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(04/26/07 4:00am)
In case you don’t get the allusion to a very popular TV program about some big city on the East coast, you can stop reading right now. Trust me, you won’t enjoy this. But I hope that everyone else feels the same way as we two German exchange students do about the weekly fashion column by the great Teri a.k.a. “Carrie” Rosenbaum. Like watching the blond curly New York star editor on week nights, Teri’s weekly column became a ritual needing to be celebrated with an extra-large Café Latte and the proper devotion to secretive grinning and chuckling in the library on Mondays. It does not matter if it is sex, fashion, or hotdogs: her biting crispy writing always hits the mark. \nWe remember coming to IU and getting hooked on her columns in the last semester, being as annoyed as she is by the uniform image of American Urbancrombie-Style: we were not alone out there. Burned in our fashion-sensitive brains stays a great piece on the variety of Northface fleece coats that caused smile on the way to class from October to March.\nJust look at the last few weeks! Teri wrote with the same passion in defense of Gwen Stefani’s skimpy Lolita skirts as on the selling out of designers to the big red dot. Her talent to mix personal stories from intimate shower details to her favorite fashion items with hard-line facts is a pleasure for our foreign language feel. But Teri is more than just rhetoric and trash-talking fashion faux pas. It was really frustrating to see how students in the self-claimed birth cradle of individuality look exactly alike and that style seems to be translated as being bought at some store in the College Mall, where way-too-tanned girls lecture you on buy-one-get-one-free. Teri tells us every week that it is okay to be different, unique and to try out new things. And so to end in her own words: “more power to you, sister” – keep up the American spirit, you got the German support!
(04/26/07 4:00am)
As soon as I read the headline for Brian Stewart’s column (“Once more unto the breach,” April 24) and the quotation at the beginning (“I am going into the army. . . .”), I thought for sure he had decided to walk the walk he’s been talking all this time and enlist in the Army. But, no. He’s an all-talk chicken-hawk after all, and when his children ask “What did you do in the war on terrorism, Daddy?” he’ll have to tell them “I wrote a column in a college newspaper.”
(04/26/07 4:00am)
I write to express my concern that recent IDS articles and editorials do not accurately reflect the range of campus and community services in the areas of sexual assault prevention, education and treatment. \nTo my mind, the campus and community are lucky to have comprehensive services that address different elements of the problem and complement each other. The Sexual Assault Crisis Service (SACS) of the IU Health Center is the only service especially for students, staffed by professional counselors. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to work with students or members of the IU community who have sustained a recent sexual assault. All SACS services are free.\nSACS counselors assist students who have been assaulted with medical evaluation and care, crisis and follow up counseling and working with campus and community justice systems if they wish to pursue legal action.\nSpeaking with campus groups including men’s groups, about safety issues, about the kinds of communication and listening that can prevent sexual assault is an important part of the SACS mission. They assist with the design and delivery of summer orientation programs for freshmen as well as offering numerous other programs to our campus. \nThe counselors serve on campus committees, including the Commission on Personal Safety. They work closely with the staff of the Office of Women’s Affairs who have a range of educational programs themselves, some involving peer educators who talk with student groups. They also have shared committee work with staff of Middle Way House, a community service that offers 24 hour phone consultations by trained volunteers.\nI believe the students would be better served by more factual, inclusive stories in this important area.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
OMG, IDS, thanks big time!\nNo really, shut up, really! At first I was all like “what the hell” when I was reading Joanna Borns and her Facebook confession of the crush she has – I mean, whatever, right?\nThen I’m like, I totally get it. That was bitchin’ clever to write yet another column that’s supposed to be about something but is really all about you and how clever you are! I mean, who really wants facts, right? Duh, the world is centric and if you write opinions you are so obviously the center! Copernicus, uh, who’s that?\nAnyhoo, I’m just messed up about your cleverness. I totally wish I was just like that! Keep up the lack of work.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
With the aftermath of the Virgina Tech shooting being sorted out, no doubt everyone on campus is asking the same question as other college students around the country. Could something like this happen at my school? How can it be prevented or handled? Hindsight is 20/20, with the callings for various firings and resignations at Virgina Tech, when this is another example of the dangers that lurk in a free society. In order to maintain our way of life, we surrender a level of safety. More so when you have an individual willing to take their life in the process of harming other.\nTo the point, the question no one is asking is how might this situation have played out if Virgina Tech was not a gun-free zone? How far would this individual have gotten if a few legally packing students or professors managed to put this shooter down before he racked up 32 deaths and nearly as many wounded? \nGun-control laws such as prohibiting guns on campus only encourage gun violence because criminals know without a doubt that they will meet no resistance during a shooting and the only people with guns would be the police. Ask any criminal in prison and their No. 1 fear besides getting caught is getting shot during a crime. Laws are only followed by those who obey them. Criminals don’t follow gun laws, which is what makes them criminals. \nIf IU is serious about the safety of its students, they would be wise to institute a program that teaches individuals how to care for and use a firearm to protect themselves. Instituting regulations requiring training and certification as well as regular range qualification would arm a group of legally carrying adults, which would no doubt result in falling numbers of rapes, as well as robberies, muggings and random acts of violence. Each year over 1 million instances of self-defense occur in which legally carrying individuals use their firearms to defend themselves with only 5 percent resulting in shots being fired. \nWhile there is no guarantee that armed students could have prevented this evil act at Virgina Tech, giving students the option to take responsibility for their safety would ensure that anyone would think twice about assaulting someone on IU’s campus for fear of being shot. Furthermore, it would take the administration seeing the students as responsible adults old enough to vote, die for their country, and able to purchase and own a firearm. Keeping guns out of all hands but those of a criminal will do nothing except make helpless targets of us all.\n \nTodd Waugh\nAlumnus\nPhoenix, Az.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
If Wildermuth is going to be renamed, I would like to suggest it be named after George Taliaferro. Taliaferro Recreational Center has a nice ring, and what better way to honor one of the great contributors to not only IU athletics but all of IU and Bloomington.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
I can understand why those who are not involved with the drag culture may have misunderstandings and prejudices against it. Colin Dugdale clearly did not educate himself on the Miss Gay IU pageant or the drag community when he wrote his opinion column last Thursday.\nFirst, it is important to know that a transvestite is not the same thing as a drag queen. A transvestite is a heterosexual who enjoys dressing like the opposite sex, which from my experience is not how any former Miss Gay IU should be identified. Second, describing Miss Gay IU as nothing more than “hypersexed” is unfair. While it is true that there may be some sexual undertones in performances, as there are in many theatrical performances, this is not the message behind Miss Gay IU. Miss Gay IU serves as an end-of-the-year celebration of the GLBT community and its allies. It is the most widely attended event at IU for GLBT students and allies, and it opens their minds to a very positive outlook on the GLBT community. The performers at Miss Gay IU are intelligent, insightful and determined to make our community stronger.\nVicki St James, our MGIU emeritus, even fought for the show to go on in the mid-‘90s when several IU students and faculty threatened to shut it down. She, along with the other former Miss Gay IUs, are among the most active members of the GLBT community at IU, and their work should not be insulted. Finally, I am disappointed by Dugdale’s viewpoints on our contribution to Positive Link. We raised over $2,000 for Positive Link to purchase rapid HIV testing supplies, which he would have known if he actually attended the show. A couple of days ago a volunteer from Positive Link approached me and thanked me for OUT’s contributions, claiming that the business could not survive without us.\nI hope that Colin Dugdale conducts an extensive amount of research on the next topic he decides to voice an opinion on. If he does this, he won’t hurt the GLBT community again.
(04/26/07 4:00am)
Mr. Dugdale,\nIn an column published in the April 19 edition of the IDS, you showed concerns for the Miss Gay IU pageant. Your concern for the MGIU program, as I see it, can be broken down into three parts: professionalism on stage by those involved; the actual name “Miss Gay IU”; and your thoughts that a gay group giving money to HIV causes is hypocritical.\nThese are valid points, and hopefully I can address them all in under 350 words.\nThe OUT board set several new rules into place this year to help to solve the problem of professionalism on stage. By and large, it helped. However, we also have the problem of dealing with those that don’t want the program changed and we have to hear their concerns as well. The term “Miss Gay ...” is used all over the gay pageantry world, e.g., Miss Gay America, Miss Gay Indiana. This is used only to separate these pageants from their real-girl counterparts. There are also Mr. Gay contests as well, that will utilize “Mr. Gay (Indiana)” or what have you. The name is not meant to be emasculating toward anyone, but rather to signify that the pageant is indeed a female impersonation event rather than a real-girl beauty contest.\nPersonally, I do not feel that anyone donating their own money for any cause should be questioned. If you think your money is better spent helping the homeless or saving the whales, by all means, spend it there. It is very much each person’s prerogative to spend their money on the causes that suit them best.\nIn closing, I invite you, Mr. Dugdale, along with anyone who truly has issues with MGIU, to join me and the OUT president for a dinner meeting (on me!) where we will have open ears and minds to ways in which you feel that the program can be better run. We will consider each of these concerns as we go about planning for next year’s event. Please understand that we realize there are those who hate female impersonators and their shows and will never change their stance. To those people I say this: Your opinion is no less valid than anyone else’s. However, please let people form their own opinions before your thrust yours upon them. These programs set in place by us do a lot of good for the community in many ways, whether you agree with the methodology or not.
(03/31/06 4:35pm)
Is Rick Greenspan serious in hiring Kelvin Sampson?
What the hell is wrong with IU these days? I cannot believe ol' Rick Greenspan's choice for head of the basketball team that is so dear to all our hearts. I have an idea: let's hire someone plagued with problems and who, in my eyes, is not the caliber coach I feel we were all looking for. I myself would have liked to see Marquette coach Tom Crean here, but I never imagined Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson. Isn't it time we do to ol' Rick what Myles Brand did to Bob Knight (Indiana's lowest point)? I am personally in favor of firing Greenspan.
(01/10/03 2:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Adam Sedia's reviews of musical performances are nothing less than an outrage. Beyond even his seeming lack of qualification -- a chemistry student writing about music? -- are his unfounded judgements. Most upsetting is his blanket labeling of 20th century music as "cacophonous" and "dreaded," among other derogatory adjectives. It disturbs me that he is willing to immediately dismiss any music of that period, even to the point of insulting IU faculty (Nov. 22, "The musical taste sampler"). And, in his last review, to suggest that Stravinsky himself did not know how to piece together his own music? That is sheer ignorance. I challenge the IDS to find a knowledgeable, qualified and articulate reviewer who may do justice to the performances being reviewed.
Eric AndersonJunior
Zero tolerance rule should apply to Davis
The deplorable action of Mr. Davis during the UK game is conduct which should not be tolerated. IU decided several years ago that a higher standard should be followed. Now let's see if IU really means it. A zero tolerance policy should be announced For Mr. Davis.
David NachlandJeffersonville
Bush ushers in new era of social paranoia
So now it's the Clean Water Act. Well, that's OK. Being an incurable optimist, I'm starting to sense that if humanity and the biosphere both manage to survive the Bush 'Reign-o-Terror-n-Error,' that his policies based on greed and fear are setting the seeds for a phenomenal social awakening that will make the 1960s seem humdrum in comparison. After all, the 60s followed the 50s, which were characterized by conformity, a contracted fear of nuclear foreboding, the Ashcroft, I mean McCarthy, Era, and a feeling that with enough economic freedom and growth everything would be all right. Sound familiar?
Sure, the 60s weren't exactly a glorious time either (except for that music), but the decade did spawn or greatly nurture numerous social movements that changed our country forever and continue to this day, including the civil rights movement, the nuclear freeze movement, women's liberation, gay liberation, and the environmental movement. While social change and fear of change tend to alternate in cycles, we can see that in the long term, and despite the general resistance to it, change for the better does happen. While things aren't perfect yet, compare the rights of women, African Americans and gays, as well as the level of environmental awareness, of today, to 100 years ago.
Those who think they can freeze the growth of humanity's awareness and compassion (and I'm not talking "conservative compassion") in its tracks are dead wrong. Things have improved! Thanks in advance Mr. Bush for the kick in the pants we all needed!
Doug HanveyJunior
Affirmative action not a crutch for minorities
In a Dec. 27 editorial in the Indianapolis Star IU Law Professor Robert Heidt stated about Affirmative Action that "As a result black (Indiana University Law School) applicants whose low grades, LSAT scores and extracurricular record would otherwise win admission only to Howard Law School in Washington D.C., regularly win admission from us (Indiana University Law School). And the overwhelming majority of applicants -- perhaps 80 percent -- for whom we lower our standards so drastically are from out of state."
However passionate Professor Heidt might be about the issue of affirmative action in admissions standards at Indiana University Law School, it is not only irresponsible for him to make remarks denigrating the black and minority students of Indiana University Law School, but it is insulting. I am proud to attend Indiana University Law School with the entire student body, but I am especially impressed with my fellow minority colleagues for their dedication, work ethic, and compassion to each other in the face of obstacles that are unique to our experiences as minorities striving to achieve higher education. I share this same respect for students and faculty of all races who have undoubtedly dealt with many difficult issues in their own lives. Unfortunately, Professor Heidt's callous and untrue words reflect the sentiments shared by many in regards to affirmative action in this country today. What is shocking about his statements is that they reflect a true insensitivity and bias towards minority students on the part of an active Indiana University Law School professor. To assert that 80% of the blacks and minorities who attend Indiana University Law School are unqualified is to create two tiers of Indiana University Law School graduates. The message to my fellow students and to potential employers of Indiana University Law School minority graduates is that black and minority students of this prestigious university are overwhelmingly unqualified. I can only hope that opinions like those in the aforementioned editorial do not dissuade future minority students from choosing to attend a terrific university like Indiana University Law School.
Lee MeansLaw Student
(09/10/02 3:55am)
International students forgotten in Corvette raffle\nI have been involved with IUSA since I arrived in Bloomington. Every year there are new ideas, new ways of doing things and new strategies. I actually think that it is a great way to keep things fresh and new. But every year there is also the same critique against IUSA. IUSA, who should represent everyone on campus, always gets blamed for not doing it. In this case it happened again. I do think that voting is extremely important. I actually am very happy that IUSA wants to increase the voter turn out. But to spend such an amount of money should be discussed with the entire congress after the senators have been inducted, trained and are comfortable in their positions. I am an IUSA senator and I am also German. I vote for everything I can because I know how important a vote is. I would love to enter the drawing, since if I could vote I would be eligible. But since I am German I will not be able to vote and therefore I will not be able to participate in the drawing, the same will happen to thousands of international students. Not because they are not voting conscious, but because they are not American. IU is known for the international environment, for having so many different cultures and for being internationally friendly. Well, clearly this time, IUSA forgot about the international students. Minorities should be considered even if they are not the majority. I have nothing against finding a way to help the voter turnout. But I do have something against when money that international students paid (many if not all have VISA, most of them do have IUSA VISA cards too), is not used to benefit them as well. $61,000 is a lot of money, and I am sure that this money can help even more if we can brainstorm with all of IUSA. We are having a wonderful retreat on the Sept. 14. That would be a good place to start thinking how to spend the money.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Let's learn from the past\nTake great care history does not repeat itself.\nIn Vietnam we did not have a clear understanding of the enemy, which resulted in a loss by this country which was unparalleled. If we do not clearly identify who and where this enemy is and do not completely understand them, we will not be successful. This enemy is more oblique than the Vietnamese. \nThey are already in our country and can be our neighbors today and destroy us tomorrow. We have our work cut out for us, make no mistake and do not underestimate their loyalty and dedication. We are walking around much like the British in the Revolutionary War with bright red coats and white pants while the enemy is sneaking around undetected. We are training them, only to have them use the information we have provided to destroy us. Wake up America.\nBen Carroccio\nParent\nBigotry has no place here\nI am extremely distressed and angry that fellow Hoosiers are being attacked by hate-minded students in a response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Future attacks, verbal or physical, cannot be tolerated. America's universities are a place of tolerance and expression of ideas.\nI hope that we, the members of the Indiana University family, look out for each other. If one of us is attacked, we must gather around to make sure it does not happen again in the future. To those who have attacked students, be forewarned. These are innocent people, who may have been from the ethnic background of those suspected in being the perpetrators of these acts of terror. You will not get away with your hatred and bigotry. We will make sure that you're punished. Your hatred has no place here at Indiana University. \nMichael Bradford\nGraduate Student\nU.S. involved with its own terrorism abroad\nI would first like to say that I am shocked and saddened about the incident at the World Trade Center. I would also like to give my deepest condolences to anyone who has family, friends and loved ones who were victims to such a horrendous act. However, I would like to maybe paint a different picture that is seen on the mainstream media outlets. \nUnbeknownst to most people, the United States has been waging its own terrorist attacks all over the world for the past 40 years. All the countries suspected by the American government to be harboring bin Laden have had their fair share of American-instilled repressive regimes and merciless dictators. Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan all have, very basically, the same makeup; brutal, undemocratic regimes responsible for the slaughter of tens to hundreds of thousands of people that have been started by and, at one time, completely funded and supported by the United States government. \nThe bombing of Sudan after the American Embassy attacks left over 20,000 Sudanese civilians dead -- five times the estimated amount of the World Trade Center. It is nearly impossible to read contemporary Latin American history without seeing the words CIA and death squads closely related. The U.S.-funded the Indonesian takeover of East Timor, amounting into a decade long occupation resulting in the death of almost half of the East Timor population. The sanctions on Iraq have lead to the death of millions of Iraqis, leading to the resignations of several U.N. officials, calling it "genocidal."\nIf the devastation at the World Trade Center happened every month for 10 years, the numbers dead would equal the amount that have been killed in Iraq due directly to the sanctions. Would inflicting more terror on the people of "harboring nations" really stop terrorism? Maybe we should use this bombing to examine the way the United States interacts with the world in terms of our foreign policy.\nMaybe if the United States did not have such a destructive foreign policy, the world might not look for our destruction. This is not the time to be rallying around flags; rather it is the time to start looking for long-term answers that will end terror around the world and spare the lives of countless civilians, which is ending the destructive terrorist policies of our own. \nIan Phillips\nJunior\nStand strong, we will overcome\nI wish I could write as well as I could speak. Because I would find some way to convey the sorrow and the sadness that I feel. If I could translate the body movement and inflection into comfort for those who need it. I would translate the inflection of my voice into strong written words that invoke a feeling of pride in our country in a time when we need it most. I would convey the strength I try to demonstrate in an effort to strengthen others. I'll add a thesaurusistical spin on my simple-worded speeches to give my readers something more to contemplate and consider while we recover. I'd simply tell them to stand strong and fear not, we ARE Americans and we WILL overcome. \nJeramy Foltz\nSenior\nCall against anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, sentiment\nThe Defend Affirmative Action Party at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of California at Berkeley stand in sympathy with students on campuses across the country who have relatives and friends who have suffered in the attacks in New York and Washington.\nAs anti-racist student parties, we call on all people to oppose and stand against anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry, xenophobia, war hysteria and national chauvinist backlash in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.\nWe must oppose all chauvinist hysteria, all racist attacks and all scapegoating. Remembering the attacks on Arab Americans in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, we in particular condemn all bigotry and attacks against Arab, Islamic and Middle Eastern people. Within months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, racist hysteria against Japanese Americans led to the internment of nearly 120,000 people on the basis of race. We must never allow anything like that to happen again. We call on students at every school and university across the country to speak out against racist and bigoted responses to the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.\nIt is the duty of every anti-racist, every progressive and every person who supports basic democracy to oppose xenophobia and national chauvinist war hysteria in response to these attacks.\nJessica Curtin, Student Government Representative of Michigan Student Assembly, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor\nHoku Jeffrey, Senator, Associated Students of the University of California at Berkeley
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Stand united, stop terrorism\nOur "hired" hands muddy the waters of free idea exchange with the precision of simplistic cowboys hunting "Injuns." American leaders ostensibly repeat themselves as if we didn't hear the first to mention the words "cowed" or "evil-doers." Why do they echo each other exactly? As if they draw thoughts from one large brain, each must think: "Cowed?? Never heard that word, but the people seem to understand it [read: earmarked for future use]. Ha, no one will realize the grim truth that I was hired not because I am able to think for myself in representing my constituents, but because I fit beautifully into the bureaucratic machinery of our nation." [All due respect to Barbara Lee, serving well the 9th district of Cal. by solely voting no to hasty military retaliation]. \nWe must remember we stand as a united nation, and we have a voice defined by our freedom to be individuals. So why do we stand for robotic repetitive leadership? Clumsy rhetoric should not dominate or dictate, and thereby stifle open dialogue between people of our land. The murky network of communication contaminated with vile bloodlust sputters to futility. We should not wallow in sorrow, but use time grieving to gather information as to why, how, and by whose hands unspeakable harm befell a great and free land. This will help us protect ourselves; understanding will lead to healing. Do not let compassion and reason be quashed by confusion, oversimplification, fury and hate.\nStill, no one makes sense of this. We have found ourselves only at the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Our ignorance and mortality have only slightly come to light. We must know our foes' foundations in order to understand their aggression, and how to respond. War has evolved. How we adapt will reflect our understanding of this evolution. As beasts such as blitzkriegs and guerrilla tactics changed the identity of war, so too will this monster. We should study the new beasts carefully, as wounded members of the savage breed lay sated on the soil of America. Let us dissect them. Let us talk about them, and let us listen to each other. Let us feel ... let us be hurt and angry. Most importantly, let us be true leaders by taking the first steps onto the path to a peaceful world. For this to happen, the beast of terror must be asphyxiated.\nTodd Agee\nIU Alumnus
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Union Board not at fault\nThe editorial attack on the Union Board (Staff Editorial, 9/18/01) was uncalled for and unjustified. I fail to see any logic in blaming UB for the Counting Crows' mistakes. The contention that this most recent cancellation forms a pattern is dubious as well. As the editorial itself mentions, UB directors serve one-year terms; I would be surprised if anyone involved in the 1999 Tom Petty fiasco is still on UB.\nThe deeper critique and the more glaring fallacy in the argument presented in the editorial is that the students running the UB ought to receive more training. UB is more or less an amateur group. Fine. That's because it's student-run. I'm sure that if it contracted out running the Union to a private company, we would get marginally better service. But we would lose the opportunities for students without "specific knowledge or experience about how to schedule a concert or manage a large-scale event" to learn about scheduling concerts and managing large-scale events.\nOf course, many of the editorial's complaints could be directed at the IDS itself. The IDS frequently fails to perform to the level of big-city newspapers; that's because it's student-run too.\nThe people I know who serve on UB are all qualified, competent and dedicated. So are the people I know who write for the IDS. Both the IDS and the UB do a good job at doing what they do, and it's unfair to ask any more of either staff than that.\nPaul Musgrave\nJunior
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Concert complications unforseeable\nAs a former Union Board director (Fine Arts Committee, 2000), I am voicing my objection, on several grounds, to the Sept. 18 staff editorial, "Can't Count on Union Board." \nThe first issue is the thinly veiled belittling of Union Board directors. These students give willingly and capably of their time and energy, often to the tune of 30 hours per week, in service to the IUB campus and community. It is cowardly, small and irrelevant to point out that UB directors "must simply be in good academic standing and not graduate before a specific date." A fitting and equally petty reply: what are the requirements for IDS staffers? \nSecondly, and this is as of late a common journalistic phenomenon, the IDS seems to be espousing the "pout and point" philosophy: something disappointing and/or troubling occurs -- surely, someone must be to blame! As the events of the past week have so clearly demonstrated, at times it is simply impossible to foresee unfortunate events. Clearly, the author of this editorial has not researched the cited issues sufficiently to understand this. \nFinally, there was no staff vote reported on this editorial. As a reader, how should I interpret this? The staff vote is a tool that I use daily to gauge the editorial staff's beliefs on the stated issue. Am I to assume in this instance that all of the IDS editors agree with this assessment of Union Board and the people who comprise it? I certainly hope this is not the case. I would like to believe that not all of the editorial staff at the IDS, who also work hard to provide a quality product for the IU campus and community, agrees with such baseless and tactless evaluations. It is disheartening to see one group of student leaders attacking another in such a careless manner. As a reader and one-time student leader, I expect more from the IDS.\nKaren Biddle\nSenior\nCity-Buskirk alliance OK\nSaving tax dollars is a great thing, but the IDS editorial board's two arguments against the city acquisition of the historic theater are both seriously flawed. \nThe city's ownership of the theater is a bargain for the community, given that private donors have already paid more than $2 million to redevelop the theater, and that having a civic theater with a secure future downtown will help ensure that locally owned restaurants and stores will benefit from crowds attending the theater's many performances and meetings several times a week. \nThe city's general fund, or checking account, spends millions a year on roads, sewers and parks. The investment to build softball fields, swimming pools and playgrounds dwarfs the relatively small amount of money spent on the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre. It is my understanding that the city spends more than three quarters of a million dollars a year on golf. Surely a community-wide arts center is at least as important as that. \nThe second issue, city control of performances, is really irrelevant. The city's purchase of the theater is the equivalent of building a softball field -- it has made a facility available. Others will manage it, pick the performances in it, and deal with the controversy that might happen once in a while when someone doesn't like a particular play or performer. Anyone involved in producing arts programming is familiar with these issues and isn't afraid of them. The city need have no involvement in whatever controversies arise. Bloomington -- and IU -- needs a community performing arts center, and it's extremely good news that the city government saw fit to seize the opportunity to add one. With the Von Lee Theater abandoned and the former Princess Theater once again empty from another failed restaurant, it's clear that the free market cannot always provide what downtown needs. Sometimes government has to step in and lend a hand, and I'm glad that this is one of those times!\nMichael Wilkerson\nAssociate professor of arts administration and academic affairs coordinator\nColumnist in the right\nJosh Claybourn's Sept. 10 column ("Re-orientation needed") was exactly on the mark. Were it not so disturbing, it would be laughable that so many environmental extremists are willing to stand up for every life form except the human kind. \nEco-terrorists who use the violent tactics described are no better than any other kind of terrorist -- or any other hate group -- and are every bit as cowardly. Furthermore, as Mr. Claybourn pointed out, those tactics are frequently counterproductive. Instead of using the "Disorientation" program to encourage illegal eco-terrorism, it would make a great deal more sense for those particular groups to advocate real problem solving -- the legal way.\nHeather Schuh\nSenior
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
I walk into the Willkie Quad center store and pick up a bag of Reese's Bites. As I approach the counter and wait for the cashier to swipe my card, something strikes me. This little two-ounce bag of candy costs $2.50! \nI grab the bag and place it back on the shelf. "$2.50?" I ask the cashier. "Yeah. You want it or not?" "No thanks," I reply. \nThe same day I pay $42 for penalty fees, $135 for limited parking and $25 for shoddy air-conditioning installation. \nI don't mean to be a penny-pincher about prices at IU, but I do believe we are getting ripped off -- big time. Inflated prices are one thing, but 300 percent markups on simple necessities like food are ridiculous by any standard. \nThere are also hordes of erroneous fees and monetary endeavors imposed by the university that we are expected to forget about. For instance, take a total of all the $22 late registration penalties and the $5 fees you pay every time you add or drop a course over the phone. It starts adding up. \nAnd the worst is happening as we speak. If you plan to support the World Trade Center disaster relief effort, according to IDS, only $3 of the $7.50 that you donate to the Red Cross will actually be given to the foundation. The rest will go to RPS. Knowing that most of us feel some sort of remorse about the tragedy last week, I feel that this is shameful. You can't even be charitable without the University taking its proud share.\nAt IU, we are placed in an isolated economy that is allowed to manipulate and enforce monetary policy however they wish. I wrote this letter to encourage you to ask questions about what you are paying for and why it is so outrageously expensive. If you care about where your money's going, keep an eye out for what you're paying for. If you don't care, simply accept and forget about it, Mommy and Daddy will pick up the bill.\nJoe Spurling\nJunior
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Anarchy in Bloomington \nA safe and civil city, that is what Bloomington is supposed to be, but on the fateful morning of Sept. 16, a couple of days after the dreadful event in New York City. An African graduate student experienced anarchy in Bloomington. While returning home from the club, he was jumped by two unidentified hoodlums. \nUnfortunately, the Bloomington Police cannot release their names. I guess they need their Mama and Papa's consent. To make matters worse, according to the victim, these individuals who took the law into their own hands yelled derogatory statements as they mugged him.\nTo add insult to injury, the IDS has also been publishing accounts of how this graduate student is now a suspect of the SUV vandalism. When the police arrived on the scene he informed them that the two individuals had assaulted him. But he was arrested and spent time in jail. \nDid the IDS bother to inform its readers on the assault charges? No! I hope the IDS will do us a favor and report all sides of the story and not just one side. Without any evidence I wonder why he was charged. Just on the account of two vandals? \nI hope there is justice for all international students. We don't need to see someone die before we denounce such shameful acts. A couple of years ago when another international student was gunned down, the whole community took up arms to rid the city of such evil. I hope the community will ask for the truth in this case and clear the name of an innocent African student. Who has traveled thousands of miles from his home just to get an education like you and I. \nI hope the administration doesn't take this matter lightly and gets to the bottom of it. And lastly I hope the Bloomington Police Department did not arrest this student just on the account of two thugs.\nKwane D. Dakwa\nGraduate student
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Proof, safety and personal freedom\nI am writing in response to all the hype we are seeing here in the United States about the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. How many times are they going to show footage of the planes hitting the towers? It's just not healthy. We all know what happened. Let's not keep revisiting it. Afghanistan's leaders are requesting proof that bin Laden was involved in the attacks. Is that too much to ask? Since we're threatening to slice up their countryside with missiles and bombs, don't they deserve that? If we have the proof, then we should give it to them. What if Dick Cheney or Colin Powell was accused of doing a dastardly deed such as this on foreign soil? What if that country threatened an attack on major U.S. cities if the perpetrator were not turned over? We wouldn't stand for that. Why should the Afghans? Every time someone else stands up for what they believe in, the U.S. starts shaking in its boots.\nMy next issue is safety. I automatically assume that every time I walk out my front door, that risks will be involved. Will I break my leg walking down the stairs to my building? Will I burn myself cooking breakfast? Against my better judgement, I've been watching the news. Mainly to try and discern the opinions of my fellow U.S. citizens. I heard a statement one morning on the channel 13 (NBC) news out of Indianapolis. They were discussing increased security for the Colts home opener. One gentleman's statement was, verbatim mind you, "As long as we're safe, that's all that matters." No backpacks may be brought in, no food, no drinks. Women may only carry small purses. I find it to be very disheartening that we are willing to give up the freedoms we enjoy as United States citizens just because we want to be "safe." Everyone should bear in mind that 100 percent safety will never happen, no matter what government actions are taken.\nWe have declared war on a faceless enemy, and I am scared. Scared that everyone is so desperate to be safe that they are willing to give up simple liberties. I hope that when we're all walking around wearing orange jump suits with barcodes on the back of our necks that everyone enjoys their safety. P.S. How about God bless the world, instead of just "America." \nDan Box\nSophomore
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Countdown to 0-11\nI was glad to see that the football team switched sidelines this year. Now coach Cam Cameron can't miss my handwritten message that everyone else already knows: "BYE BYE CAM CAM."\nLet's face it, the man should and will be fired during or after this season. Thirteen wins in four plus seasons is pathetic. While it's nice that Cameron boosts our "academic excellence" within the program, tutors don't win games (except in Minnesota). Give me a coach who can teach guys how to tackle, not how to stay awake in their Finite class. A recruiter who can get a cornerback that is more interested in stopping a "third down and six," instead of stopping to watch the opposing receiver run right by him down field.\nWith the obvious aside, we can now focus on the task at hand. The only chance for a win is gone. Utah was it, folks. The rest of the season is nasty. That means one thing, the big 0-fer. I think they can do it, and I'll cheer them every step of the way.\nMany of you lost hope after Utah, but I gave up after last year's N.C. State game in which our Hoosiers blew a 12-point lead with two minutes left in the game, setting the tone for the 2000 season. After two years of close games, and almost breaking the .500 mark, that was the last straw for me.\nUtah was the smallest crowd in six years at Memorial Stadium, but trust me everyone, it'll get much smaller. But for those who wish to see the bitter end, come join the sarcastic cheers and help me hold up my sign for Coach Cam to see.\nThe magic number is down to nine. Start the countdown. The quest for 0-11 begins.\nMatt Rodwalk\nSenior