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(10/17/13 11:41pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The University has allocated $1 million to fund graduate student diversity initiatives through the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs. In a Thursday meeting with the IU Board of Trustees, Vice President of DEMA James Wimbush explained the breakdown of funds for the initiative, which aims to encourage timely doctoral degree completion. Included in the initiatives are a diversity recruitment fellowship, a graduate mentoring center and a diversity dissertation year fellowship, Wimbush said. About 40 percent of the total funds, $395,000, will go toward diversity recruitment. $270,000 will fund timely completion initiatives and $239,000 will fund mentoring programs.The rest – about $96,000 – will benefit community building initiatives such as graduate emissaries and a center for faculty development and diversity.Wimbush said they have allocated the funds based on studies showing money, mentoring and family support as primary factors in doctoral degree completion.“We can’t do a whole lot about family support, but we can do a lot about money and mentoring,” he said.Undergraduate retention and graduation rates are also of primary concern for Wimbush, he said. “Certainly when it comes to completion, the numbers are not what we’d like to see," he said. He mentioned how IU's 21st Century Scholars Program displayed a four-year completion rate of 36 percent at the IU Bloomington campus. "For a program that is specifically for four years, and a program that students will not have any out of pocket costs, you’d expect it to be higher," Wimbush said. IU Executive Vice President for University Academic Affairs John Applegate led a discussion earlier in the meeting clarifying enrollment percentages, classifications and trends across all campuses."At least half of the committee is new to enrollment reporting," Applegate said. Committee chair James Morris shared his concerns regarding tougher admission rates at the IU regional campuses, specifically at IU East. Reports showed 46 percent of applicants were denied admission this year to IU East, a school that until fairly recently, was open admission, Applegate said. "Those days are gone when, if you couldn’t be admitted to IU, you could be admitted at a regional campus," University Relations Committee Chair James Morris said. Kathryn Cruz-Uribe, chancellor at IU East, was also present at the meeting, and acknowledged her goal of improving both quality of students and access to a college degree. Applegate agreed later in the meeting that IU is faced with difficult goals of broadening access and diversity while also increasing graduation rates. “Traditionally those are goals in some degree of conflict with each other," Applegate said. “The more broadly you create access to education, the more difficulties students have in getting to graduation.”
(10/08/13 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman Abbey Bott always told people her purpose in life was to have a family and be a doctor.Bott’s group of friends called her “Mom” because she always took care of people, freshman Daniela Anthony, Bott’s friend since middle school, said.The 18-year-old Clarendon Hills, Ill., native died Sunday in her dorm room at McNutt Quad. Her cause of death was unknown following an autopsy Monday morning, but no evidence of trauma or foul play is suspected, Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer said in a press release.Bott and Anthony had been close since their group of friends attended eighth grade together. Anthony said the two lived across the street from one another at IU and remained good friends when they both began college.“Whenever any of us needed (Abbey), she would drop anything, whatever she was doing, and she would help us,” Anthony said. “She would always give and never ask for anything in return.”Bott’s twin sister, Olivia, is also an IU freshman. Bott’s family was not ready to speak to reporters at press time.Instead, they released a statement. “It is with the greatest of sadness that we acknowledge the death of our beloved daughter and sister, Abbey,” the family said in the statement. “We ask that you offer prayers for us and all those whom you hold dear.”Final arrangements have not yet been announced but will be released as soon as they are available, according to the statement.Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith expressed his condolences and said if Bott’s friends and family are interested in organizing a memorial for her, the Dean’s office would be glad to help. “We want to provide whatever support (we can) at this time for her family and friends,” he said.Friends described Bott as dedicated to her schoolwork, a straight-A high school student who was trying to maintain that streak through her college years.An exercise science and personal fitness major, Abbey was considering becoming a chiropractor, Anthony said.“She wanted to go into the medical field because she just wanted to help people,” Anthony said. In high school, Bott tutored elementary school students through a program called Read 2 Lead. The program paired elementary school students with mentors from Hinsdale Central High School. “She truly was friends with everyone and everyone appreciated her and knew that she was a nice and solid person,” Anthony said.Freshman Matt Zilis said although he did not know Bott closely, he had been in school with her since kindergarten. "She always greeted me with a happy tone when I saw her in Bloomington," Zilis said. "The world lost a truly amazing person on Sunday."Bott was a hostess as well as a mother to her friends. She let people know they were welcome to visit at any time, Anthony said.She loved to bake. Her signature baked goods were peanut butter balls, which she sometimes brought to school to share.She threw a Super Bowl party and a Fourth of July party this year, Anthony said, and stayed up all night the night before the party making food and planning for her guests.“She had this huge car and she would always volunteer to drive us down to the city,” Anthony said. “She would pay for parking and gas and never ask anyone to chip in.” Ryan Piurek, IU news and media director, said he encourages students who have been affected by the loss to seek support from IU Counseling and Psychological Services or the Dean of Student’s Office.“The Indiana University community is deeply saddened by the sudden and unexpected loss of freshman student Abigail Bott, and our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to her family and friends during this extremely difficult time,” Piurek said. “It is truly a tragedy to lose one of your own, and all of us at IU are in mourning today.”Anthony said Bott was kind and always ready to spend time with her friends.“I don’t think she’s ever been mean to anyone,” she said. “She was truly one of the most genuine, nice, caring people that anyone’s ever met.”Follow reporter Tori Fater on Twitter @vrfater.— Samantha Schmidt contributed reporting
(09/20/13 2:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU was named a 2014 Military Friendly School by veteran-owned business Victory Media Inc., according to a press release from the IU Newsroom.The annual Military Friendly Schools list includes the top 20 percent of schools in the United States which deliver the best experience for military students, based on the quality of military support on campus, the university’s academic credibility and the percentage of military students enrolled.Margaret Baechtold, director of Veteran Support Services, said IU has been “very generous with support” for student veterans.She said IU created the office to support student veterans “long before many schools started thinking about this need.”Veteran Services Specialist Sarah Gibson said the Veteran Support Services office offers services for student veterans and for veteran dependents, as veterans can transfer their benefits to a dependent. The office provides a student lounge in the Indiana Memorial Union with veteran and military resources, as well as walk-in math tutoring on Mondays and Thursdays this semester and library research assistance once a week.Gibson said their primary role is to help students process their federal benefits so they receive financial aid for school.“Our first priority is to process all the documentation required for our students to get the veteran education benefits they earned while in service,” Baechtold said. “We work with about 420 students each semester who use these benefits.”Baechtold said she estimated the value of education benefits awarded to IU students in 2012 to be approximately $7.4 million.Michael Loomis, a 20-year-old student veteran, said he joined the Army National Guard in 2010 when he was 17. He enrolled at IU last year and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science.Loomis earned college credits as part of his military training and said most of his credits transferred when he enrolled at IU. Many of his credits were undistributed, but counted toward military science classes, he said. However, he said he hasn’t been able to use those credits toward a major or minor because IU does not offer a military science major.“I wish they offered a military science course here,” he said. “Military leadership as a minor or something ... there’s no specific major to put on a degree or a diploma.” As a reserve member of the National Guard, he is not yet a veteran, but said Veterans Support Services was helpful to him as well. He went to math tutoring sessions for help with finite math and does his homework in the student lounge.“I’ve been in there twice this week,” he said. “You can get coffee, do your homework and everyone’s friendly, too.”Baechtold said Veteran Supports Services provide services like an annual Welcome Dinner and specialized career support to smooth the transition from military to school.Baechtold said sometimes veteran students feel their age or “non-traditional student” status has more impact on their campus experience than their military background. “Our students tell us that by and large, they feel very comfortable on campus as veterans,” she said. “But we also know that some come to school needing extra support due to their military experiences — and we are here to provide that or refer them to the offices best prepared to do so.” — Hannah Alani contributed reporting
(08/20/13 3:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Patrick Siney sat back on his heels at the edge of the Jordan River and pushed two more flat stones into place. His newest sculpture was almost finished.Siney is an artist of all trades — he paints, he takes photographs, he builds cars in his garage. His day job as a freelance graphic designer leaves him time to pursue his love of art as a hobby, and his newest project is building stacked rock sculptures in the Jordan River, near Franklin Hall. Siney’s style is inspired by sculptures he saw in creeks on a visit to Boulder, Colo., he said.“I saw people sitting in front of them and picnicking,” Siney said. “The minute I got home, instead of going back to work, I took three days off, and I spent those three days building those rock sculptures.”He finished 23 sculptures before a heavy rain washed them away. Siney said he doesn’t mind, because it gives him the opportunity to rebuild and refine his creations.Bloomington resident Jim Holmes passed Siney as he was working last week and stopped to watch. Holmes said he was fascinated by the artwork and the artist’s patience.“It washes away,” he said. “To me, that’s what it represents — that nothing is permanent.”To Siney, the rock sculptures represent the idea of a shared ancestry, he said. As he worked, people stopped to tell him about other artists who worked with similar styles of rock stacking.“Everybody has a story to tell about their experience with rock sculptures,” he said. “It’s not a new idea. People have been doing it for a long time.”Other anonymous Bloomington artists have followed his lead. Siney pointed out ten sculptures that he had not built.The Jordan River is a convenient place to sculpt, he said, because his work takes him past campus daily.“I’m downtown pretty much a lot, and it’s really the only body of water that I can get to on my bicycle on a regular basis,” he said. “Plus it’s a really pretty area.”He rides his bicycle to the Jordan River on an almost-daily basis to create new sculptures, he said. Each stack of rocks takes him about 15 minutes to complete.He loves his job, he said, but stacking rock sculptures is the highlight of his day.“It’s my favorite part of the day, to get out of the home office,” Siney said. “I would rather be out in the creek making artwork.”Although he said there aren’t any set principles or rules to his artwork, he has to work with the natural condition of the rocks. He does not plan his creations before his visits to the river.“There’s definitely an art in it, and you don’t get to have your way all the time,” he said. “They’re not permanent. They’re fragile.”
(08/10/13 3:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Rising costs and society's changing demands for education are among the persistent challenges facing the IU Board of Trustees newest chairman.Trustee Thomas Reilly was elected to a two-year term during Friday's meeting. Reilly has served as trustee since former Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed him in 2005.The board is prepared to continue confronting the University's challenges, he said."To my mind, the university under the leadership of President Michael A. McRobbie and the board chairmen, Steve Ferguson and Bill Cast, has made significant progress," Reilly said in a press release. "Most importantly, the quality of its offerings, its faculty, its research and its students have been strengthened.”Four other new elections accompanied Reilly's rise to chairman.Trustee MaryEllen Bishop, who was recently reelected to the board for a second three-year term, was elected vice chair. The board also elected Robin Roy Gress as secretary, Jacqueline Simmons as assistant secretary, MaryFrances McCourt as treasurer and Stewart Cobine as assistant treasurer.MaryFrances McCourt was also appointed vice president and chief financial officer of the university by President McRobbie. The board approved her appointment today. As Board treasurer, McCourt will continue to manage the University's investment and debt portfolios. As vice president and CFO, she will oversee most of the University's business functions and budgetary issues.IU President Michael A. McRobbie said in a press release McCourt's proved herself an outstanding member of IU's administration.“MaryFrances has developed a sophisticated understanding of Indiana University's highly complex finances as a result of her eight years of experience here," McRobbie said. "I know she will continue to provide strong fiscal leadership and solid guidance for the administration and the Board of Trustees."McCourt said in a press release that she was honored to be selected for the role of vice president and CFO.“I look forward to helping IU navigate through the headwinds facing higher education while capitalizing on vast opportunities,” she said.The meeting also saw reports of increases in inventions created by staff and faculty, and the growth of IU's online classes.Indiana University faculty and researchers have almost doubled the number of invention disclosures in the past three years, Board spokesman Ryan Piurek said in a press release.And Piurek said leaders of IU's online classes program, IU Online Initiative, also presented plans to expand the Web-only service to all University schools. The online initiative now has more than 80 programs.McRobbie said by next year, every IU school will have an online graduate program.
(04/26/13 1:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A leashless dog ran through Dunn Meadow past other puppies and the students playing with them. IU student Katie Speer sprinted close behind with the leash dangling from her hand. Casey, a 5-year-old Miniature Pinscher, had slipped out of her harness and raced to play with the other dogs.The second annual Rent-a-Puppy was Thursday afternoon in Dunn Meadow. Students paid $5 for a half-hour playdate with dogs from the Bloomington Animal Shelter.Speer said she came to Dunn Meadow to unwind from the stress of dead week, but the beginning of her half-hour puppy session was much more exciting than she expected. Casey had escaped her leash earlier in the day as well. After catching the dog and tightening its collar, Speer said she enjoyed playing with Casey for the rest of the session.“It’s definitely a good break, because I’ve been studying the past couple days and it’s a beautiful day out,” Speer said.She was hoping for a 2:30 p.m. time slot, but the event was popular and all 15 puppies had been spoken for by the time she arrived at Dunn Meadow. Instead, she walked to Dunn Meadow with a friend for a 2 p.m. timeslot, directly after taking a final exam. “I’ve always had a dog growing up, and now I live in an apartment where we can’t have pets,” she said. “I miss having a dog around. We thought it would be a great opportunity to play with shelter dogs.”Although some students might have wanted to adopt puppies immediately after renting them, the Bloomington Animal Shelter has to ensure the dogs go to a responsible home. The shelter requires potential pet owners to fill out an application and go through adoption counseling to be matched up with the perfect dog or cat.“People are meeting the dogs here and go to the shelter to adopt them,” said Emily Herr, the shelter’s outreach coordinator.The organizers added a new feature this year, a Puppy Kissing Booth, where students could pay one dollar to spin a wheel and win one, three or five minutes of hugging time with a dog. This feature was not available for the full afternoon because the dog was the pet of one of the organizers and not donated by the shelter.Funds from the event were split between the Bloomington Animal Shelter and student organization Lutheran Campus Ministry at IU, said event organizer Maureen Savage.To ensure the dogs’ safety, students were asked to leave a photo ID with the shelter volunteers as collateral at the beginning of their session, said Jeff Schacht, Campus Minister of the LCM. This was meant to prevent students from leaving with the puppies, he said.Savage successfully led Rent-a-Puppy for the second year in a row. She said LCM and the Bloomington Animal Shelter jumped at the chance to repeat the program after last year’s success.“It’s great as a stress reliever for the students because we do it right before exams so people can come unwind,” she said. “It’s great for the dogs because they’re all shelter animals, so this gets them socialized.”Savage hopes Rent-a-Puppy will become an annual event, and said Thursday of dead week seems to be the optimal time for it based on student response.“So many folks wish they could have dogs here. If you’re living in a dorm or apartment you just don’t have that opportunity,” she said. “If you’re missing your dog at home, it’s great to come here and hug someone else’s dog for a while.”
(04/25/13 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coach Tim Fick is reviving the ancient game of Gaelic Hurling at IU.His interest in the 3000-year-old sport, which Fick calls “the mother of all stick and ball games,” began in 1991 during a trip to Ireland to explore his Irish roots. He said he remembers watching from the stands as an injured player ran off the hurling field with blood on his face and teeth missing, beaming with joy despite his injuries.“I was fascinated by the passion, the speed of it,” he said.Fick and his friend Steven Quigley started IU’s Gaelic Hurling club five years ago. The two played in an Indianapolis hurling club together for several years.Fick said several of the players joined the team to get in touch with their Irish roots, although team members come from various ethnic backgrounds.“It’s part of Irish culture and history,” he said. “It was a real important sport during the struggle for independence from the British. Irish nationalists wanted to instill pride in young Irish men and women, and they started the GAA and revived the sport.”The GAA, or Gaelic Athletic Association, is based in Ireland and includes sports such as football, rounders and hurling. The United States has branches of the GAA based in cities such as Boston, Chicago, and Detroit.Freshman Tom Roach played rugby in high school but found rugby practices took up too much of his time when he came to IU. The hurling team’s schedule was more flexible.“We just hit around once a day, about an hour, so it’s a lot easier to maintain,” he said. “We spend it hitting around, doing drills if we have enough people.”He said he was introduced to Gaelic Hurling while in Ireland on a high school trip but decided he preferred rugby. However, he has enjoyed playing in the Hurling Rec Sports club at IU.“It’s 3000-years-old, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot different from rugby,” he said. “It plays like lacrosse and field hockey.”The team plays about four invitational games a semester, Fick said. Because Purdue University and Middle Tennessee State University are the only other universities in the area with Gaelic Hurling teams, there is not much opportunity to compete during the year.The IU hurlers will play in the National Collegiate GAA championship tournament at Purdue during Memorial Day weekend. Fick said IU won the championship two years ago only to lose the title to Purdue last year. Half a dozen players from the first championship team will play for IU this year, he said, and they want to win again and take the national championship title away from Purdue.Although Gaelic Hurling has gained popularity in the last decade, particularly in large cities, Fick said, it has been slow to gain a following on college campuses. The National Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association contains a total of 26 teams.“It’s never made it out of the big Irish communities such as Boston and Chicago, except in the last ten years,” he said. “A lot of big cities have been forming clubs.”Fick said he hopes to see the sport’s popularity increase on college campuses.“There’s something very elemental about just hitting a leather ball with a wooden stick. It just feels good,” he said. “I want to share that with college kids, and I’d love to see the sport take off.”
(04/22/13 2:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>emBRAce, one of IU’s smallest philanthropy clubs, provides support for low-income women in more than one sense of the word.Members of the club collect new and gently used bras and donate them to shelters that offer services for women in need.“The bra is the least-donated article of clothing, so that’s something women need all the time,” club president Carrie Risner said. “When you have a nice bra, it’s supposed to surround you and support you and make you feel good about yourself, and when you’re a woman in need it’s hard to find that.”The club has collected and donated an estimated 350-400 bras this year and almost 600 last year. Risner said the organization collaborates with shelters such as Middle Way House and Agape House.“Monroe County has a very high homeless rate and Bloomington’s our home for four years of our lives,” she said. “We feel it’s our duty to give back to our community. We’ve found this is one of the more interesting and fun ways to give back.”The organization, which began two years ago and was officially registered last year with Student Life and Learning, was inspired by a similar group in Chicago called Support1000. As a junior, IU student Farihah Hossain contacted the president of Support1000 for permission to start a chapter in Bloomington.Due to copyright issues, Hossain was not able to use the name “Support1000,” but representatives of the group gave her permission to use the idea to start a philanthropy in Bloomington with similar goals and a different name.Risner, a sophomore, was recruited by Hossain last year to act as coordinator of dorm outreach. The group works with residence halls and greek houses to set up donation boxes for a week. Members then wash and catalogue the donated items and send them to organizations in Bloomington which care for women in need.Risner said the club is looking to expand. However, because it is a new organization and currently has only three members, she thinks some students are hesitant to join.Freshman Stephanie Barber, the most recently inducted member of the organization, said they are planning to have call-out meetings in the fall to recruit new members. She said she thinks emBRAce is a worthy cause because it helps women who are in difficult situations.“It gets me, emotionally, to see them suffering because I know what women need and what they want in life,” Barber said. “I feel like we can help them by providing the simple things in life that can provide security and confidence.”Sophomore Grant Montgomery was recruited by Risner this year to reach out to residence halls and advertise the philanthropy. He said he hopes emBRAce will have a booth at the club fair this fall and spread the word about this philanthropy, because they want to start promoting awareness of the issue and collecting donations early next year.“It not only helps by giving bras to those who need them, but it also makes it apparent in the community to know that’s the least-donated item,” Montgomery said.Risner said she thinks emBRAce helps women who are unable to buy essentials like food on their own, let alone undergarments.“When you’re wearing a really nice bra you feel really good about yourself, you feel like you can take on the day,” she said. “A lot of women who come from these terrible situations need that support.”
(04/18/13 12:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Just in time for Culture of Care week and Little 500 weekend, IU Student Association has launched the SafeRide program, a service which provides transportation to students in near-emergency situations.A pilot program began last week to test if students wanted or would use the service. It will be evaluated during finals week and will likely continue through the summer before being expanded into a full-scale program.Kyle Straub, outgoing IUSA student body president, said the program is similar to the Safety Escort Service. Students can call SafeRide for safe transportation home.However, unlike the Safety Escort Service, SafeRide drivers will pick up students who are intoxicated. Drivers will also take passengers to and from locations off campus as long as the second location is the student’s University-registered address. The hours are more extensive, as well. SafeRide will run from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night of the week, unlike Safety Escort, which only operates until midnight on weekends.Patrick Courtney, who worked with other members of the IUSA Movement administration to implement the SafeRide program, said they are expecting a slight increase in usage during Little 500 Week. He also expects an increase in usage as more students learn about the program and said IUSA is working to raise awareness of the service.If the program is successful, Straub said, funds may be allocated from Safety Escort to SafeRide so SafeRide can extend its hours until 4 a.m.Courtney said they will evaluate the program by looking at the hours and days students use SafeRide most often — for example, if no one calls before 9:30 p.m. during the pilot program, the full-scale program may not include hours before 9:30 p.m.Each student is limited to three rides per semester to keep people from abusing the program. Up to two passengers can ride in each car, as long as at least one is an IU student. Straub emphasized it is not meant to be a taxi service.“It’s meant to provide a service to someone who’s exhausted their other options,” he said.Courtney said SafeRide is based on similar programs at other Big Ten schools such as the University of Minnesota and the University of Nebraska.“We knew we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel if we didn’t have to,” he said.He said the Safety Escort service and its employees were also helpful in improving the program.Straub suggested that students who cannot find another ride home or feel uncomfortable where they are should call SafeRide.“We want to provide students with an option,” he said. “Make sure you know how you’re going to get home when you go out.”
(04/17/13 3:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior Jose Mitjavila is already making plans for next year as he steps into the role of student body president of IU Student Association.Mitjavila, along with his running mates on the YOUniversity ticket, won the IUSA elections by a landslide at the beginning of April.The YOUniversity administration was sworn in by IUSA Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Bower in an informal ceremony Friday.Mitjavila said he cannot point to a specific moment when he decided he wanted to be student body president, but he said he has wanted to be an executive since the summer after his freshman year of college.“It came about pretty naturally,” Mitjavila said. “The more I got involved with IUSA, it became a natural ambition that I wanted that form of leadership.”Because IUSA executives are elected by the student body each year instead of nominated from within the organization, it is difficult to maintain organizational consistency, outgoing IUSA president Kyle Straub said. The majority of the YOUniversity executives, however, have been involved in IUSA in some capacity for the past two years. Casey Baker, for instance, will continue in her role as Treasurer, a position she has filled for the past year.Mitjavila said there is an expectation within the organization that every year, non-graduating members of the outgoing IUSA administration will form a ticket and run for re-election.“Since I’ve been in IUSA since my freshman year, it’s like you move up a little each year,” Mitjavila said. “As the seniors go out, someone steps up to form a ticket.”Mitjavila said since he and other members of the incoming administration worked in IUSA last year as well, they will have to handle both incoming and outgoing transitions. For example, as he steps into the role of student body president and takes on responsibility as the head of the executive branch, Mitjavila will be turning over his position as the IUSA chief of communications to a different member of IUSA.Mitjavila said applications for positions in IUSA will be released Tuesday night and screened over the weekend. The administration hopes to finish interviewing applicants during dead week.Straub said the outgoing administration has emphasized mentoring the incoming administration during the transitional process. He said this was not a priority during last year’s transition between the Big Six ticket and the Movement ticket, because most members of the senior staff had experienced the same learning curve after ousting the incumbent BtownUnited ticket in spring 2011.Each outgoing executive has met with their successor to exchange tips and lessons, Straub said, as well as to discuss organizational goals.“I’ve been keeping an ongoing list of tips, advice, recommendations to pass on to the next administration,” he said. “I sent them a list of 10 major tips and told them to print it out and put it on their desks. These are big picture things that I wish I would’ve known at the beginning of the year that would have made it a lot more effective.”Straub said he has enjoyed the transition because, having worked with Mitjavila and the other executives before, he has faith in their ability to accomplish their goals.“I see them with all these fantastic ideas, and I just feel like a father that can sit back and watch them try new things and give my advice here and there,” he said.“They’re extremely hardworking, the preparation that they have done already is just unprecedented. No one outside of the organization is going to see the preparation that they’ve done ... I really do have a lot of confidence in what they’ll be able to accomplish.”
(04/15/13 2:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The strikers have left the building, but evidence of last week’s demonstration remains in Woodburn Hall.A strike schedule is taped to a bulletin board in the first floor lobby. A red bandanna has been discarded below a tree from which a banner reading “We found debt in a hopeless place” hung Friday. The anarchy symbol and messages, such as “a strike never ends” and “strikes never die,” are marked in chalk on the steps outside the south entrance.This sentiment that ‘it’s not over yet’ seems to be shared by many of the participants in Thursday and Friday’s demonstrations.“We put out the list of demands, but no one realistically thought two days of action would get the demands met,” said IU student Aidan Crane, who is also a columnist for the Indiana Daily Student. “It’s about increasing the culture of resistance on this campus.”Faculty members such as Professor Bill Johnston demonstrated alongside students. Johnston participated in the protest marches and distributed information about strike activities to faculty and students in the Department of Comparative Literature.“I see this as a beginning of a much broader activism,” he said. “I would like to see the events of this week be a spur for the faculty to speak up more loudly and in a more organized way than before.”IU students, faculty and employees made up the majority of the demonstrators, but several protesters such as Randall Jamrok, who live in other cities, visited Bloomington to support the IU on Strike movement.Jamrok, a union member from Indiana, said he would like to see the movement expand across campus and eventually statewide. Jamrok is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World union, which sent 20 members to Bloomington to participate in the demonstration.“It’s a good first step in a long-term campaign,” he said.Although the protest was not discussed at the Board of Trustees meeting, Mark Land, associate vice president of University Communications, said the administration does share the demonstrators’ concerns.“The most common issues that they’ve raised, affordability and student debt ... those are things that are important to all of us here,” Land said. “We’re working very hard to make IU more affordable, to decrease student debt, to increase diversity.”Johnston said he was impressed by the turnout for the demonstration.“I very much hope that the momentum that this movement has started will continue,” Johnston said.
(04/12/13 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The sound of drums mixed with the sound of chanting and chatter filled the air behind Woodburn Hall.About 250 students, faculty and staff carrying signs and banners painted with slogans like “No debt bondage” and “Double the 4, we want more” assembled near the red clock. Those walking by slowed down to watch, some snapping photos or asking others what was happening.On the sidewalk, some handed out flyers and pamphlets, asking those walking by, “Would you like some information?” Right next to the clock tower, a small group of girls on stationary bikes, raising money for Bike To Uganda, looked around at the sudden crowd, as if unsure what to do or whether to continue.One said, “This is bullshit.” A dozen yards away, several tour groups headed towards the crowd, parents and prospective students trailing behind their guides. The next stop on their tour was Woodburn. As the crowd condensed into a line, one tour group began to weave through the crowd. The tour guide gently nudged some in the crowd out of the way, in attempt to clear a path to the entrance to the building. A man in the crowd instead of moving away came towards them. He handed flyers to the parents and said “Welcome to $30,000 of debt.” Thursday, the IU on Strike movement reached its climax with a campus-wide demonstration protesting tuition rates, lack of diversity on campus and wage freezes, among other issues.“The University has sort of turned into an institution based on producing workers and making profits, excluding certain people and exploiting the workers,” said IU student Stephanie McGee, a participant in the strike. “I see the strike as a chance for rejecting the social rules we’ve been given by the University.”At night, protesters occupied Woodburn Hall. Police asked protesters to leave by 11 p.m., and at about 10:45 p.m. they arrived to remove protesters and close the building. Officers said they would arrest those who did not leave.After the officers closed the doors, one person allegedly shattered a window pane on the south entrance door. IU Police Department Sgt. Shannon Ramey said one person was arrested for shattering the glass.Ian Woodke, an IU student at the Woodburn occupation, said no one shattered the window deliberately. Rather, he said, it broke in the chaos of people leaving the building.Protester Mike Smith traveled from Indianapolis to participate in the strike. He said he wanted to stand in solidarity with the students resisting the increasing cost of higher education.“It’s important because education is something people aren’t getting fair access to,” he said. “A lot of students all over the country and the world can’t even get jobs in their field.”The protesters launched their march from the clock tower behind Woodlawn. They marched past the Indiana Memorial Union and Chemistry Building, through the Old Crescent and through Ballantine Hall.“No cutbacks! No fees! Just fire the trustees!” they chanted. “They say cutbacks, we say fight back!”The march ended at Franklin Hall as some entered in an attempt to disrupt the Board of Trustees meeting. There, police tried to keep the protesters back, but the protesters continued to chant and eventually bang on the doors in an effort to get inside.Although the trustees meeting was open to the public, there was not enough space to seat every protester, Interim Chief of IUPD Laury Flint said.“The crowd was unruly and loud to say the least,” Flint said. “It was determined they would disrupt the meeting.”IUPD agreed to let in five people at a time, but the crowd decided that was unacceptable and left, Flint said.McGee said she felt it would be a waste of time to argue with the police. She returned to Woodburn with the other protesters to discuss their next move. Some activists, however, stayed and attended the meeting.Associate Vice President of University Communications Mark Land said the strike did not disrupt the trustees’ session and was not mentioned by board members.“There was a pretty good crowd of folks outside Franklin Hall, so it’s pretty safe to say everybody’s aware there were people out there expressing themselves,” he said. “Once the session got started, those who came in were respectful and were welcomed into the room.”The strikers reconvened for a planning assembly in the second floor lobby of Woodburn. Students leaned on the wall or sat cross-legged on the floor as they took turns proposing plans to move forward with the demonstration.One male student stood up and addressed the group enthusiastically, discussing the importance of doing things as a group and keeping up the momentum.“You all inspire the fuck out of me,” he said.Another female student asked the group to think about how much they learned that day by skipping class to attend the demonstration, as opposed to how much they would have learned on an ordinary school day.Flint said despite the “very loud, very vocal” demonstration, there were not any lengthy disruptions Thursday. IUPD did not have to intervene at any point.Today, the protesters are reconvening at 10 a.m. for a second march.“So far, things have gone very well,” Flint said. “I think overall, we can be very pleased with our student population and the way that they’ve handled this strike.”— Matt Stefanski contributed to this report
(04/10/13 4:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU on Strike activists have been preparing for this week for months.The group, which prides itself on a lack of leadership hierarchy, is planning a campus-wide strike Thursday and Friday that will include students, faculty and staff.Participants in the strike said they are hoping their actions will raise awareness of their demands. “For me, the strike is a lot more about calling attention to these demands and letting the administration know we’re not OK with this...than a dialogue with the administration about how exactly they should go about doing these things,” IU on Strike representative Kelly Thomas said.Here is a list of IU on Strike’s demands and administrative reaction.Immediately reduce tuition and eliminate feesTuition is set by the state every two years when the Indiana General Assembly allocates funding to public universities. Once the budget is passed, President Michael McRobbie makes a tuition recommendation to the Board of Trustees and the Board sets tuition.IU on Strike representative Karissa McKelvey said she feels that presenting their concerns to campus administrators and the Board of Trustees is also a chance for IU on Strike to influence state legislators. She said she feels the administrators themselves are partially responsible for tuition hikes.“If you think about it, the state does cut funding, but the administrators have choices on how they’re going to make that up,” McKelvey said.Stop privatization and outsourcingIU’s mission is to provide an education for students, not necessarily to operate certain services, Trustee William Strong said in an interview with The Herald-Times.Strong said IU trustees are investigating possibilities for “public-private partnership” such as outsourcing parking operations. This is based on an initiative adopted by Ohio State University, which earned almost $500 million in revenue after leasing university parking spaces to a private company.The revenue from privatizing parking or textbook sales would go to the University, and in theory could lower tuition. However, McKelvey said the total cost of attendance would increase because for-profit businesses, such as Barnes and Noble — which runs the IU Bookstore — would charge more than campus services would. End the wage freezeMcKelvey said wages are rising below the rate of inflation, which decreases the spending power of faculty and staff at IU.“The administration doesn’t call it a wage freeze, but in reality it acts like one,” she said.State budget cuts in 2009-10 led to a wage freeze at IU for that school year. In conjunction with other cuts, this wage freeze allowed administrators to increase financial aid by almost $20 million, prevented layoffs and allowed for the hiring of 129 additional faculty, according to McRobbie’s 2009 budget plan.Vice President of University Communications Mark Land said state funding and, by extension, the IU budget is a legislative issue and is too complex to be solved at the campus level.The University must honor its promise to double the enrollment of minority students to 8 percentIn May 2006, trustees pledged to double the enrollment of minority students by 2013. In 2006, minority students made up 10.2 percent of campus. They now make up 14.4 percent of campus. Since 1975, the number of African-American students has fluctuated around 4 percent.Thomas said IU on Strike included this demand to express solidarity for student groups advocating for diversity on IU’s campus.Land said he did not want to speculate on exact numbers at this time. He said the University has recently dedicated more money to programs to attract minority students to campus.Abolish both HB1402 and SB590House Bill 1402 and Senate Bill 590 prohibit universities from granting residential tuition to undocumented immigrants.Thomas said the protesters recognize this as a state issue rather than a campus issue. She said this demand was included intentionally to show that they recognize issues such as tuition costs and immigration policy as statewide and sometimes nationwide problems.Administrators agree that HB1402 and SB590 are state issues that cannot be solved at the University level. No retaliation for participating in or organizing the strikeLand said the administration will respect protesters’ rights to express their opinions.“As long as everyone is protesting peacefully, there’s going to be no issue,” Land said. “That kind of debate on a college campus is part of what the experience is all about.”Indiana Law states that public employees are not permitted to strike. Faculty and staff at IU are considered public employees because they work for a state university and could suffer penalties for participating in the strike. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Larry Singell sent an email to faculty and staff members that stated that according to University policy, they are not allowed to use IU’s email services to promote the student strike. He later rescinded the statement.Acting Chief of IU Police Department Laury Flint said IUPD has planned for the strike and are prepared to ensure the safety of the protesters as well as the faculty, staff and students who are not involved.
(04/04/13 4:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>YOUniversity is the unofficial winner of the IU Student Association election following the end of voting at 10 p.m. Wednesday.The unofficial vote tally, confirmed by Election Commissioner Melody Mostow, shows that YOUniversity won by a landslide 4,200 votes. Hoosiers 4 Solutions came in second with 1,721 votes and SPARC for IU finished third with 513 votes.“It is indescribably great to see all our work pay off,” said Jose Mitjavila, YOUniversity’s presidential candidate. “After all this hard work and sacrifice ... Nothing has felt better than this.”He said he wanted to thank everyone who volunteered with YOUniversity and voted for him and his running mates.“In the past two days we spoke with such passion and conviction,” Mitjavila said. “Anyone who voted for YOUniversity understands ... in this following year we’re going to do our best.”Sidney Fletcher, SPARC for IU’s presidential candidate, said he congratulated YOUniversity on the win.“We thought they ran a great campaign, there’s no denying that,” Fletcher said. “They ran a highly effective campaign.”Casey Shelburne, Hoosiers 4 Solutions presidential candidate, said he enjoyed the campaign experience and “wouldn’t have traded it for anything.” “The turnout from our volunteers today was a great team effort ... I couldn’t be prouder of our group,” he said. “We were able to bring the issues students care about to the forefront. I really enjoyed meeting with all different students and talking about policies.”He also said Hoosiers 4 Solutions is conducting investigations and considering filing a complaint with the Election Commision about other tickets’ campaign practices.“We want to make sure that we have all our facts straight before we make any accusations,” Shelburne said. “The numbers that I saw do not seem to reflect the amount of work our people put in and what we saw on the ground today.”The 2011 election featured the same number of opposing tickets, but 2,500 more voters than this year’s election.Ty Nocita, SPARC’s chief of staff, said he was impressed by students’ interest in the issues despite the somewhat low voter turnout.“You can still do well if you have good ideas,” Nicota said. “We came into this campaign kind of expecting to be broken down by lack of interest in the student body ... but there’s interest out there. Even though we didn’t win, we’re glad students got out there and voted.”The IUSA Supreme Court will certify the election results no sooner than 24 hours after all properly-filed complaints have been submitted to the Election Commission for review. The deadline to file complaints is 4 p.m. today.
(04/03/13 3:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A student dressed in a tutu and a gorilla mask danced on the Ballantine Hall steps Tuesday afternoon to draw attention to student government hopefuls campaigning next to the building. With only two days left in the IUSA campaign season, each ticket sent representatives to locations around campus to recruit votes, doing what they could to attract students to their tables. Ayesha Ahmad, a volunteer for the YOUniversity campaign, directed students to tables set up in front of the kiosk behind Ballantine on the corner of Forrest Avenue. The kiosk is one of three polling locations reserved by the Election Commission. Candidates may also campaign at the Sample Gates and the corner of 10th Street and Fee Lane, and both Hoosiers 4 Solutions and YOUniversity reserved other locations on campus, as well. The Election Code states that if any ticket reserves space to campaign, the other tickets must be allowed to campaign there as well. However, due to limited manpower, several locations had representatives from only one ticket.IUSA candidates and campaign volunteers spent hours flagging down students to ask them to participate in the election, each with their own pitch: “Do you have half a minute to talk about student government?” or “Do you have 20 seconds to vote?” Ty Nocita, SPARC for IU’s chief of staff, arrived at his polling location at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to set up SPARC’s table and a computer with a WiFi connection so students could vote immediately after talking to the candidates. Other volunteers began arriving at the same time — the polls opened at 10 a.m. and no one wanted to miss a chance to reach voters.“The best part of all three tickets being here is you can talk to prospective voters,” Nocita said.It is against the rules of the Election Code for candidates to have any campaign materials at polling locations, but each volunteer was prepared to answer questions about their ticket’s platform. SPARC had posters with the SPARC logo hanging from their tables. Hoosiers 4 Solutions and YOUniversity volunteers wore color-coded shirts with their respective logos on the front.Kelsey Gorman, Hoosiers 4 Solutions’ candidate for vice president of administration, said she had been asking students simple questions to “reel them in” so they could hear more about her ticket’s platforms.“We ask ‘have you heard about the bike-share program? have you heard about the expansion of the Lifeline Law?,’ she said. “There’s a lot of people who want to hear about the issues.”Gorman and other volunteers gathered around the steps of Ballantine as classes let out, asking students if they wanted to vote.Ahmad, dressed in costume, was successful in drawing people’s attention to her ticket’s table, but a friendly, open manner seemed to be the order of the day. Candidates and volunteers drew people in to vote by pulling them aside and speaking to them.“Everyone’s been really enthusiastic and open, and a fair number of people have heard about the IUSA campaign,” said YOUniversity volunteer Andy Braden, adding that getting involved was worth it because he believed in what his campaign stands for.Nocita said he had seen many voters make the rounds and visit all three tables to learn more about each ticket’s platforms before voting.“We hand them a flier and we say ‘do you have 30 seconds to talk about student government?’” he said. “If someone wants to talk, they’ll talk to every ticket.”
(04/01/13 3:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As landscape architect for IU, Mia Williams is building the image of the University — all eight campuses. She called her job “diverse,” with irony in her voice.“On any day I could be at any of those campuses, and I’m involved in pretty much everything that goes on outside of the buildings,” Williams said.“Everything” includes designing not only landscaped and wooded areas, but also athletic venues, sidewalks, even patio furniture used for seating on campus.Although landscape design is not just gardening, Williams said one thing that drew her to landscape design was her lifelong interest in gardening as a hobby.“I grew up in a family where both of my parents did a lot of gardening,” she said. “You know, we had a vegetable garden, and my parents’ yard had wonderful flowering trees and shrubs and all of that stuff, so I grew up enjoying it.”One summer, she traveled abroad and met students who were studying landscape design. She said something clicked.“I could not believe that someone would pay me to do that,” she said with a small laugh. “I do that for fun, I do that to relax.”In her time at IU, Williams has worked on a variety of projects, from helping coordinate the upgrades to Woodlawn Field to planning the tree and flower planting on campus for the spring season.Planning the tree planting is not as easy as sketching out a few locations and choosing the one she likes best, she said. Williams has been working at IU since 1996, and knows from experience that the trees she and her colleagues at the Physical Plant choose to plant will remain in the same place for decades.“When you’re planting these trees and they’re 10 feet tall, you have to think ‘someday that thing is going to be 60 feet tall, and how will it feel in this place?’” she said. “It’s a little bit of a guessing game, but I’ve been at it long enough now that I’m seeing some of those first plantings I did really mature ... You learn as you go.”Similarly, Williams has to take into account many factors when designing the layout of a flowerbed or a wooded area.She said they try to use hardy plants, often perennials native to Indiana. The emphasis is on plants that will survive without special treatment, such as the pansies planted in campus flowerbeds every spring.“We can make this pretty and keep it in budget, but we also have to make sure it’s maintainable,” she said. “We do also have some annual planting that we keep to specific areas, but for the most part, we try to be responsible with what we design.”The planting this year was only slightly delayed by the unfavorable weather conditions in the last two weeks, she said. Planting conditions were not good because the ground was frozen in some flowerbeds, but they usually postpone planting sensitive flowers until after the last frost at the beginning of May anyway.This is helpful for Trent Chitwood, a general supervisor in the Campus Division, who leads the maintenance crew that takes care of the arboretum and the area around Herman B Wells Library. Although this area is not as extensive as the areas covered by other crews, he said the workload is just as heavy.“All the other crews just have to maintain the area and keep trash picked up,” said Chitwood. “In the arboretum, we spend a lot more time trying to improve the landscape there.”Despite the amount of work, Chitwood said working on improvements is his favorite part of his job.“Basically, whenever you can take an area on campus that looks bad and make it look better ... you can take pride in something,” he said.Williams said her favorite part of the job was knowing the change her improvements would make on the campus.“I think for me, it is standing on campus and projecting how the campus is going to look 10, 20, 30 years from now, and trying to make the right choices to make sure that it stays as beautiful as it is and people are able to enjoy it the way they do now,” she said. “That’s what I spend a lot of my time thinking about, and I think it’s a worthy pursuit.”
(03/28/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Culture of Care initiative has been a high-profile platform for the current IU Student Association administration. Candidates for next year’s administration have taken the Culture of Care into consideration as they plan their platforms.Casey Shelburne, Hoosiers 4 Solutions’ presidential candidate, said he and his running mates plan to keep the Culture of Care program if they are elected.“It’s still going to be Culture of Care,” he said. “We’re not looking to rebrand it into anything different.”However, he said Hoosiers 4 Solutions wants to expand Culture of Care beyond campus and make changes at the state level. For example, they have called for an expansion of the Lifeline Law so victims of sexual assaults would not be charged with underage drinking when they report the assaults to the police.Shelburne said he feels education for incoming freshmen on Culture of Care issues — alcohol and drug abuse, sexual assault, mental health — is important to causing a shift in campus culture.“When you come to Indiana University as a freshman ... you should have this expectation that this is IU, and this is not acceptable,” he said.Shelburne said he would like to see reduced alcohol abuse at IU sporting events, as well. Hoosiers 4 Solutions proposed selling limited beer and wine at games to reduce binge drinking pre-games.SPARC for IU representatives said they want to change the Culture of Care program from an awareness campaign to an “action campaign.”“We think that by increasing workshops around campus and offering optional classes for students to take, Culture of Care could be a much more effective campaign,” said Tom Dauer, SPARC’s candidate for vice president of congress.SPARC presidential candidate Sidney Fletcher said he would lead SPARC to build on existing workshops run by the Office of Student Life and Learning to incorporate more of the Culture of Care topics. He said bystander intervention workshops have been proven to dramatically reduce rates of assault.Fletcher said he and his running mates would look at data from student surveys to see if the Culture of Care is catching on in tangible and intangible ways. However, SPARC Chief of Staff Ty Nocita said the data may not be a consistent predictor of change, as numbers may initially go up as more people report things like assaults, before they go down.The YOUniversity ticket has adopted several platforms based on the Culture of Care, and co-Chiefs of Staff Katy Flanigan and Dia Sharma serve on the current administration’s Culture of Care steering committee. Flanigan said she is passionate about expanding these programs. YOUniversity representatives have called for a revival of tailgating at sporting events. They hope to accomplish this by introducing food vendors and water stations at the fields to decrease dangerous drinking habits. They also want to re-introduce handles so people will not binge drink before arriving at the fields.“The drinking that is dangerous is what’s happening before the games,” Flanigan said. Flanigan said she and her running mates want to expand the Night Owl bus routes to include North Jordan and Kirkwood, as well as extending the hours. She said this would increase campus safety by decreasing the number of students walking at night. Flanigan said YOUniversity also wants to modify Culture of Care’s structure to encourage more student participation in steering committees.Although all three tickets have platforms that incorporate programs, the candidates agreed Culture of Care would likely take more than a year to take hold.“Throughout this whole year, our mission has been to lay the foundation for Culture of Care so it can be a sustainable project,” Flanigan said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”
(03/27/13 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As members of the student government, IU Student Association representatives are in the position to mediate discourse between students and administrators. Candidates are also considering ways to understand student needs.Casey Shelburne, Hoosiers 4 Solutions’ presidential candidate, said that in his experience, not many students understand what student government is and does.“A lot of students that I’ve talked to, I tell them that I’m running for IUSA and they look at me with a blank stare,” he said.Shelburne said his administration would meet consistently with the largest student organizations on campus and suggested a regularly distributed newsletter updating IU students on IUSA activities would be helpful as well.“I don’t think we need a $10,000 marketing budget to do it,” he said. “I think social networking is effective and cheaper.”One of Hoosiers 4 Solutions’ platforms includes asking for program suggestions from students and periodically selecting ideas that are feasible and cost-effective. They also want to include the student or group that suggested the program in its implementation.Shelburne said he feels one of IUSA’s main roles is advocating for students in meetings with administrators and ensuring that students are involved in changes that directly affect them. He said he would like to see IUSA’s advocacy role improve in the next administration.Sidney Fletcher, SPARC for IU’s presidential candidate, said he and his running mates believe IUSA needs to balance forming relationships with administrators and communication with students.“IUSA’s primary responsibility is to the students, so the most crucial part is feedback,” Fletcher said.Fletcher and SPARC Chief of Staff Ty Nocita both said SPARC wants to focus on forming IUSA into a conduit of communication between students and administrators.Nocita said they would work with the student body to adopt feasible ideas and present them to administrators. It is important to remember, he said, that not everything students want is possible. Fletcher said SPARC would work to ensure that in those cases, students would stay informed of administrator’s reasons for deciding not to pursue those ideas.“There’s a lot of narrative that the student body is apathetic,” Nocita said. “I haven’t seen that at all.”Although ticket members plan to be accessible to students, Tom Dauer, SPARC’s candidate for vice president of Congress, said ticket members do not want to wait for students to come to them. SPARC wants to build relationships with student groups on campus in order to learn what students want.Kathryn Flanigan, YOUniversity’s co-chief of staff, said one of YOUniversity’s focuses while in office would be providing students access to IUSA resources. Students would be able to submit suggestions and proposals online through the Access, Connect, Evaluate Portal, which executives would directly receive.Big proposals would be taken to the IUSA Congress so representatives could vote whether or not to adopt the idea, she said. Should they take the student’s suggestion, IUSA representatives would assist that student in bringing his or her idea to fruition.“Should the student be really passionate about their idea, we’d like to invite them on board to share the resources we have at IUSA,” she said.Other than the ACE Portal, which would require students to initiate communication, Flanigan said YOUniversity has been brainstorming ways to proactively reach out to students, as well. One idea they had, she said, was to create a team of people to spread out over campus and interview students about their concerns. She said YOUniversity is concerned with creating a channel of input from students to administrators and vice-versa.“I’m a firm believer that even if administrators may not always be in touch with what students want, they want to align their goals with what students want,” Flanigan said.
(03/22/13 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pending a public hearing next Wednesday, the IU Supreme Court decided Thursday night to grant temporary relief for SPARC for IU’s disqualification from the IUSA election.According to a press release from the Court, they granted the injunction because: “The Court has concluded that a successful appeal is possible, that the harm posed to the SPARC would be irreparable and severe, that other parties would not be significantly harmed by granting temporary injunctive relief, and that it is in the public interest to allow SPARC to continue their campaign until a final decision has been reached.”The ticket was declared ineligible by the Election Commission Wednesday night after Thomas Dauer, candidate for vice president of congress, withdrew from the race.SPARC candidates submitted a petition to the Court Thursday, requesting that their disqualification from the IUSA election be revoked immediately, with hopes of participating in Thursday’s debate. Ty Nocita, SPARC’s candidate for Chief of Staff, did not confirm that SPARC would have dropped out of the race if the Supreme Court allowed them to run but did not allow them to participate in the debate. However, he said he felt that if SPARC had not been allowed to debate, it was likely that they would not have been able to win the election.“We think that it is in everybody’s interest that the democratic process be respected,” Nocita said. “To deny us the opportunity to debate would be to deny the University a chance for dialogue.”Nocita said SPARC asked the Election Commission for advice and feels the ticket was pressured to allow Dauer to withdraw. Dauer would not have withdrawn, Nocita said, if he knew that SPARC would be disqualified as a result.Election Commissioner Melody Mostow said the Election Commission told Fletcher and Nocita that except under extenuating circumstances, SPARC would not be allowed to replace Dauer after the application deadline. The Commission asked for proof of extenuating circumstances, she said, and did not receive that information from SPARC. Mostow said this situation is unusual and she has not heard of similar cases.Nocita met with Hoosiers 4 Solutions presidential candidate Casey Shelburne and YOUniversity presidential candidate Jose Mitjavila to discuss the petition and ask for support should the Supreme Court grant SPARC’s request to participate in the debate.SPARC originally submitted a petition to have Melody Mostow removed from the post of Election Commissioner, as well, but agreed to remove the petition after presidential candidates from the other tickets objected to it.Before the court issued the injunction relief, Shelburne said that Hoosiers 4 Solutions would support SPARC’s right to participate in the debate.“We want the fairest election possible,” he said. “We will respect the decision of the Supreme Court.”Before seeing the press release, Mitjavila said he thought this situation shows some instability in SPARC’s ticket. He said he found that worrisome, but he would welcome the competition if SPARC was allowed to debate.“We wouldn’t want to exclude anybody on any small technicalities,” he said. “One thing that I’ve loved about this election year is the fact that there’s so much competition, and competition is the best thing for IUSA elections.
(03/22/13 3:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Candidates for next year’s IU Student Association administration debated Thursday night about issues from the relationship between students and administrators to the IUSA budget. The questions were written by University Chancellor Emeritus Ken Gros Louis, who also acted as moderator.The cost of college was introduced as an issue right away, as Hoosiers 4 Solutions’ presidential candidate Casey Shelburne spoke about the subject in his opening statement.Shelburne explained his ticket’s platform to decrease the cost of college, including a program that would encourage students to earn their bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four, an idea he stated several times during the debate.In response to the moderator’s question about what candidates want to see at IU in 25 years, SPARC for IU’s presidential candidate Sidney Fletcher said he is afraid if tuition costs continue to rise, people will not be able to attend IU. He said to combat the cost of college, he and his running mates would talk to the Board of Trustees and advocate for a two-year freeze on tuition.YOUniversity did not have a platform that addressed the overall cost of tuition, but presidential candidate Jose Mitjavila spoke about their plan to create an “Emergency Tuition Fund.” This program would provide short-term financial assistance to students, with funding coming from a basketball ticket raffle.In response to the moderator’s question about the relationship between IU students and administrators, Fletcher said he felt the relationship was poor and the student voice was not being heard. SPARC wants to increase communication with student organizations instead of individuals in order to encourage unity and increase students’ abilities to influence administrators.YOUniversity disagreed, stating there is room for improvement in the relationship between students and administrators, but that IUSA representatives could begin improving it by reaching out to administrators.“It’s not right to expect administrators to reach out to us,” said Chris Kauffman, candidate for vice president of administration. “We have to take initiative, as well.”Many of the solutions suggested by Hoosiers 4 Solutions, such as expanding the Lifeline Law and creating a tax-free textbook holiday, include going beyond the IU campus and administrators to work with Indiana legislators. Shelburne said although working with administrators is important, he thinks IUSA has little power beyond advocacy on campus.“A lot of changes that are going to be made are going to be made at the state level,” Shelburne said in his opening statement.SPARC for IU was the first ticket to bring up the issue of executive salaries. Fletcher said he and his running mates do not think they should pay themselves out of the IUSA budget. SPARC plans to invest the money in buying solar panels for use in campus buildings instead. Hoosiers 4 Solutions followed up by stating that they too would refuse executive salaries and invest the money in other IUSA departments.Casey Baker, YOUniversity candidate for treasurer, took issue with the implication that IUSA executives were being financially irresponsible by giving themselves salaries. She said IUSA executives do not have time for full-time jobs.“IUSA is not an extracurricular activity,” she said “Salaries require accountability to the students.”In his closing statement, Fletcher said the debate served not only to facilitate discussion of major issues, but to highlight the differences between the three tickets.“Behind the issues and the squabbles are three different views of student government,” he said.