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(01/13/04 6:15am)
Someone, perhaps maliciously, perhaps not knowing the impact it would have, scrawled the words "Nazi's rule" on a residence hall wall last year.\nThe graffiti was reported to the Racial Incidents Team, which, along with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Anti-Harassment Team, assists students who have been victims of discrimination based on race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender.\n"It may be intended as a joke, but nevertheless it's inappropriate," said Bill Shipton, co-chair of both teams. "If someone writes 'fag' on a board it might be done by a good friend. We just want them to know that it's still inappropriate. It's an offensive term, and other people are going to see it."\nResidence hall graffiti has been the most commonly reported problem for the teams since the Racial Incidents Team's inception in 1988 and the creation of the GLBT team in 1990. \nNeither group punishes offenders through the campus judicial system. Instead, their job is to bring peace of mind to the victims.\n"We work with the victim to find out what they would like to happen that would bring them closure," Shipton said. "We work on an informal level to support victims and bring about a resolution."\nJunior Ahmad Radi, a resident assistant at the Ashton Center, said if a Residential Advisor spots an offensive term, they are trained to take a picture of it and check if the target of the slur feels threatened. Next, the RA relays the event to the residence hall judicial system, which may or may not pass it on to one of the teams.\nMost graffiti is directed towards religious minorities, Radi said. Shipton also noted a rise in religious-based harassment and discrimination in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.\nWhile Shipton admits dry board graffiti is "fairly typical" of the reports received, that doesn't mean that is all with which the teams must deal. Over the years, both teams have received reports of severe harassment, beatings and even murder, in one case.\n"The worst thing that was ever reported was the murder of Won-Joon Yoon," Shipton said. "He was a Korean grad student murdered several years ago by a white supremacist."\nHowever, just because an incident isn't violent, doesn't mean it won't leave scars.\n"Emotional harm can be just as debilitating as physical harm for many people," Shipton said.\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(01/12/04 5:23am)
The days of deadbeat parents gambling with their children's futures will soon be over if a new bill passes the state senate.\nSenate Bill 143, proposed by Sen. Richard Bray, R-Martinsville, would require casinos, betting parlors and racetracks to check the name of any person who wins more than $2,000 against a national database that keeps track of parents who owe child support.\nThe money the parent owes would be sent to child support agencies. Whatever is left over would belong to the parent.\n"It won't come up with a lot of money, but it will be a step in the right direction," Bray said.\nThe Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Bray, which is scheduled to hear the bill Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.\n"We're in favor of it," said Stephen DeMougin, director of the family and children division of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. "It's part of our job to capture funds and get them back to moms and kids anyway we can."\nHowever, the casino industry is resisting the idea, saying it would be too difficult to implement.\n"It's practically impossible," said Mike Smith, executive director of the Casino Association of Indiana. "Any database would have to be up to the moment 24 hours a day, seven days a week for anywhere between 7,000 to 10,000 people to have access to it."\nThe bill was modeled after a national system proposed by President Bush as part of a welfare reform bill. That bill is still going through the U.S. Senate.\nThe idea has taken hold around the nation. Missouri proposed a similar bill but abandoned it last year. Smith noted "eight or nine" other states that attempted to implement a similar system, but all were abandoned. \nDeMougin admits it would be difficult to check those who win big at the tables but doesn't believe the program as a whole would be hard to institute.\n"The fact of the matter is that with the cost of automating business today, I find it hard to believe we can't check this," DeMougin said. "Until a cost analysis is done, I wouldn't rule it out."\nAlready one group, the Hoosier Lottery, checks if winners of prizes over $600 owe back child support. That program has been in effect since the lottery's inception in 1989. Last year, it collected more than $94,000 said Director of Public Relations Andrew Reed.\nBut Smith points out that, unlike the lottery, casinos are not run by the state.\n"I'm not sure it's the responsibility of private industry to track down deadbeat parents," he said. "I believe it's the responsibility of parents to pay for their children, but it's not the responsibility of private businesses to enforce that."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu
(01/09/04 6:55am)
Morgan County and surrounding areas received a nasty New Year's Day guest that refused to leave -- flood.\nFour inches of rain have fallen on the county since the beginning of the year, leading to one death and stranding one motorist in his car overnight.\nAccording to Associated Press reports, Matthew Fitzgerald of Wheatland, Ind. was visiting his brother when his pickup truck stalled in the floodwaters of the White River Tuesday, forcing him to spend a freezing night in his car before he saw another motorist and was able to call police for help.\nHe was back home Wednesday after being treated for cold exposure and hypothermia at Daviess Community Hospital.\n"There is a highway, and I should have taken it," Fitzgerald said.\nMartinsville police also confirmed that flooding was responsible for the death of Kayla Waters, 16, of Paragon, Ind. The teenager died Sunday in a car accident after her car hydroplaned in floodwater.\nMaking matters worse, flood waters froze as they subsided, leaving many roads closed for days. Two roads, Blue Bluff Road and Paragon Road, remain closed but are expected to re-open Friday, said Myra Christie, spokeswoman for the Morgan County Highway Superintendent.\nMartinsville schools had to close for the second time this year because of flooding, and Eminence schools had a two-hour delay because floodwater made roads impassible. \n"Unless we get more snow, hopefully we won't have any problems for awhile," Morgan County Sheriff Robert Garner said.\nThe trouble began when about an inch of rain fell on New Year's Day and another two and-a-half to three inches fell Sunday.\n"With the ground already saturated from rain, it had nowhere else to go but the roads," Garner said.\nThere weren't any more calls than usual Garner said, attributing it to preparedness after Morgan County experienced two major floods in 2003. \nThe Red Cross also reported an average number of calls for help caused by the floods. The organization received only a few, said Red Cross spokeswoman Megan Matis.\n"I hope part of it is people were more prepared after two severe flooding episodes and tornadoes in 2003," Matis said. "There wasn't nearly as much flood water this time either."\nMore people were affected in Monroe County, mainly because people couldn't get to their homes because of flooding, not because water had invaded a house.\n"Monday, there were 26 homes affected, but only two reports of basement flooding," said Ed Vande Sande, director of disaster and volunteer services for the Monroe County chapter of Red Cross. "All the flooding was in places you'd normally expect. This county has for years done a good job with flood mitigation."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(01/09/04 6:08am)
IU and Ivy Tech State College-Bloomington officials signed an agreement last month that provides the first framework for the transfer of credits between the two institutions.\nThe agreement allows students earning an associate's degree in science in general studies at Ivy Tech to transfer their credits to IU's bachelor's degree program in general studies.\n"This actually came about from a discussion I had with the dean of academic affairs at Ivy Tech about giving students the opportunity to transfer to IU," said Ron White, IU's director of of the division of continuing studies. "It was obvious to link our bachelor's program with their general studies program."\nThe credit transfer agreement was initiated and welcomed by both institutions. White said both institutions wanted better links so those graduating from community and technical colleges have better opportunities to transfer to IU.\nThe general studies degree is designed for working adults, the predominant portion of students enrolled at Ivy Tech. White said this program offers more flexible opportunities for adults to earn a degree with many classes in the evening, which are easier for working adults to attend.\nHowever, some younger students see the credit transfer as just an easier way to get into IU.\n"My grades were so lackluster that I couldn't get in anywhere but Ivy Tech," Ivy Tech freshman Erick Valler said. "I'm just putting in time there until I can get to IU. The classes aren't quite as difficult there."\nValler was planning to transfer even before the agreement was announced. This just helped confirm his decision. \n"I've been planning to transfer all along, but this agreement makes it even better," he said.\nTransferrable credits between IU and Ivy Tech have raised controversy in the past. Some believe it is unfair that a student can study at Ivy Tech for a couple of years, transfer to IU and instantly be on the same level as a student that has spent all his time at IU.\nHowever, White said he doesn't believe the agreement will devalue an IU education.\n"That's not fair to say that," White said. "That would imply that Ivy Tech isn't up to snuff, and that's just not the case. And also, our faculty and their faculty are better coordinating their studies so students have the best chance of succeeding when they transfer here."\nInterim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis agrees.\n"Since the students will be competing with currently enrolled Bloomington students in that degree program, they will need to do as well as the students who started here as freshmen," Gros Louis told the IDS in an e-mail. "Thus, I don't think the fact that they've taken courses at Ivy Tech will strengthen or weaken the degree. Rather, it provides an opportunity for a baccalaureate degree for those students capable of achieving it."\nAdministrators say there is a large possibility for more agreements between Ivy Tech and IU in the future.\n"This is a great opportunity for our students," said John Whikehart the Ivy Tech-Bloomington chancellor, in a statement. "It's also an excellent beginning for us to think about other opportunities to work together collaboratively."\nWhite said he also sees a bright future for agreements between the institutions.\n"The general studies agreement was the first, but I certainly wouldn't expect it to be the last."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/15/03 6:35am)
Senior Steve Weck was woken up by his roommate Sunday morning expecting to be whitewashed with newly fallen snow. Instead, it turned out to be something "really great" -- the capture of Saddam Hussein.\n"This has been a long time coming," Weck said. "We needed to go in there. Things were getting out of hand in the Middle East. There needed to be some sort of change."\nAfter nine months on the run, Saddam Hussein was found Saturday hiding in a spider hole near a farmhouse outside his hometown of Tikrit, in what coalition forces are calling "Operation Red Dawn."\nWhen the capture was announced by U.S. Civil Administrator Paul Bremer, Iraqi journalists leapt to their feet, shouting "Death to Saddam.\nIn Baghdad, the news was greeted with singing, dancing and celebratory gunfire, though the streets were strangely silent in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. The news of Saddam's capture was also met enthusiastically at IU -- but without the gunfire.\nWeck said he believes President Bush has now gained much needed support at home and abroad.\n"I hate to be bold, but I think Bush might have just secured the election in 2004," he said. "He's just brought down a huge world leader that was causing us a lot of problems. Plus, it's kind of an 'I told you so' to France and Germany. Now they know they should have been here with us."\nSome students hope this will raise efforts to capture another international fugitive -- Osama bin Laden.\n"Hopefully this will open the door to catch Osama," freshman Steve Schmitt said. "Bush has done a pretty good job of handling 9/11, and now Iraq. I wake up in the morning and feel safe."\nSchmitt said he agrees with Weck this will give Bush a rush of momentum going into next year's election.\n"I don't see who can compete with Bush if he says, 'Hey, I caught Saddam.' No one can point the finger now and say he didn't," Schmitt said.\nEven those who didn't completely support the U.S.-led war in Iraq are giving Bush credit for the capture.\n"This kind of gives him a little brownie point from me," sophomore Lacy Kelly said. "He set out to do something and did it, even if he did it in kind of a roundabout way. I think it's a good thing Saddam got captured. It's going to be a good thing for Iraq."\nFreshman Rahul Reddy agrees the U.S. needs to finish what it started.\n"I really wasn't for the war, but once we went in there we might as well win it," Reddy said. "This hasn't really changed my view. I still don't really like that we're there, but it's good to see we actually achieved something."\nThough Saddam has been found, others still wonder about the location of weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration's reason for waging war in Iraq.\n"I'm surprised we found him," freshman Arjun Mehta said. "We finally have some factual evidence, but we still haven't found any of the weapons. Overall though, I think this is going to help Iraqis gain confidence in the new government"
(12/12/03 5:54am)
The old Sigma Phi Epsilon house is about to get "Deke-ified."\nDelta Kappa Epsilon has announced a deal to lease the former Sigma Phi Epsilon house beginning Aug. 2004.\nThe house, located at 815 N. Jordan Ave., will be the home of Delta Kappa Epsilon until 2007.\n"This is one of the most outstanding things ever," Delta Kappa Epsilon President Cullen Harkness said. "We can rush now and establish ourselves on campus and really root ourselves in the Greek community at IU. Being one of the smaller fraternities on campus, this is a great opportunity for us."\nSigma Phi Epsilon was evicted from the house by the national chapter because of financial difficulties in Dec. 2002. The national chapter said the financial condition of the fraternity had "deteriorated to the point that the chapter could no longer assure housing conditions for the spring term," according to a January article in the Indiana Daily Student.\nDelta Kappa Epsilon's leasing of the house will alleviate the debt accumulated by Sigma Phi Epsilon.\n"By collaborating with their national chapter, we were able to set up a deal that's a good situation for both sides," Harkness said.\nDelta Kappa Epsilon actually raised the money to lease the house from alumni at DePauw University.\nThe DePauw chapter of the fraternity probably won't return to the campus for another decade or so, meaning plenty of alumni are willing to support the IU chapter, said Eric Freeman, DePauw Chairman of the Chapter Foundation.\nThe lease is the culmination of more than two years of correspondence between Freeman, Harkness and IU alumnus Nathan Hartman.\n"When they called me a few years ago, I was really impressed with them," Freeman said. "And since we were the only Deke chapter in Indiana for more than 100 years, we were glad to help."\nWhen Sigma Phi Epsilon left the house, the fraternity also left behind more than $5,000 in damage. That has since been repaired by the national chapter, but the new tenants are still planning on doing a little bit of remodeling.\n"We're going to be Deke-ifying the house to suit our style," Harkness said. "Of course we'll be putting our letters up; we may or may not have some sort of stone out front; and we have what we call our 'rampart lions,' these two standing stone lions, which we'll be putting by the front door."\nInterfraternity Council President Evan Waldman said he was pleased with the fraternity's acquisition.\n"Personally, I think it's always a positive sign to see fraternities moving into houses," Waldman said. "But it's important for them to keep in mind their core values and not let the fact that they're moving into a house skew their core values."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/11/03 6:09am)
Adjunct Chemistry Professor William Carroll has been elected president of the American Chemical Society. \nThe ACS, founded in 1876, is the world's largest scientific association, boasting more than 163,000 members.\nCarroll earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from IU in 1978, and is currently the vice president of Dallas-based Occidental Chemical Corp. His one-year term as president of the ACS will begin Jan. 1, 2005.\n"I'd like to re-introduce the public to the benefits of chemistry and its essential role in products from plastics to medicines," Carroll said in a press release Wednesday. "The science and the people who practice it make a huge contribution to modern life."\nDespite his new responsibilities as ACS president, Carroll will continue as adjunct professor at IU for at least another four years, visiting at least once annually to share his expertise in polymers.\nThe IU chemistry department was pleased with Carroll's election.\n"This is a big deal," department chairman David Clemmer said. "The ACS is by far the largest organization in chemistry. The chemists over here think it's just fantastic. We were all rooting for him."\nThe election was an especially pleasant surprise for professor Dennis Peters, under whom Carroll studied as a graduate student.\n"I don't think you ever really expect something like (being elected ACS president)," Peters said. "But he was always a bright, interesting guy."\nCarroll is especially concerned with chemistry education.\n"Sixty percent of high school students now take chemistry, but few will see a teacher with a background in the field," Carrol said in a press release. "We need to encourage more experienced chemists to consider teaching."\nCarroll may follow up this plan by recruiting retired chemists.\n"One thing he's definitely concerned about is that ACS should be playing a stronger role in chemistry education in high school," Peters said. "He had mentioned to me some time ago about maybe getting some retired chemists from industry involved in high school chemistry classes."\nClemmer is looking forward to how Carroll will improve chemistry's public image.\n"When you think about chemistry in the U.S. you realize it drives a very large part of the economy," Clemmer said. "This gives him the opportunity to influence the way chemistry is viewed at large as well as the path the organization takes. It's great for IU to be associated with someone in this position."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/10/03 5:39am)
U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., visited the School of Education Tuesday to discuss literacy and language education in primary and secondary schools with IU faculty and local educators.\nAt the forefront of the discussion was the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, which Hill voted for in 2001. Most in the audience attacked the act, which set standards for teacher accountability through standardized tests.\n"Where do we go after labels are placed on schools?" asked Pat Baily, English teacher at Bloomington South High School. "When you work with at-risk students they're not going to make the same progress as other students down the hall. Teachers are being forced to give students tests they know they won't pass. How are we supposed to stay positive through that?"\nHill explained that he supported the act at the time because legislation he introduced to support smaller schools was attached to the bill.\n"Learning is a human idiosyncrasy," Hill said. "It varies from one child to the next. We need tools to deal with that. It can't be a formula."\nOther educators complained about discipline problems in the classroom and the institution of zero tolerance policies.\n"In the wake of Columbine, we realized that we've got to keep schools safe and in the past 10 to 15 years there's been this move toward zero tolerance," said Russ Skiba, director of the Institute for Child Studies, referring to the school shootings in Littleton, Colorado. "But as we've been studying this, we've found it doesn't work. It's been correlated with lower achievement and increased drop-out rates."\nKate Seidl, an adjunct faculty member with the School of Education teaching special education classes, explained how standardized tests also take away from time that could be spent on discipline.\n"When teachers could be in staff meetings talking about how to support each other, that time is instead spent on tests," Seidl said. "The pressure of high stakes tests take away from many of these initiatives."\nHowever, Hill pointed out that it is the minority of students who are garnering all this negative attention.\n"Seventy-five percent of kids are doing well in the classroom," Hill said. "It's that 25 percent we're focusing all this attention on. When I go out in the real world to businesses I hear, 'Schools are not doing their jobs. You need to do something about it politically.' The political pressure is coming from the business types focusing on the 25 percent coming into their plants without the necessary skills. They're going after politicians, and this is how politicians are responding."\nBut it's not the idea of teacher accountability that the crowd opposed, so much as the ways it's being enforced.\n"We're not resisting accountability," assistant professor of language education Peter Cowan said. "But it's very frustrating because we feel there are many impediments. I think what we really need are some allies in government."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/10/03 5:15am)
Nintendo GameCube-owning students who receive "Mario Kart: Double Dash!!" for the holidays will be able to play it online thanks to IU junior Chad Paulson.\nPaulson is the owner and founder of Warp Pipe, a project that allows LAN-enabled GameCube games to be played online.\n"Nintendo has always done a good job with multiplayer games," Paulson said. "Something like this was long overdue."\nThe GameCube currently has only one official online title, "Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II," compared to Sony's PlayStation2 or Microsoft's Xbox, which each feature dozens of online titles.\nWarp Pipe has made a dream come true for many longtime Nintendo fans.\n"So far I've only used PC games for online multiplayer, but being a die-hard Nintendo fan, I'd love to see them expand into such a market," sophomore Michael Donahoe said. "When you're playing against the AI on a program, you can expect it to do certain things after a time. But when you're playing against other people, there is that element of surprise that they'll pull a move or do something you've never seen before."\nPaulson, a former director of media for Warner Brothers, came up with the idea for Warp Pipe when the first GameCube games to support LAN play were announced last winter. However, the project did not officially begin until the first LAN-supporting game, "Kirby's Air Ride," was released in Japan in July.\nFrom there, it took less than two months for Paulson and the rest of his three-man team, located in Maine, New York and Canada, to play the first online game of Kirby.\nTo use Warp Pipe, gamers need only connect their GameCube to their PC using a broadband adapter and following the directions at warppipe.com. The one drawback is having to know the IP address of who you're playing against. But with more than 25,000 people who have downloaded the Warp Pipe program and unofficial chats and message boards to help locate fellow GameCubers looking to play online, that isn't too difficult.\n"Thousands of people have bought GameCubes and broadband adapters because of this," Paulson said.\nThough Warp Pipe has no region lock, meaning gamers in the United States can play against those in Japan or Europe, the further apart they are, the more games lag, though future updates will address that issue.\nStill, that hasn't stopped people from enjoying online GameCube gaming.\n"Although it is just a simple program to use, the game play is simple and easy to use with existing technology that Nintendo built into the actual game," sophomore Brandon Parker said. "Nintendo should thank the whole Warp Pipe crew for giving a chance to compete once again in the online gaming world."\nCurrently Warp Pipe only supports "Kirby's Air Ride" and "Mario Kart: Double Dash!!," but the next version will also support the recently released "1080 Avalanche."\n"They haven't announced anymore games beyond that, but there are rumors that the next Star Fox and Super Monkey Ball games and 'Metroid Prime 2' will support LAN," Paulson said. "We'll support whatever they release in the future."\nThe Warp Pipe team is also working on an update to be released early next year that will work similar to AOL Instant Messenger, telling gamers who's playing online and making finding a game much easier.\nPaulson said he also has visions of Warp Pipe influencing third-party game makers to include LAN support in future games.\n"We've been in contact with different developers and publishers lobbying for LAN support," Paulson said. "LAN play could be the difference between whether a game sells or not."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/08/03 5:22am)
The ninth and 10th fire alarms of the semester at Read Center Sunday morning have led one student to send a letter about the plight of residents to the IU administration.\nAlthough the two alarms were due to actual smoke unlike six previous Read alarms, senior William Harvey sent an e-mail demanding action on the matter to IU President Adam Herbert and IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm, among others. The e-mail circulated to Read residents, who were encouraged to send e-mails to the administration.\n"I feel it is incumbent to make sure people in a position to do something about this realize it is a serious problem," Harvey said. "The University is responsible for providing students with a safe dorm, but it seems the administration doesn't care about student safety, student welfare or student academic performance. The fire alarms have been affecting all three of those."\nIn the case of the first alarm, which went off at approximately 3:05 a.m. Sunday, a microwave reportedly "blew up," Residence Manager Doug Yeskie said.\nThe second alarm was set off at approximately 7:50 a.m. by a student who had burned food in the Read-Curry fourth floor kitchenette.\nThe first evacuation lasted more than 90 minutes, while the second only lasted about 20 minutes.\nThe length of the evacuations was decided by three graduate assistants on site, Yeskie said. He also said that while an e-mail warned last month that every single room in the building would be checked for remaining students, both evacuations were only spot checks.\nNo students were found in the building during either spot check.\n"We haven't found anybody in the building yet," Yeskie said. "Residents seem to be taking the alarms seriously and evacuating. That's great."\nResidents, however, do not see this many alarms as "great." Some have gone to extraordinary lengths to lessen the impact of alarms and are even planning to move out.\n"Last year I put plasticine over the alarm because it was so loud it was almost deafening," sophomore Sassan Yaghmai said. "I didn't do that this year because I thought they'd be organized, but the people in Read, they're just crazy. It's mostly freshman. They're not organized. They're not careful."\nYaghmai said he will talk to the Residence Halls Association about a move to Willkie Quad.\nHarvey also said he is concerned that students are taking the alarms less seriously.\n"People hear the alarms, and get out of bed slowly. They put their shoes and jackets on slowly." Harvey said. "If it were a real alarm they wouldn't do that. In case of a real fire, it could cause a very serious problem."\nYeskie reminds students that unlike most alarms this semester, at least Sunday's alarms were not false pulls.\n"These two were legitimate," Yeskie said. "That's not a great thing, but at least they weren't pulls. I get calls from parents thinking that every one is a pull, but so far four have been legitimate."\nHarvey points out that regardless of whether the alarms are legitimate, they can still have the same effect on students.\n"This time it happened on the weekend, but this can also happen the night before a big performance or a big exam," Harvey said. "It can be very detrimental the next day. For the University to not care about that, I find very upsetting."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/05/03 5:52am)
Pajama-clad Read Center residents were roused from their rooms by a screeching siren to stand in the freezing cold Wednesday night.\nIt's an ordeal they're getting used to.\nThe eighth false fire alarm of the semester at Read led to the displacement of residents for more than 75 minutes late Wednesday and early Thursday as officials checked to make sure the building was fully evacuated.\nRead Center officials sent out an e-mail last month warning that any further false alarms would lead to room checks to ensure residents followed evacuation procedures.\nNo students were found in the building during the check, which lasted from when the alarm went off at 11:27 p.m. Wednesday until 12:45 a.m. Thursday.\n"Our primary concern is safety when evacuating the building," Assistant Residence Manager Angie Montelongo said. "With this many pulls, students may start to think that every alarm is a pull. We want them to realize that every one could be real, and it needs to be treated like a real fire."\nMany students considered this false alarm to be one of the least annoying of the semester.\n"This one wasn't as bad because it wasn't at 4 a.m. when you have to wake up for an 8 a.m. class," freshman Justin Meyer said. "We just went over to Willkie and watched the big screen TV. Altogether it's been a major problem, but last night was pretty minor."\nEight false alarms in a semester has led many residents to question why Read hasn't instituted video cameras or ink cartridges to monitor the pull stations.\n"When you talk about those things obviously there are budget and finance concerns," Montelongo said. "We've asked (IU Police Department) to make additional rounds in the buildings late night and early morning. That seems to be effective. This alarm was the first in weeks." \nMontelongo also said that they have been relying on plastic covers over the alarms to deter prospective false pullers, but those have been ineffective. The six alarms pulled this semester were all covered alarms. The other two alarms were the result of smoke detectors.\nResidents have their own theories why there have been so many false alarms.\n"All the alarms are pretty well located that you can pull them and get back to your room or house and get away with it," freshman Joe Sunderhaus said.\nTwo students are currently going through the University judicial system over false alarm pulls at Read, but so far there have been no leads about Wednesday night's false alarm, Montelongo said. Their names were withheld for privacy issues.\nConsequences for pulling a false fire alarm can range from a reprimand to expulsion from the University depending on the situation, said Residential Programs and Services Director Bob Weith.\n"Each case is judged on its own merits, but we consider falsely evacuating an entire building a major offense," Weith said.\nHowever, the IUPD currently has no leads in the most recent false alarm. \n"There's currently no active investigation because we have no leads to follow up on," IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said. "Unfortunately, in cases where a pull station is pulled, people don't do it when witnesses are around. The only thing we can do is rely on the people who live and work over there who may have seen anything."\nMontelongo also appealed for anyone with information to come forward.\n"This is a major safety concern," she said. "We really would would like to find more people responsible for this inconvenience. We're pulling the IUPD and fire department away from real emergencies."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(12/01/03 5:21am)
Freshman Emily Hanover doesn't worry about the cost of an IU education that much. After all, she doesn't have to pay for her time here -- her parents take care of that.\nHowever, even she knows that it puts a little more of a burden on her family because they now have to pay an extra $1,000 fee every year she attends IU.\n"I really don't think about the fee that much since I don't actually foot the bills, but I'm sure my dad thinks about it," Hanover said.\nThe freshman fee, which raised tuition for students almost 25 percent, took effect at the beginning of the semester for all freshmen and transfer students. The fee goes toward the new Commitment to Excellence fund.\nThe fee is expected to generate $7.1 million for IU this year and $28 million over the next four years. \nUniversity leaders say the fee will give IU the resources to pursue new projects, but others question the necessity of new fees implemented at universities all over the state.\n"I think their plans are the methodology of justifying the ever-increasing prices they want to charge," said State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, chairman of the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee.\nKenley said even though the Indiana General Assembly added $53 million over two years to state financial aid, lawmakers still had to put caps on the amount available to students because the state could not keep pace with tuition hikes. He said he intends to introduce legislation that would create an inflation cap for tuition, guaranteeing rates would not rise much more than 2 percent during a student's four-year education.\nPurdue University instituted a similar fee last year, with Ball State University, Indiana State University and IU following up with their own fees this year. But university officials said the freshman fee at IU had been in the planning stages for some time.\n"It's my impression that the discussion about the fee for new students started some time ago," IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm said. "Many schools have taken this approach. It was not based on Purdue's decision."\nThis first year, the fee is being used to develop seven projects that will hire 25 additional faculty members with expertise in Eastern studies, 21 faculty members for the biology department and four master's teachers to the music department, among other faculty additions and the creation of new undergraduate and master's degrees.\nHanover wonders why every new student is paying for things just a few will benefit from.\n"If it helps those fields it seems like they should just have everyone in those fields pay for them," she said.\nBrehm said helping just a few specific areas will help all graduates.\n"These funds will be used to create or strengthen academic programs that will enhance the reputation of Indiana University," Brehm said. "As IU's prestige increases, so does the value of each student's degree. Thus, this is an investment that will serve you well for the rest of your life."\nNot everyone feels IU's prestige is as important as Brehm makes it out, however.\n"Benchmark programs like business and music do lend to raising the overall perception of IU academics," said IU Student Association Vice President Grant McFann. "But, perception is not everything. We are concerned that funding generated by the Commitment to Excellence fee enhances only select, already thriving programs. It does not benefit all, or even a majority, of students -- only those in select programs."\nBrehm also said it is impossible to know in advance what programs would be selected and thus, not possible to charge a fee to only the students in them. \n"The programs that are funded are selected through a competitive process. Thus, we didn't know in advance which programs would be funded," Brehm said. "Moreover, as I noted, the value of your degree is enhanced. And this value depends on the reputation of the whole institution, not only the \nreputation of your particular degree program."\nBut McFann questions if extra funding for so few programs is really benefiting everyone.\n"The fee raised tuition almost 25 percent last year, making it difficult for many families to pay for education at a school they already subsidize through their taxes," McFann said. "Basically, a fee of such weight should benefit more students than it does, and the University administration should more closely consider the University mission and potential effects on the state when implementing any program, especially one of this stature. A pretty name does not necessarily equate to a worthwhile endeavor"
(11/21/03 5:55am)
It was a long and bloody battle, but in the end Purdue University pulled ahead to win the seventh annual Blood Donor Challenge.\nThis year marked a new record for the blood drive, with Purdue and IU rallying a total 5,021 donations, beating last year's total of 4,678.\n"When it comes to saving a life, the bottom-line is competition stirs people up for a good cause," said Kellie Cox, director of Alumni Clubs for Purdue.\nPurdue out-donated IU by only 21 donations in the challenge, which ran from Oct. 13 through Nov. 14.\n"It was neck-and-neck a lot of the way, but we pressed ahead by sending out e-mails to students and alumni reminding people that we were in the lead," Cox said. "I think that motivates people if you remind them and keep them involved. If you only tell them once they tend to forget."\nThe Blood Donor Challenge began seven years ago when Indianapolis IU Alumni Club challenged the Purdue Alumni Club to a blood drive. Since then it has expanded to include more than half the state.\nIU has only won the competition twice -- in its first year of existence and last year.\nThe traveling trophy for the school that donates the most blood will be presented to Purdue at Saturday's football game.\n"I don't know if Purdue did anything differently, but it was very close," said John Hobson, senior vice president of the IU Alumni Association. "We had more donors than ever, and we're pleased to have that much blood donated to save the lives of hospital patients throughout the state."\nThe record-setting donations are especially appreciated during a time of year that has been unusually slow.\n"This fall has not been the best," Donor Recruitment Representative Amber Richardson told the IDS at the beginning of the blood drive. "We are at a day supply. We need to be at a three-day supply."\nThough IU did not collect as much blood as Purdue, Hobson was just glad to see so much support from the community.\n"The IU Alumni Association appreciates all of the students, alumni and fans who took the time to donate blood to IU," he said.\nAnd already, there are plans for next year's blood drive.\n"Of course we want to do it again," Hobson said. "It's a beneficial community service project alumni and students enjoy participating in, and it helps people all over the state"
(11/21/03 4:50am)
The Bloomington music scene lost one of its greatest contributors when Tom Donohue passed away Wednesday from complications from liver cancer.\nHe would have been 54 next week.\nDonohue had been a staple of the Bloomington music scene for more than 25 years, working in several music stores, and finally settling as owner of TD's CDs & LPs on Kirkwood Avenue. He also organized concerts in the area, bringing many national acts such as The Flaming Lips to Bloomington.\nOriginally a series of benefit concerts running from Nov. 15 to 26 was planned for Donohue. They will still take place as memorial concerts, the first of which will feature local bands covering The Beatles.\nDonohue always made it a point to inform his customers of upcoming local shows that were otherwise ignored.\n"He was very supportive of local music," Donohue's longtime friend Rex Miller said. "He liked all types of music, and he would do anything he could to help out local bands."\nWFIU Public Radio announcer Joe Bourne said Donohue stayed committed to music long after most people would have moved on to other things.\n"He was there when he needed to be to support people in music," Bourne said. "Other people might not do that as they got older, but he did. He was a supremely fine person." \nDonohue never advertised much for his business, but instead sponsored as many local shows as possible in hopes of bringing people into the store. That and word of mouth gave TD's the reputation as "the place" for local music in Bloomington.\nMiller said through this commitment to the local scene, and music overall, Donohue made many friends, perhaps more than he will ever know.\n"He had a lot of friends," Miller said. "I'm not even sure he knew how many friends he had. There were a lot of people who really cared about him. He was truly a nice guy. He never had anything bad to say about anyone."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(11/20/03 5:21am)
A University memo advising administrators to obtain private addresses for personal e-mails was prompted by a request for an IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis employee's messages, officials said.\nMartin Hensley, a volunteer at WJCF, a Greenfield, Ind.-based Christian radio station, filed a complaint with the Indiana Public Access Counselor to have the e-mails of IUPUI Information Systems Coordinator Janet Wolford released to the public.\nHensley believed the e-mails would show Wolford made threats toward her husband.\nHensley had initially requested the e-mails from IU, but the University counsel's office denied the request. Hensley filed a formal complaint with the Public Access Counselor Sept. 11.\nInterim Public Access Counselor Sandra Bowman issued an opinion Oct. 10 finding the University had violated the Indiana Access to Public Records Act by not releasing the e-mails.\n"E-mail is like any other record," Bowman said. "If an exception applies you can dispute it, but otherwise, it's a matter of public record."\nAfter Bowman's opinion was released, Associate University Counsel Thomas Gannon wrote in a memo Oct. 20 that University employees and any others who use IU computing resources, "should expect and assume that all records created and maintained in any format, including e-mail (whether personal or business related), are subject to public disclosure pursuant to (the 1984 Indiana Access to Public Records Act), unless such records clearly fall within an exception to the law."\nExceptions would include an e-mail to a professor with a question about a course. Bowman said such e-mails would be covered under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which protects student privacy.\nThe Indiana General Assembly reviewed whether e-mails were a matter of public record in 2001, and passed a bill protecting them from public disclosure. However, then-Gov. Frank O'Bannon vetoed the bill.\nProponents of public access worry that memoes such as the one issued by the University Legal Counsel may keep faculty from even doing regular business on their e-mail accounts.\n"From a policy standpoint it makes sense for the University to advise employees to not use e-mail on state-owned equipment to do personal messaging," Stephen Key, general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association, told the IDS last week. "The concern is if they quit using University e-mail for University business and communicate on private e-mail accounts. That would be a concern for those trying to hold public officials accountable."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(11/19/03 5:17am)
Junior Adam VanOsdol was named spring semester editor in chief of the Indiana Daily Student by the IDS publications board Tuesday afternoon.\nVanOsdol will replace the current editor in chief, senior Cory Schouten.\n"He has good news instincts, plus he's a thoughtful and talented editor and writer," Schouten said. "I think people are going to enjoy working for him."\nVanOsdol, the only candidate for the position, was named editor by a nine-member board made up of three professional journalists, three students and three members of the faculty.\n"Adam was my boss last spring (as campus editor) so I know how capable he is," said junior Colin Kearns, an IDS senior writer who served on the publications board. "He may be a little shy at times, but I have no doubt in my mind that he can make a decision on deadline. He'll be a good fit for the job."\nVanOsdol, a journalism major, has been on staff since his freshman year and is currently a senior writer. He also interned with the Kokomo Tribune in the summer of 2002. He said one of his goals is to focus on upgrading the paper's Web site.\n"I plan to do a few things differently," VanOsdol said. "I'll be working to improve idsnews.com. I want to try to add some things to make the site more interactive."\nThere will also could be changes behind the scenes.\n"He wants to look further into the business aspect, like the wages of editors and writers, which from my standpoint is a good thing," Kearns said.\nUsually IDS editors are seniors, but the board was impressed with VanOsdol's commitment to journalism.\n"It's a little unique to have a junior as editor," publisher Dave Adams said. "I know it's happened before, but probably not in the past five or six years. Though he's a little younger than many recent editor in chiefs, he has a special passion for journalism. I believe that will make him an excellent staff leader."\nOne quality that especially impressed Adams is VanOsdol's drive to scoop competitors.\n"He has a passion for making sure the paper has everything that interests the IU community, even more so than other local media," Adams said. "He seems to get a special joy and glee from that. It's a nice passion to have."\nKearns said VanOsdol plans to stay in competition with local media.\n"Adam has a strong competitive side to him," he said. "He's committed to the IDS staying on top of breaking news, and ahead of its competitors."\nBut VanOsdol said he's really just out to learn.\n"Journalism is a way to seek out knowledge," VanOsdol said. "It's a way to learn about anything I want."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(11/17/03 7:26pm)
Three IU professors have been awarded Fulbright grants to lecture abroad.\nProfessor of education Charles Allen Swanson Bankart was awarded a grant to go to Korea, business administration professor Robert Klemkosky will go to Croatia and linguistics professor Steven Franks will travel to Italy.\nFranks said he is excited about his trip.\n"Venice is one of the best places in the world for me to pursue my academic interests," Franks said. "It offers a vibrant community of active, engaged linguists who are interested in applying the same universalist perspective as I hold to complex comparative issues."\nUnfortunately, Klemkosky said he declined his grant because he will retire next August to create a new business graduate program at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea.\nThe Fulbright is a program promoting international educational exchange that was instituted shortly after the end of World War II.\nJ. William Fulbright, the Arkansas senator behind the grant, viewed it as a way of promoting "mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world," according to the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Web site, www.cies.org.\nFranks, whose official title will be Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Venice, said he hopes to live up to this original mandate as he prepares to teach his class, "Slavic Syntax From a Universal Grammar Perspective."\n"The course addresses Slavic language problems of broader theoretical concern," he explained. "Concomitantly, I will conduct my own research into issues stemming from the course material, exploring aspects of case-feature mechanics and the more general question of how optimality might regulate the interface between different modules of grammar."\nThe University of Venice is one of the leading research centers in the world in the area of theoretical syntax, and also has one of the longest standing Fulbright programs.\nFranks said he has chosen to work with Slavic syntax because of the insight it gives into linguistic variation.\n"The comparison of closely-related languages has come to play a key role in recent linguistic research," Franks explained. "In trying to flesh out and delimit the ways in which grammars may vary, it is vital to compare similar phenomena within a closely-knit group of languages. In broad terms, I seek in my comparative work to extend current generative models of variation in core grammatical systems to accommodate the rich range of diversity found among the Slavic languages."\nTo further prepare for his three-month stay in Italy, which is set to begin in mid-March, Franks said he has delved even further into the field of linguistics by sitting in on a few Italian classes. \n"I've never been to Venice, but I've heard it's a beautiful place," he said. "People who have been there tell me it is the most beautiful city in the world."\nBankart could not be reached for comment.\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(11/13/03 6:06am)
IU officials are advising University personnel to obtain private e-mail accounts to send and receive personal messages since their e-mails could be requested as a matter of public record, according to a memo sent Oct. 20 by University lawyers.\nAnything sent or received on an IU e-mail account could be subject to public disclosure, Associate University Counsel Thomas Gannon wrote in the memo to the IU board of trustees, vice presidents and all University chancellors.\nThe e-mail was not sent to students.\nGannon said all University employees and any others, including students, who use IU computing resources, "should expect and assume that all records created and maintained in any format, including e-mail (whether personal or business related), are subject to public disclosure pursuant to (the 1984 Indiana Access to Public Records Act), unless such records clearly fall within an exception to the law."\nStephen Key, general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association, said the advisement could pose a problem when keeping track of public officials.\n"From a policy standpoint it makes sense for the University to advise employees to not use e-mail on state-owned equipment to do personal messaging," Key said. "The concern is if they quit using University e-mail for University business and communicate on private e-mail accounts. That would be a concern for those trying to hold public officials accountable."\nThe University memo goes on to advise "there is no exception that generally excludes e-mails from disclosure ... according to a recent advisory opinion issue by the Indiana Public Access Counselor."\nThe opinion is not legally binding, though; it is only Counselor Sandra K. Bowman's interpretation of the law.\nBowman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.\nExceptions to disclosure would include patient medical records, information concerning research and information that must be kept confidential under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which includes documents such as University transcripts.\n"This memo merely reinstates the necessity for care in all correspondence," said Fred Eichhorn, president of the board of trustees.\nIf someone attempts to gain access to student e-mail, saying it is a matter of public record, the first defense will be FERPA, Gannon said.\n"If it were deemed that the records of the student were grades or other records that were kept by the University, they wouldn't be released," Gannon said. "That would be the first thing, to see if the student were exempt under FERPA."\nRecently, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that personal e-mail was exempt from the open records statute of that state, but there is no similar ruling pending in Indiana.\n"It's always possible though," Gannon said. "Someone could advance an argument against it, or there could be a change in legislation."\nIn the meantime Gannon suggests if students are worried about their privacy, they simply should get another e-mail address.\n"People may have certain expectations of privacy with their e-mail," he said. "We're just telling them that they need to to re-adjust those expectations. What you write could be public record. If you have concerns you can always get a free account from Yahoo or Hotmail."\nSome students are less than thrilled at the prospect of their e-mail being a matter of public record.\n"That's scary that anyone out there could find things out about me from a personal letter I wrote to my friend," senior Matt Goodman said.\nOthers are less concerned with someone gaining access to their e-mail.\n"I'm not that worried about someone wanting to access it," junior Jenn Kriscunas said. "And if they really want to, there are other ways they can get into it."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(11/11/03 5:52am)
Senior Craig Doss lost his long battle with manic depression Sunday night.\nDoss, whose parents said he had been suffering from the illness for years, was found by his roommate hanging by a nylon strap in the basement of their home in the 400 block of N. Herald Street just before midnight, Sgt. David Drake of the Bloomington Police Department said.\nDoss' father, Steve Doss, prepared a letter for friends of the family informing them of what had occurred. \n"I know we have all prayed for the healing of our son," he said in the letter. "That healing finally came Sunday when Craig took his own life."\nSteve Doss said his son's battle with depression led him to two previous suicide attempts.\n"(Manic depression) is a horrible disease," he said. "It's a constant battle. He was fighting demons in his brain every day."\nCraig Doss' mother Judith remembers her son as "a generous, giving, funny, kinda half-crazy guy." \n"He was very giving and very reliable," she said. "You could always rely on him when you needed to."\nCraig, a St. Louis native, was an avid rugby player. He played for the IU team as a freshman.\n"For an aggressive rugby-type person he was very compassionate," Steve said. "He had tremendous compassion for those who didn't have much. A lot of people didn't realize that about him."\nCraig was majoring in public policy and Spanish. He studied at the University of Madrid last semester through a program sponsored by IU, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin.\nHowever, even in Spain, he was at war with his "demons."\n"When he was in Spain he had gone to a museum and seen some of Van Gogh's work," his father said. "He told me that from just one look at his artwork he could just see the torture in the artist."\nBut more than anything, the Dosses will remember their son -- not for his battles within -- but for the good work he did for others.\n"There was a motto at the high school Craig went to -- 'Men for Others.' He lived by that," Steve said.\nAccording to the National Institute of Mental Health, suicide was the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds in 2000. Research has shown that some people may be predisposed to manic depression, caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, through heredity. Depression can also be triggered by a distressing life event, another illnesses, a change in health habits, substance abuse, or hormonal fluctuations, according to the group's Web site. For more information, visit www.nimh.nih.gov. \n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.
(11/10/03 6:03am)
IU's Advanced Visualization Lab has developed and licensed its first eight John-e-Box 3-D stereo display systems.\n"The John-e-Box is a portable large format display system that allows many people to stand around it at the same time in order to share visual information," said Eric Wernert, senior scientist and manager for the AVL.\nThe AVL is a unit of University Information Technology Services that supports visualization, virtual reality, and visual collaboration technology for research, education, high end graphics and high end activities, Wernert said.\nThe John-e-Box is especially useful for viewing 3-D models of molecules, architectural plans or data sets. The effect is similar to that of an IMAX movie or the perennial child's toy, the viewfinder.\nSimilar devices in the past lacked the portability of the John-e-Box, which measures just 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet when unfolded and 4 feet by 4 feet by 1 foot when traveling from place to place.\n"With devices in the past you had to take people to a lab to use them, but the John-e-Box comes with them wherever they are," Wernert said.\nThe John-e-Box is also much more affordable than similar devices that can't be transported.\n"In 1997, a similar device called the Immersadesk was purchased at IUPUI which cost over $200,000," Wernert said. "The John-e-Box costs just under $20,000. It could even be written into a grant as opposed to previous machines which only the largest research projects could afford. That's not exactly cheap, but it's still much more affordable."\nThere is a also a large-scale VR device at this campus as well, called the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, or just "CAVE," which allows several students to simultaneously experience a simulated environment on screens all 360 degrees around them.\nThe John-e-Box is by no means meant to replace this system.\n"The CAVE is a valuable facility," Wernert said. "But we only have one on campus, and it can't be moved from location to location, and its use has to be scheduled. The John-e-Box is just trying to push this technology into the classroom. It makes people much more likely to use it."\nMargaret Dolinsky, an associate professor with the School of Fine Arts, said she sees portability as the main advantage of the John-e-Box.\n"As an artist it's important for me to get my work out there, and there are no museums in the U.S which have CAVEs," Dolinsky said. "The John-e-Box is a much more affordable, portable way of getting your artwork displayed that doesn't require much technical assistance."\nHowever, she believes the CAVE can be much more effective at displaying an artist's vision.\n"They're very different," Dolinsky said. "The CAVE is much more immersive. There are screens around you, above you, and below you. The John-e-Box only has one screen so it isn't quite as immersive."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.