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(10/18/06 4:12am)
IU does not yet have a replacement for the Read Center McDonald's, Bob , a real estate manager for the hamburger giant, said Monday night.\nThe University would like to become a McDonald's franchise owner, but the company usually only allows individuals to run a franchise, according to an Oct. 13, 2005, Indiana Daily Student article. \nMcDonald's sent a "request for proposal" to IU several months ago, but that was not accepted, Lach said. \n"IU's conclusion was that it would not award based on a (request for proposal)," he said. "What that means is McDonald's is trying to figure it out. It means they will either renew McDonald's lease, which is what we're hoping, or they could run something themselves."\nLach, who graduated from IU-Purdue University Indianapolis in 1993 with a degree in general studies and was a SPEA student at Bloomington before that, came to campus Monday night to discuss the real estate aspects of McDonald's with the IU Real Estate Club.\nHe advised students to take a wide variety of classes and let employers know they possess a diverse array of skills. He also told the several dozen members of the club in attendance that mentoring is a good way to learn more about the real estate market.\n"There are always people in my field or plenty of other people always willing to tell people what it's like," he said.\nLach, who started working for McDonald's in 2004, said the company is a little different from others since people view the restaurant chain as a convenience rather than a destination. \n"People are driving along, and they see McDonald's and say, 'OK, I want to eat there,'" he said.\nThe company's strategy for success is to purchase property in developing areas that have the potential for long-term growth, he said. \nThis poses something of a problem because the restaurants are not always located on corner lots, which pharmacies and banks are willing to pay a premium for.\n"We can't buy prime corner property because we can't raise the price of hamburgers," Lach said. "We're not going to sell more hamburgers because of our location."\nAnother challenge facing the real estate side of the company is that many towns have passed ordinances requiring certain styles of architecture or landscaping, which has forced McDonald's to build several different types of restaurants.\nFreshman Andrew Braun, who is majoring in accounting finance said the presentation was useful.\n"Just analyzing how to acquire each site was interesting," he said. "It was more real-life than classroom work."\nSenior Dan Hum, president of the club, said corporate real estate is an important part of the market for students to consider.\n"Most people don't think of McDonald's as a real estate company, but they're the second largest in the country behind the (Catholic) Church," he said. "Companies like McDonald's offer an excellent opportunity to learn about real estate"
(10/18/06 3:29am)
Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, expressed displeasure Tuesday with the influence outside groups are exerting on his closely contested race.\nSpeaking to the Bloomington Rotary Club, Sodrel slammed so-called 527 groups, tax-exempt organizations not affiliated with specific candidates that try to sway voters with their own ads.\n"I don't think they have any place in American politics," he said. "Whether they're for me or against me, I wish they would all go away. I don't like 527s."\nBoth Sodrel and his opponent, Democratic challenger Baron Hill, signed a clean campaign pledge in August, but that does not apply to 527 groups and other political action committees.\nThis week the Indiana Republican State Committee sent out mailings to Bloomington residents claiming "Democrats want to end programs that stop terrorists."\nAnother mailing turns a photo of Hill on its head and claims "Baron Hill will turn our values upside down."\nOther 527 groups have been accused of making automated phone calls in the district against both candidates, which led to lawsuits from Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter. Those lawsuits are still pending.\nThis is the third time Sodrel has faced Hill for the 9th District seat. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004, when Sodrel defeated him by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian candidate and IU-Southeast economics professor Eric Schansberg is also running for the seat.\nThe nonpartisan political Web site The Cook Political Report currently calls the race a "toss up."\nBecause the race is so close and control of Congress could go to either party, the ads being run by 527 groups are even more negative than usual, Sodrel said.\n"527s go out, and buy the ugliest, nastiest ads," he said. "And if they didn't work, people would stop \nusing them. That's part of the problem -- they work."\nJohn Vanderzee, a chaplain at Bloomington Hospital who attended the Rotary Club meeting and discussed the clean campaign pledge with Sodrel, also criticized the 527 ads.\n"Some of the ads, they've been borderline, but they certainly haven't gone as far as the ads from the Republican Party and the (political action \ncommittees)," he told the congressman.\nHill spoke to the Bloomington Rotary Club last week about ethics reform in Congress, as well as several other issues.
(10/17/06 11:33am)
MARTINSVILLE -- IU student Jill Behrman was killed by a 12-gauge shotgun blast to the back of the head, Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega told a jury on the first day of the high-profile murder trial Monday.\nSeveral media outlets, including Fox News, had reported that as the cause of death since Behrman's remains were recovered in March 2003, but this was the first time an official close to the case revealed the information publicly.\nBehrman, who was a 19-year-old IU sophomore at the time of her disappearance, went missing May 31, 2000, during a morning bike ride. Her bike was found two days later in a cornfield outside Ellettsville.\nEllettsville resident John R. Myers II, 30, is on trial for the murder. He has pleaded not guilty after being indicted by a Morgan County grand jury in April.\nProsecutors opened the trial by calling Tim Gentry, an Indianapolis Power & Light employee to the witness stand. Gentry and his son found Behrman's remains in a remote wooded area near Paragon, Ind., while hunting turkey in March 2003.\nGentry said the first thing he noticed was a jaw bone that appeared to be human, which lead him to retreat from the area and call the police.\nThe second and final witness for the day was Morgan County Coroner Dan Downing, who repeated Sonnega's claim that Behrman was killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head and said Behrman's remains had to be identified through dental records.\nIn his opening arguments, Sonnega showed jurors a slide show of the events leading up to Myers' indictment, portraying the accused as upset over a recent breakup with his girlfriend at the time of Behrman's disappearance.\nSonnega told the court Myers made cryptic comments to his family members and co-workers about Behrman's death, worried that he would be blamed because her bike was discovered less than a mile from his house.\n"The evidence will show, ladies and gentleman, that May 31, 2000, John Myers, the defendant, showed up at his parents' house crying, in hysterics, ready to leave town," Sonnega said. "We will show evidence that he was paranoid."\nMyers, wearing a light blue dress shirt, black slacks and no tie, kept his eyes on the slide show during Sonnega's opening arguments, never looking at the prosecutor but occasionally conferring with lawyers.\nIn his opening remarks, defense attorney Patrick Baker said that phone records would prove Myers could not have killed Behrman.\n"This is an attempt to solve an unsolved crime with a grand finale," Baker said, motioning toward Myers. "That's not your grand finale. The state didn't talk about what they have to prove. They have to prove Johnny Myers knowingly killed Jill Behrman."\nBaker said there is no evidence or witness to tie Myers to the crime scene, and there are many other plausible theories for who killed Behrman.\nThe defense also said that a co-worker of Behrman's at the Student Recreational Sports Center at IU who was known to skeet shoot with a 12-gauge shotgun could have been responsible for her death.\nEarlier in the morning, Judge Christopher Burnham ruled in favor of a defense motion to preclude several of the prosecution's suppositions about Myers' state of mind and previous alleged criminal acts. \nIn arguing against the defense motions, Sonnega said he intends to show the jury that Myers led police on a game of cat and mouse before Behrman's body was discovered. Myers, Sonnega said, fed investigators small bits of information, including a map that Sonnega said would have led police on a path from Myers' Monroe County home to the place where Behrman's remains were later found in Morgan County.\nBurnham also denied a defense request to preclude the testimony of Myers' grandmother. Sonnega said she told police that Myers said: "If the authorities knew what I have done, I would go to prison for the rest of my life." \nMyers' trial is expected to last three to four weeks.\n-- Indiana Daily Student Editor in Chief Michael Zennie contributed to this report.
(10/12/06 6:18pm)
Two candidates with two different types of past experience in public life -- one at the state level, the other at the county level -- are vying for the state auditor's position.\nThe state auditor serves as the chief financial officer of Indiana and "has four primary duties, including accounting for all of the state's funds; overseeing and disbursing county, city, town, and school tax distributions; paying the state's bills; and paying the state's employees," according to current state auditor Connie Kay Nass' Web site.\nNass, a Republican, is not seeking re-\nTIM BERRY - REPUBLICAN\nRepublican Tim Berry has served as Indiana's state treasurer since 1998. \nDuring his tenure, Berry has seen the creation of the College Choice 529 investment plans. The plans, which go into effect in January, allow students and their families to set aside money in a tax-exempt account for a variety of college expenses.\n"You can put that money in and use it when you need it rather that be on books or room and board and the earnings you have on the college saving plan are now tax free," Berry said.\nThe treasurer said he has also made a point of helping college students avoid credit card debt.\n"The biggest problem area is the Midwest," he said. "The average credit card debt for college students is $3,500. The average college student will arrive on campus with one credit card and leave freshman year with four and graduate with nine."\nBerry says part of the reason Hoosiers have fallen into the traps of credit card debt is because the state, which posted its first balanced budget in eight years this past year, has set a bad example in the past. Berry hopes to avoid this trend in the future.\n"As auditor my primary goal is going to be to report to taxpayers how we're spending our money so we can better manage state government. If we are better able to manage state government, then we can free up dollars for other priorities that the legislature and administration might have, whether that be higher education, full-day kindergarten or other programs."
(10/11/06 4:21am)
Like most university lectures, Angelo Pizzo's began with a lengthy introduction with an academic lauding of the speaker's accomplishments Tuesday night.\nBut Pizzo, the screenwriter of the beloved 1986 movie "Hoosiers," about a small-town high school basketball team's journey to the state-title game, delivered a speech that wandered far off the path of the usual academic lecture.\n"Pizzo shows us how very unsimple these times were for men and women who wanted to make something of themselves," said Director of the Institute for Advanced Study Alfred Aman in his description of the film's 1950s setting.\nPizzo seemed unimpressed with his own work as he took the stage of the School of Fine Arts Auditorium to address more than 100 students and faculty members.\n"People who do creative things don't try to analyze their own work," he said. "I think you're in trouble if you do."\nAs part of the Branigan Lecture Series, Pizzo, who grew up in Bloomington and received a bachelor's degree in political science from IU in 1971, gave a speech titled "Running the Gauntlet: From the Movie in My Mind to the Movie on the Screen." Pizzo, who also wrote the screenplay for the 1993 movie, "Rudy," about Notre Dame football, described his writing process, which has earned him much acclaim ("Hoosiers" was recently ranked by USA Today as the greatest sports movie of all time) but has also cost him jobs in Hollywood.\nAfter graduating from IU, Pizzo studied film at the University of Southern California for three years and even wrote his master's thesis but dropped out when he was offered work on a sitcom.\n"I went to tell my counselor, and he said, 'I'll never see you again. This has happened too many times,'" Pizzo said. "I thought there's no way. I'll be back. I've done too much work. So I packed everything in a box, and I've never opened it since."\nPizzo said that during this period, he spent so much time analyzing films he wasn't able to fully enjoy them. He said he doesn't think screenwriting classes are necessary, as long as writers' work is about something they love.\nWhile writing "Hoosiers," Pizzo said he found himself unable to get past the first 15 pages of his screenplay. He had outlined the plot as he had told writers who worked under him in the past to do when a friend suggested another route.\n"Never look back," Pizzo said. "Never reread anything you've ever written. That way I don't have to second-guess myself."\nNow, he writes films starting with only the most basic premises.\n"I know where the movie is going to go," he said. "I know what the protagonist wants, but I don't know what's going to get in his way."\nAnother problem screenwriters face is that the movies they write are often changed by directors and producers into something completely different unless screenwriters are willing to take on those roles as well, Pizzo said.\nPizzo suggested that aspiring screenwriters write about what they know and avoid sticking to the traditional formula of three acts with rising and falling action.\n"I've seen so many screenplays that are written from the outside in," he said. "The structure is dropped in on the story rather than letting it grow organically. Good writers write from the inside out. They don't write from the head; they write from the gut."\nPizzo will be on-hand for a special presentation of his latest film "The Game of Their Lives" at 7 p.m. today in the Whittenberger Auditorium.
(10/11/06 2:52am)
Democratic hopeful for the 9th District Congressional seat Baron Hill spoke for the second time in as many days to a Bloomington audience Tuesday afternoon.\nAddressing members and guests of the Bloomington Rotary Club, Hill alluded to recent political scandals involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and lobbyist Jack Abramoff and said that if elected, he will work for ethics changes in the House to restore the public's faith in Congress.\n"The problem is that the ethics committee is made up of sitting members of Congress," he said. "They're reluctant to investigate their friends and colleagues, and they never get anything done." \nHill said he will work to abolish the committee and replace it with one made up of former members of Congress.\nHe also said the nation is in urgent need of health care reform, and the House needs to engage in discussion about whether affordable health care is a right or a privilege.\n"If we establish that it's a right, then we have to do something about it," Hill said. "Forty-five million Americans without health insurance is unacceptable."\nThe Democratic candidate again stated the need for energy independence by encouraging more research on biodiesel and clean coal technology. This will also help the environment, he said.\n"Anyone who believes man is not contributing to global warming is not being honest with the scientific facts," Hill said.\nFinally, Hill commented on the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, which he voted for in 2001 but now says makes schools too federally regulated.\n"I've never liked it, and I still don't," he said. "Given an up or down vote on it, I would vote it down. It sounds like a good instrument to punish schools." \nHill's wife Betty is a public school teacher.\nThis is the third time Hill has faced Rep. Mike Sodrel, in the closely watched House race. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004 when Sodrel defeated him by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian candidate and IU-Southeast economics professor Eric Schansberg is also running for the seat.\nSodrel will address the Rotary Club at their next weekly meeting Tuesday.
(10/10/06 4:27am)
Democratic challenger for the 9th District congressional seat Baron Hill met with the IU College Democrats Monday afternoon to stress the importance of voting in the closely watched race.\n"This is not just about Baron Hill any more," he said. "This is about getting the majority in the House and getting balances back in Congress. There's no checks and balances in Washington right now. It's all one-party rule."\nMuch like when Hill's opponent, Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, met with supporters last week, the hot topic for those in attendance was the fallout from the resignation of Florida congressman Mark Foley. The six-term Republican resigned more than a week ago amid allegations he sent sexually explicit Internet messages to underage male pages.\nHill said he did not believe the allegations were politically motivated, but said they could help Democrats in next month's election because the Foley situation has the potential to turn away the most ardent conservative Christians of the Republican Party.\n"I think it's maybe going to keep them at home," he said.\nHill served as the 9th District's representative from 1998 until 2004 -- which includes the time period Foley allegedly sent the messages -- but said he did not know Foley and had not heard any rumors about inappropriate conduct on Foley's part.\nSodrel said Thursday he called for an FBI investigation into the matter after it came to light, but Hill has asked Sodrel to go even further and return any campaign contributions he has received from the Republican leadership this campaign cycle, which Sodrel has declined to do.\nHill also commented on the current situation with North Korea, which announced that it conducted a successful nuclear test Monday morning. \n"We've got to be involved, but part of the problem is we can't do it alone anymore," he said. "It's important to build relationships with international allies, and right now those relationships are not very good."\nStill, Hill said that if re-elected, he would want more information before voting for any new military action. Hill voted to authorize the war in Iraq in 2003 but now says the Bush administration lied to him about the urgency of the threat.\n"I (would) want it confirmed and confirmed and confirmed until I believe it, and that's the lesson I've learned from being lied to the last time," he said. "So I won't take anything at face value unless it's confirmed at least a couple times. It would have to be confirmed by someone other than the secretary of defense, (Donald) Rumsfeld. I would have to hear it from generals that I know that, in fact, what I've heard is true."\nHill said he now believes the Iraq vote was the worst decision of his three previous terms in Congress, he said. Rather than pulling out, however, he said he supports negotiation, using the withdrawal of American troops as incentive to force the Iraqi government to stabilize quicker.\n"The biggest mistake I made was the vote on the war resolution giving President Bush the authority to go to war," he said.\nThis is the third time Hill and Sodrel have faced off for the 9th District seat. Sodrel defeated Hill by fewer than 1,500 votes in 2004. \nLibertarian Eric Schansberg is also running.
(10/09/06 4:13am)
Rep. Mike Sodrel sat at a corner table with a handful of supporters at Smokin' Jack's Rib Shack, carefully picking at the half slab of sweet BBQ ribs before him.\nThe first-term congressman didn't get a drop of sauce on his pinstripe suit.\n"This is one of his favorite places to eat in Bloomington," Sodrel's Bloomington office manager Chris Crabtree said. "He made sure we stopped here."\nEven among the party faithful, the topic that came up again and again was Mark Foley. The six-term Florida congressman, a Republican, resigned last week amid allegations he sent sexually explicit Internet messages to underage male pages.\n"I didn't work with him. I didn't serve on any committees with him," Sodrel said. "There are 435 members of Congress ... I recognized his face on TV, and that's about the extent of how I knew him."\nSoon after the allegations came out, Sodrel said he contacted House Speaker Dennis Hastert, asking for an FBI investigation into the matter.\n"I want people to be comfortable that someone outside the House is conducting the investigation," Sodrel said. "I don't think people have any real level of confidence in the ability of the House to investigate itself. Look at their track record. The (House) ethics committee in the past two years has had a problem just organizing themselves, so they couldn't investigate any complaints."\nSodrel said he didn't think Hastert should resign, but his campaign was in negotiations to have the speaker stump for him next week, and those negotiations have now fallen through.\nBaron Hill, the Democratic challenger in the closely watched 9th District race, issued a press release Monday calling on Sodrel to return campaign money he received from the National Republican Congressional Committee, a group which itself received funding from Foley.\n"Here in Indiana, we judge people by what they do," Hill said in a statement. "Mike Sodrel cannot simply say that he denounces the actions of former Congressman Mark Foley. He must return the immoral money that he has received from Foley via the NRCC and those in Congress who worked to cover up a sexual predator."\nSodrel has declined to return the money.\n"My opponent would be happy if every Republican in the House of Representatives resigned and they sent all their contributions back, but it's not going to happen," he said.\nThis is the third time Hill and Sodrel have faced off for the 9th District seat. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004 when Sodrel defeated him by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian Eric Schansberg is also running for the seat.
(10/06/06 4:06am)
Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has filed two lawsuits against groups placing automated calls to voters in the 9th District.\nAmerican Family Voices, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates "a strong voice for middle- and low-income families on economic, health care and consumer issues," according to its Web site, made automated phone calls attacking the record of Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, Carter said.\nCarter sued the Economic Freedom Fund, a Sacramento, Calif., organization that works to "educate the public concerning issues related to the preservation of economic freedom, the promotion of economic growth and prosperity for the people of the United States of America," according to its Web site, for making similar automated phone calls about Sodrel's Democratic opponent, Baron Hill.\nAmerican Family Voices, Inc., might have also made automated calls in the 8th District about the race there, Carter said.\nThe suits accuse the groups of violating the 1988 Regulation of Automated Dialing Machines Act, a state statute that makes it illegal for companies to place automated calls unless the recipient agrees to receive the call beforehand.\nViolators can be fined up to $5,000 per infraction, Carter said.\nThe attorney general's office received six complaints about American Family Voices calls and seven about calls from the Economic Freedom Fund. Carter said his office is now investigating the exact number of calls made.\nAn injunction was issued in Brown County Monday that prevents the Economic Freedom Fund from making any more automated calls.\nNo injunction has been filed against American Family Voices, Inc., so it does not plan to cease automated phone calls, said Joe Sandler, a Washington, D.C., attorney for the group who also works the Democratic National Committee.\n"This is a law we don't believe is enforceable," Sandler said. "It's pre-empted by federal law, and it's never been enforced for political calls until the last couple weeks."\nJames Bopp, a Terre Haute attorney representing the Economic Freedom Fund, said he did not think the group had done anything to break the law.\n"When making the calls, we thought it was legal," he said. "We relied on our vendor with respect to that."\nThe fund has not revealed who its vendor was.\nCarter would not say if there were other complaints under investigation in regards to calls both groups made in other Indiana districts but said he "wouldn't rule it out."\nHe also said he wants to make the public aware that none of the calls appear to be tied to either political campaign.\n"We don't have any evidence that any campaigns or political parties are involved in this," Carter said. "It's easy to assume that if a call is made, the other political party is responsible, but we don't make that assumption."\nSodrel spokesman Cam Savage said he only found out about the calls attacking Hill when he read about them in a newspaper. He also said Sodrel has been a victim of such attack calls since he took office after winning the seat from Hill in 2004.\n"For about a year and a half, these liberal 527 groups have made phone calls attacking us," Savage said.\nHill spokeswoman Melanie Morris also said members of that campaign were not aware of the calls until they made the news.\n"Back in August, (Hill) denounced all automated calls, whether they attacked us or our opponent," she said.\nThis election is the third time Hill and Sodrel have vied for the closely watched 9th District seat. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004 when he lost the seat to Sodrel by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian Eric Schansberg, an economics professor at IU-Southeast, is also running for the seat.
(10/05/06 4:18am)
The Bloomington Faculty Council approved sweeping new general education requirements for IU students Wednesday.\nThe requirements include "common ground" courses that all students will be required to take regardless of major and "shared goals," which will be made part of current coursework.\n"Common ground" courses include three credits in English composition, three to four credits of mathematical modeling, six credits of arts and humanities, six credits of social and historical studies and five to six credits of natural and mathematical sciences. There is also a requirement that students complete the second-year level of a world language, six credits in world culture or an approved study-abroad experience, according to a press release. \n"This recognizes that over the years it can create a problem when students start off in one direction and go in another later only to find their previous coursework doesn't fit," BFC President Ted Miller said. \nIt's unclear if this will increase or decrease the general education requirements of most degrees, Miller said. In addition, departments are free to add their own requirements.\nIU President Adam Herbert, who has lobbied for such changes since he took office in 2003, applauded the new requirements in a statement Wednesday.\n"I am very proud of our faculty," Herbert said. "These new standards will serve the Bloomington campus well. The quality, depth and breadth of this general education curriculum will become a major student recruitment tool. It will foster the intellectual growth and development of our students. It also will facilitate transferability and better accommodate changes in academic majors."\nThe goal of the new requirements is to ensure students are better educated about more subjects and thus better prepared for their future careers, said IU Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre. \n"This relates to seeing IU graduates fully grounded in the basics and to ensure graduates are intellectually well-rounded," he said.\nThe requirements will also enhance the attractiveness of an IU degree, he said.\n"This is not based on what students want, this is based on ensuring the value of an IU degree remains high in future years," \nMacIntyre said.\nThe new general education requirements will go into effect with the incoming class of 2011, which will also be the first class subjected to stricter admissions standards, also passed recently by the board of trustees.
(10/05/06 2:32am)
A building that has served several Christian denominations during the past few decades will be auctioned off to the highest bidder this November. The Center for University Ministry, located at 1415 E. Third St., will be sold after ceasing its operations late last year because of a decline in student interest.\nThose involved with the center hope it still has a future in serving the faithful.\nThe building could be renovated as a new ministry center that also houses students -- a growing trend on many college campuses.\n"Our hope is that, depending on the buyer, we could build a student residence and be an interfaith campus ministry program," said John Vanderzee, a chaplain at Bloomington Hospital and president of the center's board of directors. "Income from rent would then pay for the program." \nSeveral individuals have shown interest in such a proposal, but Vanderzee said nothing was set in stone yet, and he could not reveal any details.\nOne group which specializes in such plans, Partners Student Center Associates, conducted a study to discover the feasibility of such a project. The report found building a residence there could help rejuvenate the center, except city zoning does not allow it.\n"It's on a block where the zoning shifts into lower density, so in that context an argument could probably be made for the student residence project," said Charlie Oewel, co-director of Partners Student Center Associates.\nAnother possibility is the University could bid on the building, which is located directly across the street from University Apartments. IU regularly purchases adjacent property.\n"The University, at one point, was interested in purchasing it or perhaps (making) a leasing arrangement at one point," said Randy Baer, co-director of Partners Student Center Associates. "They may still bid on it."\nLynn Coyne, assistant vice president for real estate and economic development at IU, was out of town and unavailable for comment.\nThe building's owners, Presbyterian Synod of Lincoln Trails, decided to sell the property because of other priorities, Vanderzee said. The 1.36-acre lot will be auctioned off Nov. 10.
(10/04/06 4:13am)
Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan proclaimed October Archives and Special Collections Month at an event held at the Herman B Wells Library Tuesday evening.\nKruzan said much like postcards, which he said he collects, archives are a window into the past.\n"Every photo, every postcard that I own, it's like a time capsule," Kruzan said, as he stood in front of a picture of Wells blowing out the candles on his birthday cake on his 75th birthday. "I look at this photo of Dr. Wells, and it evokes so many memories and historical observations."\nWells was IU's 11th president and served from 1938 until 1962. He is credited by many for turning the University into the world-renowned research institution it is today.\nUniversity Archivist Phil Banton said he hopes the month's designation will increase awareness about what archives can do for the general public.\n"Professional archivists think we're in an identity crisis," he said. "The public in general don't know enough about what archives are, what archivists do and what kind of information is available in archives."\nArchives and Special Collections Month was celebrated in more than 30 states last year, but Banton said this is the first time it has been formally recognized in Bloomington.\nPat Steele, interim dean of University Libraries, said she hopes this won't be the last time archiving is discussed on campus. Plans that could focus on international collections are already under way for next October.\n"This is an opportunity to explore an endless number of topics over the years," she said.\nSix more events are planned throughout this month. At the next lecture titled "Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair," biographer Anthony Arthur will discuss the muckraking journalist's work and the research he conducted into Sinclair's life at the Lilly Library.\nThe event is open to the public and will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Lilly Library.
(10/03/06 4:44am)
Several environmental groups and concerned citizens filed a federal lawsuit to block the proposed I-69 extension from Evansville to Indianapolis.\nThe Hoosier Environmental Council, Bloomington-based groups Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads and Sassafras Audubon Society, and six southern Indiana residents filed the lawsuit Monday in Indianapolis U.S. District Court, according to The Associated Press.\nThe lawsuit asks for an injunction in constructing the $2 billion road, which would replace part of Ind. 37 in Bloomington and claims state officials violated several federal laws in selecting the route.\n"Those laws require (Indiana Department of Transportation) to take a hard look at all reasonable alternatives in southwest Indiana," said John Moore, senior attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center of Chicago, which represents the plaintiffs. "We have asked them to do so, and they have refused."\nThe plaintiffs claim the state tailored selection criteria to ensure the route it preferred was chosen. They also contend that upgrading U.S. 41 and Interstate 70 would be cheaper and cause less environmental damage.\nThe lawsuit also says the route will destroy nearly 7,000 acres of farmland, forest and wetlands, cut through the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, located in Pike and Gibson counties, and divide several rural communities.\n"Studies have shown (the) I-69 (extension) will be a financial and economic disaster," Moore said.\nBut INDOT says that the construction of I-69 will benefit the state economically, spurring more companies like Honda and Nestle to open businesses in the state.\n"The first thing those companies ask us is if there's an interstate nearby," INDOT spokesman Gary Abell said. "This will be a key piece in getting economic conditions moving forward in Indiana."\nAbell said that INDOT wasn't surprised about the lawsuit and anticipated it for several years but said there was no reason to believe viable alternatives weren't explored.\n"It was studied extensively from 2000 until 2004, and no other route was found that provided a great benefit to southwest Indiana," he said.\nEarlier this year, Gov. Mitch Daniels proposed a public-private partnership to turn I-69 into a toll road. Critics say this will keep people off the road, further hurting economic development in the state.\nAbell said the state is still looking into the possible effects and other alternatives to fund the project.\nMeanwhile, the state will forge ahead on I-69 unless an injunction is issued. INDOT hopes to break ground on the project in the summer of 2008, Abell said.\nThe Federal Highway Administration endorsed the proposed I-69 route in March 2004. Defendants named in the lawsuit include the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and INDOT Commissioner Thomas Sharp, according to The Associated Press.
(10/03/06 3:11am)
The IU Health Center's Counseling and Psychological Services counselors are seeing an increase in the number of students with compulsive online behavior problems, says CAPS psychologist Chris Meno.\nThe students who have been coming to CAPS usually have problems with compulsive gambling, viewing of pornography or online chat, she said. Meno said she does not know the exact number of clients that seek help through CAPS for such issues, but staff members have commented to her that they have seen a definite spike lately.\nChris Engle, a licensed registered social worker for CAPS, said that one reason more people might have issues with compulsive online behavior is the different atmosphere they encounter in college.\n"When you're living at home, you might not do as much because you know someone is watching," he said. "The computer might be in the living room with your mother. I'm not sure if (the issue) is college or the change in supervision."\nThe exact number of people with online compulsive gambling issues is difficult to define, but the National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 2 percent to 3 percent of Americans engage in problem gambling and another 1 percent are pathological gamblers.\nThough people with gambling problems run a high risk of hurting themselves economically, Engle says the real issue is when they can't stop themselves from gambling.\n"The difference is the loss of control," he said. "If a person engages in gambling or watching pornography and can't stop, it becomes an addiction. ... If you start off intending to go online for five minutes and you end up spending three or four hours there, that's a problem."\nMany students with compulsive gambling problems tried other forms of gambling before coming to college but only developed a serious issue with it at school, Engle said.\nThe less common online compulsive behavior Engle sees is students who have problems with pornography or online chat.\n"Online seduction can be intriguing, but it messes up relationships in real life," he said. "It breaks trust."\nUsually men come to CAPS with pornography issues while women seek help for compulsive online chat, Engle said.\nThe first case of someone engaging in compulsive online behavior Engle saw was in 1992. He attributes this to the fact that though the Internet has long been available on most college campuses, it wasn't until about that time online-enabled computers moved out of common areas and into dorm rooms. And now that nearly every college student has easy access to an Internet connection, they are less willing to discuss their compulsive behaviors out of embarrassment.\n"Generally, it's a behavior people try to hide," Engle said. "There's a lot of shame associated with it."\nIf you believe you have a problem with compulsive online behavior, you can make an appointment with CAPS by calling 855-5711.
(10/02/06 3:27am)
Administrators are considering hiring private contractors to handle some University operations.\nThe first service that could be outsourced is the IU Motor Pool, which provides about 600 vehicles for University use.\nVice President and Chief Administrative Officer Terry Clapacs presented the idea to the board of trustees at their scheduled a meeting last week.\nIU is expected to issue a request for bids from private contractors within the next three weeks.\n"Outsourcing might not be the right word," trustee Tom Reilly said. "It's more like we're searching for the most effective way of doing things." \nA secretary for Clapacs said he was out of town and could not be reached for further comment Thursday.\nThe motor pool has an annual budget of about $3 million. Bids will be taken from private contractors, as well as the motor pool itself, Reilly said.\n"They're trying to cut the administrative cost of running the University," IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said. "The trustees have made that one of their goals. Privatization and competition is one way they're looking at doing that."\nIU's administrative costs are already lower than comparable universities, MacIntyre said.\nThe University is also considering taking bids from private contractors for its system of bookstores. In addition, Clapacs said there were "nine or 10" other operations that could possibly be outsourced.\nMacIntyre said he did not know if any decisions on outsourcing would have to be approved by the trustees or IU President Adam Herbert.\n"He'll carry out whatever the trustees want," MacIntyre said.
(10/01/06 1:24am)
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the final version of an appropriations bill earlier this week that will fund two life sciences projects on campus.\nThe bill calls for $1.35 million in funding for the Cyclotron Facility to develop a Free Electron Laser and an additional $1.17 million to go toward the Next Generation Threat Detection research project to be run by the chemistry department.\n"I am proud to help Indiana University further its cause in being one of the top scientific research schools in the nation," Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, said in a statement. "Indiana University is a leading partner in securing our homeland by developing new technologies that help in our effort to detect potential threats before they arise."\nThe Free Electron Laser is different from conventional lasers in that it can transmit more energy at higher power levels, a news release said.\nIU's Next Generation Threat Detection project will allow chemists easy access to technology that will help quickly detect new chemical and biological threats.\n"Congressman Sodrel has been involved in procuring funds for IU the whole time he's been in Congress," Sodrel's press secretary Allison Aikele said. "Another reason he's been involved is the benefit to national security, and he thinks IU will play a key role as one of the premiere research spaces in the state."\nIn his state of academic affairs speech earlier this month, Provost Michael McRobbie cited the Cyclotron Facility as an example of one of the planned buildings that will increase the University's research abilities.\n"Lack of research space is the biggest impediment facing IU," he said in his Sept. 19 speech.\nFunding for the program was included in the Fiscal Year 2007 Department of Defense Appropriation bill. Sodrel has already secured an additional $7 million for the Cyclotron facility, the release said.\nThe bill still has to go through the Senate and be signed by President Bush, but Aikele said that is basically a "formality."\n"It's not going to be a huge fight," she said.
(09/27/06 4:28am)
A new student group is appealing to the IU administration for a more aggressive anti-smoking policy on the Bloomington campus.\nStudents' Smokefree Coalition is currently putting together a proposal asking for smoking to be banned on all University-owned property. Bloomington-owned streets and sidewalks would be an exception to the rule, as the city has previously shown reluctance in expanding its own law that bans smoking inside businesses.\nThe coalition's president, sophomore Donnie Morgan said he and a few friends came up with the idea while walking through campus one day.\n"I don't necessarily have a huge problem with smoking, but it's definitely a nuisance," he said.\nSoon after, Morgan created the Facebook group "PLEASE ban smoking on IU's campus," which in little more than a week has attracted nearly 1,200 members.\nThe current IU smoking policy, which went into effect in September 2003 states "all building doorways and fully or partially enclosed walkways connecting buildings will be smoke-free, along with areas near open windows and ventilation systems. Smoking is prohibited on university owned or leased property within 30 feet of building entrances, exits, partially or fully enclosed walkways, open windows and ventilation systems."\nThe Students' Smokefree Coalition proposal is similar to policies currently in effect at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and IU-Southeast.\nIUPUI's policy goes so far as to ban the sale of all tobacco products in or on any IUPUI owned, operated or leased property or vehicle. IU East's smoking policy prohibits smoking everywhere on campus, including University vehicles and privately owned vehicles on campus.\nIUPUI went smoke-free after more than five years of surveying students and faculty, who were found to overwhelmingly favor the ban, according to a June 12, Indiana Daily Student article.\nAnother factor that influenced the policy was the research of Stephen Jay of the IU School of Medicine. Jay's research concluded that second-hand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. \n"People should be able to walk into Ballantine Hall without having to go through a gauntlet of smoke," Morgan said.\nSmokers outside of Ballantine Hall were unenthusiastic about the proposed ban Tuesday afternoon.\n"It's different smoking indoors; I can understand the ban on that," sophomore Eric Aiken said, preparing to light a Camel Light. "Indoors you're circulating the same air over and over again, but outdoors you should be able to have free roam. There's a plentiful supply of oxygen. I think (the ban) is silly."\nJunior Jon Wargo shared much of that sentiment as he smoked outside Ballantine.\n"Since Kilroy's banned smoking outside there's not a place for a smoker to go rest anymore," he said. "I think we should have the freedom to have a cigarette outside. As long as there's a place to put it out, I don't see the problem."\nMorgan said since IUPUI has already shown that such a smoking policy is viable on a large campus, he hopes the Bloomington campus will adopt a smoking ban within the next six months.\nIU Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said he was not aware of any discussion about the issue at the administrative level yet, and such a plan might have to be approved by the board of trustees.
(09/25/06 4:16am)
The IU board of trustees unanimously approved a $55 million plan to improve several athletic fields at its scheduled meeting Friday afternoon.\nThe plan includes construction of a four-story building that will enclose the north end zone of Memorial Stadium, the construction of an Indiana Basketball Development Center and the construction of a new baseball and softball complex.\n"We're doing a great deal to enhance, in total, our facilities for all of our sports folks," IU President Adam Herbert said at the meeting in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nThe Memorial Stadium North End Zone Project will house an exercise area overlooking the field for student athletes, new coaching and administrative offices, a press room and, on the fourth floor, a hall of fame to display IU's athletic accomplishments.\nThe Indiana Basketball Development Center will serve as the new headquarters of men's and women's basketball. It will feature practice courts to which players will have 24/7 access, locker rooms, offices and a strength and conditioning area.\nThe Hoosier Baseball and Softball Complex, which will be located just north of Mellencamp Pavilion and Indiana Tennis Center, will house both softball and baseball fields, indoor batting cages, offices and locker rooms.\nIn presenting the project to the board of trustees Wednesday, both IU men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and IU football coach Terry Hoeppner stressed the necessity of the new facilities for better recruiting, with which the board seemed to sympathize.\n"I know coaches are in a difficult position recruiting top athletes," trustee Clarence Boone said. "They bring them here, show them the facilities and, in a lot of cases, they're not much better than what they had in high school. Then they go somewhere else."\nThe facility upgrades are similar to what other Big Ten schools such as Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin have done in recent years.\nThe additions to Memorial Stadium are still in the design stage and will take about 10 months to finish, then another 16 months to actually build.\nThe Indiana Basketball Development Center and baseball and softball complex designs should be finalized in six months. It will take about 18 months to build the basketball center and about 12 months to build baseball and softball complex.\nNo part of the project will be paid for with tuition increases or extra fees to students. Instead, $45 million is coming from athletics department revenue from projects such as the Big Ten Channel, scheduled to go on the air in August 2007. An additional $10 million is coming from private gifts to the University.\n"I think this is a wonderful project," Vice President of the board Patrick Shoulders said. "And it's sports money paying for sports facilities. It's not taking a dime away from any other programs."\nThe athletics department is also currently reviewing a plan to either renovate or \nreplace Assembly Hall, a plan that could be voted on as early as November, board President Steve Ferguson told The \nAssociated Press. That project could cost more than $120 \nmillion.
(09/25/06 4:16am)
The board of trustees approved several multi-million dollar proposals for the Bloomington campus Friday.\nThe first, and the one that will most affect students, is the renovation of three residence halls. The board unanimously approved a $9.2 million plan to install air conditioning in Forest Quad. Any asbestos present in student rooms will also be removed.\nAsbestos was used for insulation in most buildings built before 1980, so it is present in Forest, Briscoe and McNutt Quads and in Tulip Tree Apartments.\nIntact asbestos poses no health risks, but inhaling the damaged fibers can harm the lungs many years after exposure. It has been recognized as a carcinogen and is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. This semester, resident assistants began warning students living in dorms of the possible asbestos risk, though there is no immediate danger to students as long as they do not damage the asbestos present in their ceilings.\nResidential Programs and Services is planning renovations of the four buildings within the next 10 years to remove all the asbestos, RPS Executive Director Pat Connor said in an August interview.\nThe board also unanimously passed a $3 million renovation project for the bathrooms on the four floors of the Bocobo wing of McNutt and the three floors of the Elkins wing of Teter Quad. The renovations will include improvements to shower stalls so residents have more privacy. \nTrustees also approved a $2.9 million plan to relocate the IU School of Optometry Clinic to Margrave Apartments, 736 E. Third St., and a $2.4 million plan to construct a new Greenhouse and Support Building on 10th Street. The projects will increase research space for the optometry and biology departments respectively.\nThough not applicable to Bloomington students, the trustees also approved a $20.3 million housing project at the IU-South Bend campus. The apartment-style units will house approximately 400 students and provide more than 300 parking spots, according to a press release. This is IUSB's first on-campus housing project. The project will be funded by $18.6 million in bonds and some campus funds, according to the release.\nIU administrators opened the meeting by commenting on the recently released enrollment figures for the University, especially for the Bloomington campus.\nThe 7,259-member freshman class is the biggest ever, but also contains more valedictorians and National Merit Scholars, in line with a recently approved trustee initiative to increase admissions requirements.\nInterim Provost Michael McRobbie said that in accordance with the higher admissions standards, this will probably be the largest incoming class IU has ever had.\nIU President Adam Herbert, however, said he was disappointed with the enrollment numbers for minority students. Though this class has the most incoming minority students ever, the number of black students dropped from 412 to 345. Black students' SAT scores were up 27 points over last year, however.\n"This drop in the number of African-American students is unacceptable," Herbert said. "(SAT scores) are consistent with the trends we're looking for. We just need to do better with the numbers."\nAll other minority groups increased in number, in line with another trustee plan to double minority enrollment by the start of the 2014-15 school year.\nThe trustee meeting concluded with the introduction of the newly appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Bennett I. Bertenthal. Bertenthal, who officially takes over as dean of the school Jan. 1, said he plans to increase the academic excellence of COAS with "bold leadership, vision and old-fashioned hard work."\n"I think we've hired an outstanding dean to lead the college," Herbert said. "One thing that impressed me in my conversations with Bennett is his commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration."\nKumble Subbaswamy vacated the COAS dean position earlier this year to become provost at the University of Kentucky after being passed over for the IU-Bloomington chancellor job. Professor of sociology David Zaret is currently acting as interim COAS dean.\nThe trustees' next scheduled meeting is Nov. 2 and 3 at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
(09/25/06 2:58am)
The School of Informatics has created a new research institute for data analysis that will give students additional skills to make them more attractive to prospective employers.\nThe Data and Search Institute will speed the processing of data into industry and give scientists interested in the field a better place to conduct their research, according to a press release.\n"I feel that one of the strongest benefits of the institute is what it brings to students," DSI Director Beth Plale said in an e-mail. "Students stand to gain the most from the institute because students gain valuable experience conducting research on real-world problems."\nThe DSI is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, which has expressed interest in making IU the leading data research university in the country, Plale said. Currently IU is partnered with Florida International University for the project, but other schools are expected to follow suit soon.\n"The DSI brings together a group of faculty with multidisciplinary interests relevant to the important issues of data -- how to format it, store it, etc. -- and search -- how to find it, interpret it, etc.," School of Informatics Dean J. Michael Dunn said in an e-mail. "This continues an important extension of human capabilities that began when humans first began to write but becomes increasingly important with the exponential flood of data made possible by information technology."\nDSI also has the potential to attract more faculty and students interested in the field.\n"The companies that partner with us will fund interesting research problems, technologies and hardware that will give students an opportunity to gain experience in real-world problems and technologies," Plale said. "On the faculty side, the presence of the institute and its excellent faculty research will draw other faculty to IU."\nPlale said it was too early to name specific companies involved in the project.\nIt's also possible that DSI will have a positive economic impact on Indiana, Plale said. \n"To the extent that we can attract people and grow our 'critical mass' in the area of data and search, that increases the likelihood that our national center will spawn new companies," Plale said. "Also, by looking at life science-rooted problems we hope to help Indiana's strong initiative in this area."\nCurrently the institute employs just more than a dozen data researchers, but the students there have especially piqued the interest of some companies.\n"The corporate partners of the institute have already expressed great interest in recruiting graduates who have had experience working on problems that define the future of their industry," Plale said.