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(07/30/09 12:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At his official retirement ceremony in early June, Dick McKaig received a small replica of the Herman B Wells statue and bench that graces the corner of IU’s historic Old Crescent.The bronze-cast sculpture shows Wells, jacket unbuttoned and necktie loosened, extending a hand and a familiar smile, as if to say, “Sit here, stay awhile.”His likeness rests fittingly at the invisible but undeniable border between two campus worlds: the student body and the administration, Ballantine and Bryan halls. Wells, who nurtured this once-small, Midwestern college into an iconic, world-recognized institution, was beloved most of all for his approachability and good humor in dealing with students.Dean of Students Dick McKaig embodies this Wellsian philosophy of commonality. Stories abound of McKaig’s constant presence at campus events and willingness to meet students at whatever intellectual, social or emotional level they were at. His energetic participation in all types of IU traditions dissolved the student-administrator wall that is entrenched at the modern mega-university. At a time when historic higher education institutions like IU evolve into corporations – for which brand development rather than student development is the ultimate metric – McKaig made IU less of a diploma factory and more of a living room. He made the atmosphere less cutthroat and more conversational. And he made sure our “leaders of tomorrow” loosened up and laughed a little. No title was above a pie in the face.For three decades, “Hermie” Wells donned a Santa suit at the annual all-campus Christmas party. Along with an entourage of student elves, he would greet a packed Alumni Hall with holiday cheer and bags of candy canes.McKaig forwent Dockers and cuff links every year in favor of swim trunks and floaties – publicly. He rotated student apparel into his speech wardrobe, like a backward ball cap, an iPod and peel-and-stick tattoos. And I can’t begin to imagine the scope of his IU club T-shirt collection.He’s a down-to-earth, fun-loving friend to students and a polished, professional administrator at the same time. He could discuss University policy with the president’s circle on the second floor of Bryan Hall and leave to play cornhole in Dunn Meadow.Wells elevated student opinion to the highest levels of administrative decision-making. He was lauded as being one of the most accessible major university presidents in the country, holding regular office hours and walking across campus solely to talk with students.“A satisfied student body is, after all, the greatest public-relations asset a university can have,” Wells wrote in his autobiography. McKaig has certainly satisfied.Thousands of alumni know his name, and he knows theirs. McKaig is notorious, as was Wells, for offering fair, candid advice to those who seek it. He is a friend and advocate first, an administrator second.The next dean of students, Pete Goldsmith, certainly has a bar to meet, and the key move he should glean from the Wells-McKaig playbook is to simply relax and have fun. We college students don’t need or want any more committees or initiatives or no-smoking rules. We want an in-touch representative who isn’t afraid to act goofy once in a while.Friday ends 38 years of dedicated service not only to a school, but also to a community and to a state and to the tens of thousands of students who are better people for having met Dick McKaig.So ends the stewardship of a true Wellsian ambassador.
(07/27/09 12:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The annual Best Buddies national leadership conference began Friday at IU and wrapped up Sunday with final speeches by several participants with intellectual disabilities.Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that matches volunteers with people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities and, since its founding in 1989, has expanded internationally. The conference, which has taken place at IU for the past seven years, included university chapter board members from across the country as well as about 50 participants with disabilities. The volunteers attended seminars about how to improve their local chapters. The intellectually disabled participants worked on individual speeches throughout the three-day conference, each practicing in front of a full classroom of their peers. Two finalists were selected to speak at the final Best Buddies event Sunday night in Alumni Hall.This year’s conference saw for the first time a Best Buddies alumna returning as a staff member. Rachel Lipke, who has a intellectual disability and first became friends with her Best Buddy seven years ago in Massachusetts, was a group leader during this year’s conference training sessions.“Everyone here is so full of life, full of energy, and laughs all the time,” Lipke said. “We’re really learning it’s OK to be different and to have a disability.”Lipke is a member of the BUILD committee: Buddies United in Leadership Development. She helps participants prepare speeches about their background, hobbies and life goals. She said other activities included sharing photographs with the audience and creating short skits about shopping, eating at a restaurant and calling friends to make plans.“It is an incredible, a phenomonal, group,” Lipke said. “I’m so proud of the progress they’ve all made.”Kali Wasenko, the deputy director of programs for BUILD, led public speaking practice sessions Sunday for Best Buddies participants. She became involved with Best Buddies six years ago as a freshman at the University of Michigan. She said she believes the positive social interaction Best Buddies offers can transform lives.“I’ve witnessed what an incredible change the program makes in their lives,” she said. “All of my fellow employees see the impact it makes.”Wasenko, whose brother Ryan has Down Syndrome, said she grew up with an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “I know people who were born and doctors said they would never be able to walk and never able to learn,” she said. “And now they’ve proven the doctors wrong. They have jobs, they’re involved in the community, they have a voice, they have friends.”Wasenko said after her first year of being a Best Buddy, she decided to dedicate her life to the mission of the organization. By her senior year, she was the director of University of Michigan’s Best Buddies chapter, and now she works at Best Buddies International in Miami. Best Buddies founder and chairman Anthony K. Shriver attended the IU conference and said people living with disabilities have made enormous progress in the 20 years since Best Buddies began.“Young people around the ages of 17 and 18 have much more confidence and self-esteem,” Shriver said. “The community at-large is also much more accepting in general.”He said he remembered a time when mental disability was more stigmatized, and people with mental disabilities were destined to live isolated in institutions. Citing the infamous Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, which gained national attention after revelations of abuse and unethical living conditions surfaced in the early 1970s, Shriver said people with disabilities born today have more opportunities to live happily and successfully.“White collar jobs for the mentally disabled simply didn’t exist 20 years ago,” he said. “Now people with disabilities can learn many types of jobs, even at the white collar level, not just fast-food jobs.”Shriver’s mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in 1968 to provide athletic competition for intellectually and developmentally disabled adults and children. Anthony Shriver started Best Buddies in 1987 while he was an undergraduate student at Georgetown University, and in 1989 Best Buddies was incorporated as a nonprofit organization and expanded to 33 colleges.Today, Best Buddies has chapters in all 50 states and includes more than 1,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges in the United States and abroad, according to its Web site, www.bestbuddies.org.“Students should consider joining our program because of the impact it has not only on your Buddy, but yourself as well,” Christine Ma, programs assistant for Best Buddies International, wrote in an e-mail. “You become part of a large global movement that encourages individuals to see the abilities in everyone, and not the disabilities.”Anyone interested in becoming a Best Buddy volunteer should visit the Best Buddies booth at the Student Activities Fair during Welcome Week.
(07/23/09 12:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The final increase in Indiana’s two-year series of minimum wage jumps takes effect Friday.The state’s minimum wage will increase from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. The 10.7 percent increase mirrors the federal minimum wage increase to take place on the same day and to the same amount. Indiana joins 10 other states, including Texas and Virginia, in matching its rate with the federal wage.But how many people will the new rate benefit?According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2008 report released in March, only about 286,000 workers nationally were earning minimum wage in 2008, a slim 0.4 percent of the American workforce.“It won’t have any noticeable effect on Indiana University,” IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said. “We do have some employees who are under $30,000 (per year). But even employees who make $15,000 or $16,000 are above minimum wage.”Many hourly workers and some employers consider the raise long overdue, especially considering the Indiana wage was a mere $5.15 as recently as May 2007.“If I was making minimum wage, (the raise) would be a good thing because you can’t hardly make it on minimum wage anymore,” said Larry Webb, owner of Cafe Pizzeria.Webb said he has always paid his workers more than minimum wage ever since he opened his business years ago, but he said he believes the raise in pay will still have some effect on him.“The price of everything is going to go up,” he said. “It’s just passing the buck.”For minimum wage employees working 40 hours per week, the 70-cent addition will amount to $1,456 annually.But fewer than half the workers earning minimum wage work full-time, or 35 hours per week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 52.5 percent of employees paid at or below the federal minimum wage work part-time. In addition, half of minimum-wage earners are ages 16-24. “We do have a lot of student employees, and I don’t know if they might be minimum wage. Those would all be part-time,” MacIntyre said. “Each school and department has their own budget for student employees.”The federal Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 scheduled incremental increases from the May 2007 rate of $5.15 for July 2007, 2008 and 2009.Employers of workers who receive tips must still pay them at least $2.13 per hour on top of their tips. If their tips combined with the employer’s wage of $2.13 per hour fall short of the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.Washington state leads the nation in minimum wage at $8.55 per hour, and Oregon pays second-highest, $8.40 per hour.– IDS reporters Sara Amato and Nathan Brown contributed to this story.
(06/29/09 2:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>GARY – A note, written in black permanent marker, graced a cardboard sign set on an easel in front of Michael Jackson’s childhood home in Gary.“To the ‘King of Pop’ and The Legend: I love you. I grew up loving you. I will always love you.”Fans approached the easel all day Friday, stopping to collect their thoughts and write notes and prayers for Michael Jackson, who died Thursday.The worldwide superstar grew up in this tiny, nondescript house tucked away on a Gary side street. Even though Jackson left the city behind and rarely returned, many residents still feel they’ve lost Gary’s son.2300 Jackson StreetLifetime Gary residents and fans from across the tri-state area gathered Thursday night and Friday at the house, which is still owned by the Jackson family. News media crews stayed into the early morning hours Friday to document the hundreds of fans celebrating Jackson’s life.Around 8 a.m. Friday, about 40 people had already gathered on Jackson Street (named after the U.S. president, not its most famous resident). They stood behind an army of TV cameras and news crews, and everyone was looking at the empty home where as many as 11 Jackson family members once lived.The stream of visitors to the two-bedroom home’s front door remained constant throughout the day. Stuffed animals, personal notes, candles and even money overflowed on the front steps.Gary Mayor Rudy Clay arrived midmorning to mingle with media and fans alike in the front yard. He met Jackson in June 2003 during Jackson’s first trip to his hometown since a 1971 Jackson 5 concert at West Side High School across town.“He had what you’d call a magnetic harmony to him,” Clay said Friday. “When you say ‘Michael Jackson,’ you might as well say ‘love.’”When asked if he thought Jackson died a happy man, Clay responded, “This is not the end of the sentence for Michael Jackson. He’s in heaven, entertaining the angels now.”By midafternoon, more than 100 people had leaked into the streets surrounding the house. A Lake County Sheriff’s Department helicopter whirred overhead, while Jackson’s music continued to play for the crowd.People brandished Jackson memorabilia, from records to signed perfume bottles, as they walked up to the house for a quick photo next to the growing memorial.“People will always come back to this house and see we had a megastar from Gary,” said Darryl Durham, a Merillville, Ind., resident who grew up in Gary. “It’s a total loss for Gary.” Durham said he took “$2 and a prayer” to the front door.‘Little Mikey’The generation that grew up with “Little Mikey,” as Jackson was affectionately known, is searching for words to describe the new world without the “King of Pop.”“I can’t eat. I can’t sleep,” said Chicago resident Antonio Wilson, dressed in full Jackson stage garb. “All I can do is dance, keep dancing.”Wilson elevated the mood of the somber crowd midmorning Friday when he began dancing in signature Jackson point-kicks and moonwalks. One man brought a large boom box to the curb, and soon the entire block was filled with The Jackson 5 megahits “ABC” and “I Want You Back” and iconic Jackson singles “Thriller” and “Billie Jean.”“All of his music was for the people,” Wilson said. “His shows were about everybody being together. He wasn’t just an American idol, he was the world’s idol.”Gary resident Ernie Shelby said before she became the musician known as “Lady Sax,” she competed against Michael and the rest of the Jackson family in talent shows.She said Jackson, who was only 8 years old at the time, was a “rambunctious” kid who once accidentally stepped on her foot backstage during a talent show. “The worst part about competing against them was you knew they were always going to win,” Shelby said. “He was so young and he always had perfect pitch.”To Shelby, Jackson represents the Gary of the past, when music was a central part of the culture. “Gary often gets a bad rap,” Shelby said. “But back in the day it was just as big as Detroit was for Motown.”Orlando Lumpke, who has lived in Gary all of his life, also remembers Jackson from watching him, along with many other musicians, at talent shows.“He was good,” Lumpke said. “A lot of talent came through those high schools then. It shows Gary is more than just a ghetto.”‘Goin’ Back to Indiana’During his last visit to Gary in 2003, Jackson pledged his financial support for the construction of a performing arts center named after him, but the city has not announced any plans since.On a visit to film a reality TV show last summer, Jackson’s father Joe Jackson vocalized his support for a Jackson family museum next to Interstate 80/94, about a mile southwest of the famous family home. No further plans have been released.“What they did with Graceland for Elvis, that’s what we’re gonna do here in Gary,” Mayor Clay said, standing near the home’s front steps. “This will be a national landmark forever.”Until then, Gary residents like Willie Eastland, who said he grew up with the Jacksons and used to sit in a playpen with Janet Jackson as a baby, keep remembering the days when Michael Jackson was just another neighborhood kid.“I’m just devastated,” Eastland said. “My heart goes out to his family. They were like a regular family to me.”
(06/26/09 11:53pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>GARY, Ind. – Elvis Presley. John Lennon. Michael Jackson.Mourners across the globe are using the first two names to convey their sense of disbelief after hearing about the sudden death of superstar performer Michael Jackson on Thursday in Los Angeles.Lifetime Gary residents and fans from across the tri-state area gathered Thursday night and Friday at Jackson’s childhood home at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Jackson Street in Gary. News media crews stayed into the early morning hours Friday to document the hundreds of fans celebrating Jackson’s life.The generation that grew up with “Little Mikey,” as Jackson is affectionately called, is searching for words to describe a new world without the “King of Pop.”“I can’t eat. I can’t sleep,” said Antonio Wilson, dressed in full Jackson stage garb. “All I can do is dance, keep dancing.”Wilson elevated the mood of the somber crowd mid-morning Friday when he began dancing in signature Jackson point-kicks and moonwalks. One man brought a large boom box to the curb, and soon the entire block was filled with Jackson 5 megahits “ABC” and “I Want You Back” and iconic Jackson singles “Thriller” and “Billie Jean.”“All of his music was for the people,” Wilson said. “His shows were about everybody being together. He wasn’t just an American idol, he was the world’s idol.”Stay connected to idsnews.com and see Monday’s print edition for more stories and photos from Gary.
(05/14/09 7:05pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Beltway saga of IU law professor Dawn Johnsen’s confirmation drags on.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday he cannot find enough votes to confirm Dawn Johnsen as assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. He said several Democrats would vote against Johnsen’s confirmation, making Senate democrats’ quest for a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority on the matter evermore elusive.Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., indicated hesitation to confirm Johnsen to head the OLC, citing her history as legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, an outspoken advocacy group for pro-choice policies.The newest addition to the Senate Democrat majority, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., would also vote against Johnsen.President Obama nominated Johnsen for the position Jan. 5 after she served on his transition team as a member of the Department of Justice Review Team.The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Johnsen’s nomination March 20 by an 11-7 vote along party lines after a quarrelsome confirmation hearing Feb. 25.Johnsen previously served as acting assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration from 1996 to 1998 and as deputy assistant attorney general from 1993 to 1996. She began teaching constitutional law and the First Amendment at IU in 1998.