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(11/12/10 3:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Barbecue chicken, lemonade stands and the electric slide may be familiar to most Americans.But to some international students, the traditions could be, well, foreign concepts.To help these students, Willkie Quad staff has organized an information fair titled the “Great American Road Trip.” The imaginary trip begins at 5 p.m. Friday in the Willkie informal lounge in the center building.Senior and Willkie Community Educator Annissa Michael said the event is geared toward international students who wish to learn the “why” behind American traditions.“They suggested they wanted to get to know more about American residents,” Michael said. “That’s not too much to ask for.”Visitors to the “Road Trip” will receive a passport that will be filled with stickers from various booths they can visit, Michael said.An American food booth will serve barbecue chicken. A holidays booth will feature information on how Americans celebrate Christmas and the Fourth of July. Activities and traditions booths will feature card games and a lemonade stand.The final booth will teach international students about American music and dances and other popular culture.After filling their passports, students can turn them in for a souvenir gift bag that includes a recipe book, poppers and a mix CD.Michael said the idea for the event came from a floor president and senior Carly Jerome, who talked to international students living in Willkie. Jerome said many of the students said they didn’t feel welcome at past Willkie events.“A lot of them didn’t feel like the other events have been directed towards them, so we asked them what they were looking for,” Jerome said. “They said they wanted more knowledge about American culture and to feel more welcome.”Senior Kiara Abdulla, another Willkie floor president and the creator of the event’s mix CD, said some international students said they have trouble feeling like they are a part of American culture.“These students come to America to be a part of America, but they said they find themselves in classes surrounded by other international students, or on floors surrounded by other international students,” Abdulla said. “There’s a lot of things at IU that say it’s okay for us to be a part of their culture — we can do the same for ours.”While the event is focused on the international students, Abdulla said she hopes American students will also participate, as the traditions being displayed are only as important as the people who keep them alive.“America is a melting pot,” she said. “It’s important to have all the ingredients.”For more information, visit www.indiana.edu/~willkie/home.php.
(11/05/10 2:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In Aesop’s fable “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse,” a pair of mice realize just how different rural and city life can be.This weekend, several speakers will explore a similar theme in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community during “Queering the Countryside: New Directions in Rural Queer Studies,” a two-day symposium presented by multiple departments at IU.Saturday’s presentation, located in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Frangipani Room, will be free and open to the public. The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. and features noted scholars, said co-organizer Mary Gray, an associate professor of communication and culture.“There will be a collection of presenters who I would argue are founders of what we would call rural queer studies,” Gray said. “These are people who, early on, asked, ‘why is it we don’t study LGBT trends and cultures outside of cities?’ The scholars will discuss their sense of where we are at with LGBT issues.”Colin Johnson, a gender studies assistant professor and the symposium’s other co-organizer, said the conference is an attempt to shine a spotlight on the understudied experience of LGBT people who live in non-metropolitan areas. “Traditionally scholarship has focused on urban spaces,” Johnson said. “When people think of gay, they tend to think of cities. They don’t think of places like rural Indiana and Utah.”The presentation will feature speakers from IU, other American universities and from England. It will be followed by a reception at FARMbloomington. The day will conclude with a public performance in Woodburn Hall 101 by the Eggplant Faerie Players, an LGBT performance group from rural Tennessee. “The whole presentation is a nice mixture of scholarship studying queer rural life and folks who live those lives in very intentional ways,” Gray said. Sunday’s session will consist of a series of closed workshops where 35 young scholars will receive instruction and advice for dissertations Gray said will be collected into a book.The idea for the symposium first came to Gray and Johnson two years ago, when they were discussing each other’s work.“We started talking about absence of this conversation in most gay and lesbian scholarship. We realized it would make a lot of sense to bring younger scholars together with a group of scholars to talk to about these projects,” Gray said. “We want to recognize that there is now a fairly strong group of people doing this work.”Johnson said Bloomington is the perfect place for such a discussion because of its high number of rural queer scholars and IU’s legacy of sexual and gender research.“With places like the Kinsey Institute, IU has a long history of studying sex and gender and creating conversations on these issues for many years,” Johnson said. “This symposium is a chance to start a new conversation.”
(11/03/10 5:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With no choice but to watch politics from afar, various members of the campus international community expressed mixed feelings about this year’s midterm elections. Acheick Ag Mohamed, a graduate student from Mali, said he has not followed the election as closely as he followed the presidential one. Two years ago, Mohamed had only been in the United States for about six months. He was new to the country and unable to vote, but he said the race felt more important to him.“I really like Obama,” Mohamed said. “I like where he comes from and what he represents — unity. So I paid attention to that election more.”Mohamed said he thought this year’s election was already decided beforehand and did not feel as compelled to follow it. He did, however, say he’s concerned about the outcome.“I feel that the President is going to lose control of the Congress,” he said. “He’s going to have a very difficult time with his agenda now. Very difficult.”Along with Mohamed, senior Aoun Jafarey said he has also not followed this election very closely.While Jafarey said it is important for international students to keep up with U.S politics, he questioned whether this election held any significance for him.“I don’t feel like it really affects me,” Jafarey said. “At this point — Republicans, Democrats — it doesn’t really make a difference.”Other international students expressed their interest in national politics, but a disinterest in Indiana politics specifically.Junior Peggy Li, a Chinese native who has lived in the U.S. for four years, said she is interested in America’s role on a global scale, but is unsure how local politics affect her.“I haven’t paid enough attention to this election to find any issue that’s important to me,” Li said. “Since I don’t have any voting rights, and in general I don’t really follow Indiana politics. ...don’t really know a issue that directly affects me.”Diana Kyllmann, a freshman from Bolivia, also said she finds the political process in America confusing. Kyllmann, who has only been in America since late August, said Bolivia has less elections and thus, each vote is seen as more important.“The U.S. is more complicated, because it is much bigger and has more elections,” Kyllmann said. “In my country we vote for the President and the governors for the departments and that’s it.”Danielle Patras and Charlotte Martin contributed to this story.
(11/02/10 1:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bills — they’re a necessary evil. You pay them, and you’re broke for a month. You don’t pay them, and you lose the electricity and gain a refrigerator of rotten food. But there are ways to cut down these costs and, according to local experts, possibly help the environment in the process.ElectricityMckenzie Beverage, coordinator of the Office of Sustainability's Energy Challenge, said saving energy is a simple task. Make sure you turn unnecessary electronics off when leaving the house, Beverage said. Unplugging the items is even better, as electronics continue to use electricity as long as they are connected to a socket. Plugging these items into power strips can make this easier, as the power to multiple items can be cut with a click of a switch.The most substantial thing you can do, Beverage said, is monitor your refrigerator and dryer. Turn your fridge to a less cool setting, she suggests — the food will still keep — and air-dry your clothes on the backs of chairs or on a clothesline as much as a possible.“In 45 minutes, your dryer uses as much energy as an entire dorm room does in 24 hours,” she said.WaterJon Callahan, public affairs specialist for City of Bloomington Utilities, said saving water is not difficult to do either.When showering or even just washing your hands, Callahan recommends turning the water off when lathering up. Similarly, don’t leave the water running when brushing your teeth. A house shared by four people uses 200 gallons of water a week, he said — an amount that can be significantly reduced by simply turning off the faucet. Callahan also recommends keeping showers to less than five minutes long. He said taking less time in the shower can save up to 1,000 gallons of water a month. “You can do some pretty simple things,” he said. “This is not a lifestyle change.”
(10/27/10 3:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While the country heads to the voting booths for the midterm elections, the first week of November also marks two years since Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States.To reflect on the past two years, the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, in collaboration with the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, will present a panel discussion called “The Obama Presidency at Midterm: The Perils and Prospects of a Post Racial Presidency” at 7 p.m. today in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center 152.“As we’re approaching midterm, it’s time to gauge how the president is doing,” said Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center graduate assistant Muhammad Saahir. “It’s time to see if he’s meeting his agenda, or is worthy to be re-elected.” The forum is part of the center’s “Critical Issues Forum,” a series of panel discussions the center sponsors once every semester.June Evans, also a graduate assistant at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, said she thinks it is necessary to look critically at the presidency so far, but that the discussion will not be biased.“It’s important to have a discourse,” she said. “We’re going to be looking at both the cons as well as the pros to see where the president’s going and where he’s been.”To ensure the discussion reflects a wide range of opinions, Saahir said the panelists were carefully chosen to represent different disciplines and perspectives.The panel consists of two undergraduate students, one from AAADS and another from the Kelley School of Business, as well as a graduate student and professors from AAADS, religious studies, English and history departments.“We wanted a diverse panel reflecting different ages, political leanings and AAADS affiliation,” Saahir said. “We wanted a wide array of voices with a host of students and professors and to see who disagrees, who agrees and why.”The forum’s moderator, the director of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, professor Audrey T. McCluskey, said one of the main issues to be addressed concerns the administration and its public reception in terms of race.“A key question will be whether the media and public discourse have attempted to define the Obama presidency in racial terms,” McCluskey said.Saahir said he is hoping for a good turnout and that the crowd will have as wide range of opinions as the panel members.“Come with an open mind,” he said. “See what you can come away with and what you can add to the conversation.”
(10/26/10 1:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When senior Ashley Rhodes decided to come out the summer before her junior year in high school, she found the experience to be easier than expected.“I had a lot of support from my friends,” Rhodes said. “It wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be.”But Rhodes, a secretary at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services Office, said other students are not as lucky — particularly if they are both GLBT and of a minority. “Coming out is always a difficult thing to do, no matter what the race,” Rhodes said. “But if you’re LGBT and a minority, it’s like having two strikes. We’ve had students come in here whose parents have cut them off and turned their backs on them.”Carol Fischer, who has been an office manager at the GLBTSSS for nearly 15 years, said finding ways to help these students can be a complex problem.“The University has to figure out a way to reach out to them, but still protect them,” Fischer said. “It’s their life we’re talking about. Not all students needing help may even be ready to come out. You have to find a way to connect with them, but also honor their degree of being out.”Fischer said being a minority can directly affect the coming-out process, particularly for international students, because many places may not be as accepting as Bloomington.“A student coming out here may have to go back in the closet when they return home,” she said. “In some countries, being gay is still punishable by death. It’s a very complicated issue.”One way the University does offer support for these students, Fischer said, is through the various culture centers on campus, which include the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, La Casa Latino Cultural Center and the Asian Culture Center. June Evans, a graduate assistant for the Neal-Marshall, said the center is currently making an effort to reach out to GLBT minorities. At the Office of Women’s Affairs open house this past September, the Neal-Marshall and the GLBTSSS even shared a table and discussed the possibility of joint programs.“Being able to help more students starts with having more open communication between the different groups,” Evans said. “It helps people realize that we’re all more alike than we are different.”Fischer said while the culture centers are already GLBT friendly, she admitted that some students may still feel apprehensive about reaching out, based on the assumption that the majority of people working at the centers are straight.“There is support on this campus, but there is not enough of an effort made to reach out to these specific groups,” Fischer said. “Right now there is only one group on campus specifically for GLBT minorities.”That group, called BlaqueOUT, is a reconstitution of an older, now-defunct student organization called Blacks Like Us, Rhodes said, who was the driving force behind the new group’s creation. While Blacks Like Us focused on black members of the GLBT community, BlaqueOUT is more inclusive, offering support for all GLBT minorities and even allies.“We’re creating a place where people can feel connected,” Rhodes said. “We want to lend an open ear and shoulder for whoever needs it.”Rhodes said groups such as BlaqueOUT are a step in the right direction for improving the University’s potential of helping GLBT minority students.“IU is a very accepting campus, and they do offer a lot of support and allies,” Rhodes said. “But there needs to be more reaching out to students rather than IU waiting to be reached out to.”Fischer said she agreed and that fixing the problem is “at the very least a two-fold process.”“IU and the students need to work together to make an effort of reaching out to each other,” Fischer said. “We need to give students the support they need and the support they deserve.”
(10/25/10 3:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student group OUT will bring Halloween to campus a week early this year.Teaming up with IU Student Association, the group will sponsor events and activities during “A Week of Ghosts, Goblins and Gays.” “The recent slew of saddening suicides that have occurred over the last month make clear how important it is that we make sure our peers know that there are people and places on campus that are willing and ready to embrace them for who they are,” OUT President Robert Clayton said.The events include a resource fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Frangipani Room, pumpkin carving on Thursday and a Halloween dance Friday at Collins Living-Learning Center.“The whole idea is to create a week long bonanza of GLBT and other diversity-related events,” Clayton said. “We invite other community and campus groups to host their own events during the week, and both OUT and the IUSA will promote them under the same banner.”Clayton said while he hopes the week will be fun, the main goal is to raise awareness that there is still room for growth in the community when it comes to accepting GLBT students, faculty and staff.Clayton also said he hopes the week becomes an annual festival and that it helps OUT become a more active part of the IU community once again.“This is only the beginning of OUT’s agenda to make IU the most ‘gay friendly’ college in the nation, and we look forward to working with the IUSA and other organizations to promote that agenda,” he said. “I must admit, OUT has been in a slumber the last few years, but under it’s new leadership. It’s waking up and is ready to tackle GLBT issues head on.”The week is the first major event OUT has organized since last year’s Miss Gay IU left the group $3,000 in debt to the IU Auditorium. Little of the debt has been paid off, and Clayton said dealing with it has been a struggle.“It’s been a heavy burden to carry, and it has without a doubt placed severe constraints on our ability to move as quickly as we would like,” Clayton said. “However, we’re on a mission, and no sum of money is going to stop us from achieving it.”
(10/22/10 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If your leg is broken, you see a doctor. If your heart or mind is broken, your response should be no different.That’s the message Counseling and Psychological Services and its Diversity Outreach Team are trying to relay to minority, international, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students at IU.“Our main goal is getting information out to underrepresented groups,” committee member and doctoral student Whitney Stewart said. “Information that can help them maintain their mental health.”The team was created two years ago and is supervised by Dr. Paul Toth, a CAPS staff psychologist. The rest of the team consists of doctoral counseling and students such as Stewart.The outreach team works with several campus offices and organizations to offer outreach and programming at campus events. It also offers a wide range of counseling opportunities and conducts research into diversity and psychological issues. “We deal with stress, harassment, procrastination, body image — the list goes on,” Stewart said. “We’re just trying to raise awareness on how to deal with all of these issues.”Eric Love, the director of the Office of Diversity Education, has worked with the team often in the past year and half and said he thinks it’s a vital part of CAPS.“They really do a great deal of interacting with and reaching out to students,” Love said. “They’re a constant presence at all IU’s cultural events. They’ve also done workshops on suicide for faculty that work with students of color.”Love said the committee’s goal is more important than ever, especially as groups such as blacks and Hispanics do not traditionally seek counseling.“This day and age, there seems to be a higher rate of depression among students,” Love said. “There’s been a rash of suicides, both here at IU and across the nation. Students are at risk, so it’s important to let students know that CAPS has these compassionate, caring, insightful counselors that are here to help them.”Stewart said she agreed and reaching out to minority students is of the utmost importance. In the past year, she said, IU has seen two black students commit suicide. “We are here to let these students know that CAPS is here for them,” Stewart said. “It’s a place they can always turn to when they are struggling and don’t know where else to go.”
(10/18/10 1:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Ashley Rhodes noticed something odd last year while at a campus gathering of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender groups.There was an IU GLBT group for Jewish students and another for science and technical professionals. There was even a group for business majors.But Rhodes, an office secretary at the GLBT Student Support Services, realized there was not a student group for GLBT minorities.“I noticed that gay people of color don’t really have representation on campus,” Rhodes said. “And I thought it was necessary to start one.”So Rhodes created BlaqueOUT.Rhodes said the organization is actually a reconstitution of an older, now-defunct GLBT group called Blacks Like Us.GLBT SSS Office Coordinator Doug Bauder said BlaqueOUT would continue Black Like Us’s attempt at giving students who are both GLBT and black a safe, welcoming space.“A few years ago that group kind of faded,” Bauder said. “This new group is picking up where Blacks Like Us left off. It’s also going to broaden the perspective, though.”BlaqueOUT’s faculty adviser and Kelley School of Business visiting lecturer Byron Craig said despite its name, the group is not just for black students.“Were open to everyone,” Craig said. “All GLBT students of color, friends and allies as well. We’re just offering a place of understanding, a community home that realizes that not all GLBT people have the same needs.”Craig also said he feels BlaqueOUT fills a gap in the GLBT campus community.“Having another organization is so important,” Craig said. “With what’s been all over the news recently, it’s obvious there is still a lot of work to be done. This is a step in the right direction.”Rhodes said while the group is still in its beginning stages — a call-out meeting is scheduled for the end of this month — its members are already planning events and activities for the upcoming year.One such event, Rhodes said, is a recurring movie night where members can view films that discuss GLBT issues.Rhodes said she hopes students come to think of the group as a safe place where they belong.“We’re creating a place where people can feel connected,” Rhodes said. “We want to lend an open ear and shoulder for whoever needs it.”
(10/12/10 4:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As the sun set over Dunn Meadow Monday, the dim lampposts lighting the darkening field were assisted by more than 100 tiny, flickering candle flames.The candles were held by students, faculty and Bloomington residents — all gathered for a vigil remembering those who have been pushed to suicide because of harassment.A wave of teen suicides in recent weeks, many the result of anti-gay bullying, led Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality, or SAGE, to organize the gathering.Standing behind a row of candles, SAGE Vice President senior Jain Waldrip thanked the crowd for coming and urged them to keep supporting each other.“Every one of you, in standing with us tonight, holds a light against a darkness,” Waldrip said. “A darkness that threatens young lives and which has already claimed several.”Waldrip, who said she has struggled with suicidal thoughts herself, also had a message for those who might be thinking of taking their own lives.“It will get the easier for you,” she said. “Every day that you face adversity, you get a little stronger against it. You learn to resist it a little better. Every day you face adversity, you find better ways to heal.”Following her speech, Waldrip asked for a moment of silence.After the silence, Doug Bauder, coordinator of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services, spoke briefly, followed by senior Erika Sutton, a member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.“We recognize the detrimental impact that mainstream Christians have had on creating a culture of fear for the GLBT community in the United States,” Sutton said. “If Christians continue to remain silent on the issue of these suicides, we are endorsing hatred and fear.”SAGE President junior Rick Stark concluded the vigil, asking that those in attendance make it clear that harassment of any kind — whether it is based on race, religion, sexual preference or anything else — is not acceptable.“We began tonight with a moment of silence to remember and honor those we’ve lost,” Stark said. “But now the time for silence must end. We must demand that everyone is protected from this darkness, demand that no one is subjected to isolation and demand the end of hate.”Stark then held up his candle.“With enough love, hate will end,” he said. “Tonight as we extinguish our candles, the light doesn’t die.”Stark blew out his flame, and the crowd did the same — returning Dunn Meadow to the dim light of its lampposts.As the crowd slowly dissipated, many of the students stayed behind, talking to each other in small groups.Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith and Assistant Dean of Students Carol McCord, who both attended the vigil, stood together on the sidewalk, observing the crowd.“It’s important to show support and that the campus is a civil environment,” Goldsmith said. “People see each other here, people like them and even people not like them, and it helps.” A few yards away, Waldrip, Stark and other SAGE members pulled each other into a quick group hug.“I hope that tonight helps someone,” Waldrip said. “That it makes life more bearable for somebody. Anybody.”
(10/08/10 4:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi’s fatal jump from the George Washington Bridge two weeks ago brought an end to an already tragic month for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community which saw a number of teens commit suicide in part because of anti-gay bullying and harassment.And these deaths have not gone unnoticed by officials at IU.GLBT Student Support Services coordinator Doug Bauder said the deaths are not indications of a disturbing new trend in bullying, but a problem many gay teens have faced for years.“A year ago, someone kept urinating on a student’s door,” Bauder said. “Someone would write ‘faggot’ on the door and then piss on it. Other students that year were repeatedly harassed by phone. The point being, that nasty cases of harassment have happened and continue to happen on this campus.”Bauder said as far as he knows, there has not been an IU student who has committed suicide because of anti-gay bullying in recent years, but incidents such as these have led to IU students transferring to other schools.Statistics compiled by IU Incidents Teams, which work with students and faculty to resolve bias-motivated harassment, indicate that the number of sexual orientation and gender identity related cases have steadily declined over the past five years.Forty-seven cases were reported to the GLBT Anti-Harrassment Incident Team last school year, down from the 90 cases reported five years ago.But the number is still too high, said Nancy Stockton, director of Counseling and Psychological Services.“By and large young people are less homophobic than their parents,” Stockton said. “They tend to be more welcoming. There’s a shift in the attitude. But what the University should do, and is doing, is looking at not only individual civility, but also creating a more civil atmosphere.”Dan Murphy, a GLBT SSS advisory board member and assistant director of the Office of First Year Experience, said the responsibility for ending bullying and harassment does not solely lie on the shoulders of campus groups.“Offering support and resources is one thing, but having a campus community full of people who don’t tolerate that kind of thing is a huge first step that needs to be taken.” Murphy said. “We have to put an end to jokes and passing comments that people don’t think have an impact. Those comments may be eating away at someone who is closeted.”One way the GLBT SSS hopes to begin improving the campus atmosphere, Bauder said, is with its “Positive Space” initiative.The program is offering free stickers to be placed on doorways, windows and personal items to show support and let students know where they can go when in need of a friendly face.Bauder said simple things such as stickers and buttons can accomplish more than one would think.“If a student sees that, it can cut through some of that despair,” Bauder said. “It lets them know that, ‘God, I at least have one friend on this campus.’”Robert Clayton, president of the campus GLBT group OUT, said his organization has a similar program called “Safe Zone.”“Where ever you see a place with a ‘Safe Zone’ sticker, you know that it is a place where bigotry is simply not tolerated,” Clayton said.Creating this sense of safety is key to helping decrease tragedies similar to Clementi’s, Bauder said. A more inclusive community could encourage students to talk to student groups, culture centers, CAPS or report harassment to an Incidents Team.Clayton said the problem is ultimately one of civil rights that will take the whole the nation to fix.“If a kid sees that two gay men can’t get married or that a gay person cannot serve openly in the military, why would that kid think we’re equal?” Clayton said. “Why would they think that we were human?”
(10/08/10 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When sophomore and Malaysian international student Rabiatul Abd Patah decided to attend college in the United States, she said one major factor brought her to IU — the level of diversity.“I was kind of impressed at how diverse the student body is,” Abd Patah said. “I get to see and interact with people from different backgrounds easily.”Not all students feel that way, however. Freshman and Indianapolis native Arooj Ahmad said she was disappointed upon her arrival at IU.“It’s not as diverse as they like to advertise,” Ahmad said. “I feel like just one Muslim in thousands of people.”When comparing individual races and ethnicities, IU does not initially appear to be all that diverse.According to an annual report released by Indiana University Institutional Research and Reporting, there are currently 24,909 white, American undergraduate students enrolled at the Bloomington campus. The second largest group of Americans represented is black, with 1,435 students. That is a gap of 23,474 students.When all students are considered, including those in graduate and doctorate programs, that number rises to 29,520.June Evans, a graduate assistant with the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, said while such a chasm between races can be daunting, simply looking at the number of students in each race may not do the University’s strides for diversity justice.Like many things, diversity can be in the eye of the beholder, Evans said.“For example, some African-American students might think of diversity as seeing more African-American students,” Evans said. “But if you really look at it from a different aspect of not just race, you start to see it differently.”Evans added while the University can certainly improve its diversity, she said considering the total number of non-white students paints a more accurate picture.According to the report, there are more than 11,000 students currently enrolled at IU who do not identify themselves as white Americans, with 4,826 of them come from foreign countries.“It is pretty impressive,” she said. “Diversity is here, but it is in specific segments.”‘Isolated Pockets’Senior Kirk Cahill, a Hudson and Holland Scholar said he thinks the problem is not that the University is not diverse, but that the diversity can be too secluded.“IU is racially, culturally and religiously diverse as well as sexually, socially and in terms of socioeconomic status,” Cahill said. He added that there are thousands of students on campus and each student has a different background, creating diversity in isolated pockets.Growing up, Cahill said he attended a Catholic grade school on the south side of Indianapolis. When he started at IU, he said he was introduced to beliefs and ways of thinking that were completely new to him, thanks to the diversity offered by the University.“You meet people that share the same beliefs as you but you also see all these religious groups,” Cahill said. “There are Christians, Muslims, atheists, all these differences to explore and engage in that can challenge your own beliefs and strengthen them. It’s a unique opportunity.”But, Cahill added, you have to seek these opportunities out — something many people may not be apt to do.Abd Patah said she has also noticed this isolation of different groups, and said, in her experience, it is often self-imposed.“Many members of particular groups tend to just be among their group and are not willing to go out and explore new cultures and make friends with other people,” she said.Building BridgesIU has many different student groups and culture centers that can help in not only making a student feel at home, but also in giving students an opportunity to explore cultures outside their own.Groups such as La Casa Latino Cultural Center and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services all offer support and education on diverse issues.“IU provides a great space to promote diversity with so many resources for all these very specific groups,” Evans said.Cahill said he thinks one way to improve a feeling of diversity is to have more of a connection and communication between all the different groups.“I think there should definitely be more bridging between the different student services and organizations,” Cahill said. “There should be more congregation, support and social activities between them.”Abd Patah said she has found interacting with people from different races, religion and nationalities to be an enlightening experience.“The multicultural interaction helps me understand the world better by changing my perception on how people actually behave and believe,” she said. “It is really fascinating.”
(09/29/10 1:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two male penguins raise a baby penguin together, an 11-year-old orphan realizes he is a wizard and a young Jewish girl hides in an attic during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.All three stories wildly vary in plot and genre, but they share one common characteristic — all have been banned or challenged in U.S libraries.The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services office is honoring the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week by sponsoring an open house in the office’s library to showcase several challenged books.The banned books open house is available for viewing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday at the GLBT office.“Freedom of information is an American tradition,” said junior Eric Gonzaba, GLBT office outreach coordinator. “There’s a right for these books to be in libraries.”Gonzaba said the library association maintains a list of banned and challenged books, which the GLBT office used as a reference.Most of the books picked for the display were already in the GLBT office library, said Carolyn Caffrey, a School of Library and Information Science graduate student.“A lot of the books on the list are GLBT related,” Caffrey said. “The bannings begin under the guise of sexual content, but the books usually are actually dealing with homosexuality and queer issues.”Many of the books in the showcase were written for children and were banned or challenged because of homosexual themes. Book banning is not a thing of the past, with many of the books displayed challenged in the past 10 years, Caffrey said.The 2005 book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, titled “And Tango Makes Three,” tells an illustrated, true account of two male penguins who are in a relationship, are given an egg and care for it.Another book, the 2002 “King and King” by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland is a modern Dutch fairy tale about a prince whose mother insists he marry a princess. Suitor after suitor is marched in front of him until he falls in love with one of their escorts — another prince.“The Sissy Duckling,” another 2002 book by actor Harvey Fierstein follows a duck named Elmer, who is called a sissy because of the clothes he wears until he proves his bravery after his father is wounded by a hunter. The book never states Elmer’s sexual preference, but parents in Texas moved to also have it banned in schools and libraries.“Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology,” which is a collection of essays about young people coming out of the closet, was recently banned this year in Burlington County, N.J., after some of its illustrations were branded as “child pornography,” Caffrey said.One of the images in question supposedly illustrates two men having sex. The book’s editor, Amy Sonnie, said the illustration is actually a stock photograph of one man hiking a football to another.In addition to the books on display, including David Sedaris’ essay collection “Naked” and Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain,” is information about banned books not available in the libraryGLBT office assistant Carol Fischer said all books the GLBT references range in genre and type.“Banned books are not just a GLBT issue,” Fischer said. “Everybody can be affected.”
(09/24/10 4:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three people sit in a circle at the front of the room, eyes closed and taking deep breaths.One by one, they open their eyes and wait in silence for someone to speak.“Hi, my name is Kay,” one of them finally said.“Hi, Kay,” everyone else said. “I’m pissed off,” Kay told them. “And I’m fed up.”While Bloomington resident Kay Johnson shares what has made her upset, those sitting in the circle do not show any signs of agreement or sympathy.The Get Real About Discrimination meetings at 6 p.m. every Friday in the Persimmon room of the Indiana Memorial Union are not about feedback, Johnson said. They’re about voicing opinions, and being heard. Without judgement.The members of the circle don’t nod or put their hands on Johnson’s shoulder. Nor do they shake their heads in disagreement or anger. Even Johnson’s partner, junior Chris Kase, refrains from displaying emotion.Everyone remains still and as indifferent as possible because those are the rules. “People, to some degree, feel ashamed or not allowed to speak about what’s really on their mind because, ‘Oh my God,’ someone might get upset,” Johnson said. “You can’t create places that are safe to share but also safe to listen. It can’t happen. It’s either one or the other.”At GRAD meetings, sharing is for the sharer’s benefit, she said, not the listeners. Someone can talk about anything and not worry about the reaction.“People are aware that they might hear things they don’t want to hear that might trigger them,” Johnson said. “Things that might make them feel uncomfortable.” The meetings, which are sponsored by National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals at IU, range in size from as few as two to upwards of 14 people. The format is strict, with Johnson adhering to a script for every meeting. But that’s what helps make GRAD be a safe place to share, Johnson said.“You know exactly what you’re getting with each meeting,” she said. “You know what to expect.”Kase, president of IU NOGLSTP, said the group’s definition of discrimination is not so strict. “People are discriminated against every day, and they just don’t realize it,” Kase said. The meetings are open to everyone, and they can talk about anything that is on their mind, provided they make it personal through using what Johnson calls “I language.” Observers are also welcome to simply sit to the side and watch the meeting take place.Kase said the freedom of sharing and the lack of feedback can be rewarding.“I realize that I have become much more empowered about owning who I am, what I think, what I believe, what I feel, because I’m not getting feedback,” Kase said. “Every week I feel like I am becoming a more honest person.”Johnson, a transgender and authenticity advocate, created GRAD while she was a graduate instructor at Purdue University. She attended several area diversity and anti-discrimination groups and found, to her dismay, that many of them did not necessarily practice what they preached.“It’s like kids in high school joining groups like Students Against Destructive Decisions because it looks good on their college application,” Johnson said. “But really they don’t give a crap about SADD. These groups were like adult versions of the same thing. They’re not interested in doing anything, just patting themselves on the back.”Because Johnson said she felt discriminated against at discrimination meetings, she decided to create her own group, one that addressed issues of both sharing and listening.Now, as the meeting comes to a close, Johnson is telling everyone in the GRAD circle to stand.They join hands and begin singing “This Little Light of Mine.”“I’m going to let it shine,” they sing. “Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.”The sharing has now concluded, and Kase feels free to offer some feedback.“Hey,” she said. “That was pretty good.”
(09/24/10 2:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two new, though wildly different, exhibits were unveiled Thursday during a special reception at the IU Art Museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery.“From the Steppes and the Monasteries: Arts of Mongolia and Tibet,” the larger of the two shows, is divided into two sections, curator Judy Stubbs said.One section of the collection showcases domestic objects from Mongolia, such as whips, textiles and chess sets. The other displays Tibetan items, primarily Buddhist masks, books and silk paintings called Thankgas.The large, lustrous Thankgas hang on a wall and depict several Buddhist deities. The paintings’ upper halves are dark, stained by the smoke used to make them, which Stubbs said are signs of their authenticity.“All of these items were actually in use at some time,” she said. “When we unwrapped the Thankgas they smelled distinctly of smoke, and some of them were even slightly greasy from the butter lamps.” In the center of the gallery are six giant masks once used during Tsam, a traditional dance for Mongolian Buddhists. One mask depicts the elephant head of the Buddhist deity Ganesha, his trunks cracked. Another depicts the snarling face of a tiger, a symbol of the autumnal equinox.A few yards away, “African Reinventions: Reused Materials in Popular Culture” showcases pieces created in several African nations, all out of recycled products.A giant movie poster, painted on the back of two flour sacks, hangs on the wall. The poster is a hand painted advertisement once used by entrepreneurs who used VCRs to create traveling cinemas in the 1980s, curator Diane Pelrine said.Bottle cap briefcases, toy planes made from bottles and dolls made out of cloth and the rubber of flip flops also fill the small exhibit.In its center lies a bouquet of flowers from South Africa — the petals created out of soda cans, the stalks, barb wire.Pelrine said she assembled the exhibit as a companion to the subject of the 2010 Fall Themester, which is about sustainability. Originally planned as a smaller exhibit, Pelrine was able to expand the exhibit after sending an e-mail to the African Studies faculty.“I wasn’t sure I could find enough pieces originally,” Pelrine said. “But I got a really great response. We were able to get pieces from Southern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and Madagascar.”Both exhibits open to the public Saturday.
(09/23/10 2:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The infestation of bed bugs that has plagued much of the nation in recent months has crept its way onto campus.IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre confirmed Tuesday that two bed bugs were found in the Herman B Wells Library.MacIntyre said an employee found one of the tiny, wingless insects on the library’s fifth floor, prompting the IU public-health staff to set out traps. Though no additional bedbugs have been found, the traps remain set and the area was treated with insecticide. Sara Ivey Lucas, residence manager for the division of Residential Programs and Services, said that no bed bugs have been found in campus housing and that students should not worry.“We have spent the last two years preparing for bed bugs arriving on campus, as they have been arriving in places throughout the country,” she said. Ivey Lucas said students moving into campus housing this fall received handouts with information about the insects whose bite, while irritating and itchy, does not pose any real health threat.“If the students just follow those safety protocols, they should be fine,” she said.Even so, the presence of the blood-sucking parasites has left some students concerned.“If they’re on campus, then they could be in my bed,” said freshman Amanda Mcmahon, who lives in Briscoe Residence Center. “Just bugs in my bed, in general, do not sound good.”Freshman Kaleigh Bodenschatz, a resident of Teter Residence Center, said though she is not a fan of the bugs, she isn’t worried.“I mean, I don’t live in the library, and I clean my sheets,” she said.The news did not seem to have had an effect on students studying in the library Wednesday Students filled the lobby, computer areas and group study floors.Sophomore Devin Gladney had not heard of the bugs until his elevator ride down from studying on the fifth floor.“You can’t get rid of all bugs,” Gladney said. “But bed bugs, I feel like that’s kind of nasty. I’m not sure if I would have studied up there if I knew about them.”Sitting outside the library, junior Michael Zeisz said he does not think the bugs that were found are indicators of a bigger problem.“There were only two of them, so it doesn’t concern me at all,” he said. “It sounds like it’s really not that big of an issue.”
(09/22/10 1:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It has been nearly two months since massive floods hit Pakistan, which left more than 2,000 dead and around 20 million people homeless or injured — more than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined. Now, some students said they hope to help the Pakistani people.“They don’t have fresh water, they don’t have clothes, they don’t have food,” said junior Zain Ali, vice president of the Pakistan Student Association. “So we’re trying to raise as much money as we can to help them.”The student association has already begun its fundraising campaign by selling pizza in Ballantine Hall. The group raised $326 from selling the slices, an amount that surprised junior Sarah Asrar, the student association’s secretary.“I remember saying to Zain, People are good,” Asrar said. “People are good, Zain.”Asrar said it is also important to simply educate people about the situation in Pakistan, which has not gotten as much media coverage as other recent disasters.“Some people aren’t very aware of how many people are affected and what’s really going on,” she said.Ali said the Pakistan Student Association plans to continue educating and fundraising throughout the semester with bake sales and ice cream socials.Co-president and junior Ahmed Jaffery said the Muslim Student Union also has a plan to help raise funds for Pakistan.He said the Muslim Student Union is teaming up with IU Student Association and the fraternity Sigma Beta Rho to buy rubber wrist bands to sell around campus. “IU Helps Pakistan” will be printed on the wrist bands, which will be sold for $1. All proceeds will be donated to help the victims of the wide-ranging flood, Jaffery said. “The flooding stretches from the north all the way to the south of the country,” Jaffery said. “One-fifth of the country is under water. There’s so much spread of disease. It’s a terrible situation.”Senior Taufik Chhotani, Muslim Student Union vice president, said a dollar might not seem like very much, but to a starving family in Pakistan, it could mean curbing their hunger for a day.“If you buy a band for a dollar,” Chhotani said. “You can legitimately provide a meal to a family of four.”
(09/20/10 4:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting between sunrise and sunset, ended Sept. 10, and members of the IU Muslim Student Union were hungry.Roughly 40 students gathered in Olcott Park Saturday to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, with a barbecue picnic.Senior Taufik Chhotani, vice president of the MSU, wearing a Chicago Bears football jersey, stood at the grill.Behind him, all of the female students were crowded at one table chatting while Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” played over the stereo.Across the way, eight of the men were playing football in an empty field, while the rest milled around the barbecue and the picnic tables, waiting for Chhotani to give the word that the food was ready.“Who wants chicken?” Chhotani finally yelled. “Who wants a hot dog? Grab a plate.”A line formed, and Chhotani began filling empty plates with burgers, chicken and hotdogs.“Here, I’m going to hook you up,” Chhotani said to a student at the end of the line, slipping two patties onto the bun. “There you go. Double Cheeseburger.”MSU’s co-president, junior Baseer Ahmad, said he is used to the challenges of fasting during Ramadan. Most of it fell in August this year, though, which did make the experience more difficult, he said.“The days are longer and hotter,” he said. “It does get hard, but you learn to cherish things a lot more during Ramadan.”Ahmad also said the planned Quran burning and Mosque debate that happened during Ramadan, while distressing, did not make the month any more difficult.“It has been hurtful,” he said. “It has been annoying, but you learn to tune some of it out.”Freshman Ryan Kabir, sitting at a packed picnic table, said he found this year’s Ramadan to be more challenging — but for a different reason.“This is my first year of college,” he said. “Having all my classes, it did make it difficult.”Rabiatul Abd Patah, a sophomore and international student from Malaysia, said Ramadan can be hard, but it is worth it — both spiritually, and,thanks to Eid, physically.“After 30 days of fasting, you get 30 days of celebration,” she said. “That’s fair. You spend a month fasting, you have to have fun too.”Two hours into the barbecue, junior Shaqib “Skeeb” Habib jumped onto a picnic table and asked for everyone’s attention.“This summer I fell in love,” he announced. “Head over heels in love. A lot of my friends know her, but a lot of my friends also don’t know all that much about her.”Habib then began reciting a poem called “For the Love” by writer and slam poet Boonaa Mohammed.The poem describes a woman Mohammed loves who is beautiful but misunderstood, a woman who is sometimes manipulated by greedy men who kill in her name when she stands for peace.“A gift from Allah sent from way up above,” Habib recites. “She is Islam, and I am in love.”
(09/15/10 3:54pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nearly 40 people gathered in Willkie Quad center building Tuesday to watch the FX Networks sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and learn about an often misunderstood faith.The viewing was part of “It’s (Not) Always Sunni in Bloomington” – a 90 minute panel discussion organized by the Muslim Student Union and the CommUNITY Education Program.Taufik Chhotani, Muslim Student Union vice president, said the event’s goal was to use an episode titled “The Gang Goes Jihad” to help address misconceptions about Muslims in America.“One of our fundamental goals is to show people what Islam is all about,” Chhotani said. “We want to shed light on what Islam is so when other people see Muslim people, they can relate to them and they can get to know them.”The talk, moderated by Willkie CommUNITY educator Annissa Michael, began by showing a series of snippets from the episode and having the panel discuss what issues the clips brought up.The panel consisted of Chhotani, senior Sohaib Sajjad and graduate student Sarah Thompson.After watching a clip in which the characters pretended to be Muslim terrorists by wearing shrouds on their faces and screaming guttural nonsense, Michael asked the panel what their feelings were towards the way Muslims are portrayed in the media.Each panel member agreed that while the stereotype was being used humorously in this instance, problems arise when other forms of media such as newspapers and broadcast news stations portray Muslims in a similar fashion.Thompson, an Indiana-native who was born to Catholic and Southern Baptist parents, converted to Islam two years ago. Thompson said Islam is an incredibly diverse religion and the media’s constant portrayal of one Muslim stereotype, “is heartbreaking.”“Sometimes it feels like I am drowning,” she said.After 40 minutes of clips and discussion, the audience was told they could break for a 10-minute intermission.During this time, some of the Islamic panelists and audience members slipped off their shoes and partook in the sunset prayer. Those not praying or eating snacks outside the classroom were invited to quietly observe.After the intermission, the panelists answered questions from the audience that had been anonymously written on slips of paper.The first question asked if the panelists ever felt unsafe being a Muslim in America in the aftermath of the Sept. 11th attacks.Chhotani said that, though his family was threatened and had beer bottles thrown at them during the months following the attacks, he did not really feel unsafe.“I think the United States did a great job of making clear that terrorism and Islam were different things,” Chhotani said. “They are not and should never be synonymous.”Senior Kiara Abdulla, an Islamic member of the audience, said that the Islamic school she attended as a seventh-grader on Sept. 11th was attacked by angry non-Muslims.“I was ducking for cover under a desk,” she said. “On 9/11, I still don’t leave my house.”The panelists said that terrorists who use Islam as an excuse for their violence are not true Muslims.“Acts of terrorism are condemned in Islam,” Chhotani said. “When people use Islam as a scapegoat for their terrorism, that really frustrates me. In Islam, it’s considered a sin to kill a tree. If that’s a sin, imagine what the punishment for killing an innocent person is.”
(09/10/10 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last year’s Miss Gay IU drew a crowd of around 700 people, but that number just wasn’t enough, OUT President Robert Clayton said.The organization is the largest Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender student group on campus and is beginning the 2010-11 school year owing “a little more than $3,000” to the IU Auditorium, Clayton said. “We still had a large turnout last year, but we just weren’t able to cover our costs,” he said. “Had we gotten closer to 1,000, we probably wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in.” Clayton said the main reason for the debt was some of last year’s board members overestimating the size of the event’s turnout. “That being said, last year’s president, Joshua Sutton, a very cool, great, smart guy, had a lot of high hopes, and he did a really great job running things,” Clayton said. “Things just didn’t quite work out the way that he and the rest of us had intended.” OUT members remain optimistic about the problem and are reaching out to the community for help, Clayton said. “OUT has a very long and successful history on the IUB campus,” he said. “We’ve been in debt before. We’re willing to work with anybody or any organization that’s willing to help out so we can get back on our feet and go back to being the great organization that we’ve always been.” Clayton said after resolving the debt, OUT hopes to begin its main objective for the year — reaching out to other GLBT groups on campus. “There are a lot of groups,” he said. “Our biggest goal is building bridges and working together to do something big for the IUB campus this year.” That plan hit an early snag Wednesday, however, when OUT was not allowed a table at the IU Student Involvement Fair. Before a student group is allowed to register for the fair, it must first be approved on myINvolvement, Assistant Director of Student Organizations and Civic Engagement Colleen Rose said. “Registration submissions involve review and approval from an administrator to ensure that all requirements of registering or re-registering as a student organization are met,” Rose said. “This applies to not only new organizations, but also those that have been in existence for multiple years.” Clayton, however, said that OUT did register in time. In order to register, the group needed a digital copy of its constitution, which, having a new executive board, it did not initially have, Clayton said. “I was happy to create a new constitution, and we submitted our registration the night before the fair,” he said. “We tried to talk to Colleen Rose, and she essentially told us that OUT was not ‘responsible enough’ to register in time and therefore we would not be allowed to attend the fair. In the past, latecomers were allowed to attend the fair, so I’m not certain why Colleen gave us such a hard time.” There are 400 student organizations that have completed the registration process and at least 200 student organizations that reserved a table for the fair on Wednesday, but OUT simply was not one of them, Rose said. “They submitted their form after the end of the business day,” she said. Despite its recent troubles, Clayton said OUT is looking forward to the new year and what the group can accomplish. “When OUT’s successful, I feel like the GLBT community at large is successful,” he said.