fall, 11 teams, consisting of 167 students, faculty and staff, created the plan. So far this spring, Robel has met with deans and school policy committees. She is working through constituency meetings.“I want to start with an approach to this that is an approach of abundance, not scarcity,” she said. “That’s the way we have to operate because I think if our ideas are good enough, they will be funded. I’m confident of it.”Not only BFC members, but all faculty were able to ask any questions they had about the Strategic Plan.Bob Kravchuk, professor and director of the masters of public affairs and online MPA, said though the Strategic Plan doesn’t include budgetary implications at this stage, he is asked about the financial pressure the Strategic Plan will have on the campus in the next 10 years.“I know that you didn’t consider the budgetary implications of any of this at this stage and that is as it should be,” he said. “But I’m wondering if we shouldn’t be talking at some point about the leveraging of information technology to reduce the marginal cost of delivering education on a proceed basis.”In response, Robel admitted the plan creates many financial pressures on the campus. She said they are limited in increasing tuition and expanding the student body.Faculty members went on to question how the financial hitches of the plan may stand in the way of academic initiatives.Robel said no matter what there will be tradeoffs.“In one way, shape or form you’re always at some point along the continuum from centralization to decentralization,” she said. “It’s the movement that is actually important.”Robel said if they make the compelling educational and research ideas laid out in the Strategic Plan sound worthwhile they will be able to get them funded.They have to make the university believe in the plan, she said.“How can we sharpen this idea to make it so compelling that the University wants to put the resources into it?” she said. “This is the process for that, we have to want it. We can’t want it if everything we say and every way we come at a problem is that it’s a zero sum gain. We can’t advance as a University that way. It’s not who we are.”
(03/04/14 3:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was three weeks before the start of the 2013-14 school year, and just days before the IU swimming team left for the U.S. Open in Irvine, Calif.More than 1,500 miles away from Bloomington, Kait Flederbach was packing up everything she owned. She was preparing to return home to Indiana, just in time for a short visit to IU’s campus.“We were able to barely squeeze it in so she could see campus and get to meet the kids who happened to be here at that time,” IU Coach Ray Looze said.IU was the only school Flederbach had heard from — the only school she would visit before making a decision on where to spend her final year of eligibility.During the U.S. Open the following week, Looze received a call.“She said, ‘If I were to come to Indiana, would I be able to go to this conference for USA Swimming in September?’” Looze said. “And I go, ‘Absolutely.’ And she goes, ‘Well, in that case, I’m a Hoosier.’ She was just joking around, but that’s the way Kait is.”After making the decision to leave Arizona, accepting IU’s offer was an easy one, Flederbach said.“The team was such a family,” she said. “I couldn’t even believe how welcoming they were. You could just see the chemistry between everybody. It wasn’t fake.”“Immediately, I knew it was perfect.”***A seven-time All-American swimmer, Flederbach became the newest member of IU’s women’s swim team. She was the fifth and final member of the 2013-14 senior class.She spent her first three years of eligibility at the University of Arizona, a swimming program consistently ranked in the top 25.At last year’s NCAA Championships, the sprinter was 17th in the 50-yard freestyle and 20th in the 200-yard freestyle.She was also a part of Arizona’s record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay.Flederbach even competed on the international stage. At the 2012 Olympic trials, she placed sixth in the 50-meter freestyle and 22nd in the 100-meter freestyle.Yet, despite her success in the pool, Flederbach wasn’t happy.Before her sophomore year, coaching changes within the Arizona program, including a new head coach, provoked a tough transition.Still, she gave it two year’s trial, competing through her sophomore and junior years. She said the atmosphere became increasingly more difficult for her as time went on.“The whole atmosphere of the team and everything just became so different, and it was really toxic for me,” Flederbach said. “I was so unhappy to where I knew I wasn’t going to swim on the team anymore and whether I was even going to swim for my last year.”She had originally chosen to attend Arizona rather than accept offers from Wisconsin or Kentucky. It was the best fit for her both athletically and academically, she said.Although Flederbach admits she had no immediate preference on which school she would attend, there was no question whether or not she would continue swimming collegiately after high school.“It was kind of just a given, because I had been swimming for so long and I loved it,” Flederbach said. “I really wanted to continue it and see how far I could go. It wasn’t really a conscious decision, I just knew I would.”***She said IU wasn’t even on her radar at the time. She didn’t want to stay close to home. “I definitely wanted to go out of state, go far away and see more places, just go somewhere really new,” she said.Three years later, she would no longer swim for Arizona.Giving up the sport she loved, however, wasn’t an option. Flederbach needed to find another school that would take her.That’s when she received a message from IU junior Allie Day.It was July 2013 and news was out that Flederbach had been granted her release from Arizona.Just more than a month before the start of her senior year, she was searching for a school that she could call home.“I went in to the head coach and asked for my release,” Flederbach said. “Eventually I got released to talk to other schools, and when that hit the news, she messaged me.”Day and Flederbach grew up swimming together. As a part of the same swimming zone in Indiana, the two attended national meets together, competing in their respective events.Day went on to swim at Center Grove High School, while Flederbach went to Westfield.Years later, the two were reunited as teammates.For Flederbach, IU didn’t just represent a chance to compete. It has taught her to love swimming all over again, she said.“I have a totally different perspective on swimming and on life, just because I don’t take things for granted now and I really appreciate all the small things,” she said. “I just feel so a part of the team. I’ve never had so much fun swimming.”***Throughout the season, Flederbach has recorded personal best times in every one of her events.And that was just the first step toward etching her name in the IU history books.At this year’s Big Ten Championships, she became the fastest Hoosier ever to swim the 100-yard freestyle.She was also part of the school’s record-setting 200-yard freestyle relay team and 400-yard medley relay team. In the 200 free she earned the second-fastest split in school history with a time of 22.40 seconds.She said her experience at IU has not only come with racing success, but has taught her how much she has learned about herself.“I’ve just learned a lot about how to deal with adversity and truly have a positive outlook,” she said. “No matter what happens, happiness is so important. If you can just make the smallest tweak in your outlook, it makes a huge difference.”While this is her last year of athletic eligibility, Flederbach has a year of school left.After completing her degree in psychology, she hopes to go on to graduate school to study clinical psychology and eventually help patients with pain management or mental illness.When her season ends, Flederbach’s swimming career won’t be finished.She, along with a group of seniors, will continue to train and compete in meets over the summer. She said they hope to compete through next year as well.As for the next Summer Olympics, Flederbach said she is taking it one day at a time.“I don’t know about the 2016 trials,” she said. “I’m terrible at planning, so I don’t know. We’ll see.”After leaving her home state in search of adventure, Flederbach has come back home to find something she now realizes is most important — her happiness.That joy is constantly apparent, Looze said.“It feels like she’s been a Hoosier the entire time,” he said. “That’s how good of a fit it was for us. We all want to see Kait happy.”In her one year as a Hoosier, Flederbach has left her mark on IU swimming in more ways than one.“She is one of those teammates that come into your life so quickly and make such a positive impact on you that it’s hard to imagine how you got through life without them,” teammate Brooklynn Snodgrass said. “She is always there to listen to you or there when you need a good laugh, cry or race.”@Grace_Palmieri
(03/03/14 5:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An IU diving sweep and a strong final day led the men’s swimming and diving team to a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich.Senior Darian Schmidt won both the 1-meter and 3-meter titles, and was named Big Ten Diver of the Year and Big Ten Diver of the Championships for the second straight year. “The whole team really did a great job,” IU Coach Drew Johansen said. “Everybody contributed. I don’t know how many personal bests or season bests we had, but it’s just been an exciting three days and a lot of fun.”On the 3-meter springboard, four IU divers finished in the top eight. Freshman Joshua Arndt placed third, senior Emad Abdelatif placed fifth and senior Conor Murphy placed seventh.Murphy was the platform champion with 434.85 points, completing a sweep of the diving events.Both Murphy and Schmidt were first-team All-Big Ten honorees.Johansen was named the Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year in his first year at IU.“It’s an incredible honor,” he said. “I’m humbled by it. But, the team did great. We defended two titles, which is one of the hardest things to do in sports. That recognition is 100 percent because of the divers.”For the swimmers, championship season didn’t get off to a very strong start, IU Coach Ray Looze said.The first night, IU finished fourth in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. Despite setting two top-five times in school history, they fell to fourth place going into day two.The Hoosiers went 3-4-5 in the 200-yard individual medley during the second day of competition.Junior Steve Schmuhl posted an NCAA A-cut qualifying time of one minute 42.05 seconds, a career best and the third-fastest time in school history.The 400-yard medley relay team of senior Eric Ress, senior Cody Miller, freshman Max Irwin and senior James Wells set a new school record to finish third.Miller said having a less experienced team hindered the Hoosiers’ performance during the first few days.“I think the majority of the guys on the team are freshman, if not maybe some sophomores, but we’re really a very young team,” he said. “It’s the first Big Tens for a lot of people, and it’s a lot of pressure.”IU had climbed to second place after the second day with 216 points, still far behind Michigan’s 308.Miller, Ress, freshman Anze Tavcar and junior Yianni Thermos started the third-day finals with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay.Schmuhl was third in the 400-yard individual medley.Irwin made his first championship final in an individual event as he placed eighth with 47.76 seconds, just off his career-best prelim time of 47.67 seconds.In the 100-yard backstroke, IU went 3-4, with Ress third and Wells fourth.While his upperclassmen stepped up toward the end of the meet, Looze said his team’s lack of depth has been a recurring problem.“We need to get deeper, but we knew that coming in,” he said. “Our freshmen struggled in the meet, and that’s something as a coaching staff we need to adjust.”It wasn’t until the final day of competition the Hoosiers got their first win of the meet.Ress completed his Big Ten backstroke career with a new school and Big Ten meet record. He won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of one minute 38.89 seconds.Just minutes later, Miller made history by becoming only the second IU swimmer ever to win an event four consecutive years. He won the 200-yard breaststroke in one minute 52.58 seconds, the second-fastest time in school history.Miller said although the thought of making history crossed his mind, he was focused on scoring points for the team.“We hadn’t had any individual wins in any of the swimming events until the last day, and about 30 minutes before the race, Eric won the 200 backstroke,” he said. “I knew I had to win my race after that because that just fired me up.”IU finished with 564 points. This is the second year in a row the Hoosiers have fallen short of the reigning NCAA Champion Michigan.Looze said even with their fastest times, they had no chance of winning.“What I’m most proud about is we took what we had and maximized it,” he said. “We really didn’t have our A game, but we finished the highest we possibly could. Even if we had our A game, we were not going to defeat Michigan, they’re just too good.”The team now looks to the NCAA Championships four weeks away.Last year the men’s team finished ninth. Miller said although they placed fourth in individual points, their relays held them back — that will be a focus of practice during the coming weeks.“The bottom line is we need to do a better job of getting them prepared both mentally and physically for this,” Looze said. “The good news is we got NCAAs coming up in four weeks, and hopefully we can go into that meet, which is even more important than this, and swim faster.”