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(11/04/11 3:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Of all the cases he has seen, Vaughn Walker, former U.S. district chief judge of California’s northern district, is most known for Perry v. Schwarzenegger, in which he ruled a same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.Although his decision in the high-profile Proposition 8 case caused both praise and criticism — he said New York Times columnist Linda Greenhouse offered “fulsome praise” while Rush Limbaugh expressed “outrage” on his radio show.But he didn’t come to IU to discuss Proposition 8.“I’m not going to discuss the case,” Walker said. “The decision I made is on appeal. What I have to say about the case I said in the decision that led to the order in that case.”Instead, Walker discussed the topic of relating a judge’s decision to his personal beliefs and values in a lecture titled “On the Bench and In the Game” on Thursday at the Maurer School of Law. After his ruling in August 2010, he made public his long-term relationship with another male, making him the first known gay person to serve as a federal judge. Walker retired from the bench in February 2011.“Plessy was decided only 33 years after the Emancipation Proclamation,” he said, referring to the case that required private businesses to racially segregate. “In hindsight, this seems exceedingly short-sighted, but it would be a mistake to describe this view as entirely ill-will toward African Americans. It should probably be seen as simply reflecting a viewpoint of the times in which these justices lived.”Walker’s talk was sponsored by the Maurer School of Law, its LGBT Alumni Board, the IU Center for Law, Society, and Culture and others.Steve Sanders, a founding member of the Maurer School of Law LGBT Alumni Advisory Board who led a panel discussion following Walker’s lecture, said it was a topic that could apply to Proposition 8, although not exclusively.“A judge or justice should interpret the Constitution through its text, its structure and its history,” Walker said. “A judge or justice should set aside his own vision of the good of society.”It was Walker’s first visit to Bloomington, and it gave him a chance to reconnect with Fred Aman, now a professor at the Maurer School of Law. Walker was Aman’s roommate during their first year at the University of Chicago Law School. “Judge Walker decided to leave Chicago after that first year and head to sunny California,” Aman said as he introduced his former law school friend. “Now, all of us who got to know him in that first year missed him, to be sure, and we all wondered what would ever become of him. Well, it turns out, a lot.”
(10/31/11 12:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Shiny devil horns poked out from 11-year-old Kimmy Spencer’s curly red hair. Her mentor, senior Doni Tavel, was dressed as a cop.Tavel and Spencer were paired as “Big” and “Little” almost two years ago through Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana. They have been spending time together at least once a week ever since.“We go to the mall (and) the YMCA. We go swimming,” Spencer said, adding swimming is one of her favorite things to do with her Big.“I’ll go visit her at school and eat lunch together,” Tavel said. “She comes over to my house for dinner. We watch movies. We’ve done homework together. We took a trip to Indianapolis and went to the zoo last summer. We’ve just been having a blast. It’s a really cool opportunity to be a Big.”About 150 IU students paired with Big Brothers Big Sisters on Friday to organize the sixth annual Family Fall Festival and Haunted House. The celebration, which closed down North Summitt Street in front of the Crestmont Boys and Girls Club, gave children of the community a safe Halloween celebration.“Many of the families here don’t own cars, don’t have money for a costume, don’t have the ability to go out into another community to trick-or-treat,” said Celeste McGregor, a Big Brothers Big Sisters match support specialist. “So this is their big Halloween party, and what’s really cool about it is IU students and groups come together to make it happen for us,” she said. Crestmont, located about three miles west of campus, is a planned, low-income, subsidized-housing community, McGregor said.The program planning was spearheaded by a School of Public and Environmental Affairs class, V362 “Nonprofit Management and Leadership,” which is taught by Al Lyons. The class, a group of 11 students, was responsible for all the details, from rallying volunteers to figuring out the festival’s layout.“We wanted to make sure that Big Brothers Big Sisters didn’t have to worry about too much, and that this is a project that we were taking on 100 percent and that they didn’t have to worry about anything,” said senior Kenzie Klinger, a member of Lyons’ class. “And it’s been a lot of fun.”Seventeen greek organizations, community organizations and student-run organizations also contributed to the Fall Fest.Children dressed as Egyptian princesses, fairies and cowboys enjoyed an evening of fall-themed festival booths, each run by an IU organization, that ranged from face painting to a pumpkin toss to the highlight of the event: the haunted house.Students from Civic Leadership Development and other student organizations began arriving at 10 a.m. Friday to transform the two-story Boys and Girls Club into a spooky attraction. Local vendors donated plastic trash bags and other materials for the haunted house.“We’re just so thankful to have Indiana University here,” said Mark Voland, Big Brothers Big Sisters director of community programs. A mask was pulled over his forehead from working the haunted house with several CLD members. “We have close to 300 matches in the program, and at least half are IU students,” Voland said. “And then you get something like this. There’s well over 100 volunteers for IU here, so it’s neat to see that involvement.”McGregor, who wore a tree costume for the occasion, said she agreed.“I want them lifted up. I really do,” she said. “They bring so much joy to this community.”IU students will again pair up with Big Brothers Big Sisters for Bowl for Kids’ Sake in February. For more information or to find out how to get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, visit bbbssci.org.
(10/27/11 2:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sophomore Jamie Richardson had never donated blood before Wednesday.The phlebotomist in a white lab coat tied a blue rubber coband around Richardson’s arm.“It’s nerve-wracking because I don’t know what the next step is or anything,” said Richardson, who is participating in IU Dance Marathon for the first time this year.“Next time, you will,” the technician replied.“Next time, I will,” Richardson said. “I’m nervous, but not too affected by it.”On Tuesday, IU Dance Marathon kicked off its three-day “Raise Your Sleeve for Riley” blood drive, one of several events preceding IUDM. IUDM paired with the Indiana Blood Center for the event, which continues from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Indiana Memorial Union Georgian Room.This year marks the 21st IUDM. The annual event, which raises money for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, will be Nov. 4 to 6. Participants raise funds leading up to the marathon and then have the option to dance for 36 hours straight. Last year’s marathon raised $1.6 million for Riley. Although the dance marathon has had bone marrow drives in previous years, this is the first time the partnership has asked students to donate blood. “We just thought it was a really good opportunity because we always raise money for Riley,” said Maddie Lubbers, IUDM vice president of event coordination. “It just makes sense for us to allow people to donate blood because that goes directly to the hospital, as well. So you’re even more directly affecting the lives of children by giving blood than you are by giving money.”Indiana Blood Center had a donor point system in place prior to “Raise Your Sleeve for Riley” in which people accrued points for every donation. Those points could later be redeemed for rewards such as baseball caps, T-shirts and gift cards.For this blood drive, IBC allowed donors the option of redeeming their points in the form of a monetary donation to Riley.“The donors will go online, and they will be able to gift back their points, which translate to money for Dance Marathon and for Riley,” said Magon Works, IBC field representative.Lubbers described it as a “win-win-win situation.”Richardson said donating blood was an easy way to help Riley.“It’s something I can do, and it’s an accessible way, an easy way, to help,” she said. “It makes it easy for us to support the cause.”Works said the blood drive will probably bring in about 500 pints of blood during the three days, which has the potential to affect 1,500 Hoosier lives, she said.“The IUDM group and Indiana Blood Center, we kind of share the mission that we want to support Riley, whether it be through blood or money, so that’s kind of the basis,” Works said. “It’s just a simple, shared mission.”
(10/25/11 2:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Geoff Murphy was hungry.It was 2:45 p.m. Saturday, more than 24 hours since his last meal — a whole pizza, which he ate in preparation for the 30 Hour Famine. The famine is typically a nationwide event organized by Christian group World Vision International. Participants fast, or go without food, for 30 hours to raise funds and awareness for world hunger.This weekend, however, Serving Hoosiers in Need and other participants from IU and Ivy Tech Community College localized the event by pairing the fast with volunteer work. Murphy is the treasurer of SHINE, which brought him in on the project.SHINE President Stacy Chattin said the goal of the first 30 Hour Famine at IU was to raise awareness of Bloomington’s poverty and homelessness.“This 30 Hour Famine is kind of getting our feet wet in what it’s like to be low-income or homeless, where you don’t have access to three meals a day, and it might not be until tomorrow until you have access to a meal,” Murphy said.Participants met at 6 p.m. Friday in Kinsey Hollow, where they walked to The Warehouse, a site abandoned in the 1960s that is being renovated as a church and community center. The Warehouse, which had been used by various organizations for storage since its abandonment, served as the event’s epicenter. Participants slept at the church and spent Saturday organizing the warehouse and cleaning the floors. Additionally, they went out into the community to volunteer at organizations such as My Sister’s Closet and Backstreet Missions Thrift Store.Participants were also given the option to donate money to Backstreet Missions in addition to their service contributions. In total, they raised $130, enough to provide 55 Bloomington residents with a Thanksgiving meal this November, Chattin said.A group of volunteers also spent time at Genesis House, a local homeless shelter.“A lot of people had never been to a shelter,” Chattin said. “A lot of people thought it was eye-opening to see that so many people call it home.”Murphy said as a student it is easy to be unaware of the outside city of Bloomington and the issues some residents face.“You view life through the lens of a student,” Murphy said. “You go to your classrooms and you go home, whether it’s on campus or off, and you really don’t see that there’s a bigger picture outside of campus life. So, this is trying to bring that up a little bit.”
(10/24/11 3:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nick Innocenti and a group of about 10 other students were walking toward Dunn Meadow, wearing rubber gloves on one hand and holding trash bags in the other when a man on a bicycle rode by.“You guys cleaning up the campus?” he asked. “Thanks so much for what you’re doing.”On Sunday, more than 200 students from various campus organizations, such as Women in Business, Alpha Kappa Psi and 21st Century Scholar Corps, participated in Civic Leadership Development’s annual Campus Cleanup Day.CLD is a community service organization in the Kelley School of Business, but Innocenti, senior CLD president, said all campus organizations were welcome to participate.The students met at 2 p.m. in Dunn Meadow and were split into different groups. After a short debriefing, the groups dispersed across campus. They picked up trash and recyclables as far north as the tailgate fields by 17th Street and as far south as IU’s Third Street boundaries.Innocenti led a group of students as they cleaned up the area surrounding the IU Art Museum, the Arboretum and Kelley.Last year’s Campus Cleanup Day brought in more than 250 pounds of trash, but Innocenti, who had participated in three Cleanup Days prior to Sunday’s event, said the weight of the trash fluctuates from year to year.Sophomore Taylor Exline, a member of Innocenti’s group, participated in the cleanup with Women in Business. She returned to Dunn Meadow after circulating the assigned area with a half-full bag of trash.“I feel like 75 percent of this is cigarette butts,” she said.Prospective members of the Alpha Kappa Psi fall pledge class contributed to the cleanup as part of the pledge process.“We went over to Collins and picked up trash over there, and for the most part, it was pretty clean,” said Kate Wiggans, a freshman pledging Alpha Kappa Psi. “We filled a couple trash bags, and it was just really fun to get out and help clean up campus.”At about 3 p.m., students returned to Dunn Meadow from their assigned areas. They piled 30 bags of trash and 14 bags of recyclables on the lawn to be weighed. Collectively, participants picked up about 150 pounds of trash and recyclables.“I was excited to see all the different student groups out here,” Innocenti said. “And we can see with the big pile of trash that we were able to make a tangible difference.”
(10/21/11 2:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tucked away on the east lawn of the Bryan House, the traditional house of former IU presidents, is a 900-square-foot plot of land covered in leaves and mulch.The first growing season of the Bryan House garden, a pilot project of the Campus Garden Initiative, is drawing to a close. The leaves and mulch, which will decompose in the colder months, will facilitate garden work in the spring. “We started in March, and the idea with this pilot garden was to model both physically how to grow food in a campus setting in an aesthetically-pleasing way, and then also show programmatically how to run a garden,” said IU Office of Sustainability intern Stephanie Hopkins, the second-year graduate student who spearheaded the Campus Garden Initiative.The first growing season yielded 28 kinds of vegetables and herbs: parsley — which was a hit with rabbits — six kinds of peppers, oregano, tomatoes and more. Though most of the produce has been harvested, some peas and bush beans remain.“Because the pilot was successful and it gave us a clear idea about how to maintain a garden on campus, the landscape architect, Mia Williams, and the coordinator of Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, Lea Woodard, got together and decided that Hilltop would be a great location for a central campus garden,” Hopkins said.The new location at Hilltop will allow for an 8,500-square-foot garden located behind Tulip Tree Apartments, near 10th Street and the Bypass.“It’s an educational experience. ... We’re teaching a life skill,” IU Office of Sustainability director Bill Brown said. “We’re teaching something that people are going to want to know for recreation, for health, for food or for food security. ... Hilltop has always been that kind of learning environment.”Work will start on the Hilltop garden in the coming weeks as volunteers spread newspaper and compost on the plot to prepare for the next growing season.One of the things both Brown and Hopkins hope will come from the IU Garden Initiative is a more “edible” campus. The initiative has paired with people across campus who work with food on a regular basis, Brown said.The 75-pound produce yield from the Bryan House garden was relatively small compared to what is expected of the new central garden. The produce harvested at the Bryan House was divided among its volunteers, but Hopkins said a new plan will be devised for distributing the Hilltop garden’s produce.“We want the majority of our food, if possible, to go to on-campus vendors, and we would want a smaller percentage of our food to go to volunteers,” she said. “Any remaining food, we’d like to donate to a community kitchen or a food bank.”Allowing locally grown produce to be utilized on campus would aid in the overall campus sustainability.“The freshest food you can get is food you grow yourself,” Brown said. “It’s also the best tasting and the healthiest food you can eat, and it’s also the least amount of transportation involved if you’re growing it on your own land.”The plan, Brown said, is to start small as the campus grapples with the issue of utilizing local food sources in a way that is appropriate for the University. As progress is made IU can move toward larger “edible” campus initiatives.“We have almost 2,000 acres on this campus and at least some of that land can be put into production,” Brown said, adding that the campus could eventually incorporate fruit trees and edible ornamental plants in its landscaping.“The whole idea of looking at our landscape as a potential source of food is a great idea, and many of those plants are also beautiful.”
(10/17/11 12:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Marc Siegel remembers the day IU made it to the Final Four. It was 2002, his sophomore year. He and friend Ira Klapper marched from Varsity Villas to Kirkwood Avenue with a group of friends. Klapper carried a bullhorn, and they were all screaming, “Go Hoosiers!”Siegel found himself at the stadium nine years later with the same group of friends. Just like the day IU made it to the Final Four, he and his friends wore cream and crimson. This time, on each of their shirts was a small button with the words “Team Ira.”The group walked five miles Saturday morning in the Out of the Darkness Community Walk, an event organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They walked in memory of Klapper, who committed suicide in June. “It’s something that nobody had any clue that he was thinking about doing it,” said Siegel, a 2004 graduate. “The people who are thinking about suicide, they forget there is a support system out there.”The third annual walk was meant to raise awareness about depression and suicide as well as raise money for the foundation.“We have a lot of teams that are walking in memory of someone that they’ve lost, so it’s a great way for them to memorialize their loved ones,” said Maranda Richardson, co-chair of the event.Richardson estimated about 600 people gathered at the stadium the morning of the walk. The night before, online donations had reached $14,000. There were two routes — a three-mile route and a five-mile route — that stretched from the stadium through the heart of campus, with a stop at IU Art Museum at the mile-and-a-half point. There, walkers could leave messages in sidewalk chalk about the loved ones they had lost.“In loving memory of Andrea. We miss you.”“We love you, Brity! Love, Whit and Davis”Sketched in orange, cursive letters near the concrete wall of the museum was an ambigram of Josh Novak’s design. From one direction, it read, “RIP”. From the other, it read, “TIM,” in honor of his cousin, Tim England, who committed suicide a year and a half ago.“We’ve always had four-wheelers and dirt bikes and stuff, so I think most of our greatest memories were out in the woods, riding,” Novak said. “He was definitely an outdoors man.”This was the second year Novak participated in the Out of the Darkness walk. About 45 of England’s friends and family members drove 40 miles this year to walk in his memory.Siegel and his friends chose to walk the full five miles, which led them around the perimeter of the campus of which they have so many memories. They walked down Jordan Avenue and Third Street, as the scheduled route dictated, but they took a detour to visit the house on Atwater Avenue that Siegel, Klapper and two of their friends lived in during their junior and senior years. The group walked on, sharing memories of Klapper, laughing at some of the stories.Siegel’s team raised about $1,800 for AFSP, which will fund research of depression and suicide. The money will also provide sources for suicide prevention.“Hopefully, this can help publicize the organization or help them with their programs, just to help people understand that there are solutions out there. There’s help out there,” Siegel said.
(10/14/11 3:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a night partying, Tom and Amanda were engaged in a heated he-said, she-said.“I took his hand and pushed it away. ... I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I just didn’t want to go any further,” Amanda said.“She didn’t say anything, so I guess she was feeling pretty good,” Tom said. Tom and Amanda are two characters created by Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters.Although Tom, played by junior R.A.I.S.E. member Grant Churchill, and Amanda, played by senior co-president Sarah McDermont, aren’t real, the scene was a vehicle for teaching students about the real problem of sexual assault. R.A.I.S.E. joined the IU Police Department and IU Health Center to present “Street Smarts” Thursday night in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation auditorium. The event, part of IU’s Health and Wellness Week, aimed to encourage students to have a plan for personal safety.The event was conceived by Barbara Moss, a health educator at IU Health Center. Originally from Queens, N.Y., she said she has always been aware of the need for personal safety.“I realized more recently, especially with several of the things that have been going on ... in issues of personal safety, it’s something that is very important, and it’s one of those things we’re not really taught,” Moss said.R.A.I.S.E. was joined by guest speaker Nick Luce, a former IU football player who now works as an IUPD officer. Luce stressed the importance of practicing common sense and heeding the advice of parents. Julia Arany, a counselor at Counseling and Psychological Services, spoke about the role alcohol plays in student safety. “I thought the turnout was excellent. I was impressed with the level of student participation,” Arany said. “I think that it’s really getting people to think about their own lives and make active decisions.” Students in attendance worked with the guest speakers to brainstorm tips for promoting personal safety. Students offered practical suggestions for staying safe at parties or simply walking home from evening classes.“We need to look at physical safety and get some of those tips ... but we don’t want it to be a scary thing or a blame thing,” Moss said. “Stuff happens. Life happens. You can’t control everything, but you can do what you can do to try to mitigate your risk.”
(10/12/11 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Twenty years have passed since the publication of architecture and design scholar Thomas Gaines’s “The Campus as a Work of Art.” The piece dubbed IU-Bloomington’s campus the fifth most beautiful college campus in the United States.While parts of campus have changed in the past two decades, IU continues to look after its artistic impression.Behind IU’s 2,100 acres of land is Campus Division, the department responsible for the overall aesthetic of the grounds. Despite the uncharacteristically warm weather Bloomington has experienced the past couple weeks, the leaves continue to fall, keeping Campus Division busy. “I have about 80 people, and I have a great group,” said Mike Girvin, manager of Campus Division. “They perform a necessary task at IU, and I’m proud to be their boss.”Campus Division is comprised of nine crews, each with a specific area of expertise. There are crews dedicated to grounds aesthetic, nursery, trees, site construction and mechanics.Tom McCammon, general supervisor of the Ballantine Hall crew, and seven others are responsible for maintaining the central part of campus, including Dunn Meadow, the Jordan River and the woods surrounding Ballantine Hall.“We have a mighty big area, but I tell ya, I like it,” McCammon said.The key to the job, McCammon said, is flexibility. Though some areas are constants — such as trash pick-up — the work changes daily.Sometimes, it includes mulching and weeding flower beds. Other times, it involves mowing grass, pruning bushes, shoveling snow and, this time of year, raking the leaves.“We’re getting into leaf season, which is a very busy season for us,” McCammon said. “You’ve got truckload after truckload, and it’s not just gettin’ them up. It’s the prep work.” Leaf removal at IU involves using a mini-vac to gather the leaves into piles that can then be vacuumed into a truck and taken elsewhere.“It’s beautiful with the leaves this time of year,” said Steve Bush, who has worked with Campus Division for the past 17 years. “We’ll be really busy taking care of the leaves, but we take pride in all of our work.”Although McCammon said he enjoys interacting with students while he works, the job itself has its rewards.“I’ll tell you what’s my reward,” he said. “After you work hard, I like to get in my vehicle and drive around and look at what we’ve done. Makes me feel good. IU really is a beautiful campus.”
(10/07/11 2:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On an average workday, the first thing Thom Atkinson does is check Facebook. Then, he goes to Twitter. He tracks conversations, posts and tweets. He bounces back and forth among social media platforms for the rest of the day.For Atkinson, IU Bloomington’s social media strategist, this isn’t a diversion from work. It’s his job to keep followers of @IUBloomington and fans of the University’s other social media accounts informed and engaged. Atkinson is part of IU’s social media team, which oversees the online presence of each IU campus.“What is new and different about our team is we’re not really media relations,” Atkinson said. “We’re not just internal communications. But people are listening to the things we talk about all over the state, all over the country and all over the world. So what we do, really, is public relations in the widest possible sense.”This ongoing interaction between IU’s social media team and its followers — current students, alumni, prospective students and others — has landed IU among the top-10 most influential schools in terms of social media use in a recent Klout survey.Klout is a San Francisco-based company that conducts research on social media usage based on three criteria, Klout Marketing Manager Megan Berry said. The first is the number of people influenced by a social media user’s network. The second measures how much a network influences those people, measured, for example, in how many re-tweets a post to Twitter receives. The third measures how influential a network’s followers are to the network.All this culminates in a user’s Klout Score, measured from one to 100, said Berry. While the Klout Score of IU and other universities can be tracked year-round, the company publishes a list of the most influential colleges on its blog every once in a while. IU scored a Klout Score of 66 in the Sept. 30th study, ranking higher than schools like University of California, Berkeley and Louisiana State University.“The average score is about 20,” Berry said. “Sixty-six is definitely a good score.”While proud of IU’s accomplishment, Atkinson said the average Klout Score reflects an individual social media user, not a large institution like IU.“The University as an institution is almost its own kind of celebrity,” he said. “Certainly, we’re no Ashton Kutcher, but we have these many deep, affectionate relationships with our students, our fans and our alumni all over the world, and I think that’s what this really represents.”
(09/28/11 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kelley School of Business MBA graduate Vinay Kolluru’s small business, Jet Pitch, has landed a spot among the ten finalists in Dell’s “America’s Favorite Small Business” competition.“Dell, in support of small businesses, had this competition that was open to any small business across the country — all fifty states,” said Kolluru, CEO and co-founder of Jet Pitch. “They were allowed to submit a video describing how the business embodied the American dream and how technology was required for the business to grow, succeed and thrive.”Jet Pitch is a consulting firm that uses technology to fill in gaps of major companies’ recruiting processes. The finalists’ videos are now posted on Dell’s YouTube page. Kolluru said he found out his business is competing against an estate liquidation consignment shop, a boutique fitness studio and seven more small businesses from across the country.Each is relying on the votes of viewers and competing for the grand prize: $50,000 in cash and $25,000 worth of Dell products to give the business a boost.The inspiration for Jet Pitch began in 2010, after Kolluru’s first year as an MBA student at IU. He witnessed his classmates being ignored by companies’ recruiting efforts, which he said was not due to lack of talent at Kelley but due to Bloomington’s location.“Even though it is somewhat of a high-profile program, we still had a problem because you’re in Bloomington,” he said. “That geography doesn’t lend itself to a lot of the Wall Street firms or the major consulting firms or even some of the consumer goods firms paying attention to students coming out of there, because they’re just not in the right geography, or they’re not the right core group of schools.”Jet Pitch is trying to even the playing field by allowing recent college graduates to submit videos of themselves, which they then present to large corporations looking to hire, he said.“We’re trying to help students specifically who are very talented but not necessarily at schools that are within the scope of companies’ recruiting efforts,” Kolluru said. Jet Pitch currently works with 13 universities, including IU. Kolluru said if Jet Pitch comes out on top at the end of the competition’s 13-week run, he will use the winnings to improve the system’s efficiency, invest in more cutting-edge video equipment and ramp up marketing efforts to increase awareness.“I think it would really help streamline a lot of things in our economy,” he said. “With a lot of corporations struggling, budgets (are) being constrained. I think this is a perfect solution for them to find talented candidates they would have otherwise overlooked, and that would spur on innovation.”Kolluru’s video, as well as the videos of other finalists, are available at youtube.com/dellbusiness.
(09/23/11 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Contestants took to the floor at The Friends, Partners, Date Game Show, which took place Thursday night at La Casa Latino Cultural Center. It was organized by La Casa; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Center; Planned Parenthood and other sponsors as part of Sexploration Week at IU.“What we decided to do is kind of similar to ‘The Newlywed Game,’ but we’re not necessarily using, of course, newlyweds, or even just people who are in a relationship or dating,” said Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa. “What we have is a variety of people. We have people who are siblings, people who are friends.”The event brought in four pairs of contestants: a team of best friends, a team of roommates and two teams of sisters. Argenta Peron from Illumenate!, who was introduced as “The People’s Diva,” emceed the event.Both people from each team were asked beforehand to predict how their partner would answer certain questions. At the event, the true answers were revealed, and the team with the most correct predictions won.Questions ranged from “What movie best describes you?” to educational questions that tested contestants’ knowledge of sex, such as: “What does HIV stand for?” “What is the difference between being ‘transexual’ and a ‘transvestite’?”Some teams got the answers right. Others didn’t. But Planned Parenthood intern Jess Ensenberger was surprised with some of the contestants’ answers.“I was actually really, really surprised that every single one of the contestants thought that saliva transmitted HIV,” she said. “I knew that was a pretty common misconception, but I guess sitting here and listening to them sort of made it more real for me.”Contestants Juan Cano and his teammate Eric Sierra, both juniors, had been friends for the last eight years, and although they weren’t the official winners at the end of the night, they said they learned a lot.“I realized stuff that the opposite sex should know,” Caro said. A few of the questions targeted the effectiveness of birth control, Sierra noted.“Unless you’re in a relationship, you never really talk about it with the opposite sex,” Sierra said. “I thought it was fun. Even though they talked about awkward stuff, the vibe wasn’t awkward.”
(09/19/11 2:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Colorful balloons, traditional games and Chinese desserts filled Dunn Meadow Sunday afternoon as hundreds of students attended the annual Moon Festival Garden Party, organized by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.A Chinese wish chain, a decoration traditionally created at Chinese celebrations, guided guests to the dessert table. Each guest wrote down a wish on a strip of colored paper, and each wish was looped and hung on a long ribbon spanning the entry to the food tent. “I hope to survive the school year.”“I want to win a marathon.”The paper chain grew as the festivities progressed into the afternoon.“Moon Festival is one of the biggest traditional festivals in China,” sophomore Xuemeng Wang, the association’s director of marketing, said. “If you asked me to rank the traditional festivals in China, Spring Festival would be the first, and the Moon Festival would be the second.”Members provided guests with Chinese desserts, including traditional moon cakes, a treat consumed by Chinese every year at Moon Festival that grew out of a Chinese story, Vince Wen, president of the association, said.There are many versions of the story, Wen said, each dating back thousands of years. According to one version, a girl and her husband were separated by a god, and the girl was sent to the moon. The girl brought a rabbit with her as she was carried to the moon, and the moon cakes, Wen said, are eaten to remember her. The rabbit, another symbol of the Moon Festival, was also present as sophomore Matthew Zhu walked around in a rabbit costume to greet guests. Other traditional activities awaited guests with the opportunity to embrace the Chinese culture, whether they called China home or not.“We’ve got four performances from different student groups,” Wen said. “Basically, there are dancing groups and singers. All of it is traditional Chinese stuff.” There were also games for guests to play, most of which were traditional Chinese games. One game required players to move glass marbles with chopsticks from one cup to another. And “drop chopsticks” allowed players five tries to drop a chopstick into the narrow lip of a bottle.For festival attendees, the day was not only an opportunity to come together, but also a reminder of the comforts of home.“Our Chinese students here are far away from their families,” Wang said. “Our CSSA tried to create a sense of belonging for Chinese students by organizing this festival.”
(09/08/11 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Student groups nixed the fliers and opted instead for more eco-friendly
ways to capture students’ attentions at Wednesday’s Student Involvement
Fair.
This year’s fair, organized by IU Student Life and Learning, attempted
to go green while encouraging students to get involved on and off
campus.
New to the fair this year was a student showcase area, supported by a
live broadcast from WIUX student radio. There, students could make
announcements and perform live to promote their organizations.
“It’s great for people who are walking by. ... It’s a great way to draw
people in from the street,” said Katelyn Thompson, senior and WIUX
public relations director.
Midnight Snack Comedy performed the classic improv game “Scenes from a Hat” for a small audience in front of the WIUX booth.
Ritmos Latinos, a Latin dance organization on campus, also took
advantage of the showcase area, performing a salsa dance for passers-by.
“It’s great that they did that,” said Eric Hutson, senior and member of
Ritmos Latinos. “We love to be able to show people how much fun it is,
so that was a really great opportunity for us.”
For this year’s fair, the IU Student Association paired up with
ECO-CELL, a company aimed at reducing e-waste by buying old cell phones
and other electronics from a partner hoping to raise money. IUSA set up a
collection station next to its table where students could donate their
old cell phones.
Once ECO-CELL buys the collected phones, proceeds will go to the Bloomington Campus Tree Restoration Fund.
The theme of sustainability showed up in subtler ways with a little help from IU’s Office of Sustainability.
“The Office of Sustainability came through and donated all of the
recycling bins and containers and are helping us with the whole green
effort, which is very cool,” said Tracy Teel, SLL Student Organizations
and Leadership advisor. “They’re doing it for free, donating their time
and energy and the containers and taking the recyclables away as well.”
The fair brought in about 230 student-run organizations, more than any
previous year, Teel said. Fraternities, sororities, multicultural
organizations, club sports, interest groups and student governments were
all accounted for. There were about 50 IU departments in attendance as
well.
There were also about 40 community volunteer agencies encouraging
students to get involved outside of campus. Indiana Blood Center drew
students in with a Hawaiian-themed booth and free slushies, informing
students about their partnership this year with IU Dance Marathon, whose
annual fundraiser benefits Riley Hospital for Children.
“It was a natural partnership because we are the primary supplier of
blood products for Riley Children’s Hospital,” said Chris Crane, who
works in donor recruitment for Indiana Blood Center. “So we got together
and tried to figure out, ‘How could we enhance what they do for
Riley?’”
With each slushie handed out, students learned about a three-day blood
drive Indiana Blood Center has scheduled to take place in late October.
The involvement fair was a success, particularly in its unofficial theme of sustainability.
“It’s going better than planned,” Teel said. “The student groups really
seemed to respond to the calls for sustainability ... and that’s really
cool.”
(09/06/11 1:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students looking for opportunities to get involved on campus can attend IU’s Student Involvement Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, in the IMU parking lot.This year’s fair will have representation from more than 250 organizations, said Tracy Teel, student organizations and leadership advisor at Student Life and Learning.Groups present will include registered student organizations, such as greek life, multicultural organizations, club sports, interest groups and student governments. Students in attendance will also have the opportunity to explore campus departments and committees, such as cultural and spiritual centers and student support services, as well as off-campus nonprofits looking for volunteers.The involvement fair has been a jumping-off point for students who later become active members of student organizations and often advance into leadership roles. Sophomore Derrick Wade attended the Student Involvement Fair during his freshman year and became involved with College Democrats at IU. “I came from a pretty conservative area growing up, so seeing their table kind of excited me because I had never been a part of an organization like that and I wanted to,” he said. Wade is now an active member and has been offered an opportunity to act as political director in the organization’s executive board. New to the fair this year is a student showcase area, supported by a live broadcast from WIUX student radio. Organizations will be able to promote themselves via announcements, demonstrations and live performances.In addition to the 250 organizations in attendance, there are about 500 others that will not be represented at the fair. Students can learn more about those organizations, as well as those participating in the fair, at myinvolvement.indiana.edu.
(09/06/11 1:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Prospective recruits gathered in Dunn Meadow on Monday to kick off the fraternity recruitment process. All 32 chapters of IU’s Interfraternity Council set up tables displaying their fraternity flags, Little 500 trophies and other memorabilia hoping to impress their chapters’ new members. “(It’s) the very first step in the recruitment process,” said Stephen Panah, Interfraternity Council’s vice president of recruitment. The event was originally scheduled for Sunday but moved because of threat of inclement weather. “Basically, it’s a pretty informal event where every freshman gets to see every single chapter ... to see which chapter is the right fit for them,” he said.Freshman Joseph Oakley approached the sign-in table, where he scrawled his personal information alongside hundreds of names of other prospective recruits. “None of my family has really (participated in) any greek life except for my older brother, who is a Fiji (Phi Gamma Delta) at Purdue,” Oakley said. “When he went into it, he knew nothing about it, like me, and now it’s a major part of his life,” Oakley said. “That’s what kind of made me interested in it.”Oakley said he had done a little research about the fraternities across campus, and the first table he visited was Sigma Phi Epsilon, the fraternity with the highest GPA on campus. He shook hands with junior Sig Ep member Alec Peterson, introducing himself and receiving information about the fraternity. They talked for a while and then parted ways, a process he repeated at five tables before the end of the day. The event, Oakley said, was about getting his name out and meeting people.“It was a little bit hectic ... but I got a little taste of what each fraternity had to offer,” he said.Some fraternities, including Theta Chi, have been through the kickoff process many times before. Theta Chi’s roots at IU date back to 1921. The fraternity’s rush chairman, junior Andrew Weinert, said he expected about 300 prospective recruits to stop by and introduce themselves. From those 300, the fraternity would call back 80 to 100, he said.“You try and remember them when you meet them, but it’s tough because you meet so many kids,” Weinert said. “You kind of go off memory, and it’s kind of just luck of the draw.”Delta Chi’s secretary, sophomore Jacob Kuczmanski, said at last year’s rush kickoff event, Delta Chi had 250 freshmen interested in rushing and was expecting about the same number this year. He said from there they would narrow it down to 100 or 150 during the next week.“We’re going to have rush events throughout the week, just like poker nights or pizza nights, or have them over to watch a football game or something,” Kuczmanski said. “We’ll get to know the kids, and if we like them, and they like us, and it’s a good match, then we’ll keep inviting them back and hopefully get them involved.”Other fraternities were new to the IFC, including Beta Sigma Psi and Sigma Phi Beta.Beta Sigma Psi was chartered last year and is considered the National Lutheran Fraternity.Sigma Phi Beta is beginning its first semester as a chapter and is the first queer and allied fraternity in the eastern part of the United States, said junior Jeremy O’Neal, membership chairman of Sigma Phi Beta.“We allow anyone who identifies as male, so including transgendered, bisexual and gay men,” O’Neal said. “We’re kind of making history at IU, as well, because we’re the first of its kind.”IFC members initially expected a turnout of 1,200 to 1,500 students for Sunday’s event but lowered the expectation after the event was delayed. However, with 1,354 students in attendance, the kickoff went really well, Panah said.“I was impressed by the turnout, especially with the rain delay yesterday,” he said. “We were able to educate a lot of freshmen about a lot of different houses and greek life.”
(09/01/11 3:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Looking to get involved this semester? Check out these out-of-the-ordinary organizations. EmBRAceSenior Farihah Hossain started emBRAce last year after reading about a Chicago organization dedicated to collecting bras for women in need.“We’re essentially giving (bras) to women who are in homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters ... A lot of them can’t afford a proper bra,” Hossain said. She said emBRAce aims to give women not only the physical support a bra provides, but also the emotional support and confidence that comes from having a new or gently used bra. Ab Society at IUAb Society at IU is a club dedicated to the toning and maintenance of abdominal muscles. Junior Ben Miller, the club’s president and founder, said he started the club last year as sort of a joke, inspired by his gym-going fraternity brothers. But now, about 25 male and female members later, it’s a serious club that, among other things, organizes weekly or monthly group workouts and e-newsletters with workout ideas.Backgammon ClubStarted in March, the Backgammon Club at IU meets at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday in the William Lowe Bryan Room of the IMU to talk strategy and play the game. Although the club is mostly composed of graduate students, president and founder Brian Rogers, a second-year optometry student, said the members would love to see more undergraduates participate. Interested students can show up to the Tuesday night meetings. “All skill levels are welcome,” Rogers said. “And if you don’t know (how to play), we’ll teach you.”Pizza Mania Pizza Mania is now in its fifth year at IU, continuing to blend philanthropy with Bloomington’s love for pizza. Founder Christina Howell, a recent graduate of the Kelley School of Business, said the club was inspired by a tradition in her Cincinnati high school. “There are plenty more pizzas (in Bloomington) than a small town,” she said. Pizza Mania’s annual pizza-tasting competition raises money for local food pantry Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard while seeking out Bloomington’s best pizza across various categories. The competition allows students to give back to both local charities and local pizzerias, and also offers breadsticks.CLASSIC ROCK CLUBInspired by his own Black Sabbath cover band, Atomyk Tyde founder Jeff Bainter, a recently graduated masters’ student, started the Classic Rock Club in 2010 as a way to provide classic rock cover bands at IU access to campus concert spaces at reduced cost. Typically, venues like Dunn Meadow and Kinsey Hollow (located between Read Quad and the Wright Education building) charge students to rent, but IU clubs get access at lower rates.Bainter said the club gives students the opportunity to get together and play music for their peers.
(08/31/11 2:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Seven campus comedy groups are looking for people to foster their inner comics, and auditions are beginning soon. Dating back to more than a decade, these groups put on free improv, sketch and stand-up comedy shows for students and community members across campus.Full Frontal ComedyNow in its 16th year, Full Frontal Comedy is IU’s longest-running comedy group. “Full Frontal provides the perfect mix of short-form improv, which is similar to what you would see on the TV show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’, sketch comedy, which is like what you see on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and long form,” sophomore member Danielle Vetter said. Full Frontal performs every other Friday in the Indiana Memorial Union. This year’s auditions will be Sept. 10 in the Indiana Memorial Union.“We are in no way looking for someone to be funny,” senior member Milo Ellis said. “We want someone who is comfortable and accepting as an improviser. We want someone who will work well in an ensemble.”And auditions are fun for everyone, said junior Emily Mange. “The first round of auditions is on a Saturday morning, and we basically just teach improv games and then have the auditionees play them for a while we watch. It’s actually a blast.”University tWitsThe University tWits’ leadership consists of juniors Tim Hickle as Admiral Giggles and Hank Greene as Captain Hilarity, positions both embedded in the tWits’ constitution.The University tWits have been serving up witty student-written sketch comedy to IU students with monthly IMU performances and video and blog posts on their website, www.twitscomedy.webs.com, between shows.Auditions will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in the IMU’s Redbud Room. “The audition is three-fold,” Hickle said. “We do some improv to warm up, then we do some extemporaneous character work followed by a mock writing session. Nothing is required to prepare. Just come ready to have fun.”Midnight SnackMidnight Snack is IU’s only variety comedy group, dedicated to sketch comedy, stand-up and improv. Auditions will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in the Union, and while President Greg Mergruen said the group can accept as many as five new Midnight Snack-ers, it all depends on the turnout.“The audition is a fun and exciting way for everyone to get to know each other and see how well the auditionees play with each other,” Mergruen said. “We go though warm-ups . . . play some improv games, [and] finally, and this part is optional, people who are auditioning can perform a stand-up routine if they prepared something.”All Sorts of Trouble for the Boy in the BubbleFor the past decade or so, Boy in the Bubble has been entertaining students with original sketch comedy and is the “kind of comedy group that likes to sit in chairs backwards . . . wear baseball caps backwards and walk backwards,” according to its website. Auditions will take place at 9 p.m. Sept. 13 and 14 in the Union’s State Room East. “(You do) not need to prepare anything or have any experience whatsoever,” senior member Rosie Cramer said. “It’s nothing to be scared about.” Stand-Up Comedy Club at IUNew to IU’s comedic line-up, this group was founded during the summer by recent telecommunications graduate Tom Brady and Joshua Murphy, the group’s first chairman.“Our group is in a peculiar predicament when compared to other comedy groups on campus, as stand-up can only really be judged in front of a live audience,” Murphy said. “Thus, the first show will act as an audition.”The first audition show will be 8 p.m. Sept. 13 in the Collins Coffeehouse, and all future Dane Cooks and Jerry Seinfelds should come having prepared a three-minute stand-up routine to leave the audience rolling on the floor with laughter. “I really think if someone is interested in comedy, but not 100 percent certain which specific field they want to be a part of, they should audition for everything they’re interested in,” Brady said.HoosOnFirstHoosOnFirst is IU’s only all-short-form improv group, performing shows at 8:30 p.m. every Saturday in the Union. Although this year’s exact audition date has yet to be determined (expect posters with complete logistics in the coming weeks), it will take place in early September. The audition will consist of a group warm-up followed by some classic improv games. New to the form? Don’t worry. HoosOnFirst will teach you, and nothing needs to be prepared for the audition, President Max Singer, a junior theater and drama major, said. “We’re just looking for people who are outgoing and willing to give it a try,” he said.Awkward Silence ComedyAwkward Silence Comedy has been around since 2004. Since then, the group has taken its act to places like the 2007 Chicago College Comedy Competition, where it placed second. Usually, the group can be found performing live long-form improv for free at 9 p.m Thursdays in the Union. “We hold auditions once a semester,” President and senior Anthony Smith, who has been an ASC member since 2008, said. Auditions will take place at 8 p.m. Sept. 13 in the IMU.“(There is) no need to prepare anything for an audition. We will do some improv exercises and scenes,” he said. “The most important thing is to come in and have as much fun as you can.”
(08/30/11 3:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Fall 2011 Themester, a College of Arts and Sciences initiative in undergraduate education, is titled “Making War, Making Peace” and will explore the opposing forces and the related issues surrounding them — genocide, human rights violations, religiously-motivated conflict and others — that drive war in the world we live in.“There is a tendency to think of war as the disruption of peace, where peace is the norm,” said Professor John Lucaites, chairman of the Themester advisory committee. “But historically, we know that war is the norm and peace an all-too-rare condition. This year’s Themester is designed in part to interrogate this disturbing fact of human history.”At the heart of the Themester is the curriculum bundle, a list of courses in the COAS that speak directly to the theme, said Tracy Bee, director of academic initiatives at the COAS. “While we invite everyone on campus and in the community to engage in the topic of ‘Making War, Making Peace,’ the students in these classes have the opportunity to discuss the theme in depth and connect their class experience to events and opportunities going on outside of class,” Bee said. About 40 new courses have been added as part of the Fall 2011 Themester. These courses will give students an opportunity to examine war and peace in ways they may not have previously: philosophically, historically and culturally. “War and Peace: The Economics, Politics, and Ethics of Modern Warfare” will examine the nuances of war, focusing on the war on terrorism and recent civil wars. Others, such as “Studies in East Asian History: War and Peace in Japan,” will take a look at the long-term implications of war on society. Still others, such as “Tolstoy’s War and Peace: Historical and Literary Perspectives”, will examine war from a literary standpoint.To bring “Making War, Making Peace” to IU students, the COAS has worked with other groups on campus, including the IU Art Museum, which will feature an exhibit of Iranian posters of the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.This year’s Themester, as last year’s did, will culminate in an undergraduate research conference. “We feel that one of the things that the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University can do that some schools...can’t do is try to share research initiatives of faculty and graduate students with undergraduates,” said Stephen Watt, associate dean for undergraduate education at the COAS. “The undergraduates did great work (last year) in sustainability studies ... This year, we assume they’re going to do a great job, too, on ‘Making War, Making Peace.’”IU Cinema also contributed to this fall’s Themester. “The theme of ‘Making War, Making Peace’ provided an abundance of programming options,” said IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers. IU Cinema dedicated an eight-film series to the Themester, which will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with “The Fog of War.” Other films related to the Themester will also be shown.Part of the series will be a showing of “My Vietnam Your Iraq,” directed by IU Telecommunications Professor Ron Osgood. The documentary looks at military service across generations as Osgood interviews Vietnam War veterans whose children are currently serving in military operations.Previous Themesters have brought speakers such as Richard Dawkins and Thomas Friedman to the IU Auditorium. This year, students can attend lectures from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, political cartoonist Garry Trudeau and Tim O’Brien, author of “The Things They Carried.” In addition to the on-campus activities, the Themester also reaches out to the Bloomington community, Watt said. In years past, IU has worked to bring Themester to area high schools and create opportunities for younger students. Last year, over 700 high school students and teachers attended the Cardinal Stage Company’s “Grapes of Wrath,” which was part of the 2010 Themester, “Sustainability: Thriving on a Small Planet.”Themester is only in its third year, but Bee said that awareness and engagement grow every year. “One intention was to engage the campus and community and inspire discussion of important issues,” Bee said. “I think the campus and community will also embrace ‘Making War, Making Peace,’ which is a theme so relevant for the times.”
(08/26/11 2:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For incoming graduate students, finding an organization to get involved in can be a challenge. But master’s student Anna Saraceno, who is the Graduate and Professional Student Organization communications coordinator, said involvement in a post-graduate extracurricular is rewarding.“Being in a graduate organization can be a great way to survive the difficulties of grad student life,” she said. IU has 21 graduate student organizations for the more than 10,000 post-undergraduate student population. The organizations are one way for graduate students from all fields of study to get involved.Most graduate organizations are academic and professional, allowing students to meet others in their departments. They can also gain experience in their respective fields of study, said Laura Suppa, a president of the IU chapter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity.“I have seen joining a graduate organization as a positive experience for myself as well as many of my fellow students because...clubs are a good way to socialize with fellow classmates and still work within the profession,” Suppa said. “For us who did not attend undergraduate here, it allows us to get out and embrace our new community.”Rachel La Touche, co-leader of the Mental Health Working Group , which aims to raise awareness of mental health among IU’s graduate student population, said the organizations unite the grad students.“The groups’ meetings allow students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to recognize a common over-arching mission, improving the graduate student experience at IU,” she said. Get Oriented @ IU FAIR For more information on IU’s graduate student organizations, visit the Get Oriented @ IU (Grad Student Information Fair), 2 to 4 p.m. today in the Herman B Wells Library.