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(09/29/06 11:47pm)
Though some people might think all greek houses resemble the pizza box and beer can covered Delta Tau Chi fraternity of "Animal House," chapter houses boast everything from hot tubs to high-tech security. These days, fraternity and sorority houses are trying to attract members with some hidden luxuries students might not even have at home.\nExercise\n Regardless of whether it's 3 p.m. or 3 a.m., members of Alpha Gamma Delta are free to kick-box with Billy Blanks or jump on a treadmill in the sorority's in-house exercise room.\nThe workout room contains two treadmills, elliptical machines, free weights and a Bowflex weight lifting system, Alpha Gamma Delta President Kate Williams said. Members can also pick from the many work out tapes in the room, she said.\n"It is nice to have it right here in the house," Williams said. "You don't have to get out and go all the way to the SRSC, and you can usually talk your roommate or someone in the house into working out with you." \nKate Middleton, a sophomore and member of the Alpha Gamma Delta cycling team, said she uses the workout room at least three or four times a week. Exercise helps her stay healthy and deal with the stress of school and social life, she said. \n"It is great because I can go down there whenever I want and work out for as long as I want," Middleton said. "It really helps with my schedule and my well-being." \nSecurity\nIntruders beware: It's not easy to break into the Alpha Delta Pi or Chi Omega sorority houses. Both sororities employ a fingerprint security system that only lets in sorority members and a few employees. \nThe Alpha Delta Pi sorority installed the system in 1992 when the house was first built, said senior Karla Gilliatt, the sorority's president. Each new sorority member's fingerprints are entered into the system so members -- and members only -- can simply put their finger on the scanner and enter, she said. \n"It definitely helps give us a sense of security because we know that only the people who are supposed to be here will be admitted," Gilliatt said. \nThe president of Chi Omega, senior Jamie McNichols, agreed.\n"The girls feel safer and more secure knowing that random people can't just walk in at night," McNichols said. "It keeps the crazies out." \nAntiques\nUnlike the second-hand, mismatched couches that usually adorn college residences, members of Alpha Tau Omega rest their feet on antique works of art. The fraternity is home to the second largest collection of Romweber Viking Oak furniture in the country, second only to the Indiana Memorial Union, said Kent Miller, the fraternity's alumni board president, in an e-mail. \nEach piece of the furniture is carved from a single tree, said junior Brad Blinn, Alpha Tau Omega president. Except where the leather is connected to the wood, no nails or glue were used to put them together. \n"The Romweber furniture (was) purchased at the start of World War II, and the house was used as an Army recruitment station," Miller said in an e-mail. "And as a gesture of thanks, the U.S. Army allowed the ATO chapter to keep this very valuable, now antique, furniture." \nThe couches were among the five items saved during a fire that destroyed the fraternity house in the 1940s, Blinn said.\n"We would never sell any of them," Blinn said. \nHowever, if the fraternity were to put price tags on the pieces, they would be about $15,000 each, Blinn said. \nThe fraternity also houses other valuable works of art. Blinn said one painting is worth more than $1 million.\nTechnology\nMonday Night Football just got even better for members of the Alpha Epsilon Pi house. \nLast week, the fraternity installed a 105-inch projection screen that is wired to the sound system throughout the house, said sophomore Joshua Philipson. \n"It draws a lot of people to the house, especially the live-out guys who are in different houses," Philipson said. "It is a good way to get people to come over, like to watch Monday Night Football." \nThe fraternity can also show music videos or iTunes graphics during parties, Philipson said. The projection screen is wired into the new sound system, purchased this year, which can play music or television -- SportsCenter is a favorite -- throughout the house, he said. \nAlpha Epsilon Pi also purchased a wireless printer this year, Philipson said. Fraternity members can use the printer from anywhere in the house or on campus, as long as they are connected to the IU wireless network.
(09/28/06 2:41am)
Bloomington's newest hospital is expected to open Oct. 9, but it could be weeks before ambulances will take emergency room patients through its doors. Monroe Hospital still must negotiate with Bloomington Hospital to determine how 911 calls will be divided, Monroe Hospital CEO Dean Melton said. \n"Our attorneys are attempting to take a more cooperative approach to working with the public officials and Bloomington Hospital and its ambulance service to find a workable solution for the new ambulance service to become a part of the 911 system," Melton said in an e-mail.\nBloomington Hospital Ambulance Services met with the staff at Monroe Hospital Emergency Department "to tour the facility and understand the capabilities they have," Bloomington Hospital Communication Coordinator Amanda Runyon said in an e-mail.\n"Monroe Hospital will need to demonstrate and communicate what Emergency Department services it can provide, in addition to becoming a licensed facility," Runyon said.\nBloomington Hospital was the sole institution for emergency care in the area until now, even drawing patients from nearby Brown and Owen counties, said Capt. Michael Diekhoff of the Central Emergency Dispatch Policy Board. \nMonroe Hospital has engaged TransCare, an independent ambulance service, to act as its ambulance service, but until Bloomington and Monroe hospitals come to an agreement about how 911 calls will be divided, Bloomington Hospital ambulances will be the only 911 patient vehicles. \nThe sole use of Bloomington Hospital's ambulances for local 911 calls is a cause of distress for Monroe Hospital, said attorney Geoffrey Grodner of the law firm Mallor, Clendening, Grodner and Bohrer, which represents Monroe Hospital. \n"There is concern that Bloomington Hospital ambulances will be reluctant to take patients to Monroe Hospital," Grodner said. \nAmbulances are required to take patients to the nearest appropriate hospital in a life-threatening situation, Melton said. \n"(But) if it is not a life-threatening situation, the patient can direct the ambulance to which emergency room they want to be taken to and the ambulance must take them there," Melton said. "Absent either of these situations, the ambulance can go where they choose."\nTo become part of the county's 911 emergency response system, Monroe Hospital -- an investor-supported hospital that boasts 32 private rooms -- must work with Bloomington Hospital to create a system for deciding which patients will be taken to which hospital, Diekhoff said. \n"Bloomington Hospital originally set its own protocols for how its districts would be set up," Diekhoff said. "If and when (Monroe Hospital's plan to become part of the 911 service) comes to fruition, the hospitals will come up with new protocols and bring them to us to implement." \nMelton said in an e-mail that Monroe Hospital is open to a "cooperative, collaborative relationship" with Bloomington Hospital, citing a desire to develop an open working relationship between the two. \nOnce the two hospitals come to an agreement, the process will still be far from over, Diekhoff said. The Central Emergency Dispatch Policy Board will have to make changes to its own system to facilitate the new system, he said. \n"We have to go into computer system and recode everything to determine what areas Monroe and Bloomington will each take," Diekhoff said, adding that the process could take several weeks.\nInitially, Monroe Hospital officials suggested dividing the two hospitals' territories by Indiana State Road 37, Diekhoff said. But this plan was not practical because Bloomington Hospital ambulances have a contract to serve Ellettsville, and such a boundary would put the area in Monroe Hospital's district, he said. \n"Monroe Hospital's suggestion that the county be divided in some manner along geographic lines is an attempt to offer a logical solution to where each of the ambulance services are dispatched," Melton said in an e-mail. "In a life-threatening situation, it would not make sense to send TransCare on a run to the east side of Bloomington if the (Bloomington Hospital ambulance service) is available, and vice versa." \nThe next opportunity for the Central Emergency Dispatch Policy Board to discuss incorporating Monroe Hospital into the emergency dispatch system will be at its next meeting on Oct. 31, Diekhoff said. Dietkhoff could not say whether Monroe and Bloomington Hospital will have determined districts by then. \n"My hope is that (Monroe Hospital officials) realize that this is not something you can just come in and make a snap decision about," Diekhoff said.
(09/25/06 12:53pm)
When junior Nichole Birky died of cardiac arrhythmia April 5, she left behind dozens of friends and family members. She also left thousands of dollars in student loans that have left her family financially strapped.\nBirky's friends and members of her sorority, Delta Zeta, have not forgotten about her or her family. The sorority, along with Birky's friends, are now selling bracelets to raise money for the Birky family, and they also are planning to set up a scholarship in her name.\n"We knew she had taken out loans to pay for school," Delta Zeta President Jessica Braman said. "And she was paying for the sorority house, too. She was always hard-working and responsible with money."\nBirky funded most of her education through student loans, close friend, junior Jessie Robinson said. Robinson and Birky grew up together because Birky was from Gas City, Ind., and Robinson was from the nearby town of Marion, Ind. Both became members of Delta Zeta. \n"I'd known about (her finances) previously because we were both struggling," Robinson said. "When it happened, the family voiced that the school really wanted them to start paying the loans."\nSenior Ryan Cline, who dated Birky for two months before she died, said about a week after Birky's death, her family received a letter requesting they begin paying off her student loans. \n"Financially, it is understandable (that the loans must be paid back)," Cline said. "But it is very sad to see, after what they've gone through, that now they've got this worry \nhanging over their head."\nRobinson and senior Amy Patel, another of Birky's friends, wanted to create a fundraiser that would appeal to college students, she said. They decided to sell rubber bracelets -- similar to Lance Armstrong's "Livestrong" wristbands. So far, the fundraiser has worked, Robinson said. Of the 550 bracelets they ordered, Robinson has sold about 50 of the bracelets so far, and Patel has sold 20 or 30. Birky's mother took half of the bracelets to sell around Gas City, Ind., Birky's hometown, Patel said. Members of Delta Zeta sorority are also selling the bracelets.\n"No family prepares for their daughter's death at age 21, so we're just trying to find a way to help out the family," Patel said.\nThe bracelets are selling for a minimum donation of $3, Robinson said. So far, the group has only recovered the cost of the bracelets plus about $200, she said. Ultimately, the sorority hopes to raise at least $2,000 for the family, she said.\n"Most people give more than $3," Robinson said. "We've even had people just give us money. We've had professors, students, friends and family all buy them."\nFraternity and sorority members have purchased the most bracelets, Robinson said.\n"I just brought it up at the Gavel (a weekly meeting of sorority presidents), and we already have two sororities ready with money," Braman said. "The greek system has been very supportive."\nAfter helping out Birky's family, Delta Zeta would like to set up a scholarship in her name, Braman said, but the project is still in the early planning stages.\nThe bracelets, which Robinson and Patel custom ordered from a Web site, come in small and large sizes and are available in solid pink and red and white - the colors of Mississinewa High School, which Birky attended. The bracelets read "Lovin' Life" on one side, Robinson said. Birky's mom asked for the phrase to be included as a reminder of what Birky really valued, she said. The other side of the bracelets has Birky's initials -- NMB -- written between two hearts. The inside of the bracelets is inscribed with her date of birth and death. \n"It's to remind people to live their lives to the fullest," Robinson said. "It is a symbol of what her life meant."\n-Campus editor Carrie Ritchie contributed to this story.
(09/21/06 4:11am)
It all began with a one-line advertisement in the weekly nursing newsletter Judith Ingala received.\nAll it said was that a new hospital in Bloomington was looking for a chief nursing officer, but that was enough for Ingala to send off her resume. \n"I've said for my entire career that I was going to build my own hospital," she said. "I always thought it was just talk, but now I'm actually getting to do it." \nIngala is getting her wish. As the vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer, she is helping to build Monroe Hospital, Bloomington's newest health care facility. The hospital, set to open Oct. 9, will offer state-of-the-art facilities and a hotel-like atmosphere -- including 24-hour room service. It will draw patients from all over south central Indiana, said Cindy Schaefer, director of community and patient relations.\nMonroe Hospital will offer a number of different features in each of its private rooms, including wireless Internet and flat-screen televisions, Schaefer said. \nThe aim is to put patients in an environment where they can be comfortable and stay connected -- "a customer-focused hospital for the 21st century," Schaefer said.\nAll features focus on what patients need, Schaefer said. For that reason, the hospital also offers round the clock visiting hours, as well as heightened security to keep the hospital safe while open to visitors. \n"Visiting people who are sick doesn't always fall between 9 and 5," she said. "And having family around often helps people recover." \nThese features, however, will not mean a hike in prices. Schaefer said Monroe Hospital's fees will be no different than any other hospital, and it has contracts with insurance companies already, including government programs Medicare and Medicaid. She expects the sheer volume of patients to compensate for the cost of the special features in the rooms. \n"We will be very full in a very short time," Schaefer said. \nStill, Monroe Hospital is unlikely to attract many students, said Hugh Jessop, the executive director and chief financial officer for the IU Health Center. The Health Center employs eight full-time physicians, nine nurse-practitioners and two psychiatrists, and there is a fully-stocked pharmacy on site, he said. \n"We can handle anything you can think of, short of needing surgery," Jessop said. "We have cutting-edge technology."\nIn the event that a student should need surgery, students are typically transferred to Bloomington Hospital, Jessop said. Bloomington Hospital and the IU Health Center have worked together since the campus health center first opened, he said. \nProximity is also a factor in students' choices, especially in emergency situations after the IU Health Center is closed, Jessop said. \nMonroe Hospital is three miles farther away from campus than Bloomington Hospital, he said. \n"In a life-threatening situation, you want to go to the closest hospital able to handle it," Jessop said. "Bloomington Hospital will always be closer." \nAt 28 beds, Monroe Hospital is smaller than Bloomington Hospital, which has 321 beds, according to its Web site. But Schaefer said research indicated a need for additional health care services in Monroe Country. The hospital, which cost $35.5 million to build, is supported by investors and has been under construction since June 2005.\nBuilding the hospital from the ground up allows for amenities, like more spacious bathrooms, to be built right in, Ingala said. That makes life easier for everyone, including nurses, she said. \n"From a leadership perspective, we are so focused on being sure that staff have what they need to deliver care," Ingala said. "We always ask, 'What is it that hampers your ability to deliver patient care?' and work from there"
(09/21/06 3:31am)
When freshman Michelle Pircon begins formal sorority recruitment this year, she will likely find the process less restrictive than those who rushed only a year ago. The Panhellenic Association, which acts as the governing body for sororities on campus, has rewritten the rush rule book, removing many "nit-picky" rules, said Kelly Jones, executive vice president of recruitment for the Panhellenic Association. \n"The rules as they are haven't been completely evaluated in a long time," Jones said. "We went through each page of the rules and talked about each one to decide whether it was necessary."\nThe Panhellenic Association-appointed committee trimmed the rule book from its original 14 pages to five, Jones said. The committee restructured the rule book so that the Code of Ethics will now be the main guideline for recruitment, she said.\n"A big part of the Code of Ethics is for everyone involved in recruitment -- alumni, members -- to act with integrity," Jones said. "Everyone needs to have an equal opportunity to recruit and be recruited."\nIndividual sororities will be more responsible for setting their own rules, Jones said. Each sorority is part of a national chapter, which has its own standards for recruitment, she said.\n"We hope chapters will take these rules upon themselves and decide how they want to portray their chapter," she said.\nThough the changes have not been officially approved yet, Jones said she did not foresee any opposition to them because everyone was included in the discussion leading up to it.. The vote will be held Sunday night.\nMany of the rules were relics of problems that occurred during rush years ago, Jones said. If there was a problem at one year's event, the Panhellenic Association would create another rule to deal with it, she said.\n"Rules would be made, but nobody would ever go back and re-evaluate whether they were working or not," Jones said. "They just kept piling up."\nRules eliminated included those dealing with the topics of conversation allowed, said Christine Loncaric, rush chair for Alpha Xi Delta and a member of the committee working on restructuring the rules. Previously, sorority members were not allowed to talk about partying or men, she said.\n"Sororities are involved in a lot of philanthropy and do great things for the community," Loncaric said. "But it is no secret that there is a social life there, too."\nNow, sorority members are allowed to talk to potential members about other male students, as long as they do not mention specific fraternities. Other rules eliminated include the rule against touching potential members. Touching a potential member is allowed as long as its not excessive, according to the new guidelines.\nThe rule changes will allow chapter members to be more themselves and worry less about what they are allowed to talk about, Loncaric said. Both current and potential members will be more comfortable with the process.\n"Our biggest goals are for each chapter to have its own personality," Loncaric said. "We want people to be able to identify better with members and see what house they belong in. It's beneficial for both sides."\nPircon, who will go through formal recruitment this winter, said she had previously been unfamiliar with both new rules and old, but she thinks analyzing the rules and giving individual sororities more freedom to decide rules is a good idea.\n"I'd want to know what (a chapter) is really like before I join it," Pircon said. "I don't want to get some false representation of it"
(09/19/06 4:10am)
With his long beard and denim overalls, senior Danny Atlas might look like an\nold-time farmer, but his growing methods are brand new. \nLast year, Atlas co-founded Students Producing Organics Under the Sun, or SPROUTS, a student group interested in organic farming. After planting and laying the groundwork for the garden in the spring and summer, the group is now harvesting crops of fresh vegetables -- all grown without the use of pesticides, Atlas said. Last year, Atlas co-founded Students Producing Organics Under the Sun, or SPROUTS, a student group interested in organic farming. After planting and laying the groundwork for the garden in the spring and summer, the group is now harvesting crops of fresh vegetables -- all grown without the use of pesticides, Atlas said. \nThe group initially wanted to create the garden in front of the Collins Living-Learning Center, said Justin Peterson, co-founder of the group. \n"The idea was that it would create a closed loop at Collins," Peterson said. "We would compost the food waste from Collins, and put it back into the ground, then grow food that would end up back at Collins in the salad bar."\nBut when University landscapers rejected that plan, they ended up breaking ground at Eighth Street and Fess Avenue instead. \nRight now the group's vegetables are mainly being sold Saturdays at the Bloomington Community Farmers Market, Peterson said. Each week SPROUTS earns about $50, which is then reinvested in seeds and tools. \nStill, the group has not given up on its original vision. It hopes to someday serve its organic vegetables at all the residence halls, Atlas said. \n"People will know where (the vegetables) are coming from," Atlas said. "They'll be fresher and have more of the essential nutrients that get lost in transport in the two weeks from being picked to being delivered." \nThe idea of eating organic vegetables grown in Bloomington appeals to sophomore and Collins resident Isaac Simonelli, who typically eats from the salad bar about four times a week, he said. \n"It would be community-based, and that's what Collins is all about," Simonelli said. \nCurrently the residence halls do not purchase organic produce because it tends to be expensive and difficult to purchase in the volume that residence halls would require, said Sandra Fowler, Residential Programs and Services director of dining services.\nThe residence halls go through an average of 10,688 pounds of lettuce a month, said Ancil Drake, RPS executive chef. \n"We go through enough produce that (SPROUTS) realize they can't provide all of it," Fowler said.\nSPROUTS is a community partner with the Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Initiative, a group involved in service-learning classes at IU that has four classes of students involved with the garden, Atlas said. Each class helps develop certain things SPROUTS needs, whether it is designing a Web site or learning about compost methodology, he said. \n"One group will be having conversations with Collins (representatives) to see how we can get our food into the dorm," Atlas said. "Basically the classes deal with things the organization needs, but we can't handle on our own." \nBecause service-learning classes will work with Collins representatives, it is difficult for Atlas to say how soon the garden's crops could be on Collins' salad bar. But SPROUTS hopes that its food will be served there as soon as possible. \nAtlas did not have an estimate for how much food the group might be able to grow, citing a rainy season and inexperience. But next year the group intends to double the size of the garden and produce more food, he said. "We want to at least be able to supply the salad bar in the beginning," Atlas said. "I can't say that we'll provide all of it, but that's our goal. We want to provide as much food as possible for Collins." \nBut it isn't all about the food. The garden also contains medicinal herbs, Peterson said. Certain herbs can be used to treat a number of ailments, including respiratory, digestive and reproductive problems, he said. \nPeterson became interested in herbal remedies after he became ill years ago. Now he says he hopes to share his knowledge through workshops the group will be offering this fall on how to harvest and dry medicinal herbs, he said. \n"It is about the health of me and of the planet," Peterson said. "I don't want to put synthetic chemicals into my body or have them poisoning my water supply." \nBoth Peterson and Atlas are pursing Individualized Major Programs that focus on the sustainability of organic farming and said they would like to educate others on the feasibility of farming without the use of pesticides.\n"I want the farm to be an educational tool," Peterson said. "We create good, wholesome food but also teach others how to do it"
(09/07/06 4:28am)
Most 20-somethings are content to buy their booze, but Caleb Staton has been brewing it since he was barely old enough to drink. \n"After I graduated college, I started brewing beer in my basement," he said. "At first it was just a hobby. I was kind of goofing around and figuring it out." \nFive years later, Staton certainly has it figured out. Now Staton, the 27-year-old head brewer for Bloomington's Upland Brewing Company, will have even more of an opportunity to show off his skills. \nUpland Brewing Company was recently purchased by Douglas Dayhoff, who intends to almost double the volume of beer produced by the company with added machinery, said Penn Jensen, the vice president of sales and marketing. \n"Caleb Staton is simply one of the best young brewers in the country," said new owner Dayhoff in a news release.\nThat's high praise, coming from the owner of Indiana's largest craft beer distributor. \n"I was pretty nervous when we first heard because no one knew what the new guy was going to be like," Staton said. "But now that I've met Doug, I am pretty excited. Previously there was no big emphasis on growth, but (Dayhoff) is very eager to expand." \nCurrently, Upland Brewing Company brews about 130,000 gallons of beer each year, Jensen said. Dayhoff will add machinery that will increase production by almost 50 percent, he said. \n"Right now we are selling every ounce of beer we make," Jensen said.\nAnd they're selling it in a state where Budweiser and Miller are the main beers of choice, Jensen said. While craft beers account for only 3 to 4 percent of all beer sales in Indiana -- as opposed to up to 25 percent in California -- Upland holds its own, he said. \n"We are often the number three seller on tap behind Bud Light and Miller Lite," Jensen said. "Our wheat beer is second to none, and we treat it as such." \nThe wheat beer, which Jensen described as "rich Budweiser that is full of taste and not pale and thin," is the No. 1 seller at Upland Brewing Company, he said. As such, it will be a main focus of the plan to expand production, most likely to nearby Midwest cities first. \n"Former IU students and residents of Indiana create demand for the beer out of state," Jensen said. "Especially outside of the state where a lot of IU students end up going, like Louisville and Chicago. We want to bring them quality, hand-crafted beer." \nDespite the changes, regular patrons of Upland can relax. Though Dayhoff has big plans for expansion, there will be no significant changes to the comfortable pub-style atmosphere of the restaurant and beer garden, Jensen said. \n"We might spiff (the \nrestaurant) up a bit, but other than that we won't be changing anything," Jensen said. \nThat includes staff, Jensen said. Everyone who worked for the past owner at Upland Brewing Company still will have a place at the company, he said. \nThat comes as a relief to Bloomington resident and regular patron Trent Abram, who confesses to stopping in to Upland Brewing Company "a little bit too often," he said. \n"It's a good atmosphere, good people and good food," Abram said. "And great beer." \nThe atmosphere may not change, but Staton expects his day-to-day routine to become more strenuous as volume produced goes up, he says. Still, he thinks it will be worth it. \n"The beer is going to get better and better," Staton said.
(09/06/06 3:35am)
Men's recruitment is a time for all fraternities to boast about their achievements, but potential members who come knocking at the Phi Sigma Kappa house will find its members have earned a special bragging right. For the second year in a row, the IU house has earned the "Chapter of the Year" award from the Phi Sigma Kappa International Headquarters. \n"It is the highest recognition from the national organization," said senior Matt Beaulieu, one of last year's Phi Sigma Kappa executive board members. "It's a great reward." \nThe award was presented to three fraternities, including IU's chapter, according to the national organization of Phi Sigma Kappa. The award is based on size and quality of the chapter, as well as on membership recruitment, education, finances, philanthropy and scholarship. Each fraternity was judged by a committee of national volunteers, who compared the 80 different chapters of Phi Sigma Kappa across the country, according to the national organization. \nPutting together the chapter's application took the better part of a month and a half, said IU junior and Phi Sigma Kappa Secretary Brian Waite, who was largely responsible for creating the 108-page document last spring. He estimated he spent about 50 hours total creating the manuscript, which described programs that the house had started and a calendar of events, membership numbers and philanthropy hours compiled over the year. \n"(The application) was basically a book to sell our house to nationals," Waite said. "It describes everything we've done and how our house operates."\nThough there is no monetary award associated with the prize, the chapter received a trophy and will be honored at the national convention, Beaulieu said. \n"The intangibles can do more for a house than any monetary award could," Beaulieu said. "It helps us as a goal to keep earning this kind of recognition." \nFraternity members said they are determined this is just the beginning, however. Beaulieu said he hopes the chapter will continue to earn these awards year after year. \n"For most people actively involved, it is almost a competition," he said. "Last year we could hold it over the previous executive board's heads that we had won this award. Hopefully, this year's award will drive the current executive board to achieve." \nPhi Sigma Kappa hopes the consecutive awards will be a draw for men looking to join a fraternity, Beaulieu said. \n"(Choosing a fraternity) is a hard decision to make," Beaulieu said. "There are a lot of great fraternities at IU, but you want to go to one that is moving up and going somewhere"
(09/05/06 3:10am)
If asked about his hobbies, Dave Schell, an IU alumnus who graduated in 2003, would just laugh. When you work 80-110 hours a week, there is not much time for anything else, he said. \n'Workaholic' could very easily describe the 24-year-old owner of Bloomington's only specialty butcher shop, Butcher's Block. The shop opened its doors almost two years ago and has been growing since day one, but Schell isn't letting up just yet. This football season will mark the beginning of the newest facet of Schell's business -- delivering food directly to tailgate parties. \n"Customers can custom order tailgate packages and pay online, then we'll meet you at the stadium with your pre-order package," Schell said. "It is a breakthrough idea. Quite honestly, I haven't seen it happen anywhere else." \nBeginning with last Saturday's season opener, Schell will now spend his game days on a golf cart delivering burgers, sausage and other tailgate essentials -- precooked or not -- to hungry tailgaters outside the stadium. \n"(Tailgate delivery) is going to help them even as a way of advertising," said Joe Denekamp, a Kelley School of Business professor. "They'll be able to get their name out there while they are making some money. It's a win-win situation." \nAnd no one would know better than Denekamp, who taught Jason Schaffer, Schell's former business partner, and worked closely with the pair in the beginning stages of the business plan, he said. Schaffer has since moved on to another opportunity, but Schell has continued to work with Denekamp, Schell said. \n"I had a good feeling about (Butcher's Block) all along," Denekamp said. "It was odd that there wasn't already a high-end butcher in Bloomington." \nSchell studied business management through the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, with the intention of possibly going to graduate school in the future, he said. What he did not know, however, was that his part-time job in the meat department of a local grocery store would also give him the skills he needed for his future business. \nWhen a large corporation bought out the grocery store, the business underwent a number of changes, Schell said. \n"It lost a lot of its local flair," Schell said. "We had a lot of complaints." \nSchell saw his opportunity and decided to go for it, he said. \n"It came down to timing," he said. "I had just graduated and had the time to put into creating a business plan and interest in owning my own local business." \nSchell drew funding from a combination of personal assets and a small business loan from the government, he said. Funding was not easy to get, but the strength of the business plan and the obvious market for a butcher shop in the area earned Schell the money he needed to get started. \nSchell prides himself on stocking only the highest quality meats and seafood. All the meat is hand-cut and ground in the store, and fresh seafood arrives each day. But equally important is Butcher's Block's customer service, he said. \n"I'm able to talk to my customers on a Norman Rockwell-level," Schell said. "I probably know all of my customers' first and last names, whether they are aware of it or not." \nThat kind of service is what brings Mary Alice Rickert, a Bloomington resident, back to Butcher's Block time and again, she said. \n"The atmosphere is friendly and efficient," she said. "And the quality of the meats is excellent." \nRickert shops at Butcher's Block about once a week, she said. But some of Schell's other customers come in as often as every day or every other day, he said. \nAt 24, Schell is not much older than most of his employees, the majority of whom are college students, he said. \n"It is strange to not only manage people only a year or two younger, but not as weird as having the older guys work for me," Schell said. "But I like to see it as working with, rather than working for." \nTom Fleetwood, a full-time employee at Butcher's Block and the oldest at 57, more than twice Schell's age, said he does not see the arrangement as odd, however. \n"I don't think anything of it," Fleetwood said. \nRight now, Schell is just looking to expand his tailgating project and survive the holiday season, he said. During Thanksgiving, he expects to sell 700 to 800 fresh turkeys. Expansion, while unlikely, is not necessarily out of the question.\n"I can't rule it out as an option, but it seems doubtful for right now," Schell said.\n"At this time, I don't see myself wanting to be anywhere but Bloomington"
(09/04/06 3:13am)
When freshman Spencer Herms received a thin envelope instead of a thick red-and-white packet from IU last winter, he did not even think he needed to open it. Herms already knew that a thin envelope meant he would not be attending IU the following fall. \n"I know some people who didn't even bother to open their letters," Herms said. \nFortunately for Herms, however, he was not one of them. When he opened his letter, instead of a flat-out rejection, he found an opportunity. Though IU had declined to immediately accept him as a freshman, the University offered him the chance to participate in a ground-breaking program that is expected to ultimately allow him entrance into his first-choice school. \nFor the first time ever, IU has partnered with Bloomington's Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana to give students who were not admitted to IU as freshmen the opportunity to earn an IU bachelor's degree, said Joe Kapsa, director of Student Support and Development at Ivy Tech. Participating students will take classes at both Ivy Tech and IU during their freshman year and be guaranteed acceptance as full-time, degree-seeking students at IU once they have completed 26 credit hours with a grade point average of at least 2.5. \nIvy Tech and IU have been working on developing the program since 2003, said Jack Rhodes, associate vice chancellor for enrollment services at IU. It's only open to Indiana residents, but it has garnered interest from students throughout the state. \nThough IU has accepted Ivy Tech transfer students for the last several years, this is the only program that allows them to take classes at both colleges simultaneously, Kapsa said. It is also the only program to guarantee admission upon completion of its prerequisites.\n"We have a new community college system evolving in Indiana," Rhodes said. "We wanted go help students gain greater access to two- and four-year degrees." \nHoosier Link students take three classes at Ivy Tech and one at IU in the fall semester of their freshman year, Kapsa said. In the spring, they up that number to four classes at Ivy Tech, with one at IU. If all goes well, students will have completed their 26 hours by the end of their freshman year and will become full-time IU students as sophomores. \n"(Hoosier Link) gives me the chance to go to a small campus while also going to a large one," Herms said. "I get to experience both." \nStudents pick from a list of more than 100 Ivy Tech classes that will transfer credit to IU, mainly general education requirements, Kapsa said. The program has a number of built-in support mechanisms, which distinguishes it from any other transfer program, Kapsa said. Students have a close connection with academic advisers at both campuses, who work closely with them throughout the program. These advisers also help Hoosier Link participants choose a major. \n"We know how important it is to have a goal," Kapsa said. "It helps build motivation." \nStudents who enter the program must sign a contract with the University, Rhodes said. Terms include the number of hours a student must take, the GPA they must maintain and how much they are allowed to work. Hoosier Link participants must also go through all phases of orientation and attend workshops, and if their adviser decides they need a tutor or a lighter course load, they must defer to the adviser's judgment. \nHoosier Link students, like any other freshmen, are required to live in residence halls during their first year on campus, Rhodes said. \n"We want them to be engaged and involved in the culture of the campus, just like any other freshman," Rhodes said. \nUnlike other freshmen, however, Hoosier Link students have a longer commute. Rather than just stumbling out of bed and walking to class, most students in the program have cars, Rhodes said. It takes about 20 minutes to drive to Ivy Tech, which is located on the far west side of town. However, for those without a vehicle, IU has facilitated public transportation along different bus routes.\nThough Hoosier Link is unique, it wasn't the only option for many of its applicants.\nHerms would have gone to Holy Cross, a private college near his home, he said. But the Hoosier Link program has allowed him the chance to attend a four-year university while saving money by also attending Ivy Tech, he said. \n"If it weren't for (Hoosier Link), I wouldn't even be here," Herms said.
(09/03/06 1:33am)
Sophomore and Phi Kappa Tau member Jordan Loeb has some words of wisdom for the approximately 1,000 men who are expected to begin men's fall recruitment Friday night: do your homework. \nLoeb, who attended the men's recruitment kick-off in Dunn Meadow last year, said he talked to members of 80 percent of the fraternities at the event and visited 15 houses before finally pledging Phi Kappa Tau. Not bad for someone who had not even been sure he wanted to join a fraternity. \n"My advice is to not listen to stereotypes or what your friends say," Loeb said. "Check everyone out and see where you fit."\nChoosing a fraternity is serious business, Interfraternity Council President Justin Sloan emphasized, encouraging all future pledges to take the time to visit all the chapters on campus. \n"It is a huge decision that you need time to take into consideration," Sloan said. "You might only be living with your fraternity during the time you're in college, but you'll be an alumnus for the rest of your life."\nFortunately for potential new members, men who attend the kickoff will get some help in making these decisions. New freshmen, transfer students and some sophomores and juniors not yet affiliated with the greek system will flood Dunn Meadow Friday night from 5 to 7 p.m. to kick off this year's men's recruitment season. Potential fraternity members are expected to chow down on pizza and check out different chapters' tables as fraternity members vie for their attention, Sloan said.\nThe event gives potential members the opportunity to meet men from all the chapters. Students can chat with members of each fraternity and get a feel for where they might fit in.\n"It's a key event for the weekend," Sloan said. "If you can't come to anything else, you need to come to this."\nFive to 10 members of each fraternity will run each table, Sloan said. In preparation, many fraternities make T-shirts, pick lettered items to bring and create PowerPoint presentations.\n"It's a chapter's time to brag," Sloan said.\nThough each fraternity is looking to claim new members, the atmosphere is "really positive," said senior Mychal Selle, one of the rush chairs for Phi Kappa Sigma, also known as Skulls.\n"No one has pride issues," Selle said. "Everyone has a really positive attitude because we are all going out to advertise, to show freshmen that the fraternity is more than just the stereotypes."\nMost importantly, Sloan said, anyone who might be interested in rushing can get registered for fall recruitment. Once potential members register, they receive wristbands that show they are interested in rushing, allowing them entrance to recruitment and social events at the different fraternities.\n"The wristband lets the members know that this is someone very interested in joining a fraternity, and that he needs to be receiving VIP treatment at our events," Sloan said.\nUnlike women's recruitment, it is free for men to sign up for recruitment.\n"Everyone is strongly encouraged to attend," Sloan said. "Whether you are thinking about (rushing) or not, it doesn't cost you anything to come check it out"
(08/30/06 5:23am)
Though most freshmen have only been in Bloomington for a few days, many have already pitched in to make their new home a better place. Welcome Week's first-ever New Student Service Day drew 228 participants volunteering at 22 different charities across Bloomington Saturday morning. \nMany people in several departments had talked about getting new students involved in some kind of community service project, said Emily McCallister, assistant director of the program. This year, it was introduced as part of Welcome Week. \n"The whole purpose of Welcome Week is to meet people, places and resources," McCallister said. "Traditionally most events are centered around campus, but now freshmen can realize what a great relationship Bloomington and IU have."\nStudents took the initiative to sign up for the program, McCallister said. Once signed up, they could take their pick of 22 different charities, including on-campus organizations like the La Casa Latino Culture Center and several community groups, such as Girls Incorporated, United Way of Monroe County and the YMCA.\n"Someone who is a nursing major went to volunteer at a nursing home," McCallister said. "It was something she enjoyed, and before classes even started she already had something she could put on her resume." \nEmployers like to see community service on students' resumes, said Bre Fox, community relations director at SouthernCare Hospice, one of the locations where students could volunteer. Though it is a for-profit enterprise, SouthernCare Hospice is required by Medicaid to match 5 percent of its patient care hours with volunteer hours, and students play a big part in achieving this, Fox said.\n"Volunteerism is really the heart of hospice care," she said. \nThirty-eight facilitators, mostly graduate students and some staff members, and the student volunteers logged 678 hours of community service in one morning, McCallister said. She expects the event to continue to grow as it becomes part of IU tradition. \n"The event was small this time, but every year it's going to get bigger," McCallister said. "We have to start somewhere." \nNew Student Service Day not only allowed new students to get off campus but gave them a way to meet people as well. \n"The best part was doing something social and talking with my future classmates," freshman Eli Major said. \nDoing community service also raised awareness about Bloomington. \n"I wasn't aware of the severity of poverty in some parts of Bloomington," said Kelly Breeze, a transfer student from Pennsylvania. \nBreeze spent her time working at Middle Way House, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. In her two hours at the shelter, she bailed paper as part of the group's side business, work she said she found to be both tiring and rewarding.\n"There was this sweet little boy who kept bringing us little Dixie cups of water as we were working," Breeze said. "I kept thinking that if his mother hadn't had the courage to get them out of their home situation, he would have had a 90 percent chance of growing up to hit his own children. I thought, 'There is hope, things can get better."
(08/30/06 5:22am)
To Jennifer Williams, a midwife for 17 years, delivering babies is her life. Or rather, it was. \nIn 2005, Williams was prosecuted in Shelby County for practicing midwifery and medicine. She pled guilty and received one year's probation, but since then Williams has not delivered any more babies. For a woman who used to deliver 70 babies a year for about $119,000 a year, her loss of livelihood, combined with legal fees, has left her seriously financially burdened, she said.\nTo help defray Williams' expenses, friend Shelley Milligan organized Freeborn, an event to raise funds for Williams and awareness for the cause of midwifery. \nFreeborn, held Saturday afternoon in Third Street Park, hosted about 300 people throughout the day, Williams estimated. The event included a silent auction of goods donated by people and businesses throughout Bloomington, free massages donated by students of the Associates of Integrative Health and performances by local musicians. Visitors were also encouraged to collect information about midwifery and sign letters to legislators in support of a bill that would allow midwives to practice legally in Indiana. \nWilliams was prosecuted after a baby she delivered was stillborn. Though she was not found to be at fault for the baby's death, since it is illegal in Indiana for midwives to attend to home births, she was arraigned on charges related to that violation. \n"I was the one who got prosecuted, but we (midwives) are all in the same boat," Williams said. \nSince then, Williams has \nredoubled her efforts to get legislation passed that would allow midwives to be registered as Certified Professional Midwives and to attend home births. \n"The issue is that people who choose home birth should be able to have a licensed midwife there to attend them," Williams said. "We have been working on a bill to license midwives since 1993." \nMain opposition to the bill, which comes up again in January, comes from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who see the practice as unsafe. According to a position paper filed in response to a similar licensure bill passed in Wisconsin, the ACOG was concerned that the bill did not require a minimum amount of education, pharmacology training before administering drugs, or malpractice insurance. The paper also stressed that the bill did not create a collaborative agreement between hospitals and midwives in case of complications that necessitated transfer to a hospital.\nWomen choose to deliver at home for a number of reasons, Williams said. Some, like the Amish community that she used to serve, choose home birth for religious reasons. Others seek continuity of care, a female attendant or feel that a home birth is safer than a hospital birth, Williams said. \n"For low-risk pregnancies, studies have always shown that home birth is as safe, if not safer, than giving birth at a hospital," Williams said. \nStudies aside, however, not everyone is convinced of the merits of home birth. Bloomington resident and mother of four Nan Brewer, who did not attend Freeborn, considered home birth after her first hospital delivery went smoothly, but when her second child was born three months early she nixed the idea for future pregnancies. \n"My second child had to be immediately put on a ventilator," Brewer said. "I knew a few people who had done home births, and if the second had gone as smoothly as the first I might have considered it, but after that I was too nervous." \nThough Milligan had hoped Freeborn would make a serious dent in Williams' legal bills, the event ultimately netted only about $300 after expenses, she said. However, many of the 74 items donated for silent auction were not purchased, she said. In hopes of raising more money for Williams' cause, Milligan intends to find a new venue to put the items back up for auction. \n"After all we put into planning the event, we did hope to raise more," Milligan said. "But we still got the word out and got lots of letters signed, which hopefully will push the legislation issue"
(08/29/06 3:39am)
Fifteen members of the IU chapter of No Sweat!, a labor rights organization, attempted to block shuttle buses of shoppers from entering Wal-Mart for IU's traditional Midnight Madness shopping frenzy Friday night. Group members linked arms and carried a banner that read "Rolling back prices --\nand workers' rights," holding their ground as buses attempted to get past, members said.\n"One of the buses was kind of trying to run us over," group member and IU senior Bridget Kennedy said.\nThe protest lasted for about half an hour, until Bloomington police arrived and advised the chanters that they were trespassing on Wal-Mart's property, Kennedy said.\nBloomington police received two calls about the protesters just before 11 p.m., said Bloomington Police Department Detective Sgt. David Drake. One was reportedly a customer complaint and the other call came from a store manager at Wal-Mart, who said that a group of college students was protesting outside the store and disturbing the customers, Drake said.\nFour Bloomington police officers were dispatched, Drake said. After the officers arrived, they reported that the students were leaving.\n"The police were very reasonable," Kennedy said. "But no one in Wal-Mart even came out to talk to us before they called the police."\nWal-Mart spokeswoman Jami Arms said her company was glad so many students chose to shop at Wal-Mart last weekend.\n"Unfortunately, there were a few that were disruptive and had to be asked to leave the premises," Arms said in an e-mail.\nAfter leaving Wal-Mart's property, the group tried to block buses from leaving Wright Quad. Though No Sweat! members successfully prevented the bus from leaving for a few minutes, they believed that the police had been called and decided to leave, group members said.\n"I don't like Wal-Mart," said freshman Andrew Verteramo, who watched the protest unfold. "There are too many small businesses out there that are getting put out of business by it."\nVerteramo agreed with the protesters against Wal-Mart, but he said he wasn't planning to go to Midnight Madness anyway.\nSome, on the other hand, found the protest to be both inconvenient and ineffective.\n"I didn't think there was much of a point to it," said freshman Joanna Barnett, who was on the bus No Sweat! tried to block from leaving Wright Quad. "They blocked the bus for about 10 minutes, but after that they just left, and we went to Wal-Mart anyway."\nThe 10 or so other students on the bus were grumbling and annoyed because of the delay, but the driver kept his cool and said that he'd call the police, Barnett said.\nAlleged human rights abuses in sweatshops, low wages and poor working conditions are at the forefront of a laundry list of grievances No Sweat! holds against the world's largest retailer.\n"Wal-Mart consistently seeks the lowest common denominator, regardless of whether it is wages, worker's rights or environmental standards," Kennedy said. "Do we really want IU to send the message to its freshmen that we should abuse workers across the world?"\nThough she doubted anyone decided not to go into Wal-Mart because of their protest, Kennedy considered the event a success.\n"There were a few hecklers, but a lot of people were curious and willing to listen to what we had to say," she said. "I think we got our point across"
(08/24/06 7:40pm)
Since its inception in 1933, the Freshman Induction Ceremony has marked both a starting point and a finish line for parents and their newly collegiate offspring. For students, it's a kickoff to the next phase in their lives. For parents, however, it is a farewell to the era of cartoons and pajama parties, soon to be replaced with empty nests and the occasional bag of dirty laundry.\n"It's bittersweet," said Laura Mulligan, whose daughter Rachel is a freshman. "On one hand, we are excited for the opportunities she is going to have, but it's still a little sad. I'll probably shed a few tears on the way home."\nThe event, held in two ceremonies Wednesday at the IU Auditorium, brought in about 2,800 students and their families at the 3 p.m. induction, with the expectation of the auditorium being filled to capacity for the 5 p.m. induction, auditorium student manager Alyse Vail said.\nBeginning with organist and music professor Marilyn Keiser's processional, the event had a solemn atmosphere more reminiscent of an end than a beginning. But IU President Adam Herbert encouraged students to look forward to the four years to come.\nHerbert expounded on the possibilities and expectations of the newest "citizens" of IU. He urged them to begin their college careers with the courage to embrace adventure, the curiosity to expand their perspectives and compassion for the people around them.\n"Give yourselves the freedom to try something new, even if it involves the chance of failure," Herbert said. "We will open the door, but it is up to you all to walk through."\nHerbert's message especially hit home for freshman Logan Garrett.\n"I liked what Herbert said about them opening the door, but it being up to us to walk through," Garrett said. "We are on our own now, and it is up to us to take the initiative." \nIU Interim Provost Michael McRobbie conducted the induction of the class of 2010, urging freshmen to continually strive to improve both themselves and the community around them. His words also reminded students why they are at IU in the first place. \n"IU competes on a global scale for the best faculty and students," McRobbie said. "That is why you, the class of 2010, are here."\nFor many, the Freshman Induction Ceremony was a final family event before parents took their empty cars and headed back home.\n"I think that the ceremony was an important way for (my son, Adam Stout) to start college life," Rick Stout, an IU alumnus, said. "It was also one last thing we could all do together on the way."\nBut by the end of the ceremony, students were already finding their independence. \nWhile Ehrlich Neal detailed the hopes for his daughter Alexa's college experience, she quickly and quietly slipped away.\n"She's gone off to find her friends," her mother Melody Neal explained.
(04/28/06 4:39am)
When senior Andrew Grover first visited IU, the Cleveland native knew immediately that the school was the only place for him. \n"I fell in love with the beauty, the culture and the limestone," Grover said. "It was my only choice."\nFour years later, the end is in sight for Grover. Thursday he joined hundreds of his fellow out-going seniors at the Student Alumni Association's annual Senior Salute. Seniors gathered to reminisce about their years at IU, score free tee-shirts and, of course, chow down on the free pizza, cookies and other goodies as they kicked off their final weekend as IU students. \nFor Grover, the end of college is bittersweet. The sports communication major will be leaving for North Carolina shortly after graduation to begin his new job broadcasting minor-league baseball. \n"I feel fulfilled because I accomplished everything I needed to accomplish in college," Grover said. "But leaving this beautiful place is going to be difficult." \nNot everyone is quite as confident about the future. Describing herself as "terrified," senior Jennifer Bissinger is unsure whether she is ready for the real world. Still, ready or not, after graduation she is off to either Indianapolis or Atlanta to begin a job in insurance sales.\n"I am not sure I'm ready to be an adult yet," Bissinger said.\nThe end of college brings mixed emotions for many, but senior Maggie Ronck has little time to slow down and worry. The theatre and drama major will be leaving the day after graduation to begin her new job in Colorado as the Central City Opera House assistant house manager. \n"I am excited and also a little scared," Ronck said. "I only had part of my life planned out, the rest is still up in the air." \nNext Saturday, Ronck expects to be "crazed," she said. Though she is excited about starting her new job, the prospect of saying goodbye to her friends and her home for the last four years leaves her a little sentimental. \n"I am ready to leave IU, but not my friends," Ronck said. \nStill, the end of college does not necessarily mean students must sever ties with the University. Senior Salute is jointly a final send-off for the seniors and a way of making them feel at home in the Alumni Center, said Kirk Walda, president of the Student Alumni Association. \n"Our ultimate goal is to introduce people to the Alumni Association," Walda said. "We want them to have a better grasp of how to stay connected with the University." \nStaying connected brings a number of benefits, Walda said. IU has the seventh-largest alumni association in the country, with almost 500,000 alumni. New career services can help students network with other IU graduates from across the country. And more importantly, he said, the Alumni Association is a way for people to stay in touch with the school. \n"People develop connections with the University after all their years here," Walda said. "The Alumni Association facilitates staying involved with the University. The more people that are connected, the more we can do together." \nGraduates are given a one-year complimentary membership to the Alumni Association, Walda said. After that, members must pay a small yearly membership fee or purchase a life membership. There is no question in Grover's mind, however, as to whether he will stay involved at IU. \n"I come from Cleveland, so Ohio State is all around," Grover said. "But I'm still a Hoosier"
(04/25/06 4:15am)
For about 169 students, Little 500 week ended with four to five hours of picking up trash around campus Sunday to help make restitution for crimes committed during the week, said prosecutor Carl Salzmann. Garbage collection is just one facet of the Defendant Accountability Program, which helps educate students and keeps their cases out of a courtroom. \n"The program recognizes that we are a university community," Salzmann said. "We've all gone to college and understand that people are testing the social boundaries and norms." \nPreviously known as "pre-trial diversion," the Defendant Accountability Program allows students who are issued citations for nonviolent misdemeanors, usually alcohol violations, to have their cases dismissed pending completion of the program. Offenders must pay $421 in fines, attend an alcohol class and help clean up the community on "road crew," Salzmann said. \n"When filling out a job application, students who complete the program will be able to say truthfully that they have never been convicted of a crime," Salzmann said. \nOnce the program is completed, students must stay out of trouble for one full year, Salzmann said. If arrested again, the first case will be reactivated and all the money paid in fees will go to waste, he said. \nHowever, most people never re-offend, Salzmann said. He estimated that less than 10 percent of the people in the program are arrested again during this year. \n"Stubbing your toe one time should not destroy your future," Salzmann said. \nIn light of the number of arrests usually made during Little 500 week, the Defendant Accountability Program offers a unique arrangement for those issued citations during this time, Salzmann said. If a student attended a special Sunday court created to deal with the great number of offenses at this time, his or her required road crew and alcohol class time would be cut in half. \n"It helps the community, having people going out and cleaning up the mess that they helped create," Salzmann said. "And Sunday court keeps the courtroom from getting clogged because of the number of people arrested that weekend."\nThe IU Police Department issued 23 citations this year, down from about 42 last year, Lt. Jerry Minger said. However, the fees collected if these individuals enter the Defendant Accountability Program do not go toward IU, he said. \n"An offense would have been committed on IU property, detected and cited by IU law enforcement," Minger said. "But I have no knowledge that any of that $421 that the people pay goes back to the University." \nHowever, not everyone is sure that the program is always a good idea. Bloomington criminal defense attorney David Schalk suggests that some students choose to do the program because it is easier than trying to fight a case in court. \n"Students tend to think that the court is stacked against them," Schalk said. \nThat's not to say that the program is entirely a bad idea, cautions Schalk. Most people should enter the program if they know that they are guilty and their constitutional rights were not violated because it is better than being convicted of a crime in court. However, the problem is when innocent students accept the program rather than going to trial. \n"People underestimate the stigma," Schalk said. "They think, 'I won't have a conviction on my record,' but on job applications they can ask whether you were in DAP." \nIt comes down to knowing your rights, Schalk said. Students can be too intimidated by police officers to refuse to let them enter a private residence or search a vehicle without a warrant. \n"Sometimes excise cops will go into a bar, order the lights turned on and ID everyone there," Schalk said. "That is a violation of the 4th Amendment and of Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures." \nIn such a case, a student could likely have a case dismissed in court on constitutional grounds, Schalk said. The process, however, is longer and more expensive. Though fees for different attorneys vary, his flat fee for such a minor case, not including a jury trial or appeal, is about $1,000. Still, he believes it is worth it. \n"The worst thing you can have is a conviction on your record," Schalk said. "The second worst is being in the DAP program because it is right there in the name, 'accountability.' Even if you didn't do it, it sounds like you did"
(04/13/06 6:18am)
The American Indian Student Association is searching for a new home after spring storms flooded its basement office, located in The GradHouse, 803 E. 8th St. The 6-by-7 foot space, lent by another organization, is only used for storage of books and posters from the last 10 years of events because the space is not large enough for someone to work in. \nThe main casualties of the flooding were posters from a decade of various AISA activities, said Rebecca Riall, co-chair of the Native American Graduate Student Association, which works closely with AISA. Since the damage was not discovered until a few weeks after the flooding there was no saving most of the historical items.\nDespite the damage, however, Riall believes the flood could be just the motivation needed to finally bring a full-fledged American Indian cultural center to IU. The idea has been discussed since 1998, but never seriously pursued.\n"We are the only major racial group on campus not to have our own cultural center," Riall said. "We need to bring it to IU for future generations."\nIn creating the cultural center, AISA also hopes to salvage one of the historic buildings on campus currently scheduled for demolition, Riall said. \n"The school is going to spend $200,000 to demolish the Kappa Sigma house," Riall said. "Instead, they could give us that money to start \nrenovating the building for a cultural center. Though we'd like to get more funding from the school, we can also apply for a number of grants to help fund the project."\nIU officials had not yet heard about the proposal, said Larry MacIntyre, director of IU Media Relations. University administrators have told the IDS renovations to the former Kappa Sigma house are \nprohibitively expensive. \n"If this group has a proposal, we would like to hear what it is and give it serious consideration," MacIntyre said. \nThe group is currently working on gathering community support, Riall said. They will write a detailed proposal and hope to present it within the next week of school. If all goes well, they hope that they will have a cultural center by next fall, she said. \n"We'll be able to have meeting spaces, a computer lab and a library for research," Riall said. "Right now I have over 100 books that people have donated in my attic because there's nowhere else to store them."\nHaving a cultural center is especially important to American Indian students, NGSA co-chair Joseph Stahlman said. Many American Indians come from small, close-knit communities where they have a certain role. When going away to college and entering the mainstream, they lose that sense of identity, he said.\n"When American Indians move to a university, they can lose their identity," Stahlman said. "They feel lost, and sometimes they end up going home."\nHaving a cultural center would make American Indian students feel more at home on campus, Jayme Smith, president of AISA, said. A registered member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe, Smith spent about half her childhood living with her mother on a tribal reservation in South Dakota. \n"I came to IU and started looking for a Native American group right away," Smith said. "It took a long time to find. I even went to the black cultural center and they didn't know anything about it." \nSmith eventually located AISA through the Latino cultural center, La Casa. Since then, her fellow group members have made her first year at IU more manageable. \n"It didn't hit me until I got here just how small the American Indian population at IU is," Smith said. "(AISA) has become my home away from home, my family away from family."\nMost of the other schools in the Big Ten have cultural centers for American Indians, Riall said. She attributes the lack of a significant American Indian population at IU -- she estimates there are about 90 students who culturally identify as American Indian -- to not having the support system that comes with having a cultural center. \n"The need for a physical space is even more important for American Indians," Riall said. "A lot of us come from close-knit communities, so the idea of coming to college without a space is overwhelming"
(04/10/06 4:56am)
After two days of violent weather, Mother Nature relented Sunday afternoon with sunny and temperate conditions for participants in College Mentors for Kids' 5K Run/Walk, as they grabbed their jogging gear to raise money for kids in need. Regardless of whether it was the weather or available late registration, the group's "Race for Higher Education" saw an increased turnout from 2005's inaugural race, with close to 160 students helping bring in about $1,000 for the program. \nLast year, about 120 people signed up for the race, but poor weather kept many who had already signed up at home, Internal President Caitlin Owens said. This year about the same number pre-registered for the race, but between 30 and 40 additional students also took advantage of late registration to join the day of the race. \n"Late registration really helped us out this year," Owens said. "In the future, we will hopefully get the word out more about early registration, but we really want to thank everyone who participated in the event." \nParticipants who signed up before April 5 paid $15 to join if they wanted a T-shirt, or $11 if they did not. For those who waited until the day of the race to register, prices increased to $20 with a shirt or $15 without. Though the group had not yet tabulated the exact number as of press time, Brian Daywalt, external president of the group, estimated the group had raised about $1,000. The money will go toward funding the program, which has a yearly budget of about $13,000. Still, Daywalt said he isn't satisfied yet. \n"We'd like to see (the race) continue to grow as it becomes a recognized event on campus," Daywalt said. "Ideally, next year, we'll be able to get the word out and advertise more, maybe have advisers sending all their students an e-mail about it."\nAbout 70 of the participants in the race were members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, who participated as part of a community service activity. Participation was not mandatory, said Alex Bernardi, the vice-president of membership, but most of the chapter chose to join. \n"Smaller events like this one tend to be overshadowed by the big ones," Bernardi said. "We heard that (CMFK) needed support, so we thought it would be good to come help the underdog."\nBernardi said she hopes her sorority's participation in the event will help encourage more greek organizations to take part in smaller events on campus. Delta Delta Delta will probably participate in the race again next year as well. \nMore than just a fundraiser, the race was also a way to interact with other members, Daywalt said. Because two groups of mentors and their elementary school buddies meet on different days, not all mentors have met before. Holding the race also allows the group to gain recognition on campus, he said. \n"It's a way to be out and around on campus," Daywalt said. "Even after the race, people will be showing their support when they walk around with the shirt on, too."\nCollege Mentors for Kids was founded by two undergraduate students, Heidi Schmidt and Kristin Huang, at IU in 1995. The pair saw a gap in services offered to needy children, between the Head Start program, which prepares children for kindergarten, and the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, which begins in fourth grade, Owens said. \nSince then, College Mentors for Kids has spread rapidly. Currently offered at 18 campuses across Indiana and one in Illinois, the program has expanded by two or three chapters each year, said Laura Feldman, associate program director for the state-wide CMFK program. \n"We are looking at expanding nationally," Feldman said. "We constantly get inquiries from college students saying 'This is such a unique program, how can I bring it to my school?'"\nStudents enrolled in the College Mentors for Kids program are those who are considered "at-risk" based on their families' economic status, Feldman said. Fairview and Unionville elementary schools were chosen to be part of the IU program based on a need seen there. Of students at Fairview Elementary School, 86 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, a strong indication of economic need, Feldman said. Unionville Elementary was chosen based on both economic need and its location, which Feldman says prevents students from being able to take part in many enrichment programs because of transportation considerations. \n"Many of the students from Fairview and Unionville have the potential to be first-generation college students," Feldman said. \n"I hope that the race raised a lot of money for the program," said mentor Cole McKown. "The more money we have, the more kids can join the program"
(04/07/06 5:12am)
More than 100 students, parents and community members will strap on their running shoes Sunday afternoon as College Mentors for Kids holds its second annual 5K run around campus. The event, beginning at 1 p.m. at the DeVault Alumni Center, will raise money and awareness for the program, which helps encourage disadvantaged elementary school children to someday attend college. \n"Kids get to experience college from an early age," said Laura Feldman, associate program director of the statewide program. "They learn about campus and about what is tough, but also what is wonderful about the college experience."\nHolding the 5K race will help defray some of the costs of running the program, which is offered free of charge to the elementary school students. Though College Mentors for Kids has received about $3,000 in various grants, the yearly budget runs about $13,000, including transportation and activity costs, Owens said. As a result, mentors have another job: raising the additional funds to keep the program up and running. \n"All mentors have to raise $200 each year," Caitlin Owens, president of the Indiana chapter of CMFK, said. "We do letter-writing campaigns to friends and family, canning outside of Kroger and even a sucker sale." \nThe idea of holding a 5K race sprang from the success of a similar event at Purdue, Owens said. \n"The race at Purdue sustains their program's whole yearly budget," Owens said. "Our race is something we are still working to establish, so it might be a while until we can say that." \nLast year, about 120 people signed up for the race, mainly mentors, other students and parents, Owens said. However, the race is open to the entire community. So far, about 100 people have signed up this year, but Owens said she hopes that allowing people to register on the day of the event will encourage more people to join. \nEven more importantly, the race will help raise awareness about the program, Feldman said. \n"We always encourage our chapters to balance their events so that it will have an impact and be fun, but also build awareness about CMFK," Feldman said. "A race is a great awareness builder because there are so many people running around, it is kind of hard to ignore." \nCollege Mentors for Kids pairs up a college student volunteer with a student from either Fairview Elementary in Bloomington or Unionville Elementary in Unionville, Ind., Feldman said. A bus picks up the students once a week after school and brings them to IU for an activity, such as community service, educational programs or diversity programming.\n"Each mentor has to come up with an activity for the group each semester," Andy Raduski, a first-year mentor in the program said. "This semester, I took the kids to the chemistry lab to see some cool experiments."\nThe children in the program are first- through fourth-graders deemed to be "at risk" and are usually recommended by their elementary school teachers, Owens said. Students are declared "at risk" based on their families' low income, usually less than $13,000 a year. The program also tries to focus on recruiting students whose parents did not go to college themselves, she said.\n"We want to get children college-oriented from a young age," Owens said. "We are trying to instill in them the idea that they can go to college, even if they don't have a lot of money or their parents or others haven't talked to them about it"