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A library in the 100-year-old IU Press building houses books printed within the non-profit's 62 years of publishing.
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A library in the 100-year-old IU Press building houses books printed within the non-profit's 62 years of publishing.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ohio State University raked in nearly $500 million after agreeing to lease campus parking for the next 50 years to a private Australian company. Three months later, IU is looking into the outsourcing option in hopes of reaping a similar profit to fund academic initiatives.“We are looking at all sorts of ways to be able to hold down tuition rates and fund different academic programs,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Neil Theobald.One of the ways to do that, Theobald said, is to lease University-owned parking spaces in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Long-term outsourcing of parking operations would allow University efforts to be focused on academics instead of a non-core service such as parking, he said.“That’s not our mission here,” Theobald said.The benefits, if the University decides to follow through with privatized parking, will be similar to the up-front payment received by Ohio State. Although University officials estimate private companies won’t bid quite as much for IU parking — particularly in Bloomington, as parking revenues in IU-Bloomington trail far behind those of Ohio State — it is uncertain at this point how much the University can make.“That’s the stage we’re at,” he said. “We’re very early in the process.”At the Board of Trustees meeting in August, Theobald reported that the University would soon be finalizing requests for proposals. IU Associate Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Mark Land said the proposals would then allow University officials to assess what sort of interest exists among companies wishing to bid for parking on either IU campus.Similar motions to privatize non-core University services occurred in July 2007 after trustees decided to lease the rights to the campus bookstore to Barnes and Noble. The 10-year lease provided the University an estimated $70 million, money trustees recommended be used, among other things, for renovations to Ballantine Hall.Theobald said outsourcing parking would be a similar situation, noting that leasing the IU Bookstore was successful because “Barnes and Noble knows more about running a bookstore than we do.”Both Theobald and Land said it is too early in the process to determine how students will be affected. The Ohio State University Transportation and Parking Services could not be reached for comment about the effects of its outsourcing.Theobald said the privatization would benefit students by creating programs that streamline the degree-seeking process, a long-term area of focus for the University.“By giving up control, the university/campus wouldn’t have much (if any) control over the price charged for parking and wouldn’t have any control over what happens to the employees that work in parking,” Land said in an email.During a phone interview, Land said it was too early to determine the exact repercussions outsourcing could have for current Parking Operations employees.Parking Manager Doug Porter said about 40 individuals are currently listed on the Parking Operations payroll, which includes parking enforcement, staff and hourly employees who operate parking garages and pay-to-park lots.Even if a change in ownership occurred, Land said, a need would still exist for workers to manage the lots and garages.“The goal would be to maintain as many jobs as possible,” Land said. “But instead of working for the University, they would be working for the vendor.”Theobald said the earliest a decision will be made is still several months away. At this time, IU has not decided which companies will be contenders for the outsourcing if the plan is carried through.In the meantime, Theobald said, University committees are meeting with constituent groups, including student representatives, and outlining the terms under which IU will agree to the privatization.“As resources get tight and we’re trying to drive down costs of attending, we need to consider all of our options,” Theobald said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Saturday, the 17th Street Red Lot, where greeks have traditionally gone before the football game, may look a bit different to tailgate veterans.After an Interfraternity Council discussion about reforming the image of the IU tailgate, the IFC President’s Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban handles, half-gallon containers of hard liquor, from the greek tailgate fields.During the first two weeks of IU’s home football season last year, Indiana State Excise issued 99 citations.IFC Vice President of Communications William Kragie said the council hoped to re-brand the greek tailgating experience by reforming some of the more dangerous tailgate practices.The initiative to clean up the tailgate grew out of a suggestion from Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith.“It wasn’t a very positive atmosphere,” Goldsmith said of the traditional tailgate experience. “So I was asked the question of what would improve the image of the greek community on-campus.”Goldsmith said improvements in the tailgate lot would aid that effort, adding the initiative was then adopted by the IFC.“I’m very pleased with their efforts,” he said.The IFC’s overall effort to create a more positive tailgate experience is assisted by Student Life and Learning, IU Office of Sustainability, IU Police Department, IU Athletics Department and ESG Security.Enforcement of the no-handles policy begins immediately, Kragie said.“If there are any violators within the Red Lot, ESG is going to come over and try to make the tailgate compliant,” Kragie said. If the problem persists after ESG Security’s involvement, IUPD may intervene, he said.Beside the limitation on certain containers of alcohol, IFC and the Office of Sustainability are cleaning up the tailgate in a more literal sense as well.The Office of Sustainability will introduce recycling receptacles to the tailgate field, a change from the previous situation in which all trash was thrown away.“We’re trying to re-brand the greek tailgating experience at IU,” Kragie said, adding he hopes it will encourage other groups to follow suit.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU parent Greg Cannizzo was surprised to hear he would need to provide a credit card number in order for his daughter and her roommate to loft the beds in their Collins Center dorm room during move-in.Cannizzo’s daughter, freshman Kelsey Cannizzo, was one of many Collins residents who faced an unexpected $105 fee from Illinois-based bed lofting company BedLoft.com.“It was two people with four pins for the posts of the bed, four hands and a hammer,” Greg Cannizzo said. “I just questioned the fact that it was that amount of money for something so simple.”BedLoft.com could not be reached for comment.For the past few years, Residence Halls Association Vice President of Student Affairs Hana Horton said RHA contracted BedLoft.com to help students safely loft beds.BedLoft.com’s services were not necessary in Collins in previous years since the beds were typically lofted in preparation for students’ arrival, said Horton, a fourth-year Collins resident.However, this summer Residential Programs and Services decided to unloft beds in almost every residence center, Horton said, meaning students who wished to loft their beds would have to request the services of BedLoft.com.“A lot of returning students were really surprised,” said Horton, a fifth-year senior. “They were upset they had to pay for a service that in the past wasn’t necessary.”Horton met with RPS officials, including Assistant Director Sarah Nagy, on behalf of Collins residents, and RPS decided to offer affected Collins residents a 50 percent refund. They were notified of the refund last week via email.“It’s good that students raised the question,” Nagy said. “Having an engaged student body is important.”Although BedLoft.com had been contracted in the past, this year was different in that students were not notified the service would be necessary. “We didn’t miscommunicate as we did this year,” Nagy said. Nagy said BedLoft.com was contracted with the University staff members’ safety in mind.“We’re facing a situation where a lot of our (environmental operations) staff are not physically able to bunk a hundred beds anymore,” she said. Hiring BedLoft.com for the job also ensures residence hall facilities and furniture won’t be damaged in the process, Nagy said.She said BedLoft.com’s services were used in other residence halls, but the miscommunication only occurred in Collins.Collins residents can claim their refunds until Aug. 31 at the Collins Center Desk.Greg Cannizzo said despite RPS attempts to lower costs for students, the amount paid after the refund — $49.50 — is still too much to pay for the services provided.“For students with jobs ... $105 or even half of that, it’s a full day of work or more after taxes,” he said.From now on, students wishing to loft their beds will still be required to do so through BedLoft.com, but they will be charged $50 instead of the full amount.Greg Cannizzo said other universities, such as University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his son attended college, have students take a class on safe bed lofting procedures and offer bed lofting services free of charge.RHA will be sending out surveys, Horton said, to all residence halls to assess the option of re-contracting BedLoft.com in the future.Additionally, RPS will be working more closely with students to ensure similar miscommunications do not happen again, she said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sophomore Jake Wood and his girlfriend, sophomore Chelsie Hafler, didn’t expect to walk away from Saturday’s Office of Parking Operations bike auction with so many bicycles.“We came to find me a bike,” Hafler said.The couple stood next to a line of 21 bikes — some in good condition, some coated with mud and others in need of repair — leaning against the concrete wall of the Jordan Avenue parking garage.“When I realized how cheap some of them were going for, we just decided to buy a bunch because it’s easy to flip,” Wood said. “I have a friend who actually has a bike business, and if I can’t sell any of them, he’ll take the parts and sell those.”His entire haul cost him about $200. The most expensive bike he bought, one for Hafler, cost $55.“If anything, I can sell them all for $10 and make my money back,” he said.Twice a year, Parking Operations auctions bikes collected during the previous semester.Some bikes were impounded after being parked against a tree, handrail or light post, Parking Manager Doug Porter said.Porter said he believed most of them were abandoned on purpose, as they often have grass growing around the tires or are missing a quick-release wheel or seat.Parking Operations employees remove the bikes from the racks and allow owners a 60-day grace period to claim their bicycles. The ones that go unclaimed go into storage and are sold at the auction.“If we didn’t clean out the racks, the racks would slowly just accumulate bicycles more and more and more,” he said.Saturday’s sale included about 190 bikes collected during the spring and summer 2012 semesters, almost twice as many as were sold at the spring auction in May.Like many other auction-goers, German exchange students Maria Gerth and Sarah Ludwig-Dehm said they attended with hopes of finding cheap bikes. They each found one: a white Trek for $45 dollars and a mountain bike with a flat tire for $50.The auctioneer, who Parking Operations hired to make the event more professional, Porter said, started most bids at about $20. Participants sometimes drove the bids higher. Often, particularly toward the end of the auction, the auctioneer accepted bids for much less than the starting price.A Diamondback mountain bike sold for $15. A Trek mountain bike sold for $10. Wood acquired multiple bicycles for only $1.“The money goes into the Parking Operations budget, and we’re usually the ones who are putting in new bike racks around campus,” Porter said. “We spend more on the bike racks than we make in the bike auction, so the money basically goes back to bike parking.”Porter said he won’t be surprised if he sees some of the bikes sold Saturday at future auctions.“We might pick up some of these bikes again,” he said. “Some of these people might ride it for a while and say, ‘I bought it for $25 at the auction.’”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana State Excise Police issued a record 258 citations during 2012 Welcome Week. This is more than what was handed out during last year’s Little 500 weekend.“It is also on par with Little 500 weekend last April, when a record 256 citations were issued,” according to a statement released by Indiana State Excise Police.The citations, issued from Aug. 15-18, included 177 for illegal possession or consumption of alcohol.However, an increase in student drinking might not account for the spike in citations. Instead, excise officers in Bloomington during move-in week worked as part of the Intensified College Enforcement program, which “aims to reduce underage access to and use of alcohol” at various campuses around the state, according to the statement.Excise police are also working with Ball State University, Butler University, Indiana State University, Notre Dame University and Purdue University as part of the ICE program.“Historically, the weekend before the start of the academic year has resulted in high numbers of arrests and tickets for alcohol offenses,” the statement said. “But this weekend surpassed any previous Welcome Week at IU.”During 2011 Welcome Week, excise officers issued 191 citations. In 2010, 138 citations were issued.IU’s number of citations far surpassed the number issued at other schools included in the ICE program. During move-in weekends at Ball State and Notre Dame, which occurred last weekend, excise police issued 57 and 16 tickets, respectively. ”This weekend, excise officers encountered numerous young people with dangerously high intoxication levels,” excise police Superintendent Matt Strittmatter said in the statement. “We will continue to enforce Indiana law to ensure the safety of students and local residents.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU is one of the nation’s top 25 most GLBT-friendly colleges, according to a list released Wednesday by the nonprofit organization Campus Pride and the Huffington Post.“I’m not entirely surprised because we work very hard at making this a friendly campus, and we get lots of support,” said Doug Bauder, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services coordinator. He added that Executive Director of Campus Pride Shane Windmeyer is also an IU alumnus.Bauder remembers working with Windmeyer in the late 1990s while Windmeyer was completing his master’s degree in education. “But that doesn’t put us in a higher position,” Bauder said. “He’s tougher on all of us.”Because of Windmeyer’s work, Bauder said, other colleges and universities have shifted focus to their own GLBT support services.“We were one of the first schools to have an office like this,” he said. “Over the years, I bet we have consulted with at least 200 colleges around the country about how to establish a service like this.”The Gay-Straight Alliance Network and similar programs have gained traction in high schools in recent years, in conjunction with an increasing number of students coming out during high school. Because of this, many students take into account a campus’s GLBT programs when selecting a college, Bauder said.Sophomore Jeffrey Hunnicutt, an office assistant at GLBT SSS, said he partially considered IU’s programs when choosing a school.“I knew that I wanted to go to a school that was accepting, and there were services to help people struggling with that issue,” he said.Hunnicutt works to plan programs like the ones that contributed to IU’s title as a GLBT-friendly campus, such as Friday Night Bagels at Bloomington Bagel Company.Bauder said an important factor in the office’s success has been its collaboration with other cultural centers, academic departments and student groups. Later this year, for example, GLBT SSS will partner with the Department of Sociology to bring author and lecturer Chaz Bono to campus.Despite IU’s recent recognition, Bauder said there are still issues the campus can improve upon, particularly those involving University interaction with transgender students.This includes issues of living accommodations, which Bauder said the University is just beginning to address, as well as gender-neutral bathrooms in campus buildings and quicker updates of records for students who undergo a gender transition during college.“We’re still learning,” Bauder said. “But this is a great place to do that.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Driving isn’t the only thing being complicated by on-campus construction.About 100 parking spaces have been lost due to construction near the new apartments at Third and Union Streets, Residential Parking Manager Andy Tellas said.The parking spaces currently affected by the construction are mainly D spaces located near Forest Quad, Read Center, Willkie Quad and Mason Hall.“Residence halls are selling permits based on seniority in the system,” Parking Operations Manager Doug Porter said. “So when they sell out, they’ll offer them an E permit and put them on the waitlist for a D.”Porter said he expects a spike in the number of parking passes purchased in E parking lots in the vicinity of Memorial Stadium.The loss of spaces affects only Residential Programs and Services residents, as students living off-campus are ineligible for D passes.Students can purchase E permits at any point in the semester, he said, and a two-week grace period is currently in effect for parking in designated E spaces near the stadium.Parking enforcement will not ticket until Sept. 4 to allow students time to purchase the appropriate passes, which can be ordered online or at the Office of Parking Operations on Fess Avenue.E passes are $57.76 for the fall semester or $110.88 for the school year. F passes, which allow students to park in designated areas from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., are also available, costing students $27.92 for the fall semester or $55.44 for the year.Tellas said students have largely been understanding when it comes to the shortage of residential parking.“They realize construction is an issue,” he said. “I want to thank students for their patience.”For more information about campus parking, visit parking.indiana.edu.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When people think of the opportunities IU offers, breakdancing typically isn’t one of them.The Breakdance Club at IU, which began in 2004, is preparing for a new season. The first practice of the year kicks off from 7 to 9 p.m. today in racquetball court one at the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center.Senior and club president Michael Roach said the experience level within the club ranges from as little as six months to as much as two years. Roach, who transferred from Purdue University last year, said he was introduced to breaking, as it’s referred to in breakdance culture, about five years ago after having experience with different styles of dance.For those with no experience breakdancing, Roach described the rehearsal space as informal but structured.Members of the club take turns breaking in a designated space, called a cypher.“It looks kind of informal but with new dancers that are getting into breaking being taught by me or more experienced members,” he said.Members of the club perform throughout the year on and off-campus, and they travel for jams battles and other breakdance events.“We all love to do it,” Roach said. “It’s a good recreational activity.” No experience breaking? No problem.Here are a few basic moves you might learn at tonight’s practice if you’re a “newbie.”THE BASIC POP ROCK“This is good if you decide to go to parties and you want to at least look normal in a dancing scenario,” Roach said.FLOORWORK“This separates breaking from other styles of dance,” Roach said. Basic floorwork consists of learning a “one- through 12-step,” which involves using the hands and feet in a pattern. These basic moves allow dancers to eventually be more creative with their movement.THE “BABY FREEZE” “It’s the very first and most commonly recognized freeze that b-boys and b-girls use,” Roach said. In the “baby freeze,” both the dancer’s hands are placed on the floor, with the elbow of the dominant hand supporting the abdomen. Weight displacement is involved, allowing the dancer to hoist his or her legs into the air.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The University can now add “Mars” to the list of places to which IU professors have contributed research.Geology professors Juergen Schieber and David Bish are contributing to the work with Curiosity, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration rover that touched down on Mars on Aug. 5.Although Schieber and Bish work with different instruments, both scientists have similar goals to help analyze data the rover sends back to earth.Schieber and Bish work in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory located in Pasadena, Calif.“We came to the Jet Propulsion Lab the night of the landing,” Bish said. “It was a popular place to be.”The mission’s science team watched the landing on wall-sized projection screens in a room containing between 300 and 400 people, he said.“No one on earth had a real-time picture because there’s a delay between Mars and Earth, but we had a real-time picture from the mission control room,” Bish said.Bish is part of the CHEMIN, or chemistry and mineralogy, team.The instrument he works with uses a technique called X-ray diffraction, which allows scientists to analyze how the X-ray beam interacts with solid materials on Mars.“An ordered arrangement of atoms scatters X-rays in a specific way, depending on the arrangement of atoms,” Bish said. He said the interaction is somewhat like a fingerprint in that every mineral diffraction has a unique diffraction fingerprint. He used the difference between graphite and a diamond as an example.“If we only analyzed chemistry, they would look the same because they’re both carbon,” he said. “But if we use mineralogy ... we can tell the difference very easily.”This ultimately allows scientists to identify different minerals found on Mars. Bish said the University does X-ray diffraction at various IU locations, including some of the laboratories in the geology department.Schieber works with cameras, which sit on a robotic arm on Curiosity, that send images back to Earth. The images allow scientists to analyze the rocks on Mars, he said.His schedule and that of the other scientists is dictated largely by whether there is sunlight on Mars for the rover’s operations.“We are on Mars time, which means our schedule shifts forward about 40 minutes,” Schieber said. “If the shift starts at 8 a.m. one day, it will start at 8:40 a.m. the next day.”This is because a day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth, Bish explained.The science team at the Jet Propulsion Lab is scheduled to be there a total of 90 sols, or Mars days. Bish and Schieber will then return to IU and continue their work with the rover remotely.“It’s incredibly exciting to be working on this project,” Bish said. “It’s hard to imagine a scientific experience being better than this.”
Marching Hundred Director Dave Woodley and Assistant Director Eric Smedley drive their cart to the 11th hole during the Marching Hundred Golf Outing on Sunday. The outing raised funds for a new marching band practice field.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Growing up, Jacobs School of Music lecturer Andy Hollinden was never a fan of the Beach Boys.“The Beach Boys weren’t very hip during the late ’60s and early ’70s,” Hollinden said, adding that the music of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart was more his style.But this fall, Hollinden and his students will spend about four hours each week with the Beach Boys in MUS-Z320: Music of The Beach Boys, new to IU this semester. The class will chronologically survey the band’s 50 years of music while exploring the music’s context, which was what changed Hollinden’s mind about the band later in life.“I would say that they’re probably America’s greatest band,” Hollinden said. “It’s that simple.”Hollinden said he attributes the band’s greatness to its “other-worldly” harmonies and its longevity.This summer, all surviving original Beach Boys toured for their 50th anniversary, and Hollinden said he attended their Cincinnati concert without “super high” expectations.“I felt a sense of obligation to go because I thought it would be heartwarming,” he said. “I was unprepared for how great it would be. It was without a doubt one of the best music events I’ve ever witnessed.”Hollinden said his other music history classes, which include MUS-Z301: Rock Music in the 70s and 80s, MUS-Z385: History of the Blues and MUS-Z403: The Music of Jimi Hendrix, have been popular among students.“It’s a way to get some arts and humanities credits and study something that they’re interested in that pertains to their day-to-day lives,” he said.Senior psychology major Rory Derryberry said he enjoyed Hollinden’s class about Frank Zappa, which partly influenced his decision to enroll in the new course.“I’ve always enjoyed their music,” Derryberry said of the Beach Boys, adding that he finds leader Brian Wilson’s story to be an interesting one.Derryberry said he believes the rock ’n’ roll history classes at the Jacobs School are popular simply because “they’re fun courses, especially with the classic rock.”“So many people listen to it, and it’s part of our history,” he said. “It’s cool that IU offers that.”In addition to the historical aspect of the Beach Boys class and similar courses, Hollinden said they enable students to improve listening skills and increase appreciation for songwriting and production.“Most people don’t have the proper context of the music they listen to,” he said, adding that he has been interested in music for quite some time. “It took me decades to realize how little I knew, that I had barely scraped the tip of the iceberg.”Seats are still open. Students may drop or add courses through the first week of classes on OneStart.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Things don’t always go according to plan. Grade-point averages miss the mark, parking tickets wind up on windshields and students make bad decisions. In high school, you were always there to bail your students out. Now, they’re away from home and have to figure out solutions on their own.We’ve provided the answers to a few common college dilemmas. So, when you receive a phone call from your student asking for advice, whip out this article and help point them in the right direction. Academic ProblemsProblem Your son gets his first mid-term grade back in economics, and he’s failing. Or maybe he finds out the first week of school the class that sounded so awesome over the summer isn’t so awesome after all. Solution Instruct your son to make an appointment with his adviser (which can be done online at https://starnet.indiana.edu). Dropping classes can then be done online via OneStart. Dropping a class during the first week of classes won’t show up on the transcript, but a fee will be charged to the Bursar. Classes dropped after the first week, however, will result in a W for withdrawal on the transcript. Problem Your daughter realizes that the standard five-paragraph essay that got her through high school might not cut it in college.Solution Send her to Writing Tutorial Services, which can provide her with a free 50-minute session with a peer tutor. She can call 812-855-6738 to make an appointment.Housing ProblemsProblem Your freshman calls home after the first week. She is convinced that if she continues living with her current roommate, it’s going to be a very long year.Solution Your student should go to her Resident Assistant first. If the conflict still cannot be solved, students can request a roommate change after the second week of school. To get the process started, students can go to their residence hall’s center desk and fill out a roommate change request form.Legal ProblemsProblem Your student received a court summons (we won’t speculate why).Solution IU Student Legal Services, located across from Dunn Meadow on 7th Street, offers students who have paid the Student Activity Fee complimentary legal advice and if necessary, legal representation with their staff of four full-time, licensed attorneys and about 25 second- and third-year IU law students. Have your student call 812-855-7867. Health ProblemsProblem Your student wakes up with a fever of 104 degrees or breaks a finger playing intramural volleyball.Solution The Health Center, located on the corner of 10th Street and Jordan Avenue, staffs nurse practitioners who can help. For more serious situations, the IU Health Bloomington Hospital Emergency Department, located at 601 W. Second St., can be reached at 812-353-5252.Problem You can’t quite put your finger on it, but your student hasn’t been himself lately. You’re concerned he might be depressed.Solution Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is located within the Health Center and provides counseling as well as psychiatric consultation and treatment. Encourage your student to make an appointment by calling 812-855-5711 or stopping by for a walk-in appointment.Emergency ContactsAlthough we hope your student never has to use them, it is always helpful to have local emergency contact information on hand. If students find themselves needing one of the following phone numbers, here’s what to tell them.Indiana University Police DepartmentAvailable 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call 812-855-4111, or dial 911 for emergencies. Located at 1469 E. 17th St.Bloomington Police Department Located at 220 E. Third St. It can be reached at 812-339-4477 or 911 for emergencies.Bloomington Fire DepartmentLocated at 300 E. Fourth St. It can be reached at 812-332-9763 or 911 for emergencies.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 30 students participated in what associate instructor and organizer Tristan Tager called a “protest for the greater good of humans” at 5 p.m. Friday at the Sample Gates.The anti-zombie protest addressed a growing problem in America, Tager said. Participants held signs that read “Just die. Again” and “More guns, less bites.”“There’s a permeating theme of zombies being increasingly relevant to American life — zombies running around eating people’s brains, taking American jobs, zombies teaching in the math department and infusing the youth of today with an utter lack of vigor and energy,” he said. In reality, the protest was an opportunity for finite math instructor Tager’s students to blow off steam prior to finals week.Tager, who teaches a class of about 80 students, said the protest was partially meant to poke fun at the recent influx of protests on and around campus.In the background, a man in a spandex American flag jumpsuit carried a sign reading, “’Merika hates Zombies!” A group of students shouted at a couple walking by with a stroller, asking if the couple knew whether its child was a zombie.“We felt this had reached a breaking point and that it really needed to stop, so we decided that, being the youth of America, the future was in our hands, and we took action directly,” Tager said.The protest was met with mixed sentiments, as IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Professor of Economics and Bloomington City Council member Martin Spechler observed nearby.“Are you for or against zombies?” a protester asked him. “I wouldn’t waste my time with that,” Spechler replied.Later, Spechler said students should devote more energy to the social injustices present today, such as income inequality and concerns about oil companies.“This is nonsense,” he said. “Students should be for or against something.”At about 5:30 p.m., Tager suggested the group take the anti-zombie protest to the streets en route to Hartzell’s Homemade Ice Cream for a celebratory snack.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Returning undergraduates can expect a few cost increases on their Bursar statements next year.Indiana residents will experience a 3.8 percent hike in tuition costs for the 2012-13 academic year as compared to previous years’ tuition. Non-residents can expect a 6.2 percent increase.The credit hour flat fee, paid by all full-time undergraduates carrying less than 17 credit hours, is set at $4,375 per semester for in-state students and $15,100 for out-of-state students.The Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s non-binding target tuition increases for the coming academic year, released in May 2011, suggested a 0 to 3.5 percent increase in tuition and mandatory fees from the previous budgetary cycle.The Board of Trustees approved the fee schedules for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years, also in May 2011, announcing in-state undergraduate fees would increase by 3.5 percent for both academic years. The 0 to 3.5 percent increase in tuition and mandatory fees was also suggested for Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus, which enrolled nearly 40,000 students for the 2011-12 academic year.Regional IU campuses will experience tuition and fee increases for in-state undergraduates as well, with all campuses except IU Southeast preparing for a 2.5 percent increase. IU Southeast students can expect a 2.4 percent increase.Although in-state instructional fees are increasing 3.8 percent, the University still adheres to the 3.5 percent maximum increase set by the Commission for Higher Education when mandatory fees, such as the student activity fee and technology fee, are factored into the equation.However, the temporary Repair and Rehabilitation fee, introduced in fall 2011 after state funding for University renovations and repairs decreased, was not included in the University’s calculations in regard to the 3.5 percent increase. When the temporary $180 annual fee is factored in, the total cost for in-state undergraduates will increase 5.4 percent from this year’s costs. This includes tuition, mandatory fees and the temporary Repair and Rehabilitation fee.Associate Vice President for University Communications Mark Land said part of the reason for the tuition and fee increase is due to a decrease in state support. He added that the majority of the University’s revenue comes from four main sources: tuition, donations, state support and federal research grants. “I don’t want it to sound like we’re blaming the state, but it’s a fact that when one revenue source changes, we need to make some of it up,” he said.Land said the majority of gifts to the University are given with a specific destination in mind, such as for a specific school or a scholarship fund. Consequently, the money does not go into a general fund for the University to allocate where necessary.Addressing the issue of increasing tuition is a balancing act, he said, as costs associated with staff healthcare, salaries, benefits and operating costs continue to increase.“We’re very much aware that people are price-sensitive, more so than usual because of the economy,” Land said. “We want to provide a good education, but we also want to provide a good value.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 30 students met with Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel and Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith Monday evening for the second open forum meeting in the Indiana Memorial Union Persimmon Room.Assistant Dean of Students Steve Veldkamp, who organized and moderated the meeting, said the two-part open forum meeting arose out of Robel’s and Goldsmith’s desire to listen to student concerns after various student groups voiced grievances at the Board of Trustees meeting April 12 and 13. The first open forum meeting took place Friday afternoon at the same location.At the trustees meeting, Veldkamp presented the opportunity to meet with administrators to protesters, as well as other students.John Brown from the Board of Aeons and members of Union Board, the Residence Halls Association, the IU Student Association,and the Graduate and Professional Student Organization also attended the open forum, as did students unaffiliated with any formal student group.Students tossed issues back and forth for the first half hour, wrestling with how to best bring about change within the University. Grievances against the structure of the Board of Trustees and tuition hikes were aired, and the discussion focused mainly on how students can apply the leverage necessary to generate change. In response, next year’s IUSA administration has arranged monthly “town hall” meetings to begin next fall, newly elected IUSA Vice President of Administration Pat Courtney said.“The University does move at a slow pace, but I think by having students that are persistent in certain issues, we can speed that pace up,” Courtney said. “Having these town hall meetings will get more reassurance on what is most important to the students. Our term is only a year long, so finding out quickly what impacts students the most will lead to more effective policy changes.”Veldkamp said there are no plans to continue open forum meetings into the next academic year. The IUSA town hall meetings will serve a similar function, he said, unless he receives notification that students want more open forum meetings.Courtney said that for now, student input from a suggestion box will be used to generate monthly agendas for the town hall meetings. Each meeting will have a theme, such as the rising cost of higher education.“People who want to voice their opinions about that can come, and we’ll try to lay out some type of structure — ‘How can we move forward? How can we actually influence policies? Which administrators do we need to talk to?’” Courtney said. “We think that’s the most effective way to move forward, but we don’t want any student opinions to be left to themselves.” Some students expressed concerns within the open forum that such a structure of communication won’t facilitate large policy changes. However, Veldkamp said the reason a student trustee now sits on the Board of Trustees is because of an IUSA initiative from the mid-1970s that began with students dissatisfied with representation within the Board of Trustees. The position of student trustee is now written into state code, Veldkamp said, because of student activism on the Bloomington campus and other university campuses across Indiana.Student Laura Douglas suggested a comprehensive guide so students with grievances can know how to go about directing their concerns. Goldsmith said a former graduate student created a compendium of University committees so students could easily identify which sectors they need to address.“We’re trying to locate that, update it and make it generally available,” Goldsmith said.Also discussed was the possibility of forming a student committee to review the University budget to ensure transparency and act as a watchdog in regards to allocation of University funds. Goldsmith acknowledged the feasibility of such a committee, as the budget is available for public use.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Singer Jessie J’s “Do it Like a Dude” played from speakers in a Ballantine Hall classroom Thursday night as freshman Ash Kulak rehearsed an act for GenderF**k IU 2012. The mash-up of performances, which is organized by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality, is a gender-inclusive drag show that premiered on the Bloomington campus in spring 2011.“We didn’t want it to just have drag queens or drag kings,” senior Vice President of SAGE Miranda Ettinger said, adding the organization wanted to include a variety of expressions of gender and feature a diverse group of performers.Kulak, outreach coordinator for SAGE, said GenderF**k serves a similar purpose as the Miss Gay IU pageant, which is typically an annual event but did not happen this year.This year’s GenderF**k will include lip-sync and dance performances to songs that address issues of gender, such as “Do it Like a Dude” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Also on the program are songs that speak to originality, such as Cascada’s “Original Me.”GenderF**k also coincides with the 2012 Day of Silence organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, although no group on campus is officially participating. Kulak said GenderF**k isn’t directly affiliated with the Day of Silence but added that the event serves a similar function if people want to recognize it as such.“A lot of people have Day of Silence ‘break the silence’ parties, and because GenderF**k is so late in the day, it could serve as a ‘breaking the silence party’ because really, that’s what we’re doing,” Kulak said. “We’re revolting against the majority in the show and against the government that tells us, ‘This is how you have to be, and this is what you have to do.’”SAGE President Ashley Carroll, a senior, said GenderF**k is a celebration. She said the Day of Silence, which had been observed on campus in previous years, is no longer as necessary as it used to be.“Each year, there’s less and less need for it,” she said. “We’re here, and we’re talking.”Ettinger said GenderF**k serves to show gender is something that people can identify with and express in different ways, both in everyday life and performance settings.“This is sort of our fun event to show that gender is just the playground,” she said. “Gender doesn’t have to be strict rules, and it doesn’t have to be binary. I want people to realize we don’t have to take gender so seriously.” IU Student Association is co-sponsoring the event. GenderF**k begins at 8 p.m. Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, and admission is free.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Current trustee Philip Eskew and Michael Shumate are vying for a three-year term on the Board of Trustees.The annual election for one of three alumni-elected University-trustee positions begins May 1. Two of the elected positions go to University alumni, while the third elected position goes to an IU student. While only University alumni are eligible to vote, that includes current seniors scheduled to graduate in May. The IU Bloomington Dean of University Libraries and the IU Alumni Association conduct the election.Alumni can vote online at election.alumni.iu.edu, and voting will close at 11 a.m. June 29.Philip N. Eskew, Jr., M.D.Dr. Eskew, currently completing his second term as an elected trustee, is running for re-election to the Board of Trustees. During the past six years, Eskew has served as chair of the facilities committee and chair of the Advisory Boards of Leaders for both the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and IU-South Bend campuses. He also has acted as a liaison to the IU Athletics Varsity Club.Eskew completed medical school at IUPUI and spent time as an undergraduate student at IU-Bloomington. He currently teaches as a volunteer clinical professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.“I think we’re in the midst of a positive movement for the University and positive growth,” Eskew said.“We’re building buildings and we’re also re-evaluating our academic directions, re-evaluating all of our courses to see which are appropriate for today’s marketplace.”Eskew said that in the future, the Board of Trustees needs to be efficient when dealing with the cost of completing a degree.“There is declining state support for the University, so we as trustees need to streamline the educational pathways toward the completion of a degree in as short of time as possible,” he said. “We need to be affordable, we need to be efficient, and we need to get there.”Eskew said the Board of Trustees needs to ensure the University maintains top-notch academics apart from the facilities. A lot of students come to IU for its campus, he said, but many choose to attend IU for other aspects of the University’s environment.“A critical piece of the Board of Trustees is to create a campus environment that attracts outstanding students and faculty,” he said.He said that although the majority of undergraduate students are not allowed to vote in the upcoming election, they should prepare for a time when they are able to participate.Michael D. ShumateShumate, who graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1967, said he had been thinking about running for election for quite some time. “I’m running because I’ve lived outside the state for a long time, but I’ve stayed engaged in the University,” he said. “Ever since being a student, I’ve loved the University.” Upon completing his undergraduate degree, Shumate went on to receive his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and continued to work as an accountant and lawyer in the Los Angeles and New York law offices of Jones Day.Shumate is the current director of the IU Foundation, a member of the Kelley Dean’s Council and president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Alumni Association.Shumate said faculty pay tops the list of issues he hopes to focus on as a trustee.“I think faculty are one of the most important components of the University,” Shumate said. “Even in this challenging economic environment, we need to be doing more.”Shumate said he also hopes to focus on issues of diversity, adding that the University should continue the push for the diversity Herman B Wells started.He said he also hopes to address administration accessibility to students and faculty.He said he attended college in the “turbulent ’60s,” and had the chance to be taught by former University Presidents Herman B Wells and John Ryan, as well as former Dean of Students Robert Shaffer.“They taught me valuable principles that have remained with me to this day — the importance of freedom of student expression and accessibility to administration,” Shumate said. He said he saw the administration become more effective when they provided a clear pathway for ideas to be exchanged. Currently living in Los Angeles, Shumate said he returns to Bloomington about once a month and is in the process of buying a condominium in Bloomington. He said he remembers serving as president of his senior class during his time at IU, as well as living in the Sigma Chi fraternity house, playing frisbee in Dunn Meadow and hanging out at Nick’s English Hut.“I had a great four years,” he said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Bloomington Faculty Council convened Tuesday for the last time this school year. The council discussed course evaluations, the only action item on the agenda. The council also discussed affirmative action among faculty members on campus.Course questionnaires The council continued a discussion regarding a new policy about course questionnaires, formerly referred to as “course evaluations.” Members discussed the issue of moving the questionnaires from their traditional pen-and-paper format to an electronic evaluation available online. Professor of Optometry William Swanson and other faculty members expressed concerns that such a change would decrease student response rates. Former IU Student Association President Justin Kingsolver said that if students were to receive some sort of benefit, such as making certain results of the questionnaires available to students, the response rate would likely stay the same. The return of data to students had been discussed at previous meetings.Purdue University converted to an online course questionnaire system two years ago, Kingsolver said, and according to a report, the format change saved about 750,000 pieces of paper. Kingsolver said the change would cater to sustainability, an issue he said students care about. A preliminary vote revealed more supporters than opponents for the electronic questionnaire.The council also discussed making select information from the questionnaires available to students. “I have a lot of faith that our student body would use the information in a positive way,” Kingsolver said, adding that a return of data would open the relationship between faculty and students. Faculty members expressed concerns that the information would be misinterpreted. Council members voted to allow the return of information to students. The council also voted to grant the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education access to the data for purposes of program review and assessment, as well as to include several campus-wide questions on each department’s evaluation.Affirmative action reportUniversity Director of the Office of Affirmative Action Julie Knost presented the annual affirmative action report for the IU-Bloomington campus. This year’s report, which included data from the University employee database, indicated many successes in representation of women in faculty and highlighted areas of improvement for the University, Knost said.The total number of women faculty members increased by 2 percent for the 2011-12 school year, Knost said, which continues a 15-year trend of a roughly 1 percent increase in women faculty members every year.Despite the increases, Knost said the University should “watch the distribution of where women are hired.” She said progress has been made in the sciences, although “math is still a problem.”The report also included statistics about minority faculty members, which Knost said were based on faculty members’ self-identification of minority status. Despite 16 new minority hires for the current school year, 12 minority faculty members resigned, which Knost said might be indicative of an issue with faculty retention.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After protests Thursday, the Board of Trustees convened Friday morning for the second day of meetings with few interruptions.“If we identified (people) as being part of the disturbance from yesterday, we didn’t permit them to go in today,” IU Police Department Capt. Thomas Lee said.Students from Coal Free IU staged a quiet demonstration in the Indiana Memorial Union Frangipani Room in which members sat in the front row of the visitor seating area holding signs with images of coal-related issues.Representatives from the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program also attended after an unsuccessful attempt to speak with trustees Thursday.In the academic and affairs and University policies committee report, trustees discussed the New Directions in Teaching and Learning initiative with Interim Provost Lauren Robel, Executive Vice President for University Regional Affairs, Planning and Policy John Applegate and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor Charles Bantz.Trustees said it was important to cut costs for students, especially when higher education institutions such as University of Phoenix can offer degree completion for students at a lower cost. The group discussed how to balance cutting the costs of education with maintaining a high-quality research program within the University.“We need to understand what happens to the research mission of campuses when you have a model that is squeezing away all the places in which you generate the resources to support research,” Robel said.Robel also spoke about the possibility of applying the model of the eText initiative to general education requirements as an instrument for cost reduction.During a brief recess, Trustee Patrick Shoulders addressed the representatives from Coal Free IU.“I want to salute the Beyond Coal (Coal Free IU) people for bringing their message forward,” he said. “To get that message across depends upon mutual respect.”Shoulders invited the students to the front of the room to speak with the trustees. The representatives from Hudson and Holland also met with Trustees Mary Ellen Bishop and Cora Griffin.President of Coal Free IU Megan Anderson said the storyboard demonstration told the story of coal use and included an image of the coal mine from which IU gets its coal and an image of a pregnant women to signify the threat of mercury, found in coal, to healthy pregnancies. The final image in the presentation showed the solar panels at the IMU, which Anderson said was the way they wanted to end their story.“We have some serious issues that we need to confront ... but we have a beautiful opportunity to move to a clean energy future,” she said.Anderson said the group was pleased with the trustees’ response, and they left a letter and an information packet for them.“We think they do have our best interest in mind,” she said. “They were positive about letting us speak, and the experience was great on both sides.”During the second half of the meeting, the introduction of IU Student Association’s new president, Kyle Straub, was briefly interrupted when IU police officers escorted a man out of the Frangipani Room. Moments later, another man was escorted from the room. Lee said the men were identified as participants in Thursday’s protest, and officers escorted them out of the room when they began disrobing.The agenda for the April meeting indicated the trustees would discuss the University’s tentative operational budget for the 2012-13 year. Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Neil Theobald distributed raw data for the trustees to look at, Associate Vice President for University Communications Mark Land said, but did not discuss it. During the May meeting, Land said, Theobald will offer a formal tentative budget.During the remainder of the meeting, the trustees agreed to engage in an ongoing discussion about student debt and will study methods of debt management and minimization.Approvals were made for several building-related projects on various campuses.The trustees also approved new guidelines for fees associated with online courses. While a set cost for online courses was not set, the online instructional fee for each undergraduate course offered during the academic year will be at least 10 percent higher than the instructional fees of corresponding classes taught in a classroom.For nonresidents, the fee will be at least 30 percent higher than the fees associated with courses taught traditionally. The fee varies for students at regional campuses.The Board of Trustees will reconvene Friday, May 4, on the Bloomington campus.