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(02/23/06 5:53am)
The IU Athletics Department hopes to rely on donors to pick up the tab for the replacement of men's basketball coach Mike Davis. \nThe $800,000 resignation package due to Davis has left the already cash-strapped Athletics Department with the added expense of paying a new basketball coach over the next two years. The budget proposal Athletics Director Rick Greenspan submitted to trustees in September included Davis' salary for the remaining two years of his contract but did not allocate funds for a new coaching hire. \nIU officials are asking wealthy private donors to pitch in to cover this cost, said Trustee President Stephen Ferguson.\nAthletics Department Spokesman Pete Rhoda said it is too early to judge whether the drive will be successful and would not release information on which donors are being solicited. The fundraising goal is also still up in the air because the money needed depends on the salary of the new basketball coach, Rhoda said. \nBut Ferguson said the potential donors he has spoken with have shown interest in making such donations.\nGreenspan, who has declined several interview requests from the Indiana Daily Student since Davis' resignation, told a reporter from the Indianapolis TV station WTHR Friday that the Athletics Department will be "very aggressively seeking private funds" to finance the basketball coaching change.\nGreenspan's athletic budget, which was passed by trustees this fall, ended eight straight years of budget deficits for the Athletics Department.\nThe plan eliminated the $30 per year student athletics fee but cut 500 student seats at Assembly Hall and raised the price of student basketball tickets by $4 per game.\nThe new budget plan also relies on revenue from IU home football games to increase.
(02/20/06 5:55am)
A decision by the University of Illinois student newspaper to print cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has caused protest from the UI Muslim community and sparked a bitter controversy within the newspaper staff resulting in the temporary suspension of two editors.\nIU experts will offer their views on the controversial subject Tuesday, as several IU departments are sponsoring a panel discussion about the cartoons at 6 p.m. in Woodburn Hall, room 100. Experts from IU and the University of Arizona will be on hand to debate the religious, social, artistic and journalistic significance of the images.\nThe Daily Illini reprinted six cartoons Feb. 9. The images originally ran in a Danish newspaper Sept. 30, 2005, and reprints across Europe have recently sparked violence in the Middle East and caused protest in the greater Muslim world. One cartoon depicts Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. Islam forbids drawings of Muhammad and many Muslims consider any such visual representations to be blasphemy.\nThe cartoons ran on the opinions page with a column from Daily Illini Editor in Chief Acton Gorton in which he called the cartoons "bigoted and insensitive to the Muslim faith." Gorton said he decided to run the images because he felt it was important for the public to form their own opinions about them, he wrote in the column.\n"I cannot claim to be a champion of free speech and at the same time restrict it from running its course," he wrote.\nGorton also welcomed comment and letters to the editor about the cartoons.\nBut Muslim leaders at IU and UI said there are other ways to report on the cartoon controversy than to run the images that are so offensive to many Muslims.\n"When you run a story about rape or child pornography, you don't need to run a picture with it to tell the story," said IU Muslim Student Union President and junior Ozair Shariff.\nFor its part, the Indiana Daily Student has no plans to print the cartoons, said IDS Editor in Chief Rick Newkirk.\nMore than 100 people representing 15 campus and community groups at Illinois turned out Tuesday in demonstration of the newspaper's decision to print the cartoons, according to an article in The Daily Illini.\nThe Muslim community was offended by the publication of the cartoons, but was motivated to hold a protest after only a few members of the UI community came out against the images, said Shaz Kaiseruddin, president of the UI Muslim Student Assocation.\n"It was not so much that we are offended, but rather that the printing, as well as the lack of response, was part of a greater problem of Islamophobia in this country," she said.\nBut within the Daily Illini's newsroom, the images have sparked a separate controversy. Tuesday, Daily Illini publisher Mary Cory suspended Gorton and opinion editor Chuck Prochaska for two weeks with pay pending an internal investigation into the decision-making processes the two used before publishing the cartoons.\nThe details remain unclear, but some staffers said Gorton and Prochaska made the decision to run the images without consulting the rest of the editors. Gorton and managing editor Shira Weissman said a copy of the news page with the cartoon was passed around to newsroom editors the night before it was edited.\nGorton said that gave his staff ample opportunity to comment on the decision. Weissman said editors did not feel as though they had enough time to comment on the page and that their input was not solicited by Gorton.\nThe staff made its frustration public Feb. 13 when the rest of the editorial board published an editorial lambasting Gorton for not consulting other staff members. The column attributed the controversy over the cartoons to the "callous bravado of a renegade editor in chief."\nRegardless of the details, IU journalism professor David Boeyink said any decision as weighty as running cartoons that have sparked riots across the world should be done in a collaborative manner.\n"An editor would be wise to include as much of his staff as possible in making a decision like this," he said.
(02/14/06 4:46am)
Freshman Chris Sexton heard about Avalon Kingdom from an ex-girlfriend. A gaming buddy told junior Mark Cooper. Freshman Ben Tash caught word on Facebook.\nAvalon Kingdom is a one-stop geek shop, for lack of a better description. It is a hobby shop that sells collectable card games like Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon, as well as books and dice for playing Dungeons and Dragons, comic books, action figures and even steel swords and axes forged in the likeness of the weapons in the "Lord of the Rings" movies.\nThe biggest problem hobby shops across the country face is getting their names out to the community, said Don Hendrick, president of the National Retail Hobby Stores Association. The small, privately owned businesses that are the backbone of the retail hobby industry usually do not have the money to stage major marketing campaigns or even place television ads, he said. Therefore, stores rely on word-of-mouth marketing from their faithful hobbyists to spread the news about their businesses and build a customer base.\nAnd Bloomington's Avalon Kingdom, 223 S. Pete Ellis Dr., is no exception. \n"Most of our customers heard about us through word-of-mouth from other gamers," said store co-owner Chris Mappin.\nMappin and friend Keith Pendly opened Avalon in August 2004 after seeing an open niche in the Bloomington market. The only other store in town that served the gaming market, the Game Preserve on West Kirkwood Avenue, sold mostly board games and did not offer much space to role-players and card traders, they said. Table-top role-playing games, the kind using dice, pencil and paper, and trading card games require multiple partners to play. And most gamers agree, the more the merrier. \nThe nature of Bloomington itself also helps business, Mappin said. IU, with its pooling masses of college students, fits perfectly into the teen and young adult target age group of Avalon's games. The fact that most IU customers don't stick around for more than four years could hurt business, Mappin said. But because a new crop of young gamers comes to town each August, Avalon is constantly recycling its clientele, which keeps its customer base fresh. \nAvalon's layout differs from traditional storefronts. The first half of the business features the store's stock -- racks of anime DVDs, how-to books on gaming and glass cases with valuable trading cards and action figures.\nThe doorway behind the register, however, opens to a spacious room lined with the kind of plastic tables and chairs normally reserved for outdoor weddings and large picnics. This is what makes Avalon special, many of its customers say. \nCooper, who went to the Game Preserve before he heard from a friend about Avalon, said he appreciates being able to spread out and play at Avalon. That's what keeps him coming back, and that's why he in turn recommended the store to friends.\nAnd it seems this word-of-mouth progression has served Avalon well. Mappin said he remembers being astounded if a typical weekend night in 2005 drew 30 gamers to shop and play. Friday, Mappin estimated that he saw 60 customers peruse the store's selection and participate in various card and role-playing games.\nThe store's success has surprised even its owners. \n"The store has been able to pay its own bills since the first month," Mappin said.\n"Avalon turned a profit in the first year," Mappin said. "This is something rare in the hobby industry," said Hendrick, who owns a shop in Oak Lawn, Ill.\n"It's usually two to four years before you start making money," he said. \nIU entrepreneurship professor Joe Denekamp agreed that the store's early profitability is unusual and said it bodes wells for the success of the business.\nDespite the steady growth, Hendrick said the $12,000 that Mappin estimates Avalon grosses in a month makes the store a relatively small operation. An average-sized hobby store might bring in a total of $30,000 to $40,000 a month, Hendrick said. But, he conceded that the industry does not have any solid data on the sales and profitability of hobby shops and has yet to conduct a study to that effect. The lack of data can hurt potential hobby shop owners, Hendrick said, because banks can be hesitant to loan money without definitive industry profit benchmarks for comparison.\nMappin, though, is sure his business will continue to grow for the next several years as more customers hear about Avalon.\nAs his profit grows, Mappin also hopes he will eventually be able to work less and manage more. He estimates he and his partner, Pendly, work between 60 and 70 hours in their store and have two part-time employees for the busy periods.\nBut for now, store patrons like IU student Tash see the owners' constant presence and personal touch as a definite plus. \n"The friendly staff -- that's why I keep coming back," he said.
(02/08/06 5:26am)
Two teaspoons of baby powder closed Fountain Square Mall for an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon. \nPolice and firefighters cordoned off the building after an employee of Finelight Marketing, 101 W. Kirkwood Ave., found suspicious white powder in an envelope shortly before noon. Authorities did not let shoppers or employees enter during the ordeal, nor did they allow 40 to 50 people on the third floor of the mall, where the powder was found, to leave.\nThe Bloomington Township Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Response Team, clad in plastic suits and filtered respirators, tested the material for the presence of the infectious bacteria Anthrax and other known dangerous chemical and biological agents. The tests concluded with 99.9 percent certainty that the substance was talcum powder, said Bloomington City Fire Department Deputy Chief Roger Kerr. The hazardous materials response team's spectroscopy equipment was even able to narrow the substance down between two brands -- Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder and Goldbond Medicated Powder, said Bloomington Township Fire Department Chief Faron Livingston.\nEmergency vehicles blocked off West Kirkwood Avenue between South College Avenue and South Walnut Street while the police, firefighters and security guards prevented people from coming to or going from Fountain Square Mall.\nFirefighters gave the evidence to Bloomington Police Department detectives, who are now trying to track down the person who sent the envelope. The envelope came with a "rather obscene" but nonthreatening note, said BPD Sgt. David Drake.\nKerr said the envelope and its accompanying letter came from New York state. BPD Finelight Vice President for Human Resources Kathy Shepley said the envelope was returned to the company from one of its direct mailings and that it was not directed at a specific employee. Finelight views this as an isolated incident, she said.\n-- Staff Writer Sarah Core contributed to this report.
(02/07/06 7:18pm)
Two teaspoons of baby powder closed Fountain Square Mall for an hour an a half Tuesday. Police and firefighters cordoned off the building at about noon after an employee of Finelight Marketing found an unknown white substance in an envelope. The Bloomington Township Fire Department Hazardous Materials team concluded the substance was talcum powder after running it through a battery of tests, said Bloomington City Fire Department Deputy Chief Roger Kerr. \nThe fire department turned the letter, which Kerr said originated from New York state, over to Bloomington Police Detectives for further investigation. \nFor more information see Wednesday's Indiana Daily Student.
(02/03/06 5:45am)
The Indiana Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday that could save Hoosiers who pay for their college with student loans as much as $575 per loan and $425 million statewide.\nThe proposal, co-authored by state Sen Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, would permit the Indiana Secondary Market for Education Loans Inc., a nonprofit corporation established by the state government in 1980, to issue student loans. Currently, ISM works as a clearinghouse for loans, buying them from Indiana banks and reissuing them to students with reduced fees. Since its inception, the organization has purchased more than $1.5 billion in student loans.\nProponents of the legislation hope introducing ISM as another lender will increase competition in the student loan market, which will drive down interest rates and fees across Indiana.\nA study completed by ISM projected that its addition to the student loan community could reduce interest rates for all student loans in the state by a half percent, saving students as much as $575 over the life of each loan. If other banks and loan agencies across the state follow ISM's lead in eliminating student loan processing fees and reduce their interest rates by a half percent, Indiana student borrowers could save $425 million on their loans over 10 years, according to the ISM study. \nIU has been watching the progress of the bill, which passed 47 to 3 Thursday in the Senate, said the University's Director of State Relations J. Thomas Forbes.\n"I think it's very timely that Indiana sets up and provides more dollars for student loans at a time when the U.S. Congress is just about going in the opposite direction," Simpson said.\nThe U.S. House passed a federal budget bill Wednesday which cut $11.9 billion from student loans programs, according to The Associated Press.\nBut Indiana Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, who voted against the ISM bill, said making loans more accessible encourages students to incur more debt in college, which could hurt them later in life.\n"It indirectly leads to the university feeling more comfortable raising tuition," he said.\nKenley said he is concerned that adding ISM -- which pays no state taxes -- to the market will hurt for-profit banks and lenders. Kenley also voiced skepticism about the findings of ISM's study and said he believes the total savings will be much smaller than the agency projected.\nAfter its passage in the Senate, the bill must be approved by the Indiana House and signed into law by the governor. Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, is sponsoring the bill in the House. \nNeither Forbes nor Simpson knew how well the proposal will be received in the House, but Simpson said she hopes representatives will take its overwhelming passage in the Senate into consideration.\nStudents can contact Bloomington Representatives Peggy Welch and Matt Pierce at (800) 382-9842.
(02/01/06 5:54am)
The enlistment of black soldiers in the Union army helped win the Civil War for the North. Though they accounted for only 2 percent of the population, blacks made up 13 percent of the total Union Army and suffered 10 percent of its casualties. After the war's end, President Abraham Lincoln said in a speech after the war that without the willing participation of thousands of black soldiers, the Confederacy likely would have prevailed.\nThe participation of blacks in the Civil War proves that the black community is vital to American society, IU law professor Kevin Brown told members of the Bloomington community Tuesday night. That most Americans are unaware of such achievements proves that Black History Month is still relevant in American society, he said.\n"If it had not been for black people, the government of the people, by the people and for the people would have perished from this earth," Brown said at his keynote address for the kickoff of Bloomington's commemoration of Black History Month in City Hall.\nHe said blacks have contributed in other under-broadcasted ways as well. The civil rights movement provided a base for the women's liberation movement, and the movement to reduce discrimination against the disabled. Brown said he also learned in his travels that the American civil rights movement inspired the removal of apartheid in South Africa and the fight for the rights of the "untouchables" in India.\nThe event, sponsored in part by the city of Bloomington and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, was attended by about 100 people from across Bloomington.\nIU senior Alexis Carter's voice performances gave the audience a musical interlude between speakers. Carter, who was the only IU student in attendance, said she was disappointed with the turnout from the student body, despite an opportunity for students to attend a myriad of Black History Month events on campus.\n"I know the city has its calendar, and IU has its own calendar, and at the same time, we need to be out there supporting these things," she said.\nMayor Mark Kruzan, who opened the holiday festivities, said even Bloomington, which considers itself progressive, has a history of racial discrimination, and for that reason it is important to celebrate Black History Month.\nBefore his speech, Kruzan asked the audience to participate in a moment of silence in remembrance of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, who died Tuesday. Kruzan called King a courageous woman who persevered numerous threats of violence and the eventual assassination of her husband.\nIU's Black History Month celebrations begin at 4 p.m. today with the Opening Reception in the Federal Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nBloomington's Commission on the Status of Black Males also announced that it will present an award this month to an outstanding black male leader in the community. Nomination forms are available on the Commission's Web site at www.bloomington.in.gov.
(01/31/06 5:27am)
The Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners approved a plan Tuesday intended to strengthen the Monroe County Special Olympics program. \nUnder the agreement, the city's Parks and Recreation Department will grant Special Olympics Indiana-Monroe County access to facilities like basketball courts and softball fields and will provide staff to help supervise and coordinate the events. The city will also help publicize Special Olympics events and provide meeting space and an information hotline.\nFor its part, the Special Olympics agreed to designate a parks department coordinator as a liaison to the Special Olympics' policy-making board.\n"This is very rewarding for us," said Parks and Recreation Director Mick Renneisen. "It's great for us to be able to help these athletes compete."\nMonroe County Special Olympics has 120 registered athletes who compete in numerous sports throughout the year, including track and field, bowling, golf, softball and basketball. With the new partnership, Special Olympics coordinators hope to add even more sports to the roster, said Amy Shrake, the inclusive recreation coordinator for the Parks and Recreation Department.\nBloomington has long had a good relationship with the local Special Olympics, and the program used to be run by the Parks and Recreation Department. But since 2004, Special Olympics has operated as an independent, volunteer-run organization.\nAccording to its Web site, Special Olympics Indiana provides year-round athletic training and competition to nearly 12,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities across the state. Under the credo "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt," these athletes compete in 21 Olympic-type sports at the local, regional and state levels.
(01/31/06 5:12am)
IU Law Professor Kevin Brown sees Black History Month as a way to balance the ledger of historical accomplishments toward black Americans.\n"It's really to remind America just how central to the society black people have been, are and will be," he said.\nWith that message, Brown will help kick off Bloomington's Black History Month celebrations at 6 p.m. tonight in City Hall at 401 North Morton St.\nThis event is the first of many around Bloomington and IU that commemorate Black History Month, which begins Wednesday. Programs range from a black history knowledge bowl to ceremonies and lectures to the fourth annual Africana Festival in Alumni Hall. The Union Board is also bringing actor James Earl Jones to the IU Auditorium to speak on Martin Luther King, Jr.\nEchoing Brown's sentiments, Beverly Calender-Anderson, an organizer of the City Hall event, said celebrating Black History Month is important because it helps to underscore the contribution black culture has made to the U.S.\n"Unfortunately our history books have not caught up with the accomplishments that so many African Americans have made to our community," Calender-Anderson said in an e-mail.\nThe celebration will feature refreshments catered by Affairs of the Sun and artifacts from the historical presence of the black community in the city. Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan will also be on hand to commemorate the beginning of Black History Month. Jacobs School of Music student Alexis Carter and Batchelor Middle School seventh grader Jimmy Mitchell will provide music for the event. \nThe kickoff is sponsored in part by the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. \nBoth event organizers and participants from IU agree that it is very important for IU to be involved in this event because the University has a large presence in the Bloomington \ncommunity.\nIU hasn't stopped at this one event for its involvement in Black History Month, either. IU kicks off its own field of events 7 p.m. Thursday in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.\nDespite February's focus on black history, event coordinators at IU and in Bloomington say the Black History Month's implications reach far beyond black culture.\nFor instance, Brown, whose research interests at the School of Law include race, American society and the law, said the American civil rights movement helped pave the way for the women's liberation movement and a reduction of discrimination against the disabled, and has given a base for the fight for gay marriage rights.\n"Our notion of respect for individual freedom and liberty was really a product of the civil rights movement," Brown said. \nIn the end, the need for Black History Month comes out of a need for Americans to know and understand each other said Oyibo Afoaku, director of the Neal-Marshall Center.\n"We all need to know about each other," she said. "It's not just about black people and the black experience"
(01/24/06 5:20am)
A bill in the Indiana General Assembly would give IU some much-needed assistance on building repair and upkeep. \nUniversity leaders are keeping their eyes on three pieces of legislation proposed in the legislature this session, said J. Thomas Forbes, IU's executive director for state relations.\nA bill in the Indiana Senate proposes paying nearly $8 million in delayed appropriations for facility repair and restoration back to the University. A House bill would give IU more flexibility in issuing bonds to raise money for new buildings and large projects. A third bill would allow the board of trustees to officially meet via teleconference or other electronic means.\nSenate Bill 345, authored by Sen. Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, proposes paying $20 million to state universities for upkeep and repair of facilities. Under the proposed bill, IU stands to gain the largest share -- $7.8 million spread across its eight campuses. \nBloomington's state Sen. Vi Simpson added herself as a co-author to the bill Thursday. \nIn his Jan. 11 State of the State speech, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels proposed giving $156 million in extra state tax revenue back to schools and local governments this year. The state offset a massive budget deficit in 2005 in part by delaying payments to those institutions. IU's repair and restoration fund also temporarily lost money under this plan.\nMeeks' bill is one extension of this policy. But, as Simpson points out, it gives money back to state universities -- something the governor did not specifically outline. Since IU-Bloomington also lost about $4.7 million in the 2004 state proportions, Simpson said the University and other state colleges need the money most.\nEven with this boost, the state would still owe IU more than $113 million for repair and restoration projects.\n"But every little bit helps," Forbes said. "We're not going to look $7.8 million in the mouth."\nHouse Bill 1162, authored by Rep. Lawrence Buell, R-Indianapolis, raises the amount of outstanding bonds for new technology state universities are allowed to issue without first getting approval from the General Assembly to $10 million from $1 million. \nUniversities and other state institutions sell bonds -- which are like loans -- to finance large projects. The universities must then pay the bonds back to the holders, with interest. IU is funding the construction of the forthcoming Multidisciplinary Science Building Phase II with $31.5 million in bonds.\nThe House bill would also double the amount in bonds that state universities may have outstanding for energy savings projects and upgrades to $20 million. \nForbes said the increased flexibility the bill would give IU would help the University finance new major research projects.\nStudents can contact their Bloomington representatives Matt Pierce and Peggy Welch in the Indiana House at (800)382-9842 and Simpson in the Indiana Senate at (800)382-9467.
(01/18/06 5:39am)
Dozens of top IU administrators have retired or taken positions at other schools and dozens more are expected to do the same in the next two years. While all say job turnover is unavoidable at a large university, some faculty and trustees disagree about how candidates should be selected.\nIU President Adam Herbert's Friday announcement that he will leave the University when his contract expires in 2008 added yet another vacancy to a list that already includes four IU schools' deans. \n"I believe that if you go across the University over the next five years, 40 percent of the top leadership positions will turn over," said trustee President Stephen Ferguson.\nFerguson has made it very public that he believes high-level job searches at IU move too slowly. Both he and trustee Vice President Patrick Shoulders said the board will begin examining the current search process at their February trustee meeting. Trustees will compare IU's search process to other universities in an effort to "fine tune" future committees.\nBut School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor Bob Kravchuk, a member of the chancellor search committee, said he and many of the faculty disagree with Ferguson's assessment of the search process.\nKravchuk said he believes Ferguson, who served as president of Bloomington-based Cook Group for many years, is drawing too heavily on his corporate experience in outlining search priorities.\n"You can't just put eight people in a room and make them find a new provost," Kravchuk said. "To do that completely misunderstands the nature of academic administration."\nFerguson said his primary concern is getting searches underway more quickly. The trustees will also work to make sure searches operate on a full calendar, rather than an academic calendar, and agree on the qualities and qualifications candidates should have before any are vetted.\nThe most recent search for a permanent IUB chancellor took 10 months and was put on hold during the summer. In the end, the committee recommended three candidates to Herbert, all of whom the president rejected. The failed chancellor search resulted in a public faculty uproar which lead to their recommendation that the trustees conduct a formal review of Herbert.\nKravchuk added that because the field of qualified academic administrators is thin compared to similar corporate positions and because the faculty must work so closely with University leaders in matters like securing grants and receiving tenure, it is important search committee members take the time to find the right candidate.\nCandidates for administrative positions should be made public, Kravchuk said. This practice is in sharp contrast to the search for an IUB chancellor in which committee members were instructed not to make names of potential candidates public.\n"When you have so much secrecy, you increase the chances of making a mistake," he said.\nThis year alone, both the dean and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences have announced they are taking jobs elsewhere. The University Libraries, Medical Sciences and Graduate schools are all without permanent leaders. An interim chancellor has led IU-Bloomington since 2003. \nUniversity leaders do not view these vacancies as unique or detrimental to IU. Administration turnover at universities across the country is particularly high, and the average term for presidents of major colleges has fallen to five years.\nBut Kravchuk and Ferguson both agreed that IU's recently developed leadership program, which grooms faculty members and administrators already at IU for larger roles in the University, will help to more quickly find many new administrators to fill current and future vacancies. \n"If we have 1,600 tenure-track faculty here in Bloomington, several could be good administrators," Kravchuk said. "And if we give them enough opportunities, one or two of them might step up and be the next Herman Wells"
(01/17/06 4:20pm)
It took Sid Stamm less than 12 hours to code www.verybigad.com. By all appearances, Stamm's page was exactly the same as the Web site for Carlton Draught which millions visit to watch the company's beer commercial. Visitors to Stamm's page were asked to accept the same security message and the site played the same beer commercial as the original.\nBut, there was one key difference. Stamm's Web site had a gaping security flaw which could have allowed him to corrupt any system that played the video.\nFive days after the launch of the site, the flaw had spread to computer systems on three continents -- receiving hits in Germany, France, England and India. Since it was posted in November, hundreds of people, many of them IU students, have viewed the ad. And this was just the trial run.\nFortunately, Stamm, a computer science graduate student, developed www.verybigad.com to alert computer users to a potential new Internet security vulnerability -- not to exploit them. \nIn order for a Web site to run certain programs on a computer, the user must accept a security certificate. In the case of the beer page and Stamm's site, an executable program runs which plays the commercial. The problem is that an executable program can do any number of things -- from disabling virus protection to installing software which collects banking and credit card information.
(01/17/06 5:37am)
Eight students lying face down with faux morbidity in pools of their own red blood made of felt were of little concern to those in attendance at Saturday's trustee press conference. The droves of reporters, professors and IU administrators in the lobby of the mezzanine floor of the Indiana Memorial Union only glanced at the students as they stepped over them.\nThe students, members of IU-Bloomingon's No Sweat! and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis' Students Advocating for Global Equality, were protesting IU's contract with Coca-Cola. And, it seemed, their silent opposition was an unwelcome distraction.\nBut the protestors weren't surprised or hindered by the lack of attention.\n"We expected that," said IUB junior and No Sweat! member Phil Shelton.\nShelton said though they hoped the large media and administrative presence from the trustee hubbub would garner them more notice than they received, the group realized it would not take center stage.\nIU currently has a contract with Coca-Cola until 2009, which brings the University roughly $1.7 million each year in cash incentives and a significant price discount for Coke products. In return, IU sells only Coca-Cola products on campus and at sporting events. \n"As an ethical mass consumer, IU should not be doing business with a company that commits such human rights violations," Shelton said.\nNo Sweat! and SAGE allege Coke has been involved in intimidating union leaders in Colombia, among other violations. A full list of allegations against Coke can be found at www.killercoke.org.\nWhen confronted in the past, Coke has denied any wrongdoing and has launched the Web site www.cokefacts.org in response. Following the high profile cases of both New York University and the University of Michigan dropping their Coke contracts at the insistence of students in December, Shelton said the mission of No Sweat! has been reinvigorated.\nSince IU's contract with Coke doesn't end until 2009, No Sweat!'s initial strategy was education, hoping to dissuade IU from renewing the contract. But with the recent victories, Shelton said anti-Coke groups are stepping up efforts, hoping IU will break its contract and leave Coke sooner rather than later.\n"We're going to start pressuring the IU administration harder on this issue ... and try to effect change now," he said.
(01/11/06 5:39am)
A computer glitch caused 7,000 IU employees to temporarily lose prescription drug insurance this weekend. \nAll students, faculty and staff covered under the program were charged the full price for medications purchased Friday through Monday. Fortunately, many local pharmacies realized the error and allowed their customers to take small amounts of their prescriptions for free and defer payments until after the problem was fixed.\nA system error at Anthem -- IU's health insurance provider -- resulted in a delay in updating IU's 2006 insurance benefits, said Anthem spokesman Tony Felts. Because of this, computer systems at pharmacies did not recognize IU's insurance coverage. Felts stressed that the problem has since been corrected.\nThe University offers a co-pay for medications. With the plan, employees pay only a fraction of the actual costs of their prescriptions. Employees pay a flat rate of $35 for any prescription costing more than $60 per month with the 2006 coverage.\nJohn Kinzer, director of \naudience development at the IU Department of Theatre & Drama, said he was shocked when the cashier at Osco Drug rang up a $136 bill for a prescription that normally cost him about $25.\nRon Foster, a pharmacist at Osco, said about 50 employees came in to buy their medication only to find they weren't covered Saturday and Sunday. He said he suspects the number was much higher Monday. \nFoster said Osco responded by giving trusted customers enough medication to last through the weekend and allowed them to wait to pay after their insurance was restored. CVS pharmacy had a similar policy, said CVS pharmacist Ted Tedeschi.\nUnder IU's policy, employees can be reimbursed if they paid full price for their drugs during the insurance lapse.\nBut, this was not an option for Kinzer.\n"I certainly am in no position to pay full price for the medications that my family needs," he said.\nWhen IU learned of the error, Human Resources contacted pharmacies in the area to inform them of the issue as well, said HR Director of Health Care Susan Brewer. Human Resources also worked with the many employees, like Kinzer, who contacted the University about the problem, she said.
(01/06/06 5:16am)
Hoosiers think Indiana schools are underfunded and they're willing to pay more taxes to foot the bill. \nA survey of 1,001 Indiana residents about K-12 education released Wednesday by IU's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy found that 62 percent think schools don't get enough money and nearly as many said they were willing to pay more taxes to better fund the schools.\nMore than three-quarters of respondents said they do not support cutting school funding to balance the state budget -- up 15 percent from 2004.\nBut Hoosiers also expressed an overall satisfaction with primary and secondary education in Indiana -- 56 percent of those polled were happy with the quality of Indiana schools and even more were satisfied with the schools in their own communities.\nThough the questions dealt only with K-12 schools and not higher education, some of the results have implications for IU, said Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Director Jonathan Plucker.\nFirst, Plucker said he suspects the Hoosier funding and taxation feelings about K-12 education carry over to the state's colleges and universities. \nAlso, Plucker said since the IU School of Education trains many Indiana teachers, IU administrators can learn from the survey. For example, a majority of respondents said teachers' pay should be based on a combination of student achievement on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus and in classrooms, as well as the teacher's experience.\nTerry Spradlin, the associate director for education policy at the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, said the survey's findings show Hoosiers care about education, and though they are generally satisfied with Indiana schools, they see room for improvement.\nSpradlin said he hopes the survey will help guide and impact Indiana public education policy. The researchers debuted the results of the poll to the State Board of Education and the state superintendent. Copies of the report have also circulated to the governor and numerous legislators. \n"I think it will be hard for lawmakers not to notice us," Spradlin said.\nIndiana State Senator Vi Simpson, who represents Bloomington, said the survey shows there is a growing awareness that public schools are underfunded. \n"In order to close the achievement gap in Indiana, we must focus on public education," she said.\nSimpson said the findings of the survey support her position that education needs to be a top priority for Indiana. \nThis is the third year the Center For Evaluation and Education Policy has conducted a survey on Indiana primary and secondary education. Researchers dialed randomly generated Indiana telephone numbers and interviewed respondents. They also employed quotas for race, gender, age and county of residence to ensure they polled the most representative sample of those surveyed. \nThe survey focused on nine issues in Indiana education including funding, the ISTEP+, the No Child Left Behind Act and the achievement gap.\nResearchers also found 83 percent of Hoosiers are in favor of some sort of mandatory kindergarten education and opposition to school voucher programs rose eight percent to 27 percent.\nTo download the full text of the report, visit http://ceep.indiana.edu/.
(01/06/06 3:40am)
As far as IU President Adam Herbert is concerned, the world is flat. Herbert plans to tell a panel of his peers today at a national summit of university presidents that the new currency of the global economy is no longer climate and geography but knowledge. Drawing from the thesis of the book by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, "The World is Flat," Herbert will discuss the growing importance of communications and globalism to American universities at the conference in Washington, D.C.\nOn Thursday, President George W. Bush told about 150 leaders of major higher universities at the meeting that he is sponsoring a new initiative known as the National Security Language Initiative to spend nearly $115 million on teaching Americans "critical-need foreign languages" like Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Farsi in an effort to deal with this increasingly globalized world.\nThe U.S. Departments of State and Education called the summit with higher education leaders to discuss international student education. Among the major issues being addressed are balancing post-Sept. 11, 2001, student visa restrictions with national security issues and how to reverse the declining numbers of foreign students and scholars who come to the United States to study. Participants will also examine how to encourage more U.S. students to travel and study abroad. \nIU Dean of International Programs Patrick O'Meara said a summit like this is important because today students must deal with a globalized educational process in school and an increasingly globalized workforce when they leave school.\n"Our students are now operating in a different world from the world students in my generation grew up in," he said. \nPresident Bush's new initiative is very important to IU because the University is at the forefront of education in the lesser-known languages, O'Meara said.\nFor example, IU has programs to teach Arabic, Chinese and Russian and has developed a very close relationship with the American University campus in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, said IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre.\nO'Meara likened the new program to the build-up in study of Russian language and culture during the Cold War era developed in part by the Department of Defense. But, the announcement also reflects a perception that Americans need to better understand and communicate with other languages and cultures.\n"Sometimes (it) is even impossible to maneuver a trip across town when you don't have the language skills, much less conduct business or diplomacy," he said.\nThis conference does not mark the first time Herbert has been in the spotlight for international education. In October 2004, Herbert told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that post-Sept. 11, 2001, restrictions were causing unnecessary delays in getting student visas and discouraging students from studying in the United States.
(12/12/05 6:15am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The IU board of trustees postponed its vote Friday on whether to conduct a midterm review of IU President Adam Herbert. Trustee President Stephen Ferguson said in a prepared statement that the trustees would convene in a special meeting Jan. 14 at IU-Bloomington to decide whether they will follow the recommendations of a Bloomington faculty resolution requesting a special review of the president. \nDespite spending Thursday discussing Herbert with faculty members and others involved on both sides of the Herbert criticism, Ferguson said the board needed more time to speak with more people.\n"It would be premature for the board to act today while there are people still to be heard from," Ferguson told a packed room in the University Place Conference Center at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis.\nAt a press conference following the trustee meeting, Ferguson and Trustee Vice President Patrick Shoulders also downplayed the issue of race in the criticism of Herbert, IU's first black president.\n"Any time those types of allegations or feelings or sensitivities are raised, you have to take that very seriously," Ferguson said. "I take it very seriously."\nDespite comments from black faculty members that the Herbert criticisms might appear to be race-related, Shoulders said Herbert was selected as president because he was the best candidate for the job -- not because he was a black man -- and he will be judged based on his performance.\nTrustee Cora Smith Breckenridge said the issue of race is not one that needs to be addressed in any review that trustees conduct, but the board is aware of racial concerns. \nThe statement from Ferguson addressed the sense that the trustees believe it is important to resolve the issue of Herbert's performance review sooner rather than later. Trustees also underscored the need to act quickly when they set a January deadline for the chancellor search at their meeting last month at IU-East Richmond. \n"Time is of the essence," Ferguson said, "and we will not indulge in business as usual at the trustee or University level."\nShoulders echoed the need for urgency, saying the January special session is the first emergency board meeting he has seen in his three-year tenure. \nFerguson said the board will also consider the position of IUB chancellor itself, as faculty have complained that the chancellor, who carries the duties of senior vice president for academic affairs, cannot effectively do both jobs at once. The initial public criticism of Herbert's performance came after the president announced he found it "to be in the best interest of the University to continue the search process." One of the principle criticisms of Herbert from IUB faculty has been the lack of a permanent chancellor since October 2003. \n"In this situation, it is somewhat difficult to find an external candidate where serious questions have been raised as to the description of the job we would be asking the person to do," Shoulders said at the press conference.\nHerbert, who appeared separately at the press conference from Ferguson and Shoulders, said he wished IUB faculty members had recommended a presidential review but respected the board's actions.\n"I think the board has an opportunity to challenge not only me but my faculty colleagues as well to keep in mind our obligations of service and to re-enforce the importance of putting the University first," he said.\nBut Herbert underscored his belief that the University needs to continue moving forward despite the questions of leadership raised. \n"The challenge that I think we all have in this kind of institution is to ensure that this commitment (to IU) is not lost," he said.
(12/09/05 4:49am)
IU is now closer to developing the "next big thing" in technology. The National LambdaRail networking services, a unique research network, announced a multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement with IU's University Information Technology Services last month. \nIU beat out other universities and research institutions for a contract to provide support for routing and switching components for the entire network. IU will also supply a 24-hour-per-day call center with tech support for the system.\nLambdaRail awarded IU the contract because IU has more experience in providing service for complex networks than any other university in the country, said David Jent, UITS director for telecommunications infrastructure.\n"Indiana University has sort of established itself as a leading center for providing the very highest level of support for the most advanced networks in the U.S.," LambdaRail Spokesman Greg Wood said.\nWith this announcement, IU has its hands in both major research networks. In addition to its role in LambdaRail, IU operates the Abilene Network Operations Center, which is the backbone of Internet2, a high-speed network which connects universities around the country and allows sharing of massive amounts of research. LambdaRail is also a high-speed network, though it is built for researchers to run experiments which might temporarily "break" the system. The network is also unique in that it is owned by the research and education community, not by the government or a private corporation. The fact that IU is heavily involved in both Internet2 and LambdaRail means that if the two systems merge, which system representatives are considering, IU will be even more advanced in the world of information technology, Jent said.\nBut the significance of the LambdaRail deal extends outside of just information technology. As part of the agreement, IU also received one of the most advanced server systems in the world, the Cisco Systems CRS-1. LambdaRail will also give researchers of all types at IU a new platform on which to perform computer simulations and conduct experiments. \nBut more than anything, IU's new position with LambdaRail underscores its standing as a technological leader, Jent said.\n"There was the sense that there weren't any other sites that had the kind of expertise to do this," he said.
(12/08/05 5:06am)
A published psychology professor and former IU-Bloomington chancellor was named the newest president of the American Psychological Association Wednesday. \nSharon Brehm will join the ranks of former IU president William Lowe Bryan in 2007 when she becomes head of the oldest organization representing psychology in the United States.\nBrehm was elected by a majority vote from the 150,000 members of the APA, the largest association of psychologists in the world.\n"I screamed," she said of her reaction to the news.\nShe said being elected president of the APA is particularly rewarding because, unlike most nonprofit organizations, the members make the selection, not a board of governors. This means that in order to gain the position, Brehm had to garner the votes of tens of thousands of psychologists across the world.\n"You have to network and make contacts with people," she said. "I was extremely pleased to find out I won."\nThe APA presidency is a volunteer position and Brehm will remain at IU for the duration of her one-year term. But with required attendance at board meetings and official functions, she will frequently commute between Bloomington and the APA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said Executive Director of Governance Affairs Judy Strassburger. As president, Brehm will be the figurehead and a representative of the entire APA. \nBrehm will also have the power to direct parts of APA policy, and she already sees some issues she would like to improve. \n"There is nothing more important in any community than nurturing the next generation," she said in a press release. "APA has been active in this area, but I would like to see its efforts become even more vigorous."\nBrehm also wants to work on improving communication within the APA and with the public and state and federal governments.\nInternational student Juwon Lee, who is taking Brehm's "Intimate Relations" class, was very happy to learn of Brehm's election, though unsurprised by the announcement. Lee said Brehm has been an encouraging professor and has taken a genuine interest in Lee's studies.\n"She is very warm and receptive and has offered me a lot of advice," she said. "She is great at encouraging students at their work."\nLee, who said she wants to pursue a career as an academic psychologist, said she owes her goals to Brehm.\n"I look upon her as a role model now since I also want to become a professor in social psychology," she said.\nIU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said the University is happy to have Brehm representing it in an organization as prestigious as the APA.\n"These things are always important to major research universities, and whenever we can land someone in a position like this, everyone is pleased," he said.\nBrehm served as IUB chancellor for two years until she stepped down in October 2003. She previously served as provost at Ohio University. Brehm currently is a professor of psychology whose research interests include intimate relationships and the psychology of women. She has written several books on psychology, including one of the first texts on intimate relationships.
(10/25/05 4:37am)
IU Police Department officers cited Tracy Lange Friday afternoon on preliminary charges of driving on a suspended license after she allegedly stole a wallet from the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, said IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger. \nMembers of the sorority reported a blue leather wallet stolen after Lange, 34, a resident of 909 Eminence Way, said she "entered the house through the cafeteria doors (and) went through the house asking to perform tarot card readings," according to the IUPD report. No sorority members asked her to go through the house, and she was there uninvited, according to the report.\nWhen later questioned by Officer Ian Lovan, Lange denied having taken the wallet at first. After further questioning, Lange admitted she had taken the wallet but had thrown it in a garbage can at the McDonald's at 1919 S. Walnut St., according to the report. \nWhen officers searched the waste bin, they found the wallet, less $10, though Lange furnished the money at the scene. Officers did not arrest or cite Lange for the theft, but did file a probable cause affidavit. Minger said the Monroe Country Prosecutor's office will likely issue Lange a court summons or an arrest warrant at a later date.\nWhen interviewed Monday evening, Lange apologized for the inconvenience to the involved parties.\nStudent arrested for simple assault at Wright Quad\nPolice arrested IU student Tyler Scott Smith late Friday night on preliminary charges of illegal possession of alcohol, public intoxication and simple assault after allegedly hitting an IU student in the head, Minger said, reading the police report. \nAccording to the report, Smith came out of the breezeway of Wright-Dunn and tried to take the victim's mobile phone from him. Smith then told the victim to stay away from "his girls" and struck the victim on the ear on the right side of his head. The victim then went inside and called police. When IUPD Officer Joseph Amandola arrived to take the victim's report, Smith threw a football in the victim's direction, according to the report. When the victim pointed Smith out as the man who hit him, Amandola noticed Smith was intoxicated, Minger said. Smith said the victim was flirting with Smith's girlfriend, and he stated he then struck the victim in the head, according to the report.