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(10/31/07 4:38am)
The Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology will not be holding its annual Ghost Walk due to scheduling conflicts, much to the dismay of Folklore Graduate Recorder Chris Roush, who promised the event would return next year. But IU students and employees don’t need the walk to continue to share spooky campus tales from Ballantine to the business school.\nIU Police Department officer Chad Werner said he had odd experiences in both the Kelley School of Business and Ballantine Hall during his time as a cadet in the IU police training program.\nWerner said that while patrolling the fifth floor of Ballantine at about 9 or 10 p.m. in 2005 with another officer, the doors began to rattle as if someone had grabbed the handle. Werner said those rooms, about seven in all, had no windows, and the doors were locked. When he and the other officer got to the last door, a professor working late was inside. He hadn’t heard anything. \n“I’d heard stories of people seeing the ghost of a janitor,” Werner said of the incident. \nThe business school also has its share of paranormal activity. Once, Werner said, he was doing a routine check at 4 or 5 a.m. in a large lecture hall on the second floor. He said he walked into the room halfway and heard a door open, then footsteps. The sound of a seat going down then punctured the silence, but no one was in sight. Later, in another part of the building, he heard a woman’s “ear-piercing squeal” coming from a stairwell. \nWerner’s experiences aren’t uncommon. For years, students have passed down stories about various campus buildings such as La Casa and the Indiana Memorial Union, but much more lore focuses around residence halls. \nSophomore Rainelle Bumbaugh has lived on the sixth floor of Read Center since her freshman year, one of the dorms known most for being haunted. Bumbaugh said she’s heard two stories on the haunting. One involves a Resident Assistant named Paula who jumped off of the open air walkway at the end of one of the wings on Dec. 12 in the 1980s. Another variation involves an angered medical student who murdered his girlfriend and hid her body in the basement.\nBumbaugh said during her first night in the dorm, she jolted herself awake just before falling asleep. She was facing the wall, and had the distinct knowledge that someone stood in the doorway to her room.\n“I just thought it was weird, and then a few days later someone told me the story,” she said, adding that nothing strange has occurred since. \nVarious stories involving ghost activity have come from the Indiana Memorial Union, especially the old section, said IMU Marketing and Communications Manager Kelly Carnahan. That part of the building, built in 1932, includes the Student Activities Tower, which is home to the most paranormal activity in the building, Carnahan said. \nActivity in the tower involves building employees hearing gleeful laughter, footsteps and furniture moving around in rooms. Carnahan said employees see the presence as non-threatening. \n“It doesn’t really bother them,” she said. “They think it’s just interesting.”
(10/30/07 5:18am)
Police are searching for a man they believe shot another man in the leg at a party early Sunday morning. \nThe Bloomington Police Department is investigating Antoine Sims, 21, as a “person of interest” in the crime, BPD Capt. Joe Qualters said.\nBPD already arrested two Indianapolis men in connection with the shooting after they allegedly drove away from the scene with the suspect.\nErnest W. Holifield, 21, and Montez L. Sanders, 21 face preliminary charges of assisting a criminal.\nAt about 2:50 a.m. Sunday, BPD officers were dispatched to the parking lot of the Econo Lodge, located at 2601 N. Walnut St., where 150 to 250 people were gathered outside for a party, Qualters said, reading from a police report.\nWitnesses said they saw a black man fire several shots into the air, Qualters said.\nThe suspect also fired one shot at a silver Honda Accord before firing another shot into the crowd, striking one man. The suspect then left in a vehicle with Holifield and Sanders, Qualters said. The victim was taken to Bloomington Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg, Qualters said.\nMonroe County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested Holifield and Sanders at a BP gas station, where the officers also found a handgun in a trash can.
(10/30/07 3:25am)
A Bloomington resident was robbed early Sunday morning while walking on the west side of town.\nThe 20-year-old victim reported to the Bloomington Police Department that he was attacked by two black males at about 4 a.m. Sunday while walking westbound near Second and South Adams streets, BPD Capt. Joe Qualters said, reading from a police report. The suspects pushed the victim into a road sign and demanded money from him. The victim said he felt a gun pressed to the back of his head, and sustained injuries to his forehead and nose, Qualters said.\nThe victim told the suspects that he did not have any money. As the suspects were about to leave, the victim attempted to strike one of them, but missed and punched a street sign, Qualters said.\nThe suspect with the gun was described as a black male, about 6 feet tall, with dreadlocks and baggy pants. The second suspect was described as a black male, about 6-foot-2 and wearing a blue jumpsuit that zipped in the front. \n \nVillage Pantry at 12th & Indiana robbed Sunday
(10/29/07 10:30pm)
Police are searching for a man they believe shot another man in the leg at a party early Sunday morning. \nThe Bloomington Police Department is investigating Antoine Sims, 21, as a “person of interest” in the crime, BPD Capt. Joe Qualters said.\nBPD already arrested two Indianapolis men in connection with the shooting after they allegedly drove away from the scene with the suspect.\nErnest W. Holifield, 21, and Montez L. Sanders, 21 face preliminary charges of assisting a criminal.\nAt about 2:50 a.m. Sunday, BPD officers were dispatched to the parking lot of the Econo Lodge, located at 2601 N. Walnut St., where 150 to 250 people were gathered outside for a party, Qualters said, reading from a police report.\nWitnesses said they saw a black man fire several shots into the air on the north side of the building, Qualters said.\nThe suspect also fired one shot at a silver Honda Accord before firing another shot into the crowd, striking one man. The suspect then left in a vehicle with Holifield and Sanders, Qualters said. The victim was taken to Bloomington Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg, Qualters said.\nMonroe County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested Holifield and Sanders at a BP gas station located 7340 N. Wayport Road. Officers also found a hand gun in a trash can at the gas station.
(10/23/07 3:57am)
As she recounts her trip to the U.S. from Japan with her husband, Chie Terada plays with her two children in the family’s apartment at Campus View, periodically pausing to speak to them in Japanese. While Terada stays at home to take care of her children, her husband attends classes in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate program. \nSandy Britton, coordinator of the Leo R. Dowling International Center, said Terada’s experience as an international graduate student’s spouse is not uncommon at IU. Britton created a free class for these spouses in 2005, called the International Spouses Circle. Cooking classes, museum trips and guest speakers are typical events for the circle, which lets members choose when they want to meet and what they want to do. The group’s first meeting of the year \nwas Wednesday.\n“There’s a large number of women in that situation ... women whose husbands (are) studying here,” Britton said. “What I wanted to create was a group that had members taking ownership and making it into what they want it to be.”\nScholarship opportunities and government-sponsored study abroad programs are two of the reasons these students choose IU. Terada’s husband is a government official in Japan who is in a program that sends officials abroad to study. Rendy Schrader, associate director of International Student and Scholar Services, said only a small amount of international students actually receive financial aid from IU. She added that although students take advantage of scholarships and study abroad programs, many students simply save up money to pay for their studies.\nSpain natives Tamara Diez and her husband, an assistant economics professor, have lived in Bloomington for a year. This is their second time here, since her husband taught for a year at IU a couple of years ago. After moving back to Spain, he saw a job offer as an assistant professor, and the couple moved back to Bloomington.\nDiez is used to traveling. Aside from IU, the couple spent five months at Yale University and four months at Cornell University. She said because of the traveling, her husband is anxious to make sure she’s all right. \n“My husband is always asking me, ‘Do you feel okay? Are you happy?’” she said. “He kind of worries.” \nDiez, who is expecting a child, has a degree in accounting from Spain but said she can’t work because it would take her two years to obtain a green card. She added that because her husband is always studying, she has to find activities to occupy her time. She attends an English Conversation Club at the International Center to practice her English and meet other international spouses and students. \n“Classes are a way to meet many people from different countries ... (and) become more open-minded,” she said.\nSpouses take advantage of volunteer opportunities as well. Terada wanted to attend SPEA and study public policy like her husband, but she decided to stay home and care for the children. She does, however, volunteer at Table for Two, an organization that works to provide healthy meals for companies and schools in the U.S. by translating its Web site into Japanese. The organization provides 20 cents from every meal to go toward school meals in developing countries, according to Table for Two’s Web site.\n“I involve myself in that way,” Terada said. “We’re hoping IU could participate in this, too.”\nWhile Terada said she’s met a couple of men who have come to IU with their graduate student wives, one reason women are doing this more often is the “children factor.” One of Terada’s friends, who has a child, came to study at IU while her husband stayed in their native country. So while there might be a lot of women coming as students to IU, they might not be bringing any husbands along because they’re putting marriage and children off while they come here to study.\n“If it were me, I would come abroad before having kids,” Terada said, adding that it’s normal in Japan for women to leave jobs and, sometimes, follow their husbands to the U.S. so they can study.\nA typical day sounds similar for the non-student spouses. Terada’s hours are spent between trips to the library or Borders, nap time, play time, meals and – when she has a chance – a couple of hours of free time. Like Terada, Diez frequents the library. However, although Diez is expecting her first child soon, she spends a lot of time at the English Conversation Club, something Terada doesn’t have time for with a toddler and baby. \nMauritius native Zainab Chuttur moved to Bloomington a month and a half ago with her husband. She said the couple is fairly settled in to their new life after a whirlwind move: They finished their studies in Maritius in May and the couple married in June. Chuttur said she and her husband came to IU through a scholarship program specifically designed for studying information science at the School of Library and Information Science. This made it cheaper for Chuttur’s husband to study here than at home.\nBesides the usual challenge of having to adapt to a new way of life, Chuttur said her main struggle has been leaving her parents and siblings behind. Nonetheless, she points out that while her husband is going to school, she has no choice but to get used to her new life.\nChuttur said she’s met a few spouses like herself in the short time she’s been here, and said some women she’s met struggle with the stress of learning English, leaving their home countries and trying to raise children in a foreign country.\n“There are some other women who don’t like it here who would rather be back home,” she said, adding that this isn’t the experience of most of the women she’s met.\nDespite her struggles, Diez enjoys the change of pace.\n“Always, to live in a different culture is interesting. ... (You can) enjoy another way of life,” she said.\nTerada said her neighbors in Campus View and a couple of women, called doulas, who she hired to help with the birth of her second child, Yui, have given her a sense of a home away from home. When Yui was born, the doulas and neighbors brought over dinner, and took Terada’s older daughter, Nanami, 3, out to play.\n“The new experience and challenges make family ties stronger,” she said. “We’re more thankful for the people around ourselves.”
(10/09/07 4:06am)
Leaning across the table at a Sherwood Oaks Christian Church dinner, Lyle Haskin asks Gene Ruder, “Who’d you have?” \nThe scene looks like any other jovial dinner party, but the answer to Haskin’s question refers to who Ruder had as an oncologist at the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, where both men are being treated for cancer.\nHaskin and Ruder aren’t being treated with traditional radiation, which uses electrons to target cancerous cells. Instead, both found their way to MPRI. MPRI is one of five centers in the country that offer an alternative to electron radiation: proton therapy.\nSince this alternative treatment lasts between two and two and a half months, patients need a place to stay. Jill’s House, which will provide a place for MPRI patients to stay, will be finished next spring. Jill’s House will have 25 rooms and facilities to help accommodate patients and their families throughout the treatment, said Peg Howard, Jill’s House board president.\nUntil then, Sherwood Oaks’ Hoosier Hospitality Ministry provides housing for MPRI patients such as Ruder, from Maple Park, Ill., and Haskin, who is a native of Wheaton, Ill. Various members of the community have opened their homes to patients or donated homes to rent out, said Phil Thompson, Sherwood Oaks facilities personnel manager, who heads the program. Haskin said his positive experience in Bloomington has gone beyond MPRI.\n“It’s not just the MPRI people. It’s also the Hoosier Hospitality people,” he said, referencing a recent golf outing with Thompson, as well as other trips around Bloomington with the group.\n Thompson, who is also a former patient, explained the difference between the traditional radiation and proton therapy as a difference between throwing a wad of paper and a marble at a target. Since the proton (the marble) is heavier than the electron (the wad of paper), the proton’s direction and distance take less force to control. \nThompson said few people know about proton therapy.\n“Most people locally have no idea what MPRI does … (They) don’t know to ask about the treatment here,” he said. “(People) don’t know how special that treatment is.” \nWith radiation, an electron beam goes in through healthy tissue, treats a tumor and goes through more healthy tissue as it comes out. With proton therapy, the beam also goes in through healthy tissue, however, the proton beam hits the tumor and then stops, keeping the treatment from harming healthy tissue beyond that point.\nSince the proton beam affects less healthy tissue, patients generally experience fewer side effects. Haskin said he’s felt only discomfort during the treatment itself, but no pain. He also said he hasn’t felt the effects usual cancer treatments produce. \n“The setup is uncomfortable, but not painful,” he said. “I haven’t experienced fatigue or any other side effects.” \nEd Dickey, director of clinic operations, said the facility treats 25 to 30 patients a day. Before treatment, doctors create a mold in the exact shape of the tumor, which they use to precisely target cancerous areas. Treatment takes about 20 minutes, and complete immobilization is crucial to getting a direct beam, Thompson said. Antsy or anxious children are usually anesthetized. The payoff for patients, Thompson said, is the most important to remember.\n“(Proton therapy) is their last hope for destroying a tumor that could probably take their life,” he said.\nDickey said that MPRI treats prostrate, brain and general neck and head tumors, but proton therapy can’t be used to treat all types of cancer just yet. Dickey said this may change in the future. \n“As proton (therapy) progresses, the more we’ll be able to treat,” he said. \nHaskin and his wife, Pam, said their experience in the waiting room of MPRI resembles a visit to friends rather than a trip to the hospital. Patients and staff catch up with each other, and the atmosphere is lively.\n“There’s lots of laughter,” Haskin said. “The waiting room gets loud.”\nThe Haskin and Ruder families said they’ve also enjoyed Bloomington’s welcoming community. \nAs she described walking into a house provided for them through Hoosier Hospitality that had fresh milk and other food already in the refrigerator, Lyle Haskin’s wife Pam Haskin had tears in her eyes. Lyle Haskin acknowledged a fact of the experience. \n“The truth is, you come here a little scared,” he said.
(10/01/07 4:56am)
As the sun rose early Saturday morning, a record number of more than 5,000 runners and walkers filtered into IU Memorial Stadium to participate in the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer one-mile walk/run and 5k run.\nCancer survivors, families and friends of loved ones who died of cancer and various groups made up the crowd of people either walking or running in the eighth annual event. Flags and signs for different teams dotted the sea of people gathered for the opening ceremonies. \n“I don’t enjoy anything about the day,” said Jane Suhr, who founded a team, while she waited for the opening ceremonies to begin. \nSuhr, the mother of former IU basketball player Errek Suhr, lost her daughter Jenny, an IU student, to brain cancer in 1999. Since then, the Suhrs have created and built-up a team of family, friends and coworkers called “Team Jenny.” Suhr said that while she isn’t happy that she had a reason to create the team, she did think it was a good day to honor those lost to cancer. \nHoosiers Outrun Cancer began in 2000, when friends Karen Knight, the wife of former IU men’s basketball coach Bob Knight, and Dorothy Ellis, a member of the Bloomington Hospital Foundation’s board of directors, came up with the idea. Soon after, a member of the board, Joan Olcott, was diagnosed with cancer and founded the Olcott Center for Cancer Education and Advocacy. Proceeds from the event now go to the center. \nBoard member Juli Curtis said organizers expected to raise about $150,000 this year. The event ended up raising a little more than $105,000. \nShe added that every year, the event grows in size, making it now the largest 5k run/walk in South Central Indiana.\n“Most people know someone directly or indirectly (who has been affected by cancer),” she said. “The event brings people out of the woodwork.” \nSome teams at the event commemorated friends or family members lost to cancer, like “Team Jenny.” Others represented schools. Steering committee member Debbie Sibbitt said more than 1,200 students from Bloomington North and South combined competed in the day’s events. \nVolunteers Gerry and John Miller, who have worked at the event nearly every year since its inception, said they enjoyed the camaraderie between volunteers and participants from both schools, despite their traditional rivalry.\n“We’re all working together for the same cause,” Gerry Miller said. “It’s also a social occasion ... you get to meet new people.” \nDuring the opening ceremonies, former IU football coach Bill Mallory and his wife Ellie, honorary co-chairs for the event, spoke briefly about their experience with cancer.\nIU President Michael McRobbie and his wife Laurie then spoke about their separate experiences with losing spouses to brain tumors. Participants were encouraged to blow bubbles to symbolize lost loved ones as well as to celebrate cancer survivors. \nIU senior Beth Dorr said this year was her first year running in the event. She added that she hasn’t run in many races, but she and a friend wanted to get in shape, so they decided to run together. Dorr said her favorite part, by far, was the end of the run. \n“I think it’s great finishing, with all these people cheering for you,” she said. \nAfter the race, Mayor Mark Kruzan spoke, naming the day “Hoosiers Outrun Cancer Day.” He simultaneously named the day “Worldwide Day of Play,” after the name of the new children’s activities held at the end of the race on the football field.\nAwards varied from trophies to medallions, and the first place male and female finishers, as well as cancer survivors, received $100 with their award. George McArdle, a graduate student, placed first overall in the men’s 5k run with a time of 15:52. \nJessica Gall, director of experiential education and recruitment for the IU School of Journalism, placed first in the women’s race with a time of 17:46.
(09/12/07 4:44am)
It was a cool September day in 2001 when hijackers seized four planes and took thousands of lives. The weather Tuesday reminded one girl of the conditions that fateful day as she shared her Sept. 11 experience with a crowd in front of McNutt Quad. \nBetween 150 and 200 students gathered at the residence hall for a candlelight vigil to remember the sixth anniversary of the tragedy. \nFreshman Corey Celt, a New York City native, said he remembered being in middle school during the time of the attacks. Now, as a member of McNutt Student Government, Celt helped plan the vigil. \n“It was something that had an … effect on everyone,” he said. “I know people who lost friends, coaches, parents.”\nCelt said he and others in McNutt Student Government realized it would be the only event of its kind at IU. \n“We had seen that nothing was going on on campus,” he said.\nFreshman Jordan Jacobs said the student government came up with the idea for the vigil a few days prior and put the event together. Jacobs even added the vigil as a Facebook event and invited other students, 200 of which responded as “attending.” \nFreshman Katie LaPlant, who lives on the same floor as Jacobs in McNutt, said she received Jacobs’ Facebook invitation and decided to go. She said she noticed an apparent lack of remembrance among students. \n“When I was walking around campus today, a lot of people didn’t (seem to) realize it was Sept. 11,” she said.\nAs the sun lowered against a deep blue sky, students helping with the vigil began preparing. Candles that kept blowing out in the breeze lit the walkway leading to the spotlighted McNutt flagpole, where the stars and stripes hung at half-mast. A crowd of students slowly accumulated and were given their own candles to hold. \nCelt began the vigil with an account of his own Sept. 11 experience, after which they held a moment of silence. Freshmen Kareem Bacchus and Daniel Weber sang the national anthem. Students in the crowd were then asked to relate their own experiences into a megaphone. As students listened, many stared down at their candles, a few wiping their eyes. \nAlthough the event sought to remember those who perished in the attacks, Celt added a positive note to the solemnity of the vigil.\n“(Sept. 11) reminds me to just be thankful of what we’ve got,” Celt said.
(08/16/07 1:49am)
After two years of financial struggles, the Tibetan Culture Center, 3655 Snoddy Road, has paid off its debt. The announcement came Thursday afternoon in conjunction with another announcement outlining the visit of the Dalai Lama in October. \nThe Dalai Lama’s older brother, retired IU professor Thubten Norbu, founded the center in 1979. The center was almost auctioned off in 2005 after it incurred more than $1.7 million in debt. It escaped being auctioned, and in June 2005 the Dalai Lama brought in current Director Arjia Rinpoche to rehabilitate the center. Rinpoche requested that the Buddhist spiritual leader visit this fall for his fifth visit to Bloomington, in order to help the center and its teachings be more well-known in the community.\nDuring his visit, the Dalai Lama will hold teachings between Oct. 24 and Oct. 27 at the IU Auditorium and give a public talk at Assembly Hall on Oct. 27, which will be hosted by Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp, the Tibetan Culture Center vice president. The Dalai Lama’s visit will come after he is awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor at a ceremony Oct. 17. The focus of his teachings will come from a book by Atisa Dipamkara Shrijnana, an ancient Buddhist teacher, titled “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.”\nWhile there are 325 million Buddhists in the world, Tibetan Culture Center treasurer Sudhaka Koneru said the benefits of the Dalai Lama’s visit won’t apply only to practitioners of the philosophy. \n“You don’t have to be a Buddhist to learn the teachings,” he said. “How many times do you get this opportunity?” \nArjia said there will be other cultural events taking place in Bloomington for the Dalai Lama’s visit, including Tibetan and Mongolian dancers, various artists from around the world and scholars who will give talks. \nKoneru and Arjia said they were excited to be debt-free when a group of anonymous donors relieved the center of its debt after the Dalai Lama called upon his followers to help the center. Arjia said the center has high hopes for its future plans. \n“In the future, the center hopes to make close connections and exchanges with IU and other universities,” he said. \nArjia added that the center is undergoing renovation in anticipation of the Dalai Lama, who will be staying there during his visit.\nSophomore Julia Long said she thinks the Dalai Lama’s visit will be an exercise in diversity. \n“I don’t really know much about the Dalai Lama,” she said. “But it’s good that we’re having different religions represented (in town).”\nTickets for all six sessions at the IU Auditorium can be purchased from the auditorium for $275. Beginning Oct. 2, IU students can purchase single-session tickets for $25. The cost is $50 for non-students.
(08/06/07 12:27am)
Monroe County will be using the same voting machines the state found to have caused 198 violations of Indiana election law.\nThe state of Indiana is making MicroVote General Corp., an Indianapolis-based voting machine company, pay $350,000 in investigative fees and civil penalties for violating Indiana election law by distributing uncertified electronic voting machines to 47 different Indiana counties, including Monroe County, in 2006.\nThe company came under fire in April 2006 due to allegations that they sold uncertified voting machines to several Indiana counties. Between October 2005, when MicroVote’s certification ran out, and April 2006, when the company was recertified, it made $400,000 in sales contracts across the state. Indiana election law requires voting machines to be certified before they can be “sold, leased, or marketed for use in an election,” according to a press release from Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita’s office. By the time the primary elections rolled around in May, Jim Fielder, clerk of courts for the Monroe County Clerk’s Office, said the machines were cleared for use.\n“Prior to the election date, everything was certified,” Fielder said.\nAlthough the machines were certified, MicroVote knew about problems the machines were having before the primary elections. Allegedly the information was withheld until late July or early August 2006, according to a press release. The problems dealt with split-precinct and straight-ticket votes, features that aren’t necessary for primary elections but are required for certification. Fielder, who said he is currently going through more than 2,000 pages on the litigation, said voters can be sure their votes counted in the past and will count in the future.\n“It affects nothing with the 2007 elections,” he said. “The vote in 2006 was counted and recounted.” \nVerify the Vote is a Bloomington-based group whose mission, according to its Web site, is “to make sure that each vote cast by an eligible Indiana voter will be recorded, counted and reported accurately.” Member James Allison said he thinks the state should use voting machines that leave paper trails in case of technical problems. He added that he thinks new problems will likely arise in the November elections, despite the fact that the machines seem to be functioning properly.\n“I would be surprised if they don’t have new problems,” Allison said. “That can be expected with new software; this happens all the time.” \nThe civil penalties MicroVote paid to the state will go to the Voting System Technical Oversight Program, which gives technical counsel to counties, recommending the election equipment they should use.\nIU College Republicans Internal Vice Chair and senior Jodi Richardson said she is glad the problems are fixed, but she still has reservations. \n“For people who are not consistent voters, I would assume they would be more turned off to voting now,” she said. \nFielder said the problems with the voting machines have been fixed and that the same machines will be used in the November mayoral elections.
(07/29/07 11:38pm)
As IU Police Department cadets cautiously walked up the stairs of the old Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity house, guns drawn, Sgt. Mick Williams yelled, “Scenario in play!”\nThe phrase echoed throughout each room as cadets relayed the message to other cadets. The scenarios were part of IUPD’s active shooter training held last Friday, during which cadets practiced with paintball guns the techniques they would use if someone began shooting in a building or other public area. \nWilliams, who is with the Bloomington Police Department, has experience with SWAT teams and organized Bloomington Police Department’s Basic SWAT School.\nThe training session began outside the front of the building, where Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer Josh Barker demonstrated how to use a taser and a pepperball gun. A taser momentarily causes motor dysfunction in the area it’s applied, while a pepperball gun shoots multipurpose grenades. The grenades look like simple paintballs, but are filled with CS agent, commonly known as “tear gas,” which is used most often for crowd control. \nThe IUPD Police Academy, which has been in place since 1972, is the only college police academy in the country. Lt. Greg Butler said the academy began its active shooter training after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. \n“We saw changes that had to be done – it used to be that you called the SWAT team in,” he said, adding that the shootings in April at Virginia Tech further heightened the need for special training. \nA few students volunteered to help demonstrate the tools, and some yelled in discomfort after being tased or shot in the back with pepperballs. Cadets watching the display exclaimed in sympathetic pain as junior Sofia Halvacs showed her circular red welts on her back from where she had been hit. Halvacs said she didn’t know what to expect when she volunteered. \n“I didn’t know really what it was,” she said. “It feels like someone’s hit you with a baseball bat.” \nAs it began to rain outside, the group moved inside to practice finding and detaining gunmen. Various Bloomington and IUPD officers volunteered their time to portray active shooters as well as innocent bystanders in order to make each scenario as real as possible for the cadets. \nAt the start of each session, Williams walked up a winding staircase behind four cadets, who were told to choose the formation they thought would be most effective – the cadets could arrange themselves in the shape of a Y, diamond or line. After the scenario ended, Williams explained to the cadets what they did wrong and why the scenario had been set up the way it was.\nIndianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer and former IUPD officer Michael Antonelli spoke to the cadets in class before they went to training. Antonelli lost his right eye when he was shot during what started as a routine traffic stop in 2005. Senior Nick Lewis said Antonelli’s story put the training in perspective for him.\n“To actually hear someone’s story makes it more real,” he said. \nButler said while police officers are trained with different techniques to deal with shooters, there are things the public can do if an active shooter situation arises. Butler said people should get out of the area if at all possible, and if not, fight. He illustrated his point with the example of Sept. 11, during which passengers on the hijacked planes stood up to defend themselves.\n“Don’t be a willing victim; go down fighting,” he said. “You can’t stand by and do nothing.” \nButler said the simulation not only helps cadets make decisions about how to approach each situation, but it also provides a way to see which cadets are fit to be officers. \n“This is how we gauge a person’s mentality to do this,” he said. “If they can’t, they’re not going to be a police officer.”
(07/26/07 12:30am)
With tall windows, a widow’s walk and porches on both its first and second floors, the Wylie House bears little resemblance to other houses on its block. \nWhile its neighbors are smaller and designed in modern styles, the Wylie House Museum, 307 E. Second St., seems stuck in 1835. \nIn that year, IU’s first president Andrew Wylie built the brick house to accommodate his family, which grew to include 12 children. The house is a combination of Georgian and Federal architectural styles that were usually found in Pennsylvania, where Wylie was raised. \nA formal parlor, master bedroom, family room and kitchen are on the first floor. A workroom is located on the second floor, as well as bedrooms for guests, Wylie’s children and even students who boarded in the house. A mix of furniture from Wylie’s family as well as families that later lived in the house fills each room. An heirloom garden grows in the backyard, containing only plants that could be found in the area before 1850. \nThe house is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday in March through November. It may be a few blocks off campus, but the house is closer to the site of IU’s first campus, Indiana Seminary, bordered by the College and Morton intersection and Second and First streets.\nWylie House Curator of Education Bridget Edwards said the house was a large attraction in town when it was first built. \n“The local people called it ‘the mansion,’” she said. \nThrough the years, the house passed ownership to Wylie’s half-cousin and science professor Theophilus Wylie before being sold to private families. In 1947, under Herman B Wells’ direction, the University bought the Wylie House. For a while, the IU Press was housed in the building, but the University began restoration on the house in 1961. \nIn 1965, the home opened as a museum, which is now managed by IU-Bloomington Libraries and receives about 2,000 visitors a year. \nWhen the Wylie House Museum opens its doors each March, Edwards said the house’s quilt exhibit coincides with a quilt show at the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center. A seed sale is also held at the annex next door. The annex houses staff offices as well as rooms for children’s activities and seed saving, a process of extracting seeds from plants before they can pollinate so as to prevent alteration of each species. \nEach fall, the house holds a Family Fall Harvest Fest, which will be put on hold this year due to construction of the new annex, the Morton C. Bradley Education Center. The new annex will replace the current annex next door, which will be taken down in favor of the new project. \nIn December, the house opens for Wylie House by Candlelight, which provides refreshments and live music for visitors, all by the lighted glow of candles. \nSchool of Library and Information Science students often intern at the Wylie House Museum for no class credit or payment. Edwards said they have various projects going on that spur them to intern at the house. One involves the piecing together of letters between Theophilus, his wife and their children and grandchildren. Another includes sifting through embroidery patterns women of the house had written on scraps of paper. \n“SLIS has been fabulous for us,” Edwards said, giving special mention to another student who posted on the Internet hundreds of photos taken by a grandson of Andrew Wylie’s. \nAlthough she said she appreciates the students’ help, Edwards said those who visit the museum are mostly graduate students and visiting parents of undergraduates who want to take a break. She said she was surprised to find that students who attend IU don’t know much about the University’s history or even that the Wylie House exists. \nWhen students do begin to delve into IU’s history, however, Edwards said they seem to better understand their campus and perhaps something more. \n“(One of our interns) says she feels a closer connection to the town itself,” Edwards said.
(07/19/07 12:23am)
A curtain of blue and red fabrics hung behind Sultan Memet on Sunday as his fingers flew over the strings of a tanbur, a long-necked instrument native to Turkey. The audience was drawn into the full sound of the instrument, a sound similar to that of multiple guitars being played at once, as Memet’s voice dropped and rose. Memet, a popular singer and composer in the Uyghur region near China, was a special guest at the Silk Road Festival held at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.\nThe festival, which is in its 15th year, was created by Central Eurasian Studies lecturer Shahyar Daneshgar and is meant to showcase the culture and music of countries along the historic Silk Road trade route that once stretched from China to Turkey. Daneshgar, a native of Iran, said events such as the Silk Road Festival enable people to shape their communities.\nStudents, community members and even visitors from as far away as Arkansas came to the three-hour festival. Sunflowers cheerily adorned the stage, along with a multicolored rug and various instruments native to various countries on the Silk Road. Bloomington residents made the red and blue curtains, which provided a colorful background for the energetic music.\n“(People) are always looking for cultural ideas,” he said. “The more we look for this, the more complete our culture becomes.”\nThe program began with a Tibetan song and dance and progressed through performances on instruments such as the kyl kobuz, a scratchy-sounding but soothing instrument native to Kazakhstan, and the button accordion. Before intermission, a fashion show gave audience members an idea of the garments worn in countries along the Silk Road. \nDaneshgar said he believes it is important to show people the cultures of the countries along the Silk Road, especially when war is the only image people may ever see of the Middle East.\n“While we are in these unpleasant waters,” he said, “we enjoy the music and cultures of these different places.”\nDaneshgar dedicated the event to his self-described “musical mentor,” Jacobs School of Music professor Mary Goetze, whom he met while in an ensemble through the Jacobs School. Goetze expressed a similar opinion of the festival, explaining that many people have false ideas about the area along the Silk Road.\n“With the region, there are so many misunderstandings,” she said. “We want to connect through music to build bridges of understanding so that larger numbers of people come to appreciate different cultures.”\nAn ensemble from the Moroccan Andalusian Classical Orchestra of Bloomington performed, and a few performers danced to pieces played by the Silk Road Ensemble, which Daneshgar directs and provides vocals and percussion for.\nOne of the dancers, Bloomington resident Shirin Baygani-Vakily, is originally from Iran. She and two men performed a piece on traditional courtship, in which a pursued woman ignores the pursuing man. Although it was her first time performing in the Silk Road Festival, Baygani-Vakily said dancing was her favorite part of the event.\n“As a Persian girl, it is traditional to dance at home with family,” she said. “It comes naturally with the music.”\nDaneshgar said organizing the event is a fairly smooth process. Finding sponsors to finance the festival is important, but the real challenge, he said, lies in finding visas for musicians outside of the country who want to perform. Because of this, Daneshgar said he tries to choose artists who are in the U.S.Despite the fact that coordinating the Silk Road Festival isn’t entirely easy, Daneshgar said he enjoys performing with and meeting musicians. When Sultan Memet arrived in Bloomington last Wednesday, Daneshgar said he took Memet with a group of other friends to the Turkish restaurant Casablanca Café, 402 E. Fourth St., where they sat outside. Memet ended up playing his tanbur, and after a while Daneshgar realized that a small group of customers in the restaurant had gathered to enjoy Memet’s music.\nBloomington resident Suad Gumus said while she came to give her children a taste of what her native country of Turkey is like, she also attends the festival for nostalgic reasons.\n“I enjoy seeing other cultures, and diversity among cultures,” she said. “But (many of us) came also to hear the music. It reminds us of home, of our families we miss.”
(07/16/07 12:51am)
Bubbles wafted through a crowd of children, their parents and other adults simply looking for fun as BubbleFest celebrated its 12th annual event Saturday at Frank Southern Center Ice Arena, 1965 S. Henderson St. The event is a collaboration between WonderLab, an interactive museum of health, science and technology located downtown, and the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.\nProgram manager Staci Radford-Vincent said the goal of the event is to promote the idea that science can be fun, especially with an object as whimsical as a bubble.\n“(We) take everyday science and let kids explore that in a fun way,” she said. “We’re trying to get kids to think scientifically, encouraging inquiry.”\nFrom 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors wandered amongst the indoor and outdoor booths, popping bubble wrap and blowing bubbles with the event’s mascot “Bubble Dude.” Children blinked in surprise as bubbles containing water vapor popped in their hands, and volunteers stressed that their hands must be soaked in bubble solution to keep bubbles from popping. \nThose not familiar with the annual daylong event might be surprised to hear that it draws people from all over the region. Louise Schlesinger, who took pictures at BubbleFest for the WonderLab Web site, said the event attracts a lot of families.\n“It’s probably the biggest summer family event in Bloomington,” she said.\nWhile Schlesinger noted the draw for families, she added that bubbles seem to bring out the child in everyone. While taking pictures, she ran into a woman in her 50s who simply came to have fun. In this way, Schlesinger said, BubbleFest is experienced differently by people of different ages.\nTarget volunteer Dennis Cox said he couldn’t think of any one bubble station that had a large draw – the children seemed to be enjoying each part of the festival. Cox said he had fun interacting with the children and mentioned one toddler in particular as having a lot of energy. At one point, the little boy ran from the outdoor “preschool bubbles” area he had been playing in toward one of the two tents, excitedly shouting, “Bye!”\n“My job is to give kids a chance to see something they haven’t seen,” Cox said. “(Bubbles) are kind of magical.”\nThe event enlisted between 150 and 170 volunteers from the Bloomington Kiwanis Club, civic groups, and employee teams from stores such as Target and Kohl’s. Groups Student Support Services, one of IU’s fastest-growing organizations, had volunteers at BubbleFest as well. \nSchlesinger said the students from Groups were appreciated, as about one-third of BubbleFest volunteers came from the organization. Melinda Seader of the WonderLab board of directors agreed, saying BubbleFest is one of the first experiences Groups students who are incoming freshmen might have in Bloomington. \n“It’s wonderful to see that they’re starting out in Bloomington with volunteering,” Seader said. \nRadford-Vincent said that each year, she and the others who organize the event brainstorm ways to add to the festival. She mentioned the “Dry Bubbles” and “Bubbles All Around” booths as being new. The booths look at bubbles in bread and packing peanuts, among other dry objects. Radford-Vincent said she and others who came up with the new features wanted people to see that bubbles don’t always need to be created in a soapy solution.\n“We’ve been trying, as I’ve been telling people, to think ‘outside the bubble,’” she said.
(07/12/07 12:40am)
Middle Way House plans to use $50,000 received in grant money to renovate a 73-year-old Coca-Cola bottling plant at 318 S. Washington St. Toby Strout, Middle Way executive director, said renovation will begin in October. The building should be finished by mid-August of next year. \nMiddle Way bought the plant in April 2005 with money it received from a deceased donor who mentioned the organization in her will. Strout said that, prior to receiving the money, she and others at Middle Way House knew they would have to move from their current location at 404 W. Kirkwood Ave. She saw the purchase of the plant as a much-needed gift.\n“The house we’re in now is more than 100 years old,” Strout said. “(The donation) was a sign.”\nStrout said that for two years after buying the plant, the organization applied for grants to rehabilitate the more than 10,000-square-foot building. The grant, received in June from the Department for Historic Preservation and Archaeology, will enable the organization to fix the floors, which have holes from Coca-Cola spills, among other leftover features from the plant’s other uses. Middle Way House had an initial budget of $3.5 million for the renovation, but Strout said that, after receiving the grant, the budget has now grown.\n“We really are trying to raise as much (money) as we can through grants,” she said.\nStrout said nothing will be added to the existing structure. The first floor, which used to house conveyor belts and machinery, will be made into a kitchen. Middle Way Food Works will use the kitchen and will create jobs for women staying at the shelter. The plant will also have an intensive green roof, and a building will be built next door to house a garden. Both will go to either Food Works, a program that caters for child care programs including ones at IU, or to feed the people at the shelter.\nAnother feature of the new Middle Way House building will be a kitchen incubator. Food Works will be using the kitchen, but only between the hours of 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. After that, Middle Way will let anyone from the community use the kitchen facilities for business purposes. In this way, the kitchen will be an “incubator” where new businesses can grow. Charlotte Zietlow, economic development coordinator and fund developer for the project, said that in this way, Middle Way House will provide opportunities for a larger number of people.\n“(The renovation will be) not only valuable to Middle Way House, but also to the larger community,” she said. “We’ll be interacting with the community in more ways.”\nThe second floor, which is currently open space, will be divided into six apartments for women in the shelter. The plant also has an area on top that was added in the 1940s, which will be converted into an area for child care.\nStrout said the apartments on the second floor will only be one-bedroom apartments, which is unusual for Middle Way House. She also said battered women often lose custody battles and visiting rights due to the less-than-ideal living conditions of the shelters where they reside. In this way, Strout said she thinks the new building will help.\n“It provides a nice place for visiting children,” she said.\nZietlow agreed, adding that a level of comfort will come with the renovated building for those who will work and live there.\n“We’ll be able to provide our services in better, more comforting surroundings,” she said. “We’ll be able to serve everyone better with their new ‘digs,’ for lack of a better word.”
(07/12/07 12:28am)
IU’s supercomputer, Big Red, looks more like a row of black refrigerators than the large, fast computer one might imagine. \nIn June 2006, Big Red was ranked the 23rd fastest in the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest computers. \nThe list is issued twice a year at the Supercomputing Conference. It is easy for a supercomputer to slip down the list. Big Red slipped to No. 31 due to new computers being introduced each year that debut in the top 50, but is now back up to No. 30. As of August 2006, Big Red was also the fastest academically-owned supercomputer in the United States.\nThe jump in ranking came after an upgrade the network received that doubled computing capacity and network switches and increased system performance, which resulted from an agreement between IU and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. IU now owns half of the capacity added with the upgrade, while Purdue owns the other half. \nDave Hancock described the Big Red supercomputer as more of a network of computers than a single one. Hancock is group manager of the High Performance Systems team within University Information Technology Services, which \noperates Big Red. \n“It’s all in one place and connects to not one central computer, but central network switches,” he said, referring to the large machine housed in Wrubel Computing Center in Bloomington. Hancock said that a supercomputer such as Big Red costs between $5 million and $10 million, with the network costing about one-third as much.\nHancock went on to explain that the computer and network operate as a kind of “puzzle,” to which different users have different “pieces.” Bringing those pieces together allows the supercomputer to operate at peak efficiency. He added that Big Red’s abilities are akin to connecting a bunch of laptops to a high-speed network. \n“It’s 1,000 times faster than your PC,” he said. \nThe computer, which IU purchased in 2006, serves Indiana as one network to which any private enterprises can connect, whatever their intentions. Locally, physicists, geologists and others studying the “hard sciences” as well as life sciences are among the main researchers using the supercomputer. \nInformatics Research Institute Director Beth Plale works within the IU School of Informatics to research weather using the Big Red network. The network allows forecasting programs to run more quickly in response to weather changes. Plale said Big Red is an essential component to the project. \n“It’s very important that a fast network be there,” she said. “It makes it easier to do (research) in the computer science department.” \nIn order to be even more accessible, Big Red is part of the TeraGrid network, which connects different supercomputers in a larger network. The network, where 30 percent of Big Red’s capabilities are allocated, is useful for researchers who may not have local abilities to use the supercomputer. \nPlale said Big Red is a draw for researchers in informatics and computer science. \n“IU’s attention to supercomputing makes it a good place to do informatics research,” she said. “That makes it attractive for informatics researchers to come to IU.”
(07/12/07 12:23am)
IU will have a better idea of whether or not a presidential debate will come to campus in 2008 Tuesday. Of the 17 venues vying to host a debate, three will be chosen for presidential debates and one will be chosen for a vice-presidential debate. In April, an executive producer from the Commission on Presidential Debates visited the University to gather preliminary information about the campus. \nOn Tuesday, more representatives will make a second trip to meet with officials, electricians, UITS and others to see if the University has the necessary facilities to host a debate. \nA member of the IU Student Association introduced the initial idea, and leaders on the executive board decided to request a bid. \nRob DeCleene, director of tourism for the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention & Visitors Bureau, worked with the students to create a package for the $7,500 application, highlighting reasons why IU should host a debate. While he said he helped the students with graphic design and putting the package together, DeCleene stressed that the students did most of the work themselves. \n“(The process was) unique because it was student-led, student-initiated,” he said. “The students were diligent in their efforts.” \nRequirements for the venue include a 17,000-square-foot debate hall, a room for the media and enough hotel rooms to accommodate people coming from out of town. IU Vice Chancellor for Auxiliary Services and Programs Bruce Jacobs said the University has the requirements covered. The IU Auditorium would be used for the actual debate, the Indiana Memorial Union would serve as the administrative site, with hotel and meeting rooms. Dunn Meadow is the perfect location for anyone wishing to stage a demonstration, and the IU School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation has plenty of room to house a media center. \nPrevious IUSA Vice President and recent graduate Andrew Lauck became co-chair of the bid process. He said what differentiates IU from other universities is the fact that nothing extra would have to be done to accommodate everyone coming for the debate. \n“We have the facilities within a couple hundred yards of each other, where other universities have had to put up temporary tents,” he said, noting that putting up temporary structures would mean added cost. “We can almost certainly meet the demands without changing campus.” \nDeCleene said a group of graduate students is currently working on a cross-analysis of the logistics of hosting a debate. The group is especially looking into another requirement for hosting the debate – $1.3 million. \nCosts will most likely exceed that amount by $2 or $3 million, Lauck said. However, Lauck added he believes the experience for students and exposure for the campus would outweigh the cost. Jacobs agreed, highlighting an educational bonus. \n“The opportunity to be exposed to something of this importance will benefit students,” he said. \nBefore having to pay, though, Lauk pointed out that IU must first be chosen and is currently competing with universities such as Arizona State and Washington State. \n“We’re pretty confident, but there are so many factors, it’s really hard to say,” Lauck said.
(07/09/07 12:34am)
As former Hutton Honors College Dean Karen Hanson moves on to her new position as IU-Bloomington provost, Honors College Assistant Dean Lynn Cochran said Hanson will be missed in her old position.\n“We are going to miss her so much,” she said. “We all love her dearly.” \nIU President Michael McRobbie appointed Hanson, who has been dean of the Honors College for the past five years of her 30-year career at IU, as provost on July 5. The appointment came after a summer-long search. \nSenior Matt Jarson served as the student representative on the provost search committee. He said that the search went well, save for the stress of having a short amount of time to select a new provost. Jarson said Hanson left the best impression on the members of the committee. \n“She was very aggressive in interviews,” he said. “She was willing to find a direction with everyone rather than imposing one.” \nIU Graduate and Professional Student Organization moderator Paul Rohwer remembered a luncheon at which Hanson spoke with different student groups. He also remembered Hanson’s ease in interacting with students.\n“She spoke to everyone with a high level of distinction that I think she’ll bring to her new role,” Rohwer said.\nUnion Board President and senior Sarah McDonough said that although she’s never personally worked with Hanson, she’s glad that the University chose a new provost from IU’s campus, especially a woman.\n“She’s definitely capable (of being provost),” McDonough said. “I’m sure as in any transition, there will be challenges, but I’m also sure she’d work hard to overcome them.”\nCochran mentioned managing operations, working to add Hutton to the Honors College name and increasing endowments for the overseas program as some of Hanson’s actions during her time as dean. Taking this into account, Cochran said Hanson should have no trouble making the transition to her new position as provost. \n“None of us (at the Honors College) were surprised at all by her appointment,” she said. \nKevin Brown, director of the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, said that Hanson has always been an ally in increasing the number of minorities in the Hudson and Holland program as well as the Honors College. The Hudson and Holland Scholars program provides scholarships in order to promote campus diversity.\n“My guess is if you look at the numbers, you’ll see a significant increase in the number of (minorities) in the Hutton Honors College since she’s been dean,” he said, adding that Hanson’s change of admission qualifications undoubtedly resulted in the increase. \nAlthough Cochran is sad to see Hanson go, she also sees Hanson’s potential. \n“She was our advocate at the dean level of the University,” Cochran said. “She will be an incredible provost.”
(07/09/07 12:03am)
As former Hutton Honors College Dean Karen Hanson moves on to her new position as IU-Bloomington provost, Honors College Assistant Dean Lynn Cochran said Hanson will be missed in her old position.\n“We are going to miss her so much,” she said. “We all love her dearly.” \nIU President Michael McRobbie appointed Hanson, who has been dean of the Honors College for the past five years of her 30-year career at IU, as provost on July 5. The appointment came after a summer-long search. \nSenior Matt Jarson served as the student representative on the provost search committee. He said that the search went well, save for the stress of having a short amount of time to select a new provost. Jarson said Hanson left the best impression on the members of the committee. \n“She was very aggressive in interviews,” he said. “She was willing to find a direction with everyone rather than imposing one.” \nIU Graduate and Professional Student Organization moderator Paul Rohwer remembered a luncheon at which Hanson spoke with different student groups. He also remembered Hanson’s ease in interacting with students.\n“She spoke to everyone with a high level of distinction that I think she’ll bring to her new role,” Rohwer said.\nUnion Board President and senior Sarah McDonough said that although she’s never personally worked with Hanson, she’s glad that the University chose a new provost from IU’s campus, especially a woman.\n“She’s definitely capable (of being provost),” McDonough said. “I’m sure as in any transition, there will be challenges, but I’m also sure she’d work hard to overcome them.”\nCochran mentioned managing operations, working to add Hutton to the Honors College name and increasing endowments for the overseas program as some of Hanson’s actions during her time as dean. Taking this into account, Cochran said Hanson should have no trouble making the transition to her new position as provost. \n“None of us (at the Honors College) were surprised at all by her appointment,” she said. \nKevin Brown, director of the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, said that Hanson has always been an ally in increasing the number of minorities in the Hudson and Holland program as well as the Honors College. The Hudson and Holland Scholars program provides scholarships in order to promote campus diversity.\n“My guess is if you look at the numbers, you’ll see a significant increase in the number of (minorities) in the Hutton Honors College since she’s been dean,” he said, adding that Hanson’s change of admission qualifications undoubtedly resulted in the increase. \nAlthough Cochran is sad to see Hanson go, she also sees Hanson’s potential. \n“She was our advocate at the dean level of the University,” Cochran said. “She will be an incredible provost.”
(07/08/07 10:59pm)
Junior Amber Seals said members of the Groups student organization seem excited about having needles stuck in their arms for a good cause. \n“I’ve been going around with the sign-up list for Groups members,” Seals said. “People are saying, ‘Yes, yes, I will.’” \nGroups will be partnering with the Red Cross of Bloomington to sponsor a blood drive Tuesday, July 10, at Teter Quad from 2 to 7 p.m.\nSeals, a Groups representative, said the organization has no quota it hopes to fill, but about 50 people are expected to donate. While the blood drive is for a good cause, Red Cross of Bloomington donor representative Don Creek stressed the need for more opportunities to give blood through large blood drives provided by partnerships between IU organizations and the Red Cross.\n“Other than the Groups drive, there’s nothing really for students in the summer,” he said, noting the contrast between the small number of donations from IU and the thousands of donations other universities have in the summer. \nWhile Creek said blood drives on campus are great ways to get students involved, he added that not as many students donate. He remembers the Red Cross conducting multiple blood drives at IU a few years back, with more than 100 people donating. Although it seems the Red Cross holds a blood drive in the Indiana Memorial Union every month, Creek said in order to meet the demand for blood, the number of donations would have to triple. The problem, Creek noted, is that people don’t often think of giving blood as a normal part of their routine. On the other hand, when people do come out in large numbers, the Red Cross is overwhelmed.\n“People really don’t come out unless there’s a huge event, like 9/11,” he said. “When they do come out, they get upset when they overload our staff. We can’t stockpile blood.”\nThe Groups program works to get incoming students involved in their community and campus. Seals said Groups does other community service events in the summer, such as volunteering at Hoosier Hills Food Bank.\nWhile Creek expressed his concern about getting more people to donate, he also extended the invitation to other student organizations to get involved.\n“We need to give people a chance to become donors,” he said. “If someone has a group that wants to activate blood drives, that would be great.”\nWhen asked if there is more of a lull in summer with the majority of students gone, Creek said there’s really no difference in donations proportional to the number of students in town. What keeps the Red Cross afloat is not so much the spontaneous donations, but the regular ones, Creek said.\n“The only magic is in the regular giving,” he said.