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(04/04/05 4:56am)
Sophomore Ravi J. Patel, the driver of the van that struck a concrete light pole in the Assembly Hall parking lot Thursday night, was arrested for resisting law enforcement, operating a vehicle while intoxicated resulting in serious injury, reckless driving, criminal recklessness, illegal consumption of alcohol and reckless possession of paraphernalia, according to the IU Police Department. \nWhile the unidentified passenger in the van was treated at Bloomington Hospital for hand injuries, Patel was unharmed, IUPD Sgt. Don Schmuhl said, citing the police report. \nOfficer Ryan Corbett initially stopped Patel around 9:14 p.m. as he drove his GMC Savana through the intersection at Jordan Ave. and 17th St. Patel failed to stop at a stop sign. When Corbett got out of his car, Patel sped off, igniting a short chase, Schmuhl said.\n"We train at least once a year on how to approach a vehicle," Schmuhl said. "We don't just run up and start pulling people out."\nPatel then led Corbett down Fee Lane, and then turned left on an entrance way on the east side of the Assembly Hall parking lot, according to the report. After a circle around the arena, the driver pulled a sharp right turn into the "blue lot," fishtailing and careening off the concrete pole. The van fell over onto its side where it skidded to a halt.\nSchmuhl estimated IUPD has six to 10 chases a year.\nSince the passenger, who was not arrested, was taken to the hospital, Patel was given a blood test there instead of a Breathalyzer at the scene, Schmuhl said. IUPD is awaiting results of that test. \nPatel was taken to Monroe County Jail and was released late Thursday after his bail was paid.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(03/22/05 5:34am)
Something was bugging Lisa Conrad, so she did what any warm-blooded American schoolteacher might do. She wrote a poem to the State Congress.\n"After researching we did detect/That Indiana has no state insect," the poem, introducing Senate Bill 546, begins. \nThe bill would crown the monarch butterfly Indiana's new state insect.\nBut one man thinks the state insect debate is a pest.\n"When we get serious, let me know," said Indiana Senate Pro Tempore Bob Garton (R-Columbus). \nGarton sent the bill to committee this session, just like he did for Senate Bill 39 -- featuring the Karner Blue Butterfly for state insect -- last year and a host of others in the past. \nHis concern with critter bills? One word -- criticism. \nGarton said he would only let a state insect bill get a hearing "if I could hear from every editor in the state who says they would support it and won't make fun of the General Assembly." \nBut for bug lovers around the state, the official insect discussion is no joke. \nConrad, a second-grade teacher at Waterloo Elementary School in Waterloo, Ind., is so serious she and her students gathered more than 1,500 signatures from residents in 63 Indiana towns, from Covington to Churubusco. The children then sent their plea to Sen. Dennis Kruse, a Republican representing District 14 in Northwest Indiana, who authored the bill. \n"It's a small item, but it's an item people have an interest in," Kruse said. "I don't think every bill has to be heavy-natured."\nGarton was not moved. \n"I think teachers should find something else to petition the government for," he said. "But maybe it's a good lesson that everything introduced into General Assembly won't pass."\nPurdue University entomology professor Tom Turpin is one teacher whose past petition for a recognized Indiana insect fell flat. A few years ago, Turpin urged legislators to name the Say's firefly Indiana's top bug model. But, as was the case with many state insect bills before and since, Garton squashed his plan.\nA state insect would have the obvious effects of public awareness of one insect species and the subsequent education, Turpin said. But he said he thinks Garton is overlooking the politically tangible advantages of an official state bug, including economic boosts from the production of state-sponsored insect paraphernalia.\n"With the firefly, I can think of neat little chemistry experiments we could have," he said.\nForty-one states have designated either a state insect or a state butterfly. Of those, seven states claim the Monarch as their official bug. \nTennessee, in fact, has four: two state insects -- the Say's firefly and the ubiquitous ladybug; an official agricultural insect -- the honeybee; and an official butterfly -- the Zebra Swallowtail.\nIndiana has none.\nIU professor Armin Moczek, an evolutionary biologist studying insects, said he thinks Indiana could use a big bug. Next fall, he'll teach IU's first entomology class in nearly a decade. Insects are adept at pollination and promote scientific progress, he said. \n"On one side, they are an enormous source of destruction," Moczek said. "On the other side, we could not live without them."\nOf 1.5 million distinct species of life, insects represent 750,000, or half. Of those, 300,000 are beetles. Of those, one is the Rhinoceros Beetle, a burly bug with a huge protruding horn, which Moczek endorses for state insect.\n"It's impressive," Moczek said. "With a state insect, you want something you can show to the school kids. It's a big, flashy, impressive insect."\nMoczek's job is to study insects to learn about the evolution of life.\nIn Rensselaer, Ind., another state professor uses bugs to solve crimes. Neal Haskell, a forensic entomology professor at Saint Joseph's College, said he thinks Garton should swallow his pride and recognize the importance of our groundling friends.\n"People make fun of me all the time. So what?" Haskell said. "If you don't do anything that isn't worth criticizing, you aren't doing anything worthwhile."\nHaskell is one of only a handful of entomologists in the country who solve murders for a living. He studies the bugs on dead bodies and, taking into account the insects' lifespan, habitat and tendency to take over cadavers after a certain amount of time after death, determines the time and possible location of the person's demise.\n"We have a saying in forensic entomology," Haskell said. "'Maggot Power.'"\nAfter extracting all relevant information, Haskell turns witness for either the defense or prosecution in a criminal trial. He estimates his participation at 40 to 50 cases per year, including eight to 15 trials. More than half, he says, are death-penalty murder trials. He claims to have testified more than any forensic entomologist in the world. \nAnd he's not without his favorites. Haskell would like to see the blue bottle fly, one of the most prevalent bugs among cadavers.\n"It solves murders," he said. "And it's huge. It looks like a B-29." \nAll the talk about top bugs might never mean much, though, if Garton remains slow to budge. He spoke candidly about one year -- before he was Pro Tem -- when a school bus unloaded a swarm of children at the Statehouse dressed as ladybugs. They had their own image of Indiana's new state insect.\n"It didn't happen," Garton said.\nBut for people like Lisa Conrad, even Robert Frost can't write a state insect into Indiana law.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(03/04/05 6:11am)
Charlie Nelms wants to take the helm of a historically black college or university -- just not quite yet.\nEarlier this week the IU vice president for institutional development and student affairs turned down an offer to become the next president at Tennessee State University.\n"I went through an exploratory process with TSU, but in order to get a job done, there are some pieces that are not quite in place," Nelms said. "So I'll continue to do what I do at IU."\nNelms said he was concerned about the "governance system of Tennessee's higher education system."\nOne board of regents controls 19 public colleges and universities in Tennessee, including Austin Peay, Memphis, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech; only the University of Tennessee is governed by its own board of trustees. Of those 19 public schools, Tennessee State is the only HBCU.\nTennessee Board of Regents Director of Communications Mary Morgan said she had no knowledge Nelms had been offered TSU's presidency.\n"We are still reviewing the candidates and hope to have a decision made in a couple weeks," Morgan said.\nThe Nashville chapter of TSU's Alumni Association recently urged the board of regents to hire Nelms, according to an article in the Nashville Tennessean.\n"Nelms is someone who can unite the campus and its supporters and successfully reach out to the broader Nashville community," Dwight Beard, the chapter's president, is quoted as saying in the article.\nOther than Nelms, the board of regents is considering four finalists: A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert of Howard University; Melvin Johnson of Winston-Salem State University; Cynthia McIntyre of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Handy Williamson of the University of Missouri-Columbia.\nIU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said Nelms told him he had turned down the post earlier this week.\n"He really is devoted to HBCUs," Gros Louis said. "But I think he loves IU."\nNelms graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a historically black college. He was also a finalist for the president's post at Florida A&M in 2001 until he withdrew his candidacy days before the position was filled. Despite the two failed starts, Nelms said his ultimate goal is to lead an HBCU.\n"I certainly know the impact these institutions have on individuals who have not had an opportunity of higher education," he said. \nSpecifically, Nelms said historically black colleges and universities offer a "critical mass" of minority students to make those students feel welcome.\n"When you walk into a classroom and you're the only person who's a man or who's a person of color, you're aware," he said. "That's not to say anyone is doing it to you, but it's there."\nNelms also said his experience at an HBCU gave him more intense mentoring than he might have received at a historically white university and "instilled in me the belief that I could be successful."\n"They didn't start from the premise of 'Charlie, this may be difficult for you,'" he said. \nHe said HBCUs also engage students more personally than historically white universities, and that he "never felt as though I were a guest."\n"Part of an African-American culture is an oral tradition," he said. "We tend to talk more. African American cultures tend to be a bit more expressive. That's been my experience."\nBut when asked if the right HBCU position awaited him, Nelms hesitated.\n"I would take a look at it, but I'm getting a lot older every year," he said.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(02/17/05 5:50am)
"Four one-room red brick schools, Union Township, Shelby County, 1914-21."\nThat's the first line of Donald Carmony's résumé, right under the subtitle "Education."\nThe 95-year-old IU professor emeritus, known to many as "Mr. Indiana History," died Monday, but he will live forever in the house he helped build -- the halls of Indiana's history.\nIU history professor James Madison, a longtime and close colleague of the historian, said no one in the field matched Carmony.\n"He was the man for Indiana history, and was it for a long, long time," Madison said.\nCarmony's father taught him each of his first eight grades in those one-room red brick schools. He graduated high school at 15 and became the first college graduate in his family four years later. He began teaching at Indiana Central College, now the University of Indianapolis, at 19.\nThe beginning of Carmony's academic life most resembled the pioneer age. He was born on a farm near Shelbyville, Ind., and at one time lived in a log cabin.\n"There wasn't electric power on the farm," said his son Duane, a retired Purdue University professor from West Lafayette. "The work they did was really like the pioneer period. It's amazing this person that lived in the 21st century really almost lived in the pioneer period."\nCarmony graduated from IU with a master's degree in 1931 and a doctorate in 1940. His work at the University began in 1939 at what is now IU-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. He was the director of the Lilly Program in History in 1961 and chaired the IU Committee on Historic Preservation for more than 20 years beginning in 1967. \nHis awards ran the honorable gamut from two Sagamores of the Wabash -- the highest honor bestowed on Indiana citizens by Indiana's governor -- to the endowment of IU's history chair in his name. He was the editor of the Indiana Magazine of History for 20 years and a trustee of the University of Indianapolis for 40.\nThe professor finished his final book, "Indiana, 1816-1850: The Pioneer Era," in 1998. But Carmony's granddaughter Diane Carmony, an IU alumna, said her grandfather was proudest of his students. His love of history, she said, came from an affinity for educating people.\n"He was very much a story teller," she said. \nCarmony was certainly considered one of the foremost authorities of Indiana around, as evidenced by his four books and dozens of articles published. But Madison said the historian balanced his knowledge with a good dose of humanity.\n"He was an honorable gentleman, a straight shooter," Madison said. "He was very courtly and kind and yet he was also a Hoosier farm boy."\nCarmony's wife Mary Carmony, 98, said her late husband would leave a "legacy of pioneerism" and was just as much a learner as a teacher.\n"He made a great contribution to Indiana, and Indiana made a great contribution to him," she said. "And he was always a student."\nPublic services for Carmony will be held on an undetermined date at Meadowood Retirement Community, 2455 Tamarack Trail.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(02/15/05 6:17am)
Indiana Daily Student reporter Rick Newkirk conducted several interviews with IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Director of the Center on Southeast Asia Dave Jones, who recently returned from a trip to Thailand and Indonesia.\n***\nDuring the first full week of January, Dave's colleague Patrick O'Meara received an honorary degree from Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, and Dave visited a tiny, poor neighborhood in Bangkok. He departed Thailand Jan. 9 and spent the rest of the week in Indonesia, the country hit hardest by the tsunami.\n***\nThe Dec. 26 tsunami changed the world, both literally and figuratively. It left about 287,000 people dead or missing, according to recent reports by the affected countries' governments. Of those, Indonesia reported about 234,000 casualties -- 82 percent of the casualties. The fourth most populous country in the world, behind China, India and the United States, was the hardest-hit region by any natural disaster in recent memory.\nJones, who visited the country just two weeks after the tsunami, met with Indonesian university officials to discuss disaster relief. In one case, Jones said, he was the only non-Indonesian person in a meeting of the rectors, or presidents, of the universities in Indonesia.\n"The reports I heard were just chilling," he said as he described how an entire university, the Islamic State University of Ar-Raniry, had vanished in the tsunami.\nJones spent the majority of his time dealing with -- but not in -- Aceh province, located on the northwest tip of Sumatra Island in Indonesia. Aceh is the one piece of land in the world closest to the epicenter of the earthquake that spawned the tsunami. Nearly all Indonesian casualties were reported in the Aceh province, which is about half the size of Indiana.\nThe tsunami washed the most water over and wreaked the most havoc on Indonesia, but the social effects on the country were also unprecedented, Jones said. \n"Thailand was in a much better position to respond to this crisis than Indonesia was," he said. \nAceh province has been torn by separatist fighting for the better part of the past 30 years. In 1976, a group of rebels known as the Free Aceh Movement organized to fight for independence for the nation's "disadvantaged." Thousands have died from the fighting that ensued.\nThe region also is home to an enormous number of impoverished people. Jones said the area's poverty level contributed to Aceh's death toll in a way that most of the public is unaware of. When urban communities became overcrowded with Indonesia's poor, those citizens "encroached upon the waterfront," not only leaving more people closer to an imminent tidal wave but also deforesting the area's beaches, leaving those living inland more vulnerable to the tsunami.\nAnd Dec. 26, a province that couldn't catch a break caught a natural disaster that flooded it with even more turmoil.\n***\nDave has a plan for IU to help the tsunami victims\n***\n"The American people terribly overestimate the extent to which we extend our development funds," Jones said, adding that American financial response to the development of countries in unfortunate situations has been "terribly small" in the past.\nBut Jones has plans to use IU's non-monetary resources for the relief. The first facet of his plan would send a team of professors and community professionals from fields like trauma counseling and social work and from all eight IU campuses to the State University of Jakarta to train representatives from Indonesia's 16 state universities. Those representatives then would return to their communities to train Indonesian jobholders, including school teachers. \n"We would be training the trainers," Jones said. \nJones already has been in contact with IU faculty and says he hopes a team will be ready to depart for the region within the next month. A group also would stay behind to help people in Indonesia via a computer communications system Jones helped install in January.\nA second phase -- indefinite but under consideration -- would send students and professors to the region to work in the relief effort, doing jobs like reforesting Aceh's waterfront and building small homes that can double as artisan workshops. Jones said this part of the plan depends on government assistance such as grants, but he added that preliminary feedback was promising and the first wave of workers could be in Aceh by this summer.\n"The University is not in a position to rebuild a country," he said. "But what we do have is the expertise to bring planning and design and inspiration for these projects."\n***\nIn the days after Sept. 11, 2001, Americans received an outpouring of support from virtually every other nation on earth. During one speech, Dave had a message for his audience: "At this difficult time," he said, "we are all Indonesians."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(02/14/05 5:27am)
Indiana Daily Student reporter Rick Newkirk conducted several interviews with IU-Purdue University Indianapolis International Affairs administrators Susan Sutton and Dave Jones, who recently returned from a trip to Thailand. \n***\nChildren's Day, or Day of the Child, is a New Year's celebration of Thailand's youth. But the Dec. 26 tsunami cast a pall over last year's festivities. Still, Saturday, Jan. 8 would be the children's day.\n***\nOne of Bangkok's most celebrated tourist spots is the Grand Palace, an impressive compound of Buddhist temples, government offices and old royal quarters. Built in the late 18th century, the Grand Palace spans about 60 acres, more than three times the size of the grounds of the White House.\nJust past the Palace compound on the warm and humid January day, Bangkok burst with business. Cavalcades of motorcycles zipped through town among tour buses, city buses, a smattering of little cars and tuk-tuks -- motorized three-wheeled taxis named after the sound of their engines.\n"There were lots of throngs of people," Director of the Center of Southeast Asia at IUPUI Dave Jones said. "It was a magnet for local people and tourists." \n***\nDave and Susan would be spending their Day of the Child in a poor village secluded from the rest of Bangkok.\n***\nLess than a mile east of the Grand Palace, an impoverished neighborhood called Pom Mahakan sits nestled in a forgotten nook. The village is so isolated that Jones and Susan Sutton, IUPUI associate dean of international affairs, would have never found it without the help of Michael Herzfeld, a professor emeritus of IU who now teaches anthropology at Harvard University. Herzfeld has studied villages like Pom Mahakan for the past three years and showed the two administrators a less visible enclave of Thai culture.\nThe small village is surrounded on one side by a polluted canal and on the other three sides by Bangkok's old city walls. The dark gray stone partitions stand at about 12 feet tall and bulge a couple feet thick, but Jones said they're "not foreboding."\n"There's something very majestic about them, like they enable this neighborhood," he said.\nInside the walls, Thailand slows down. Enormous, wise old trees enclose the village from above in a cool, shady canopy. A small commons area, no more than 60 by 30 feet with a hard, compacted dirt floor, draws villagers to the center of their modest neighborhood. There are 300 villagers living in 77 houses made of sturdy teak wood. Just as the villagers share their lives, the houses share common walls. The village is no more than four acres in total, less than one-fourth the size of the grounds of the White House, but it has been built to last through the ages.\n***\nDave and Susan sat just inside the wall that separates Pom Mahakan from the rest of Bangkok. From there they watched the Day of the Child.\n***\nThe tsunami, as would any recent tragedy, ruled the day. Jones said the festivities were "respectfully subdued." \nBut still children partook in some of the traditional fun. They played a variation of pin the tail on the donkey. Some of the older children competed in geography contests. The older villagers gathered some small toys for awards. Jones and Sutton were called up periodically to give the children their prizes -- in most cases regardless of whether the child won or lost.\nThe emcee of the day was the neighborhood's president, Pornthep Buranaburidej.\n"It was great child psychology," Jones said. "This was a man of little education but great wisdom."\nAnd for about 45 minutes, the children, on their day, read one-page essays they had written about the tsunami victims. \nSutton said the children, as young as 5 years old, recognized that the tsunami victims, though different, deserved compassion.\n"We heard, 'It doesn't matter that some of the victims are Muslim and we're Buddhists, or that some of them are foreign and we're Thai. It only matters that they lost their homes and their lives,'" she said.\nAfter the activities, one adult wheeled a metal cart into the commons with a special television mounted on top. The TV, tuned to children's programming, was modest in size, no bigger than 17 inches diagonally. What made it special was its rarity -- it was the only television in the village.\n***\nWhen the subdued games were done, villagers swept the commons clean and some prepared to leave the village to work in the tsunami-wrought regions of Thailand.\n***\nJones spoke to one of the men on his way to help in the tsunami relief effort.\n"He was on his way to represent his community," Jones said. "It was a sense of community responsibility. He didn't have ulterior motives. It wasn't calculated for community advancement. It was a manifestation of a community ethos."\nThe people of Pom Mahakan understand devastation and tragedy. About 10 years ago, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, in charge of city planning, decided to have the neighborhood razed to make room for a parking lot for tourists' buses. In response, the villagers scrambled to organize a neighborhood association, name officers and write a petition to the city agency. The neighborhood argued that they should be considered an historic section of Bangkok.\nAnd thanks in part to a letter written to Bangkok's independent newspaper, The Nation, by Sutton that was translated into Thai and handed out through the town on fliers, the administration lifted Pom Mahakan's death sentence indefinitely last fall.\nWhen the tsunami hit, the village was still honeymooning with the concept of liberty.\nSo, in a moment of understanding, the villagers unlaced their dusty purse strings and assembled a gift for the tsunami victims -- about 100,000 baht, or $2,500, a fortune for a few Thai.\n***\nDave and Susan left Pom Mahakan with a new understanding of foreign communities. Though the tsunami cast a cold pall over the Day of the Child, the day filled their hearts with warmth. The next day, Dave left for Indonesia, into the heart of the destruction.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(02/09/05 6:32am)
In Thai, "Thailand" means "land of the free." This is the story of four IU administrators -- four Americans -- who observed Bangkok in the wake of the world's greatest recent tragedy.\n***\nPatrick O'Meara shuffled through his mail one unusually warm afternoon in late November. He flipped past the heavy assortment of advertisements and bills to one subtle envelope with a Thai postmark. "Dear Dean Patrick O'Meara," the letter began. "It is my honor to inform you that the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Development Administration is awarding you with an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Development Administration. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you and invite you to participate in the graduation ceremony. The degree will be conferred on January 6, 2005 at 2 p.m. at the Main Auditorium of NIDA in Bangkapi, Bangkok." For then, Patrick forgot about the day's assortment of advertisements and bills.\nSoon after O'Meara, IU's dean of international programs, read about his honorary degree, he assembled a small posse of three other IU administrators to come to Thailand and watch as the princess of Thailand presented his degree. Christopher Viers, IU's associate dean for international programs, would make the trip, as well as David Jones and Susan Sutton from IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis. The four would meet with IU alumni to support NIDA and the Thai people. It would be the coronation of an IU leader. It would be a vacation. It would be a celebration.\n***\nThe day after Christmas, a 9.0 earthquake struck in the Indian Ocean, causing one of the most massive and devastating tsunamis in recorded history. The disaster's enormity surpassed all those of recent memory. The four Americans' celebration was in jeopardy. While Dave and Chris awaited Patrick's decision, Susan made a phone call to officials at NIDA. "I guess we should cancel our visit," she said. But the voice from the Kingdom was resilient. "No. The rest of the world is going to come to Thailand in our time of trouble. You should too."\n***\nGiven the news of the recent tragedy, the fate of the trip teetered on O'Meara's decision. Bangkok is several miles from any areas directly devastated, but relief efforts and indirect tragedy consumed the entire country. Would the four be a burden to a nation entrenched in grief a little more than a week after the tsunami ended the lives of about 9,000 people in Thailand? While Sutton had her doubts, O'Meara said only one decision could be made -- they would go.\n"I had hesitated in going, but it was a very important act of solidarity and support," O'Meara said.\nBefore the crew would embark on a mission of good will, they went to gather goods for the Thai relief efforts. They asked their colleagues for money and came up with $2,000 -- a pittance in the grand scheme of Southeast Asia's economy and a fortune for a few homeless Southeast Asians. \n***\nThe four Americans -- Patrick, Dave, Chris and Susan -- boarded an airplane Jan. 2. They flew to Bangkok with heavy hearts, hesitant tongues and $2,000 -- a paltry sum for four Americans and a fortune for a few Thai.\n*** \nThe Kingdom of Thailand lies on the southern tip of mainland Asia and looks as though it might be the next in a string of island countries to slip off of the continent. It is roughly the size of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio combined. \nAnd though 8,759 miles separate Bangkok from Bloomington, IU and Thailand are more closely linked than one might think. Five hundred sixty-seven alumni hail from the former Siam, meaning only Malaysia (1,524) and Canada (919) are more heavily populated with IU graduates, according to the IU alumni online fact book. \nNIDA, located in the heart of Thailand's capital city, was formed in 1955 by IU. Originally named the Institute of Public Administration, the graduate institute exists to teach Thailand's government personnel the art of public administration. O'Meara knows NIDA well. Chindalak Vadhanasindhu, the school's vice president for administration, was one of O'Meara's students at IU. \nSo in a distant way, Hoosiers and Thai are familiar with each other.\n"These are our real friends," O'Meara said. "They love Indiana, and we need to do more to keep this very special connection alive and well."\nBeing only three years separated from their own national disaster on Sept. 11, 2001, the four IU administrators were familiar with aftermath. The faces of missing people on tattered fliers filled the chain-link fences. When the wind blew, their sheets sang out like a wheezy choir of ghosts. \nAbove the streets, banners directed citizens to DNA banks. When nearly 10,000 people are dead, scientists must create clever ways to identify the bodies.\n"When they get an unrecognizable body washing up, they can go to this bank," Sutton said. \nThe banners, aware of their grave messages, bent in downward arches. \nWhen the Americans spoke to the Thai, they sensed a weariness that was all too familiar. Reflective pauses preceded all responses. Conversations turned quickly from the devastating present to the hopeful future. \n"It was clear it was difficult to know what to say when they were processing what had occurred," Viers said.\nSutton also immediately thought of her nation's darkest Tuesday. \n"As soon as we got off the airplane, it really struck me the city was going on as it usually did," she said. "It's a big city, and it was hustling and bustling. But the character was not the same."\n***\nIt was Chris' first trip through Thailand. Susan, Dave and Patrick had been through before. The four Americans had all been through Sept. 11 once. And they all agreed this felt like the second trip.\n***\nThe road to the Red Cross was packed for blocks with people waiting to give donations. A bevy of cars and trucks arrived and departed by the minute like a band of relief supply cabs never reaching their final destination. A steady bloodstream of people flowed in and out of the artery's doors. Workers answered the infinite phone calls. Four Americans sat at one end with a check for $2,000, a paltry sum in the grand scheme of Thailand's economy and a fortune to a few homeless Thai citizens.\nAs the volunteers scurried to organize the delivery of relief to affected regions of Southeast Asia, they found it necessary to be hospitable to the Americans. They sat the four down in plush chairs, smiled and served them a tray of china cups filled with green tea.\n"If it was me, I don't think I would have taken the time to offer a cup of tea," Viers said.\nBut in Thailand, a country driven by the tourism industry, hospitality runs deeper than dirt. When the IU administrators returned to their rooms after long days of meetings, they watched news reports of the sickening casualty tolls. But amidst the death, Thai officials exuded a morbidly generous attitude toward foreign bodies, Viers recalled.\n"The remnants of the guests were kept in cool containers," he said. "Their own Thai citizens were often sitting out in the intense heat. At the expense of their own citizens, they were making sure those of other countries were being cared for. Thai people put others first."\nThe Americans heard the stories, but that day they left the Red Cross full of green tea and without $2,000, a fortune for a few devastated people.\n***\nThe four Americans met various leaders and IU alumni in Bangkok. Patrick was presented with an honorary doctorate from Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, who lost her nephew in the tsunami a few days before. After the ceremony, they met with 150 IU alumni for a dinner reception.\n***\nIt was a new year for the Thai people, which was usually met with much celebration. Sutton, who had spent the holiday in Thailand a year before, noticed a different kind of gathering. The year before, people played in the streets with balloons and streamers, Sutton remembered. Families were outside partying and having a good time. Balls were thrown, kites were flown and vendors sold decorations and party favors. \nThis year, Sutton saw no kites, no balls, no streamers, no balloons, no parties, no vendors and no good times. This year she saw some 7-year-old children meet at pulpits and read aloud the essays they had written about tsunami victims.\n***\nIn Thai, "Thailand" means "land of the free." But the four Americans visited a country all too familiar, filled with grieving souls burdened by a recent tragedy too painful for words. On one occasion, Dave and Susan met a small community of subsistent villagers who shared one television and a plan to contribute to the tsunami relief effort.
(01/28/05 7:17am)
In a move that has stirred student government emotions, IU Student Association President Tyson Chastain has asked junior Shane Merriweather to step down from his post as executive policy director. In response, Merriweather filed a reinstatement petition with the Student Body Supreme Court, but was denied Thursday.\n"I have been asked to resign, and I said 'no,'" Merriweather said in a phone interview Thursday evening.\nHe declined to comment further, citing an impending lawsuit.\nChastain would not discuss specific issues as to why Merriweather is being asked to leave his post. \n"These are personal issues," Chastain said.\nAccording to the Court's majority decision, delivered by Chief Justice Brian Clifford, IU Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over claims involving the IUSA constitution, except for issues of election disputes. Merriweather must now take the case to Indiana state court. \n"(Merriweather's) relief ... is under the laws of the State of Indiana, not the internal regulations of the Indiana University Student Association over which this court has jurisdiction," according to the decision. \nBut in a dissenting opinion delivered by Associate Justice Nicholas Capezza, the majority members of the Court were "shirk(ing) their duties" by claiming a lack of jurisdiction.\n"We do the entire University a gross disservice by not accepting disputes of this kind into our subject-matter jurisdiction," the dissent says.\nMerriweather is running for IUSA president under the College Party ticket.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at
(01/27/05 5:56am)
It began with general studies. It continued with biotechnology. Now kinesiology students can freely transfer Ivy Tech State College-Bloomington credits to IU-Bloomington.\nThe agreement will allow Ivy Tech students with an Associate degree in kinesiology to continue their education at IU's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation toward a Bachelor of Science degree -- with no loss of credits. The agreement allows students to focus on one of three majors: exercise science, fitness specialist or sport marketing and management.\nThe newest articulation agreement signed by representatives of both schools Wednesday at Ivy Tech was the third official pact in just more than a year. \nIvy Tech-Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart said while articulation agreements should continue to trickle in, the order is fairly arbitrary.\n"There is no road map," he said. "This is just where the relationship has developed over the last couple of years."\nIU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, who represented IU at the signing, concurred.\n"There's no master plan," he said. \nBut this agreement is different than the previous two. Unlike IU, Ivy Tech does not yet offer any degree in kinesiology. So while Wednesday's agreement ensures IU's acceptance of any Ivy Tech kinesiology credits, the number of prospective transfers with the degree is the same as the number of extra dollars in the University's budget: zero.\nBut Jim Smith, Ivy Tech's dean of academic affairs, said the college hopes to implement the new degree by next fall.\nHe also said the articulation agreements help Ivy Tech students attain the same education available to IU students. \n"The people we get at our upper ends are as bright as those you have at IU," he said. "They just weren't paying attention in math class."\nGros Louis used Wednesday's signing to unveil another appetizer for prospective IU students -- a new scholarship. The University will now offer 10 $3,000 scholarships to students with two-year degrees, such as those obtained at Ivy Tech.\nGros Louis encouraged all Ivy Tech students to apply. \n"If the applications are more than we expect, we may increase (the scholarships) in the future," he said.\nSmith said about 170 credit hours are transferable under the three articulation agreements in place. But according to the kinesiology agreement, only courses taken during this semester and after apply. Furthermore, "all course work taken prior to spring 2005 will be evaluated by Indiana University-Bloomington faculty to determine transferability of the course work." \nThat means that classes Ivy Tech students took before this semester must undergo the same meticulous process required for all other transfer work. \nBeyond kinesiology, administrators of the two schools are in discussions for similar contracts applying to other degrees. Smith said agreements are in the works for students studying criminal justice, education, nursing, informatics, social work and environmental affairs. \n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(01/24/05 5:43am)
Another University administrator is flying the coup.\nIU Vice President of Public Affairs and Governmental Relations Bill Stephan will vacate his IU post for a similar one at Clarian Health Partners. Stephan said his new job will begins the first week of March.\n"I was not planning to leave IU, but then Clarian contacted me," Stephan said. "They recruited me pretty aggressively, and I found that this opportunity was in my family's best interest and mine personally."\nStephan will take an office at Clarian as the senior vice president for communications and community relations. The administrator, who served as chief of staff to former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, said his contacts in Indianapolis, along with an inclination to broaden his areas of interest, are the main reasons he decided to leave the University. \n"This provides an opportunity for me to get more deeply involved in health care issues," Stephan said. "Clarian has an enormous presence in central Indiana, improving the quality of life. They're growing their enterprise. Those issues appeal to me."\nAlong with promoting the University throughout the state, Stephan has lobbied General Assembly during his tenure at IU. Before his current position, he was spokesperson for the University, which entailed working closely with former President Myles Brand and representing IU.\nIn December, IU Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services Donald Hossler announced he was stepping down from his position. Charlie Nelms, the University's vice president for institutional development and student affairs, will interview with representatives from Tennessee State University for that institution's presidency. \nBut Stephan said it would be unfair to group these departures into a "broad generalization."\n"Every case is different," Stephan said. "When you're talking about a large institution like IU there will always be some turnover."\nLarry MacIntyre, director of IU media relations, said IU is not an unpleasant place for administrators to work, and added that IU's turnover is "normal."\n"I do not think people are abandoning ship," MacIntyre said. "I would not agree that there's an exodus of people."\nMacIntyre said Stephan's departure is unexpected but not illogical.\n"I was surprised but not shocked," MacIntyre said. "He's well-known throughout Indiana and has a great reputation with his work. So, yeah, I figured he was in demand."\nStephan said Herbert, whom he informed of his decision Wednesday of last week, was "disappointed" but supportive.\n"He said he was very disappointed," Stephan said. "But he said if it was in my best interests he wanted to support me."\nMacIntyre said the University has not developed a replacement process to find someone to fill Stephan's shoes. \n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(01/19/05 6:18am)
Charlie Nelms is in demand.\nThe University's vice president for institutional development and student affairs is the front-runner among six finalists for president of Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn. According to information provided by Kamaria Mack, the campus news editor for TSU's student newspaper, The Meter, Nelms gathered more votes than any of the other five finalists from the school's presidential search committee members during a Dec. 1 narrowing process. \nThat vote does not represent an official tally, but does symbolize, while early in the selection process, a casual show of hands to answer the question: Who wants Charlie Nelms as TSU's next president?\nNelms, who has yet to be interviewed for the position, will meet with TSU officials and search committee members Jan. 25, along with the other finalists.\n"I am honored to be one of the people they are talking with and I look forward to the opportunity to speak with the members of the search committee next week," Nelms said.\nThe six-year vice president was scrawled on a short list to become Florida A & M's president in May 2002, but he removed himself from the running days before the board of trustees made a decision. Nelms was also considered the leading candidate for that position. \nNelms, formerly the University's vice president for student development and diversity, has been an active proponent of diversity at IU. \nIU Interim Associate Vice President for Student Development and Diversity Edwardo Rhodes, who has worked closely with Nelms, said though Nelms would be missed if he were to leave, the state of diversity at IU continues to move forward.\n"It would leave a big vacuum," Rhodes said. "But he of course has got to do that which is best for him. With the various programs he set up, he organized in such a way that his departure would not mean these programs will self-destruct."\nIU Media Relations Director Larry MacIntyre agreed that Nelms must tend to his own interests, but said the University would like to retain him.\n"We recognize that Charlie has a lot of talents and abilities that are in demand," MacIntyre said. "And it would not surprise anyone if at some point he gets stolen away from us."\nThe 23-member search committee to find a chancellor for IU-Bloomington currently includes Nelms, but MacIntyre said it is too early to speculate on how Nelms' departure might affect IU's search process. He added that the University is in "wait-and-see mode."\nThe other five finalists for the post include Melvin N. Johnson of Winston-Salem State University; A. Toy Caldwell--Colbert of Howard University; Cynthia R. McIntyre of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Handy Williamson, Jr., of the University of Missouri-Columbia; and David Wilson of Auburn University.\nThe search committee consists of members of TSU's board of regents, several Nashville community representatives and TSU faculty, staff, students, alumni and administrators. \nNelms' interview, along with those of the other finalists, will be simulcast and archived on TSU's presidential search Web site, tsusearch.tbr.state.tn.us.\nMacIntyre said the University understands that a high-demand administrator and teacher like Nelms is a precious commodity.\n"President Herbert's aware that some universities have looked at Charlie as a candidate," MacIntyre said. "When you've got somebody who's that talented, that comes with it."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(01/12/05 6:51am)
IU President Adam Herbert appeared before the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday in Indianapolis to present his request for IU's new budget.\nPresident Herbert asked the committee, a group of 25 state legislators who write the budget presented to the General Assembly, to allocate about $1 billion for the University. The proposal would represent an $80 million increase from the current budget in state funds.\nBut House Ways and Means Budget Chair Larry Buell said though Herbert's presentation was "very good," the state budget is stretched too tight to comply fully with Herbert's request. He said the committee would probably not approve the proposal "to the extent that (Herbert) made the request, but not because of an inadequacy of his proposal, but a shortage of funds at the state level."\nBuell said when presenters appear before the committee rather than just submit a written proposal, "it makes the budget come alive." He also commended Herbert, as president of the University, for showing up in person.\n"I think, of course, it's always best to hear it from the chief officer of any organization," Buell said. "He, after all, is the ultimate spokesperson for the University."\nHerbert's request is the same he made in October to the State Budget Committee. That committee's goal was to make a budget recommendation to the governor, who in turn would make a recommendation to state legislators. \nBut the House Ways and Means Committee will produce an actual budget to present to Indiana's House of Representatives. Once the budget is debated and revised by both houses of the Indiana General Assembly, a final working budget will be in place.\nBut Director of IU Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said he and Herbert's administration are not expecting a final budget until mid-April at the earliest.\n"This is the next step," he said. "But the debate in the legislature is really just getting under way."\nMacIntyre said Tuesday's presentation was Herbert's way of personalizing and outlining IU's future direction.\n"This morning wasn't about numbers," he said. "It was the president spelling out his strategic priorities and how he intends to get there."\nIn a press release, Herbert cited campus repair projects and the support of research as reasons behind the requested $80 million in increased funding.\n"We are developing national and international pre-eminence in a number of areas," Herbert said. "My vision for IU is to become one of the nation's top five centers for cancer research, diagnosis and treatment." \nAccording to the press release, state funding accounts for just 25 percent of the University's annual $2.1 billion budget. Indiana's state budget is apportioned in two-year chunks, corresponding to the term lengths of Representatives.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(01/07/05 6:46am)
Alyson Gross's apartment has no heat, no carpet and virtually no drywall on the ceilings or walls. All that occupies her spacious five-bedroom Varsity Villas apartment is a few large appliances and eight blaring industrial air movers. The sophomore didn't expect to return from the winter break to such a barren set. But who would expect a busted water pipe to ravage her property while she's away for the holidays?\nIt's not known if the break in the apartment's copper pipe system was caused by ice, oxidation or any of a number of other weather-related issues. \nBut with more than 30,000 students returning from a break which saw torrential snow and ice sweeping through the Midwest, an angry tsunami taking hundreds of thousands of lives and destroying entire Indiana Ocean islands and constant rain here in Bloomington, one thing is sure: The power of water has never been more prevalent.\nA pipe on the second floor of Gross's apartment burst over the break, spewing water on the entire apartment. On the first floor, drywall flaked and split off the walls onto Gross's and her roommates' furniture and belongings. The ceiling bulged groundward, gravid with the upper level's dirty secret, before finally crashing down and passing the buck to another unassuming floor. Gross said the basement, a bedroom, was almost totally destroyed.\n"Water was pouring out of my roommate's drawers," she said.\nAlong with the soggy drawers, Gross said many of the personal belongings in the basement were damaged. Although much of the second floor was spared from major ruin, falling drywall tormented objects on the main floor and buckets of water, which settled in the basement, charged another hefty toll.\n"It's nobody's fault," Gross said. "It just happened."\nThe tenant said her landlord has relocated the four occupants in a smaller but cheaper apartment.\nEven dorm life can be wet. Heather Martin, a freshman living in a basement apartment in Ashton-Mason, said flood waters began creeping into her room Wednesday afternoon. \n"I was mad," Martin said. "Mason's a little bit cheaper than the rest of the dorms, but we pay so much money to live here and there's still all these problems. It's ridiculous."\nShe said maintenance crews spent the entire night pumping water out of her dorm.\nIn a house off Henderson Street, senior David Seng said rainwater seeped into the bottom floor from the outside.\n"There's not really anything we can do," Seng said. "We may take some brooms and try to swish the water toward the door."\nThe foundation's seal apparently broke Tuesday night, giving way to the fruits of heavy rainstorms in the area. \n"I've been telling people to come over to go swimming," he said. "We have a new pond downstairs."\nGross, who, along with her roommates, has already moved out of her ravaged apartment, said the news to which she returned made her bad week worse. \n"I was kind of in disbelief," she said. \nGross was told repairs on her apartment won't be finished for two months. While the group is frustrated by all the required moving, Gross said the scenario has at least one advantage -- a refurbished home.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(12/10/04 6:20am)
The eBay post reads loud and clear:\n"IU ROOMMMATE FOR SALE!! MUST SELL! Finals are coming!"\nHow much would you pay for a curly-haired, 19-year-old dorm-dweller? As of press time, at least $14.50.\nWednesday, freshman Joe Minkner posted a curious auction on eBay.com -- his roommate, freshman Chris Carr.\n"My mom thinks it's hilarious," Minkner said. "But she thinks I should be studying for finals instead of playing on eBay."\nMinkner said the idea sparked when the duo learned of a "haunted" walking cane served up on the popular auction site. When bidding concluded, the "ghost cane" was shipped for the tidy sum of $65,000.\n"So I told him I didn't like him and I was going to sell him on eBay," Minkner said. "Then it just blew up huge."\nAs of Thursday evening, the freshman's post had received more than 800 hits, but Minker said the auction was never meant to be taken literally.\n"I didn't want eBay or anyone who reads it to think I was serious," he said. "It was a funny joke."\nThe post is indicative of other unusual auction listings from eBay's archives. In February 1999, someone offered 24 Japanese children for sale. Three hours after the post, eBay nixed the auction, but one bidder had already pledged $51.\nIn November 1999, another seller listed an auction for "the entire Internet." The auction that would make a "perfect Christmas gift for ... evil dictators" fetched a $1 million bid before meeting its demise.\nA Brazilian UFO detector went up for sale in March 2000 -- AA batteries included -- in a completed sale. "Zallures," an eBay bidder, bought the piece for $135.03 plus shipping and handling.\nFor sellers, the auctions may be all in fun. But Professor of Marketing Thomas Hustad said the "wacky" auctions represent a dangerous trend. An auction such as Minkner's, he said, is an inappropriate display of dehumanization.\n"If something like this continues to escalate then there are boundaries of taste and ethics that may be crossed," Hustad said. "Nobody has the authority to sell a person, not even the person himself. It's a very poor joke."\nHustad said some fictitious auctions can be benign -- such as the ghost cane that was purchased by www.GoldenPalace.com. In those cases, he said, there is no assumption of validity, as the buyer considers the purchase efficient advertising.\n"They may say the cost that they pay is cheap publicity for an equivalent amount of notoriety," Hustad said.\neBay has explicit rules forbidding unethical auctions. According to the Web site's restricted items policy, "Humans, the human body or any human body parts may not be listed on eBay."\nMinkner said most his friends who have seen the site get the joke. But Hustad said fictitious auctions run counter to eBay's mission.\n"When the nature of the object becomes strange, like in this transaction, it becomes very different than what the intent of eBay really is," he said. \nThough Carr was still for sale at press time, his auction is not without fine print.\n"Note to Buyer -- Actual person and his belongings not for sale," the post claims. "Winner receives a good laugh only."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(12/10/04 4:11am)
This is my Christmas column. If you, gentle reader, have not an affinity for yuletide cheer, then read no more. And bah humbug to you.\nChristmas is my favorite holiday because it lasts for a freaking month. \nSure, Thanksgiving is turkeytastic. The Fourth of July is spectabulous. Halloween is splendiferous. Easter is ... well, pretty weak.\nBut all those holidays only last one day. The "season," as it's known, seems to go on longer than a Cuba Gooding Jr. awards ceremony acceptance speech. \nAnd when I talk about Christmas, I'm not talking about the birth of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth wasn't even born on Dec. 25. Christmas, to me, means the holiday season, which includes people of every religion and non-religion. The season is an annual span of about 35 days between Thanksgiving and Jan. 3 when folks can lighten up and spend all their money on people they have to pretend they like.\nBut low, dear reader, it takes many ingredients to make a Christmas pie.
(12/07/04 11:36pm)
A local health care center has sued IU for denial of disclosure of information after a six-month battle for worker's compensation claims. The lawsuit also alleges an IU Vice President with conflicting interests engaged in negotiations.\nFirst Health Care, located at 100 North Curry Pike, filed suit against IU President Adam Herbert and trustees Nov. 16 in Monroe County's Sixth Circuit Court. In the suit, the company claims the University failed to adequately fulfill an April 30 request for public records regarding IU's worker's compensation claims, which are handled by Bloomington Hospital. \nLegally, IU is a public company, so funds spent by the University derive from taxpayers.
(12/03/04 4:02am)
My name is Rick Newkirk. I am a world-class competitive column writer.\nSo it's official. Some of our favorite athletes have been juicing up. When talk of steroid use was first injected into newspapers and water cooler conversations, I was skeptical, but during Yankee slugger Jason Giambi's grand jury testimony, he proved hitting the gym is no substitute for hitting the needle.\nI'm not suggesting widespread drug use is a positive progression in the world of sports ethics, but at least we know the jugheads care. If they didn't, they wouldn't consume enough growth hormones to turn Shetland ponies into Budweiser Clydesdales. My suggestion is not to ban athletes like Giambi from their respective sports, but rather to encourage steroid use in other, lesser-known realms ...\n*****\nMy name is Sir Inge Packer. I am a world-class competitive checker player. When my career was teetering on the brink of failure, I needed a catalyst to give me the edge against my opponents. I turned to juice. Now my opponents are confused by my unusually high voice and mammary glands, and I destroy them with king-sized king-me's. Whatever it takes to win.\n*****\nMy name is Anna Bolic. I am a world-class competitive gourmet chef. Before I found designer steroids, my couscous was so-so and my pigs-in-a-blanket were run-of-the-mill. I turned to juice. Now my body exudes a rare radioactive element that helps me slice, dice and puree. Plus, I no longer need a microwave. My doctor said I'm going to evaporate sometime in the next three years, but I've got a death-by-chocolate cake to worry about now. Whatever it takes to win.\n*****\nMy name is Needles. I am a world-class competitive rodeo clown. I used to wear makeup to frighten the bulls into submission, but I knew at some point I was going to need a boost if I wanted to make it in this league. I turned to juice. Now I have a freakishly large head and copious backne. My legs have grown to three times their natural (wimpy) size, but my testicles have skipped town. I didn't need them anyway; all I need is my needle. Now the bulls are frightened of the real me, with no makeup. Whatever it takes to win.\n*****\nMy name is Junk McTrunk. I am a world-class competitive garbage man. I used to be puny, and it was hard lifting those heavy cans into the truck. So I turned to juice. Now I don't even smell the trash. I just lift, dump, toss, lift, dump, toss. My coworkers can even tell a difference. Sure, I'm taking advantage of an actual drug that can actually help real sick people, but I've got my needs, too. Whatever it takes to win.\n*****\nMy name is Santa Claus. I am a world-class competitive postal worker. Since I take 364 vacation days a year, I've got to work hard to deliver presents to every shack and shanty in the modern world on Christmas Eve. Each year my red velvet sack grows heavier, so finally I succumbed. I turned to juice. Sure I "rage" now and then and I've lost all my friends, but I never meant to kill that elf. I don't care. I'm cut like a snow lion, and I can even pick up those Power Wheel cars. Mrs. Claus says I'm setting a bad example for the children. Whatever it takes to win.\n***\nMaybe these scenarios are unlikely. Chefs, garbage men and postal workers usually aren't subject to the same ego trips that destroy our precious athletes. They play children's games, and we love them for it. They win those games, and we love them even more. And now some of them have destroyed their bodies to hold on to that love, if only for a few more seasons. They've obliterated the legitimacy of those games, and before long, we'll love them no more. Oh well.\nWhatever it takes to win.
(12/01/04 5:32am)
IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan announced Tuesday the hiring of a new associate athletic director for external operations to lead scheduling, marketing and media relations for IU athletics.\nTim Fitzpatrick is currently the chief operating officer and associate athletics director for external operations at the U.S. Military Academy. He served in the same position at Army when Greenspan was athletics director.\n"Tim was a valuable member of our staff at Army," Greenspan said in a press release. "Tim has worked at six different campuses and a conference office, so he brings a broad range of athletic administration experience to Indiana. We saw a huge increase in fund raising and media network growth at Army, thanks in part to Tim's efforts."\nAccording to the press release, Army's funds under Fitzpatrick grew from $500,000 to $1.8 million, and the Army Sports Network, a collection of radio affiliates covering the military school's athletic events, expanded from two to 18 stations ranging from San Antonio to New York City.\nFitzpatrick said his new position in Bloomington is "without a doubt the best of my career."\n"This is a wonderful opportunity for my family and me," Fitzpatrick said in the press release. "Indiana is one of the most academically and athletically prestigious universities in the nation. It presents the opportunity to do some great things externally. You can't ask for anything better."\nFitzpatrick will take his post Jan. 1, 2005. Along with heading IU's marketing and media relations offices, Fitzpatrick will be responsible for organizing men's basketball and football schedules.\nDirector of Athletic Media Relations Pete Rhoda, who will work under the new associate athletic director, said a Greenspan-Fitzpatrick team should work as well for IU as it did for Army.\n"Look at what they've done at Army," Rhoda said. "(Fitzpatrick's) got a really broad range of athletic administration experience. He would be a great asset in any department."\nBefore his five-year term at West Point, Fitzpatrick held similar positions at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. He also served as assistant commissioner of the now-defunct Southwest Conference, where he executed a $2.25 million men's basketball tournament sponsorship package with Dr Pepper.\nRhoda said he is encouraged after speaking personally with Fitzpatrick.\n"I look forward to working for Tim," Rhoda said. "He's got an easy-going personality, but he's very knowledgeable and very valuable."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(11/22/04 5:09am)
IU officials are considering mission statement overhauls for Bloomington and satellite campuses, but that might mean more than just printing new brochures.\nAt an open meeting held for faculty, staff and concerned Bloomington community members Friday, IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis and IU Vice President for Institutional Development and Student Affairs Charlie Nelms joined IU-Southeast Chancellor Emeritus F. C. Richardson in discussing community suggestions. After brief opening comments by Nelms and Gros Louis, those in attendance were asked to step to a microphone and make their own recommendations about the future of the mission statement.\nNelms said one of the main goals of the mission statement revamp is to individualize each IU campus's mission.\n"The needs of Richmond are different than the needs of Indianapolis," Nelms said. "We need to make sure we have a mission statement for each campus."\nFor a new mission statement to go into effect, which usually occurs every four years, the new statement would have to pass a few hurdles, including the approval of the IU board of trustees and a go-ahead from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.\n"The commission is the only body in the state of Indiana that is authorized to approve mission statements for college campuses," Nelms said.\nNelms said mission differentiation -- pointing each campus in its own different direction -- is the key to a successful project.\nFor Bloomington, that means an emphasis on research and graduate studies, which means a more selective undergraduate admissions program.\nGros Louis said though the measure might result in fewer freshmen enrollments, officials do not intend to leave out prospective students.\n"To deny those who qualify under current admissions policy would be unfortunate," Gros Louis said.\nFriday's meeting was the third held by University officials. The first two took place for a Bloomington Faculty Council committee and a collection of IU's academic deans, respectively.\nAssociate Dean of the Faculties David Nordloh said Friday that a concentration on graduate studies in Bloomington may undermine the University's core -- the undergraduate sector.\n"A significant dimension of the research population ties directly into the University's undergraduate program," he said.\nNelms said the new mission differentiation will set apart each campus for the good.\n"IU cannot be all things to all people," he said. "It's not a matter of one campus being better than another, but rather that one campus is different than another."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(11/19/04 5:51am)
As former President Bill Clinton dedicated his presidential library Thursday in Little Rock, Ark., IU students reflected on the leader's legacy.\n"He's definitely a very historical President," said senior Joel Miller, who founded an online pro-Clinton community called "Bill Clinton Rocks my Socks." "A lot of things happened under his regime. If Reagan can have a library, Clinton certainly can. Clinton was a much better president than Reagan was."\nIt has become a tradition for former presidents to have libraries or similar facilities established in their name. The Presidential Library system is made up of 11 libraries and the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff, according to the National Archives and Records Administration Web site.\nBut sophomore Stephen Lawson, who ranked Clinton 35 out of 43 presidents, said Clinton's foreign policy left much to be desired from a commander in chief. \n"I just don't think he had much resolve," Lawson said. "He was not firm. He was more looking to appease people rather than to represent the United States and represent the people who voted for him."\nLawson also called Clinton a "poll-watcher," saying the Democrat's affinity for public support moved him to please the public by any means.\n"He reminds me of a friendlier John Kerry, by going whichever way the wind will blow," he said.\nBut senior Ashish Thaker, a member of Miller's internet community, said Clinton's popularity was due to polished speaking skills, not poll-watching.\n"He was a good leader and a good public speaker," Thaker said. "Listen to any speech from Clinton, then compare it to Bush. Wasn't it nice to have a president who could speak the English language and represent the country in a nice way?"\nThaker, who ranked Clinton the fourth-greatest American president, said Clinton will be remembered for his role in peace-making and his economic leadership.\n"You can't say the economic boom we had in the (1990s) was because of the president, but I think it's fair to say Clinton fanned the fire of the economic boom."\nBut Lawson said the economic success of the last decade was due to the two previous Republican presidents. \n"I don't like how (Clinton) was able to ride the wave of the economic proposals of Reagan and Bush," he said.\nMiller, who said he would visit the library sometime in the next 10 years, said the former president's sex scandal will be his ultimate legacy.\n"The Lewinsky scandal will play into his legacy," he said, "but you have to look at all the things he did."\nMiller explicitly named a balanced budget and record surplus as Clinton's true signature hallmark. \nWhile Lawson is an unabashed critic of Clinton's, he said the former president had some redeeming qualities.\n"I think that his foreign policy was weak," Lawson said. "But even in the face of the scandals, he was able to accomplish things at home."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.