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(03/07/12 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Bloomington Faculty Council convened Tuesday in the Indiana Memorial Union for its biweekly meeting. International effortsProfessor and BFC Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret announced two new development projects in conjunction with the U.S. Agency for International Development. One will focus on strengthening the education of healthcare professionals at the University of Liberia, and the other will focus on graduate-level classes in Indonesia.Another proposed initiative will focus on working with the IU Alumni Association to engage international alumni.“I think there’s a lot of undeveloped capacity to develop the goodwill of alumni internationally,” Zaret said.One of the benefits of increasing the reach of IUAA would be increased recruiting of international students. The two newest alumni chapters are in New Delhi, India, and Warsaw, Poland.Zaret also talked about the need to increase IU’s presence abroad not in the form of a branch campus but as a “gateway facility” with conference areas, an auditorium and other small workspaces. Zaret said IU needs a base of operations to showcase faculty talent and facilitate alumni interaction. He proposed the locations of Beijing, China, and Istanbul, Turkey.Student Services InitiativeJim Kennedy, associate vice president for University student services and systems, spoke about the Student Services Initiative, formerly know as the “Shared Services Initiative.”Currently in the first phase of its long-term implementation, the initiative is intended to cut costs by consolidating various processes and services offered by the University. The plan could save the University $7.7 million, according to the initiative’s 42-page report of phase one. Implementing the plan would cut 59 University staff positions, according to the same report.As in the prior meeting, council members raised concerns about possible layoffs.“Of the 59 we have in scope, we’ve had some of that reduction already,” Kennedy said, adding that some of that is due to retirement and other circumstances.Kennedy said the third phase will allow those working on the plan to closely examine where the savings will come from and that they have been looking for alternative ways to save money.BFC Presiding Officer Lauren Robel said the council shouldn’t lose sight of the context in which the controversial initiative comes.“We have less money coming from state support,” she said. “So we have to make more choices.” Non-reappointments for tenure probationary facultyAt a BFC meeting Jan. 24, the council discussed the review process for faculty and librarians being considered for tenure.The policy presented at the January meeting was criticized as being unclear and was submitted to be re-examined by the faculty affairs committee. The policy now states candidates for tenure can request further review at any point during their probationary period. This differs from the original policy, which stated faculty could only be reviewed between certain stages in the process of obtaining tenure.The council will convene again from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20.
(03/06/12 4:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU alumnus and syndicated advice columnist Harlan Cohen talked dating, thongs and “Getting Naked” Monday night in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Alumni Hall.Also the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College,” Cohen’s latest book, “Getting Naked: Five Steps to Finding the Love of Your Life (While Fully Clothed and Totally Sober),” tackles relationships and is scheduled to be available April 24.“I have always loved women, and women haven’t always loved me,” Cohen said. “And I wanted to figure out why, and I also wanted to help other people figure out why.”Cohen found the secret to dating and relationships 12 years ago, he said, and from that, his five-step process came to be. Although the process started with intentions of finding love for himself, he said it’s now about helping people of all sexual orientations find love.Cohen encouraged students to put themselves out there and grant their potential partners permission to not return mutual feelings. Cohen said doing so allows people to overcome the fear of rejection.He also offered the audience a theory of three thongs, advising them to become comfortable in their “physical thongs,” “emotional thongs” and “spiritual thongs.”“The thong is so accessible,” Cohen said. “They say to you, if you’re comfortable in your skin, it’s going to be harder to accept feedback other than the feedback you want. But it’s much more exciting to say you’re comfortable in your thong than comfortable in your skin.”Cohen said he didn’t know exactly how the three-thong concept came to be, but referenced a moment during his internship at “The Tonight Show” when he received a thong because they kept underwear in the dressing room.Before he graduated from IU in 1996, Cohen was a columnist for the Indiana Daily Student. Since then, his column “Help Me, Harlan!” has run in various daily, college and alternative newspapers across the country. During his time at IU, he was also one of the founding members of short-form improv troupe Full Frontal Comedy.Following his talk, students lined the stage to talk with Cohen about their own relationship questions.Sophomore Ernesto Arevalo hadn’t seen the talk advertised until an hour before it was scheduled to begin, but had read “The Naked Roommate” right before coming to college. He said it strengthened his relationship with his freshman roommate.During the talk, Arevalo and several other audience members were singled out for not being in a relationship. The purpose, Cohen said, was to allow single people to be aware of the other single people in the room who they otherwise would not have known were available. Arevalo said he didn’t mind being singled out and was actually happy to have the chance to talk with Cohen.“It’s cool that he’s doing something on the relationship side,” Arevalo said. “It’s something that we think about all the time, but we don’t really know how to express ourselves when we talk about it.”Cohen said those who missed the talk can get more information about finding love at gettingnakedexperiment.com.
(03/02/12 4:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Graduate candidate and teacher Kelly Thomas doesn’t tell her students they have to stay in school.She teaches the University’s required course for all students about academic probation, “The Culture of College,” and said she sees much that is wrong with the culture of not just college, but of modern education generally.Thomas was one of about 30 people who were in Dunn Meadow on Thursday to protest what they believe to be critical problems with traditional schooling. The event, which was for the National Day of Action for Education, was organized in solidarity with the Occupy Movement.“For as far back as I can remember, I wondered why school is set up the way it was,” Thomas said. “Even as a kid, I seemed to learn a lot more when I was hanging out at my grandma’s house and could learn what I wanted to learn, rather than the regimented system at school.”But she said it wasn’t until she volunteered with AmeriCorps, teaching at an inner-city school in a low-income area of Philadelphia, that the problems became apparent.Teachers would call parents in to beat students behind closed doors, she said. They would make first-graders stand outside in a line during recess, yelling at them if they weren’t doing well in school.“It was very much a struggling school,” Thomas said. “And to see that school functioning was to see all the problems that I’ve seen in the schools I went to, which were more for middle-class white people, and they were just magnified tremendously.”Following the informational forum in Dunn Meadow, about 50 students and other concerned individuals packed into a Ballantine Hall classroom for a “teach-in,” a panel and open discussion about what they perceive to be one of the greatest problems with college education: high tuition and the resulting student debt.Panelists included professor of educational leadership and policy studies Robert Arnove and professor of geography Rebecca Lave, both of whom spoke about the causes and effects of high tuition abroad and domestically. Lave said state funding of IU’s budget was 47 percent in 1980, and it has decreased to 19 percent.“These are big, big cuts, and where those cuts get made up is in tuition costs,” she said. Arnove discussed the actions students and other individuals can take in response to the increasing costs of higher education.“Where do we go from here? We can protest and act at different levels,” Arnove said, adding that individuals can act at federal, state and institutional levels. “Individually and collectively, you have tremendous power. It’s not just the students. It’s also the teachers.”Jeanette Samyn, a graduate student who helped organized the teach-in, said the discussion was part of the “Rethink” series organized by Occupy IU and the Progressive Faculty and Staff Caucus.Thursday’s teach-in was the first of three major teach-ins that will take place this semester, she said. It was followed by an occupation of Dunn Meadow that evening.“Student debt was the first thing we wanted to talk about simply because it affects so many people,” Samyn said. “Everyone has different information they can offer, so that’s the whole idea around the discussion, rather than it being more question-and-answer.”The next teach-in is tentatively scheduled for April 12.
(03/01/12 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Student Association ticket Movement for IUSA marked the beginning of its campaign Wednesday.Although there is currently no stated opposition, Movement for IUSA recruited campaign help after an overview of its ticket before a group of about 60 students in the Indiana Memorial Union Walnut Room.Elections will begin at 10 a.m. April 3 and conclude at 10 p.m. April 4. Students can vote online and at various polling locations across campus.The CandidatesKyle Straub is the current IUSA treasurer and is running for the position of student body president for the 2012-13 academic year. Junior Patrick Courtney serves as the current IUSA administration’s deputy chief of staff and is running for vice president of the administration. He is also involved with IU Dance Marathon and plays for the IU men’s club soccer team.Junior Stephanie Kohls is the current vice president for congress and is seeking re-election for the upcoming academic year. “There’s a lot of things we can improve on, so I’m excited to take on that challenge again,” she said. Kohls is also the president-elect of College Mentors for Kids.Sophomore Casey Baker is running for treasurer with the Movement for IUSA ticket. Although she has no prior experience with IUSA, she serves as the vice president of finance at her sorority.Junior Augustin Ruta is running for chief of staff. This past year, he served as the IUSA chief of internal affairs and works with Kelley Student Government.The Initiatives“Movement for IUSA” outlined four main initiatives it will focus on during its campaign.Campus-Wide Safe Ride ProgramThe proposed Safe Ride program would offer students transportation from late-night, potentially dangerous situations. Candidates acknowledged the current IU safety escort system but said it closes relatively early on the weekends and does not pick students up from all locations.Movement for IUSA proposed a program to run all hours of the night, bringing students from on or off-campus to their homes. It said it has already decided to contract this program through a cab company.Hoosier Info KiosksThe current IUSA administration implemented digital signage in the Herman B Wells Library to display campus news, the weather and other information. Movement for IUSA proposed a series of these digital signs to be posted around campus. A response to the 2007 shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the digital signs posted across campus could, in the event of an emergency, notify students quickly.Rec Sports E-Reserve SystemMovement for IUSA proposed an online sign-up system in which students can reserve treadmills and elliptical machines at the University’s recreational centers.Light Up IUThe candidates hope to employ the help of VAT Energies, a company that designs sustainable lighting systems for large institutions, to better light the campus at night. The solar- and wind-powered lights would be placed around campus and tailored to fit the aesthetic of the University’s surroundings.
(02/24/12 5:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An IU-commissioned study released last week about the University and IU Health’s economic impact on the state has sparked a debate.Last Thursday, IU President Michael McRobbie and President and CEO of IU Health Daniel Evans revealed the results of an economic study. Published in the report “Economic Engine for Indiana: An Economic Impact Analysis,” the results said the partnership generates at least $11.5 billion in economic impact for the state of Indiana and supports nearly 100,000 jobs for Hoosiers. The study is based on information for the 2010-11 fiscal year.IU commissioned Tripp Umbach, an independent consulting firm, to conduct the study, paying them $75,000.John Siegfried, professor of economics at Vanderbilt University, has researched university-commissioned studies like the one released last week.The findings of research conducted by Siegfried and his colleagues will be published in an upcoming report titled “Pitfalls of Traditional Measures of Higher Education’s Role in Economic Development.” The report questions the integrity of the numbers in results from studies like the one revealed last week, suggesting they are inflated and misleading.“If these economic impact studies were conducted at the level of accuracy most institutions require of faculty research, their claims of local economic benefits would not be so egregious, and, as a result, trust in and respect for higher education officials would be enhanced,” the report reads.Paul Umbach, president and founder of Tripp Umbach, said the methods used in its university economic analyses are on par with university research, adding they are some of the most conservative methods in the industry.“Tripp Umbach uses the same tools academic researchers use, and our studies are held to the same standard,” he said. “Economists at universities actually review our studies, so there’s no difference between a Tripp Umbach study and a university study.”The practice of commissioning such reports is common across industries other than higher education, Siegfried’s report said, and universities have been engaging in such practice for decades. Umbach agreed.Siegfried’s report said money spent on university-commissioned studies could benefit them, because figures conveying an institution’s large benefit on the economy are favorable when competing for state funding or resisting cutbacks. Such figures also reflect nicely on the commissioning university, the report said.Last week, the Indianapolis Star reported that Umbach said such analyses are public relations documents. In an interview Thursday, Umbach said the reports are not, although many public universities use such analyses to communicate their economic impact.Besides the figures regarding total economic impact and job support in the state, the University’s report cites that for every dollar spent by IU and IU Health, $24.91 is generated for the state of Indiana.Siegfried’s report said, while that might be true, money of any sort spent in state will, until spent out of state, re-circulate in state.“A dollar spent by a college or university may eventually create multiple dollars of local economic activity,” Siegfried’s study said. “But a dollar spent golfing or for a seafood buffet does the same.”Associate Vice President of University Communications Mark Land said the techniques used in the study are standard in the industry and have been used in hundreds of studies, many commissioned by IU’s institutional peers.“From our end, I can say we hired Tripp Umbach to provide an independent analysis of the economic impact IU and IU Health have on the state of Indiana based on its reputation as a national leader in this type of economic development research,” he said.Tripp Umbach, during its 25-year history, has produced studies for more than 150 universities, including the Ohio State University and Cornell University.Umbach said when reports dispute the numbers provided in such analyses, information crucial to the bigger picture is lost.“Those stories lose the 48,000 jobs and paychecks that go to people, and there’s a loss of billions of fresh dollars that come into Indiana because of the University and IU Health,” he said. “The facts are very strong and can’t be disputed, and it’s sad they would be lost in a methodological debate.”
(02/23/12 5:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gloria Bangiola, a freshman in the Jacobs School of Music, chose Wright Quad as her Bloomington home.Read Residence Center is closer to the music school, but housing was less expensive in Wright, she said. She is now preparing for her sophomore year, when she plans to pay a little extra to move to Read, which is right across the street from the music school and where she said all her friends will be staying.But with the IU Board of Trustees recent decision to increase the cost of on-campus housing, she said she might be paying a little more than she thought.Last Friday, the Trustees approved the on-campus housing rates for the 2012-13 academic year, which involved voting for an increase in the cost of several housing facilities across campus.The increase will occur on a sliding scale, said Associate Vice President for University Communications Mark Land, with some residence hall rates increasing as much as eight percent. At the other end, some facilities will not experience any increase at all, he said.Among the dorms most affected are single and double rooms in Ashton Center, Eigenmann Hall, Forest Quad, Foster Quad, McNutt Quad, Teter Quad and Wright Quad, whose residents will all see an eight-percent increase in housing costs from the current academic year.Some of the facilities that will not experience any increase include the Evermann Apartments, University Apartments and Redbud Hill Apartments.Representatives from IU’s Residential Programs and Services declined comment.Bangiola is from the east coast, so she pays out-of-state tuition and tries to cut the price of education by selecting low-cost housing. “I think I’m probably kind of stuck,” Bangiola said. “The increase will probably have an effect on how many years I can stay. I was planning on staying five years, but if I can’t afford housing, then I can’t stay.”Her original plan was to apply for a single in Read, which would have cost her nearly $6,730 for two semesters of housing during the upcoming school year. That’s a $498 increase from the current school year.Because there were no singles available when she applied, she requested a Read “double single,” for which she will be paying $8,194, up $607 from the current school year.Land said the increases come as a response to students’ increasing expectations in dorm amenities.“What worked for me in the ‘80s as a student in a dorm room is different from today,” he said.To accommodate the rising expectations, Land said the University has built new facilities, such as Union Street Center, and is performing renovations to existing facilities. About $40 million has been invested in Briscoe Quad’s renovations, which, among other things, will allow students to choose more apartment-style living arrangements than traditional dorm housing.Those changes require the University spend money, Land said. However, he said the University seeks to be responsible with the increases.“We’re very much aware that money is an issue for a lot of folks, so we’re trying to hold the line where we can,” he said. “At the same time, we’re also recognizing that the types of dorms students want nowadays require more amenities.”Bangiola’s friend, freshman Esther Moudy-Gummere, is a current resident of Read who won’t be returning to Read in the fall, or any residence hall, for that matter.“I think it’s a lot more cost-effective to not live in the dorms if that’s possible,” she said. “That’s not only because of the money for the space you’re living in, but also with the quality of the food and everything. You can control that yourself and not have to pay a flat rate for it.”Though Bangiola plans to move to Read next year, she still has concerns about the increase.“Read doesn’t have air conditioning,” she said. “Are they raising the cost as much in Briscoe where there’s air conditioning? Because they’re raising the cost here where there isn’t.”She also said she doesn’t care too much about the renovations and state-of-the-art living facilities.“I don’t care personally whether I’m an apartment-type living or in a dorm because it doesn’t make a difference,” she said. “So that’s not really a good reason, in my mind, but some people might disagree.”
(02/22/12 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Bloomington Faculty Council convened Tuesday and discussed the first phase of the long-term Shared Services Initiative, a plan that would restructure some parts of the University in an effort to cut costs and provide services more efficiently.Associate Vice President of University Communications Mark Land, though not present at the meeting, said the initiative aims to cut costs by consolidating areas such as administrative and human resource services. He compared the plan to the process of buying products in bulk.“If I were to order 500 printers at once, I’m going to get a better deal than 10 groups ordering 50 printers,” he said, adding that many businesses have implemented similar initiatives throughout the years and that these initiatives typically result in savings.Professor Padraic Kenney, chair of the council’s Education Policies Committee, said the initiative has the potential to affect students.“It looks at the way student services are going to be centralized in ways that may or may not be great for students,” he said, adding that some services might become more easily available.According to the initiative’s 42-page report, the plan could save the University $7.7 million.But council members expressed concerns that consolidation of services could result in a loss of jobs for faculty and staff. According to the report, the initiative would cut 59 University staff positions.In the only action policy on the agenda, the council reviewed the definition of what IU considers to be a “credit hour.”Kenney presented a draft of the definition.The document defined a credit hour as one hour of faculty instruction per week, with two or more hours per week of additional work or study during the course of a 15-week semester. The definition also stated that a proportional amount of instruction and work for the duration of a different amount of time is also acceptable.The definition sparked debate among council members because of a single sentence in the document, which stated that, if a student attends class and completes the two hours of work per credit hour outside the classroom, he or she should be able to earn a passing grade.IU Student Association President Justin Kingsolver said it was dangerous to make such a statement without acknowledging learning differences among students.The council largely agreed, and it voted unanimously to remove the statement from the definition. Neither the council nor the Educational Policies Committee will further review the definition.Despite the debate, Kenney said the new definition will not affect students.The meeting closed with an update about the IU eText Initiative from Brad Wheeler, the University‘s vice president for information technology.Seven publishers have joined the IU eText Initiative since Wheeler met with the council last September. About 130 courses are using eTexts this semester, with 39 courses being taught on the Bloomington campus.The council will convene again at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, in the Indiana Memorial Union Georgian Room. For more information, visit indiana.edu/~bfc.
(02/20/12 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Student volunteers from IU made their way to the Crestmont Boys and Girls Club, which is located about three miles west of campus in a low-income, subsidized-housing community.A boy sat with two hands grasping a half-eaten falafel sandwich. “Do you like the falafel?” a Boys and Girls Club leader asked.He put down the pita and shook his head but continued to nibble at the sandwich.Representatives from Veg IU, IU’s vegetarian and vegan organization, visited the Boys and Girls Club to teach the kids about a healthy vegetarian diet.The kids’ afternoon snack consisted of do-it-yourself falafel sandwiches, for which BGC members could stuff pita bread with spicy chickpea patties, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.“This food is called ‘vegetarian’ because there’s no meat in it,” a member of VegIU called out, her voice rising above the noise created from the kids crafting their culinary creations and the mixed reactions at the dish they received.“It was so funny when they ate the falafels because it was either ‘I love it!’ or ‘I’m not eating this,’” VegIU President Jennie Plasterer said. “There was one kid who shouted, ‘This is amazing!’ and there was another going, ‘No way!’”The VegIU volunteers also introduced the kids to fruit pizzas, a sugar cookie-like crust topped with applesauce instead of tomato sauce. The volunteers placed trays of fruit on the table, allowing the children to customize their afternoon snacks to fit their personal tastes.“Fruit pizzas are always fun because (the kids) can decorate and put colors on, so we thought that was a pretty interactive, fun kid meal,” Plasterer said.Little hands plucked slices of strawberries, bananas and pineapple from the trays. Strawberries appeared to be everyone’s favorite topping, and the pizza slices were gone in minutes.Meanwhile, the IU Neuroscience Club taught a short lesson in the clubhouse’s upper level.“Does anyone know anything about the brain?” an IU student asked. The group of kids, who ranged in age from about 6 to 11, were quiet, except for one.“It gives you blood!” one girl yelled out.“Not quite,” the IU student said with a smile. Members of the neuroscience club explained what cells are and how they contribute to living things.“The brain is made of little cells called neurons,” one said, holding up a construction paper neuron pieced together with pipe cleaners and plastic pony beads.Volunteers from the neuroscience club helped the kids craft their own neurons, teaching them how the brain controls the things people do.At first, the whole building was loud, abuzz with the voices of excited children. Volunteer Coordinator Matt Hanauer said he initially worried the Friday rotations would be chaotic. The Historical Society was supposed to do an activity with the kids, but this plan fell through.As a member of groups Campus Kitchen and the IU Historical Society, Hanauer organizes for various student groups to visit the Crestmont Boys and Girls Club. The group also visits the Lincoln Boys and Girls Club and Girls Inc.By the end, Hanauer said he was pleased something that was at first “kind of a disaster” turned out really well.It came time for the kids to go home as BGC members wiped down the tables where the food had previously been. The volunteers rewarded themselves with the leftover falafel, and the day drew to a close.
(02/17/12 4:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Board of Trustees will vote today to potentially finalize an increase to housing costs on campus.The increase, if enacted, will affect future housing rates on a sliding scale, said Associate Vice President of University Communications Mark Land.At the high end, an 8-percent increase to housing costs could occur. At the opposite end, some facilities might not experience any increase.The potential increase comes along with the addition of new living centers, including the 3rd & Union Apartments that will open in 2013. It also takes into consideration recent renovation of existing residence halls, such as Briscoe Quad, which, when finished, will have undergone about $40 million in changes.Land said the administration and the trustees are trying to be responsible with the increases, which he said come in response to students’ increasing expectations and desires for certain amenities with on-campus housing.The meeting also brought about an important announcement of the results of a study commissioned by the University.The study revealed the economic impact the partnership between IU’s eight campuses and IU Health had on the state of Indiana for the 2010-11 fiscal year.The study, which cost $75,000, was commissioned by the University in 2011 to be conducted by consulting firm Tripp Umbach, a company based in Pittsburgh and independent of IU.The University system and IU Health collectively created $11.5 billion in total economic impact, IU President Michael McRobbie said Thursday at the IU Board of Trustees meeting on the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campus.The report, titled “Economic Engine for Indiana: an Economic Impact Analysis,” defined “total economic impact” as measuring the dollar amount generated within the state of Indiana as a result of the IU system and IU Health.The analysis also focused on business volume and government revenue generated in Indiana as a result of the partnership.That $11.5 billion spent by the University in the 2010-11 fiscal year went back to the state of Indiana and breaks down into $5.9-billion worth of direct economic impact and $5.6 billion in what the report refers to as “indirect or induced” spending.Direct expenditures account for spending on goods and services by the University, as well as by its employees, students and visitors. According to the report, the spending supports local businesses when money from those parties is spent on goods and services provided by local vendors.“Indirect or induced” spending accounts for the money re-spent by local businesses and other recipients of the direct expenditures although, like the report’s analysis of direct expenditures, it only accounts for money spent within the state.Paul Umbach, senior principal of Tripp Umbach, said the impact the University and IU Health had on the state of Indiana during the 2010-11 fiscal year was the greatest the firm has seen in its 25-year history.The report also revealed the impact of the IU system and IU Health on jobs across the state.When IU and IU Health are combined, the partnership supports 48,147 jobs directly, which refers to the number of workers employed directly by the University and IU Health.Another 51,884 jobs are supported indirectly, accounting for jobs such as those of construction workers employed to work on University buildings or restaurants and hotels used in University business. Both directly and indirectly, 100,031 jobs are supported by the partnership.On its own, IU Health is the fourth-largest employer in the state, and the University is the fifth. In this instance, Wal-Mart Inc. is the largest Indiana employer.The study also outlined the contributions of University alumni who have remained in-state, stating that IU alumni account for 50 percent of Indiana’s physicians, 75 percent of its attorneys and 90 percent of its dentists.“This is a spectacular example of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole,” Daniel Evans, president and chief executive office of IU-Health, said in a public statement Thursday.He added that he considers the University’s partnership with IU Health the “special sauce” that separates IU from other universities.
(02/16/12 5:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When big decisions about the University need to be made, it’s a group of nine people that has the final say. These nine people collectively form the IU Board of Trustees, which works with IU President Michael McRobbie and other University executives.“As a state university, we’re beholden, ultimately, to the taxpayers and the residents of the state of Indiana,” Associate Vice President for University Communications Mark Land said. “So the way we’re governed, we’ve got the president and the other executives on campus who run the day-to-day operations of the University, but we have a Board of Trustees who is kind of the final group of overseers.”The Board of Trustees will meet today and tomorrow at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. The board’s business meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday in room 132 of the University Place Conference Center. The members will be discussing issues ranging from spring enrollment to a variety of new degrees being proposed for approval including an online program for a Master Degree in Educational Leadership to be offered through IU-Bloomington.The board consists of five members appointed by the state governor, three members elected by University alumni and one student delegate. They meet six times a year to make decisions affecting all campuses University-wide.“Trustees don’t run the University,” said Dr. William Cast, a physician and the chair of the Board of Trustees. “The administration runs the University. Trustees just have oversight.”Cast said each board member as an individual receives no special privileges. Rather, the board as a whole is responsible for various sectors in the University.He said the board has changed greatly since it was created in 1820, but now, the group manages University property as if it were its own, for the citizens of Indiana.The responsibilities of the Board of Trustees are assigned by state law and cover all aspects of University business, according to the Board of Trustees website. As a board, the nine members can set tuition and determine admissions standards. Cast said a lot of what the trustees do is setting and approving numbers, especially since the Board of Trustees interacts with the budgets of three different institutions: IU Health, which includes both the hospital of the same name and the IU School of Medicine; the IU Foundation; and the University, which consists of eight different campuses.The Board of Trustees is also responsible for selecting the University president and other executives, which Cast said has been one of the most challenging parts of the job he encountered since his appointment in 2005.“All the trustees care a great deal about the University and higher education,” Cast said. “What is rewarding is to try to make it better. That’s really everyone’s goal on the board.”The Board of Trustees will convene today and Friday on the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. At the meeting, board members and University administration will discuss, among other things, renovation and expansion of the IU-Bloomington Kelley School of Business and will approve new degree programs.
(02/13/12 2:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Miss Indiana University 2011 Jaclyn Fenwick walked the stage for the last time Saturday night in a black and gold evening gown picked out by her father. She then passed the title to junior Brianna McClellan.Seven undergraduates competed in the Miss IU pageant, a preliminary to the Miss Indiana and Miss America competitions, vying not only for the title but for more than $3,000 in scholarships.Fenwick said the importance of the Miss America organization lies in the scholarships it provides to young women. In total, Miss America presented more than $45 million to local, state and national competitors last year.“I just want it to be known that it’s not a pageant. It’s not a thing about beauty,” she said. “It’s about volunteerism — because we all have a platform — and community service and having a venue to express yourself, and it gives you a megaphone for your platform. It’s the inner beauty and scholarship.”Miss IU Director and professor Teresa White said the local competition provided opportunities for participants to win multiple scholarships. Catherine Gibson won a $200 scholarship through the Kiwanis International “One Can Make a Difference” service award for her platform, “Know Your Status: HIV/AIDS Awareness.” Second runner-up Kaitlin Karr received a $500 scholarship, and first runner-up Jessica Linxwiler received a $1,000 scholarship. Along with the title of Miss IU 2012, McClellan received $1,500 in scholarships.The pageant consisted of five phases: private interview, talent, lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit, evening gown and onstage question. The talent phase of the competition was weighted most heavily for the contestants, White said, adding that this year’s mix of talent was unusual because there was only one vocalist, which was fewer than in previous years. Talent acts included an African dance, an Irish fiddle performance and a rendition of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.”McClellan, a junior studying theater, sang “Cry Me a River,” originally performed by Ella Fitzgerald.“I love the 1950s, and it was written in the 1950s,” McClellan said. “It was a beautiful era, and it’s absolutely classic. It’s a gorgeous, beautiful ballad that has a little bit of soul, so it’s a bluesy, powerful woman song, and I’ve always enjoyed singing it.”McClellan’s platform, “Safe Schools for Every Student,” aimed to stop bullying of homosexual teenagers in schools. She said that because she grew up with a gay older brother, her platform had personal ties, as she had witnessed the consequences of bullying firsthand. During the next year as title holder, McClellan will participate in community service and advance her platform.She will advance to compete in the Miss Indiana pageant in June. In the meantime, her duties as Miss IU will be varied.“I got to be in the Homecoming parade with my own car and people were shouting out my name, and it was just a really neat experience,” Fenwick said of her time as Miss IU. “Also, I got to throw out the first pitch at one of the IU baseball games, and I actually threw a strike wearing heels and a dress. That was an accomplishment.”McClellan said she is looking forward to her title as Miss IU 2012.“I was completely humbled and blown away and shocked and honored and excited and freaking out all rolled into one word that doesn’t exist, but I’m very, very blessed and very, very honored,” she said.
(02/13/12 1:06am)
Junior Brianna McClellan reacts to being crowned Miss Indiana University on Saturday at Alumni Hall. McClellan received $1,500 in scholarships for winning the competition.
(02/07/12 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Ind. state legislature has recently been faced with several bills pertaining to higher education. Two of these bills, as of this week, are no longer eligible to be enacted this year.HB 1118, “University Tuition and Fees,” proposed that the Commission for Higher Education be allowed to establish maximum tuition increases for public universities in the state of Indiana.Proponents of the bill note that the legislation, if passed, would lower the cost of tuition. Its opponents, however, worry about the possibility of programs being cut as a result of lower tuition rates.“One of the things that gets lost in this tuition debate is that, while tuition has gone up, the largest contributor to the increasing student debt is what they spend beyond tuition,” said Bloomington Faculty Council Budgetary Affairs Committee member Herbert Terry, not speaking on behalf of the committee but instead out of long-term involvement. He said things like housing and other expenses can contribute to increased student debt.Beginning this year, IU will offer tuition discounts for summer classes, and Purdue is slowly transitioning to a trimester system, both of which are initiatives Terry believes to be in response to HB 1118.“Both of these things respond to the underlying concern of the General Assembly — the cost of education and the related student debt,” he said. “Frankly, I think both universities did these things, in part, to head off efforts by legislators to deal with this through things like tuition controls.”HB 1118 failed to receive a hearing in its house of origin by Feb. 1, said Jeff Linder, associate vice president for public affairs and government relations. The bill is no longer eligible to be enacted this year, he said. However, components of the bill can be rewritten, so the bill can, in a sense, come back for consideration, Terry said, adding he doesn’t think this is likely to happen. Another bill, SB 411, “Public Employee Salary Limitation,” proposed salaries of various public employees, including faculty of state educational institutions, not be permitted to exceed the salary of the governor, which is currently about $95,000 annually.Currently, the salaries of nearly 2,000 University faculty and staff members exceed the $95,000 threshold. “I think most of the members of the General Assembly wouldn’t go that way since, like most government entities, Indiana doesn’t pay its chief executive officer all that much,” Terry said.Linder said SB 411 died as well and is not eligible to be enacted this year, either. A few bills remain regarding government intervention in the “core curriculum” in state institutions of higher learning.“The universities have been working with the legislators and Commission for Higher Education of that proposal,” Linder said.
(02/07/12 4:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Only four designs remain in the competition for IU’s official plaid.The contest, which is held by Students in Free Enterprise, kicked off last fall when more than 25 undergraduates submitted variations of plaid in IU’s official cream and crimson colors, as well as up to four additional colors. The winning plaid design will be licensed and trademarked by IU’s Office of Licensing and Trademarks to be printed on select University merchandise beginning in fall 2012.SIFE narrowed the initial entries to the top six, which were then presented to a panel of what SIFE President Danielle Thoe called “IU Celebrity Judges.” These judges include fashion blogger Jessica Quirk and Kohl’s Product Development Manager Michael Ping, both IU alumni.J Thomas Forbes, executive director of the IU Alumni Association, and College of Arts and Sciences administrators also sat on the panel.“We wanted a mix of people who are really excited about IU and really knew their stuff,” Thoe said. The panel chose four of the remaining six designs, which now await votes to determine the new signature plaid.Designers used computer software to design their plaids, said Ashley Hasty, professor of apparel merchandising and SIFE advisor. Besides the additional colors, designers could choose line widths and make specifications about the placement of those lines.Thoe said the demand for a signature plaid is growing in colleges nationwide, with about a dozen touting their own trademarked designs.“Ultimately, it was an opportunity for students to express their school spirit in a unique way,” Hasty said.Hasty said the competition also creates merchandising opportunities that could be learning experiences for students, particularly those who are in the field of fashion design or apparel merchandising. “It’s giving students an opportunity to engage in the design and production of apparel and other collegiate items that would be of interest to students, faculty and alumni,” she said.SIFE’s initial vision for the plaid involved scarves, ties and accessory pieces. Hasty said she hopes the plaid will bring about a host of new IU apparel and other products.“The uses for plaid are only limited to the students’ imaginations,” she said.She also said she hopes to see the winning plaid incorporated in iPhone cases.Although there are no plans for the designer of the winning plaid to receive compensation for the design based on merchandise sales, he or she will get to see the design used for years to come.“That’s something that’s going to be really cool for the student whose plaid is chosen,” Thoe said. “Twenty years from now, they can come back and the plaid that people are wearing on campus or the plaid that’s being sold in the bookstore is their design.”To vote, visit college.indiana.edu/iuplaid. Voting closes Feb. 21.
(02/06/12 3:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Since Google announced its plans for a new privacy policy, which will go into effect March 1, users have been abuzz with concerns, and the change has attracted the attention of media outlets internationally.More locally, IU students using Google services on a daily basis might find themselves affected in March.Although IU partnered with Google to launch Umail, one of the two services students can choose from for an email provider, Vice President of Google Enterprise Amit Singh said in a public statement, “Enterprise customers using Google Apps for Government, Business or Education have individual contracts that define how we handle and store their data.”Google Spokesperson Tim Drinan said their contract with IU supersedes their general privacy policy. Google declined further comment.But for students who use Google services outside the University’s contract, John Duncan, lecturer at the School of Informatics and Computing, said there are some changes consumers should know about.WHAT’S NEW“Essentially, prior to this announcement, Google was in a position where they had a lot of different products,” Duncan said. “You have to remember — people think of Google as the search engine company, but they have had a lot of success with some of their other things.”This included not just the search engine, but also their ownership of YouTube and services such as Gmail.Prior to the change in policy, Duncan said each service was its own sort of “mini-company.” They were all owned by Google, but each had its own team of employees and its own individual data storage.“So, for example, when you went to YouTube and you searched for videos, they could only use that data to change the way YouTube was presented to you and maybe suggest other YouTube videos,” he said. “But if you went and ran a Google search, they wouldn’t suggest stuff out of your YouTube history because they were separate.”Google will transition to one central data storage for the users of all its products. This also means information can be shared between Google services.The change lends itself to advertising, which Duncan said is Google’s main funding.“So what’s going on here is that Google has realized that, increasingly, the information they want about users is only available when they have the full profile of what a user does on the web,” he said.Although Google’s new policy says the changes will help Google users connect with other products and services relevant to their interests, Duncan said the changes are largely a net loss for users.WHAT’S AT STAKEFor those who have different behaviors for different Google products, Duncan said the policy yields “annoyance and mild privacy concerns.” If a consumer uses YouTube to search music videos but uses Google’s search engine for scholarly research, he said it could be aggravating to find that Google search, having pulled information from YouTube, recommends music-related search returns.The bigger concern, Duncan said, is the data footprint.“All of this information Google wants to have access to in terms of your history has to be stored somewhere, and previously, a lot of little pieces of your history were stored in a lot of separate places,” he said.Now, there will be one centralized data cache and a larger risk if the data is compromised.“Google’s a big company, and they do their security seriously because of that, but it only takes one failure for a lot of people to get hurt indirectly,” Duncan said.HOW TO AVOID ITFinding ways around Google’s policy would involve creating separate Google accounts for each service and using separate browsers when using those services.“If you don’t want this to affect you, it’s going to take a lot of work,” Duncan said. Duncan said he believes the majority of people won’t care enough about the new changes to go through the trouble to avoid the policy.“There are absolutely people where you can go up and ask them, ‘Is this okay?’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t care,’” he said. “The fact that that’s most people is why the company is doing stuff like this.”THE BOTTOM LINE“The sky is not falling,” Duncan said. “There’s been a lot worse stuff, but people should educate themselves.”To find out how to protect your information online, visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation website at eff.org or visit protect.iu.edu.
(02/01/12 5:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was summer in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Lauren Robel attempted to do yoga on a stand-up paddleboard, falling into the water often.While fulfilling her duties as president of the Association of American Law Schools, she saw an opportunity to try something new in her free time.“I saw that they had this yoga class on a paddleboard and thought, ‘What a wonderful thing to do,’” she said. Paddleboarding involves standing on what Robel called a “gigantic surfboard on steroids” and using a large paddle for propulsion. It involves stability, she said, and it involves balance.Much like paddleboard yoga, Robel’s position as interim provost will require balance.Robel’s term began Jan. 17 after former provost Karen Hanson moved to the University of Minnesota, where she will become the senior vice president of academic affairs and provost.“I understand that this position is really a critical one to have not lose a beat,” Robel said. “You really need someone in the position on an interim basis who understands the campus well and has a good working relationship with the deans.”Robel has been with the University since she visited her younger sister, who was then a graduate student in the English department. Robel said she fell in love with Bloomington and applied to the law school.“I thought, ‘Indiana has a wonderful English department. If this law thing doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll just stay with my backup plan,’” she said. Before Robel came to IU, she studied English literature at Auburn University alongside her younger sister and father.Robel’s father, a prisoner of war in World War II, decided to attend college in his 50s. He entered the Air Force when at 17 and couldn’t pursue higher education.“He had given a lifetime of service to the country and he thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll get a business degree,’ but very quickly realized what he really wanted to do was study literature,” Robel said. “Both my sister and I were interested in that, so he’d take a class and we’d get the books. We’d hand the books around within the family. It was a wonderful way to go to college, really.”Robel said she never realized it at the time, but she sees the courage it took for her father to sit in an English class surrounded by 18-year-olds. She now keeps his diploma on her desk at home.Robel pursued law at IU and graduated in 1983. After working in Chicago as a clerk for a federal judge, Robel was convinced to return to IU by friends who were faculty. She became an assistant professor in 1985.She said there wasn’t a thing she didn’t enjoy teaching, and even when she became associate dean of the law school in 1991, she continued to teach. Robel became dean of the law school in 2003. “She has a passion for IU that comes from the fact she’s an alumna,” said Joseph Hoffmann, a law professor who served as interim executive associate dean twice under Robel. Under Robel’s deanship, the law school experienced growth in a variety of ways, Hoffmann said.“Probably the most visible change is that we have established the law school as one of the top public law schools in the country,” he said.On Robel’s new desk is a picture of her grandchildren — Grace, 6, and Elliott, 4 — with whom she said she tries to spend all her spare time.“They’re the biggest IU basketball fans you could imagine,” she said. “He could sing the IU fight song before he could say a complete sentence. I can throw out an IU basketball player’s team number, and both of them can tell me the name.”A window overlooks the Old Crescent, where students pass by on their way to class. These students are a significant part of her job, she said. “I was always very impressed with how she saw students as individual students and not just as a big undifferentiated group,” said Hannah Buxbaum, who served under Robel as associate dean for academic affairs and is now filling the interim deanship.Robel sees the provost position as a way to give back.“I was happy to do it when President McRobbie asked me to do it,” she said. “It seemed like something I could do in service to a University that has really given me my life.”
(01/27/12 6:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last semester the President’s Challenge website tracked IU employees’ nutrition and exercise progress throughout their participation in the Healthy IU fitness competition.On Jan. 19, those same IU employees received an email from President’s Challenge officials delivering some alarming news.“We are writing to inform you about a security issue involving the President’s Challenge website,” the email began. “Hackers recently accessed our database.”The security breach gave hackers personal information such as names, email addresses, birth dates and nutritional data of about 650,000 President’s Challenge participants nationwide, including IU employees who participated in the inter-campus challenge.“As it turns out, though, no financial information was available to the hacker,” Director of University Communications Ryan Piurek said. “And it’s been determined that only a small percentage of participants in the President’s Challenge programs could have social security numbers at risk.”Healthy IU Director Patty Hollingsworth emailed University employees the following day to notify those on the IU Employee Health and Wellness mailing list.Because the President’s Challenge office, which administers physical fitness tests in 32,000 schools across the country, is located on the Bloomington campus, the University Information Security Office assisted in response to the breach.Hollingsworth’s email, a notification to parties affected by the breach, was one of the steps in a recovery plan devised by the UISO, which does not do any of the “hands on” work in repairing the damage, but coordinates a response plan to the hacking.“We have an incident response process that we use to make sure we handle incidents appropriately and as quickly as we can,” Chief Security Officer Thomas Davis said. “When an incident occurs, an Incident Team will be assembled to advise and assist in containing the exposure, investigating the incident and notifying the affected individuals and agencies.”Soon after President’s Challenge staff learned of the hacking on Jan. 11, IU Communications shut down the site and assessed the damage, Piurek said. The President’s Challenge staff is in the midst of implementing the plan outlined by the UISO.“The site’s back up and running, and we’re confident that it’s again secure,” Piurek said. “Still, we’re continuing to work with our IT security engineers to discover the extent of the data that was compromised and taking steps to strengthen our security procedures and protect all future activity within the website. This process is well underway, but it will take time.”The time it takes to recover from a security breach depends on how complicated or involved the incident is, Davis said. Usually, it takes two to three days, but more serious occurrences can take a week or longer. Davis said incidents like the one with the President’s Challenge website are rare. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit organization that tracks “high-profile” security breaches, has a record of three incidents at IU.The first of the three incidents occurred in November 2005, when a hacker accessed the information of 5,278 students enrolled in introductory courses at the Kelley School of Business on the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses. The hacker also accessed the social security numbers of nearly 4,800 of said students.Most recent was an incident last September. More than 3,000 patients at the School of Medicine in Indianapolis were affected when a laptop containing sensitive information was stolen from a physician’s car.Davis said students should be educated about current threats, such as phishing scams, in order to protect their information online from ill-intentioned Internet users. Being aware of personal information posted on the web is just the beginning, he said.While sharing things like wireless networks and computers might be convenient, he said, doing so compromises security for the sake of convenience.“You don’t have to be a super geek or understand everything about technology to be secure,” Davis said. “You just have to be vigilant and cautious, and you should have a good idea where to start.”For more information, visit protect.iu.edu.
(01/25/12 5:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Bloomington Faculty Council convened Tuesday afternoon with Interim Provost Lauren Robel as the council’s presiding officer.The meeting, which was in the Indiana Memorial Union Georgian Room, was the first of the year and raised issues about faculty policy and graduate appointee stipends.Here’s what you missed:Non-reappointments for non -tenure faculty and librariansAcademic Guide Policy E-17 is outlines the review process for faculty members and librarians on track for tenure. Approved in 2003, the BFC is seeking to make some revisions to the policy.A revision to the original policy stated, “If a department or school (for non-departmentalized units) decides not to reappoint a tenure-track faculty member or librarian during the first three years of the probationary period, that decision is final and no further substantive reviews are required.”Some faculty members questioned the fairness of a single review, which occurred between the faculty member’s third and fourth years, being a possible deal breaker for tenure.The BFC reached no definitive conclusion.Resolution on reporting benefits to IU facultyThe proposed health benefit premiums set for next year reflect a more than 100 percent increase from the year before. During the meeting, requests from IU President Michael McRobbie and Vice President Neil Theobald were presented for BFC approval. The requests presented a plan for helping employees understand the reasons behind the increase. The plan called for faculty councils from each IU campus to distribute detailed cost and benefit analyses of the increase. The original resolution called for the analyses to be distributed to every employee by Dec. 31, 2011. A BFC vote approved moving the deadline, and the issue will proceed to the University Faculty Committee for further review.Student Alumni Association Stipend Review Committee ReportIn 2009, the BFC established the Student Alumni Association Stipend Review Committee after the Graduate and Professional Student Organization raised concerns that IU-Bloomington stipends are “not on par with those of peers in the Big 10 and elsewhere,” according to the committee’s report to the provost.If the school wishes to attract the best students, the report points out, it has to be competitive in the stipends it distributes.The committee presented four recommendations to ensure that stipends are consistent with other institutions.The first called for a biannual report from each unit on campus that rewards its graduate appointees with stipends. The second recommendation would require each organization utilizing stipends to publish policies regarding leaves of absence for students receiving stipends.The third dictates that when campus-wide salary increases occur, stipends should increase by a corresponding percentage.The fourth recommendation requests that the University Graduate School gather information about stipends at other universities biannually.
(01/25/12 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Five IU students are competing for a $1,000 scholarship in the Big Ten Network’s Live Big scholarship competition.The competition, which opened in November, required students from each of the 12 schools in the Big Ten conference to submit an essay outlining their service contributions of at least 10 hours.The Big Ten Network chose five finalists from each school to compete for online votes. The student who receives the most votes when the competition closes this Friday night will receive $1,000 toward tuition.Take a look at how these students answered the question, “How do you live big?”BRITTANY GLAZEGlaze has worked with Best Buddies, an organization that pairs members with a “buddy,” an individual with a physical or intellectual handicap, since high school. She is now president of the IU chapter, which organizes monthly programs, such as cookouts and bowling outings, for buddy pairs to enjoy. The chapter won the title “Outstanding Chapter of the Year” for the 2010-11 school year, beating all other college programs in Indiana.Glaze remains close with her “buddy” from high school, a man with cerebral palsy, and said that after her experience in high school, “a spark was ignited to advocate for people with disabilities.”She said in her essay that she hopes to increase understanding among her peers of individuals with disabilities.JAMIE MCGINNESSMcGinness began working for Area 10 Agency on Aging during the summer months.She makes weekly visits to an elderly woman who, because of short-term memory loss, is dependent on her daughter. McGinness visits for two to three hours at a time, taking care of the elderly woman so the daughter can run errands and do things she couldn’t normally do while caring for her mother.McGinness’s essay recounts the first day she visited the elderly woman. The night before, she researched activities individuals with short-term memory loss enjoy. When she went to the woman’s house, the woman was not interested in the activities McGinness prepared for.McGinness said she initially thought every individual with short-term memory loss was the same. Now, McGinness and the woman enjoy doing puzzles and eating lunch together.“Every week I leave, the daughter thanks me repeatedly, but I think it’s her who is doing me the favor,” McGinness said. EMILY BORNSTEINA fine arts major, Bornstein developed an art program at Middle Way House, a shelter that provides services to women and children who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.Three times a week, Bornstein leads children temporarily housed at the Middle Way House in an art project. Bornstein said in her essay that she hopes the art projects will “lessen the effects of their negative experiences” and provide them with a safe environment for expression.Right now, they are in the middle of a ceramics project that Bornstein said the children enjoy.“There are lots of things they don’t have because they had to move out of their home,” Bornstein said. “I think to make something they can keep is really valuable to them.”LEXI GLENNONNow a sophomore, Glennon has been involved with Civic Leadership Development since her freshman year. As part of CLD, she has participated in many service projects, such as repacking food at Hoosier Hills Food Bank, ushering at the IU Auditorium and participating in the annual Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build, during which CLC members built a house in 10 days last September.Glennon now manages the CLD Projects Committee, for which she helps plan service events for her fellow members.“It has really gotten me to think about how I can have an impact on the community,” Glennon said. “It’s really important to give back.”APRIL PRANSKEPranske began volunteering at the Shalom Community Center, a day shelter for those living beneath the poverty level, during fall 2011. She sought a unique way to give back to the community and found an outlet in the “Street Fitness” program at Shalom.She now leads aerobics classes twice a week and instructs yoga classes. Pranske said the goal of the classes isn’t just fitness: It’s about providing a positive element in the lives of students.“It’s really rewarding because they don’t take it as just a workout,” Pranske said. “It leaves them feeling good.”ABOUT THE CONTESTThe winner will be announced at the last men’s basketball home game of the season. To read contestants’ full essays and to vote, visit btnlivebig.com/finalists. Voting closes at midnight Friday.
(01/23/12 3:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Kristen Thomas said she initially thought greek life was something she wanted out of her college experience.But when she went through recruitment and the rush process as a sophomore, she was unable to find a sorority where she felt she belonged.Two and a half years later, Thomas is now the secretary of Independent Council, an organization that seeks to unite non-greek women on campus.“This gives girls another option to greek life who decided it wasn’t for them after all, or girls who wanted to get involved with philanthropies and social events but didn’t get into a house or the house of their choice,” Independent Council President Lauren Kirlin said. “But anyone is welcome.”Thomas said some of the organization’s 50 or so active members share similar experiences as far as the recruitment process is concerned for sororities, but not all girls on the council became involved because of their experience with recruitment.The organization first started on Butler University’s campus in 2008. Independent Council made its way to the IU campus in 2009, modeled after Butler’s charter group.Kirlin said there are a number of similar characteristics between a sorority and Independent Council, such as the fact it is still a group of girls getting involved in a number of the same things, but with less formal commitment.She also said that, at $20 to $30 per semester, it is less expensive than joining a sorority.“I joined Independent Council as a way to get involved with activities on campus that you needed a group to participate in,” Kirlin said. “I wanted to be part of something bigger at IU.”Since coming to campus, Independent Council has participated in campus events like the Nearly Naked Mile, homecoming festivities and the Little Fifty race.“We try to get involved with a lot of campus events that have been traditionally greek-dominated,” Kirlin said.At the beginning of every year, the council also picks two philanthropies to support. This year, the group is working to benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children and Support Our Troops.They also participate in smaller projects, such as Relay for Life, canned food drives and the Shine 4 Lauren concert last September.The organization will host a call out meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at the Indiana Memorial Union in the Dogwood tree suites. Those who are unable to attend but would like more information should email the group at ic.indiana@gmail.com or visit https://sites.google.com/site/independentcouncilatiu/.