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(12/07/11 5:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At its Tuesday night meeting, the IU Student Association Congress failed to meet quorum as attendance fell to the lowest of the semester: 27 of 48 current members.This trend has persisted during the course of the semester, as attendance numbers have averaged about 55 percent of the 62 total seats. Tuesday, that fell to about 44 percent. “This is unacceptable,” IUSA President Justin Kingsolver said at Tuesday’s meeting. “I don’t know what we’re doing wrong. I don’t know what else we have to do to get people to come. I’m disappointed by this.”The IUSA Congress, as per its constitution, is made up of 62 seats filled by student academic representatives and residential senators, but there have been more than 10 vacancies throughout much of the semester.Congress is structured so student members represent virtually all sectors of the IU student community, from the College of Arts and Sciences to the Kelley School of Business, from Forest Quad to off-campus housing.And while these seats and structure exist to increase inclusivity, the actual numbers of congressional attendance during the course of the semester point to a less-than complete Congress.At its first assembly April 25, the newly elected Congress began with approximately 60 out of 62 seats filled and 45 Congress members in attendance. That original Congress was a blend of students who had supported Big Six, the winning IUSA executive ticket, during the March election, as well as other students from rival tickets reviveIU and BtownUnited.During the summer, Congress gained and lost members, said Stephanie Kohls, IUSA vice president of Congress, with occupied seats falling to about 50. Thirty-nine of the then-51 Congress members attended the first general assembly of the school year Sept. 5. The trend continued into October, when just 32 of 53 members attended the first meeting of the month. The Oct. 17 general assembly showed a rise in attendance to 33, but total membership fell to 47. That number fell further to 40 of 62 seats filled and 33 members in attendance at the Nov. 1 general assembly.These fluctuating numbers are the product of student members’ hectic schedules, conflicting club/organization obligations and, in some cases, a lack of commitment to the IUSA Congress, Kohls said.“I was disappointed by attendance at first, but overall, it was to be expected,” she said. “Every year there are vacant seats that need to be filled. If anything, it’s motivation to have a Congress that’s full as possible. The more voices that are represented, the more students are involved in the process.”Kohls referred to the perennial difficulties of filling certain seats in Congress. Traditionally, she said, the School of Library and Information Science, Continuing Studies and Graduate School constituencies are most difficult to fill.The University Division seats also pose a problem, she said. These students that first occupy seats in the spring may choose a major and switch out of the division, thus disqualifying them from holding that seat, leaving Congress another member short.Now, there are 52 members of Congress, and seven of the 10 vacant seats are from those harder-to-fill areas.Kohls enforced a strict, three-absence attendance policy this semester, which also decreased total membership.“I want people that want to be there,” she said. “I think being strict on the attendance policy isn’t too much to ask. We’re weeding out the people we can tell that aren’t committed.”Congress members are divided and serve on one of five committees. Daniel Cheesman, sophomore, is the chair of the Congressional Affairs Committee.He said his committee has suffered from the attendance difficulties. Though he started with about 12 members, that number is down to around five or six who regularly attend committee meetings. He said he’s sure their reason for dropping Congress is legitimate but he would have appreciated being informed first.“Attendance has been kind of lackluster,” he said. “We’re kind of hurting right now for people who are interested in student government and politics. I myself didn’t go to the last meeting because of another club commitment, and I feel as though a lot of people have that same problem. It’s kind of hard to balance your time.”IUSA Graduate Adviser Julia Stanton, who started in the position this semester, supports the attendance policy.“It’s something that is a good measure to really just encourage students to take responsibility for the seat that they hold, and if they can’t attend, to find someone to do their job and represent the constituency on their behalf,” Stanton said. She also wasn’t necessarily surprised by the attendance trend in Congress. “The IUSA Congress reflects a general trend of student behavior on campus,” she said. “Students nowadays tend to be more involved in a wide range of activities, and they also tend to be more invested in their academics. Sometimes it’s hard for them to make every single meeting for every single organization they’re a part of.”While he acknowledges the difficulties of finding time, Cheesman said the time commitment to IUSA isn’t horrible.Similarly, Stanton doesn’t consider other commitments an excuse for low participation, she said.“I would call students who are involved in IUSA to maintain a high quality of attendance and make IUSA a priority,” she said.Kohls, who after seeing low attendance numbers in November pushed to fill more seats, understands the importance of a full Congress, she said.“It’s pretty powerful to have a Congress that represents everyone on campus saying, ‘This is what we want,’” she said. “Student voices are always really powerful in terms of changing things on campus.”Attendance has since risen to 36 of 45 members present at the Nov. 13 general assembly.“I don’t want to call it a blessing in disguise, but it’s kind of a positive thing, kind of a weed-out,” Cheesman said of the lower attendance numbers. “But the people that are diligent were rewarded by keeping their seat and getting that experience.”Stanton said she sees some room for improvement next semester, while acknowledging the success of the last few months.“I think it would be a great thing to have a higher number of senators present at each meeting. I think it’s a goal the IUSA congress can work toward next semester,” Stanton said. “Even with the attendance, they have had enough members that they’ve been able to come up with good resolutions and had good discussions. “That’s something that IUSA can be proud of — that students are trying to make a better campus. It speaks to the quality of students we have at IU.”
(12/02/11 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Dec. 5 deadline for 2012-13 resident assistant and commUNITY educator applications is approaching.After attending an information session in October or November, applicants must now submit their applications online by Monday. Both RA and CUE applicants then sign up for U450: Foundations of Residential Leadership, a first-eight-week spring semester course.Individual and group interviews coincide with the course in February and March. Residential Programs and Services uses the application, course performance and interviews to determine final selection and placement of RAs and CUEs in April, according to its website. If accepted, CUEs and RAs receive a single room, an RPS meal plan at no cost and a 10-month stipend totaling $1,500.As applicants head into the next stage of the selection process, current RAs share their experiences.BRYN BUCHANANSophomore, first-year RA in Forest Quad 5APre-nursingThe RA class“The class is really one big interview,” she said. “RAs are supposed to be these happy, joyful people that get along with everyone. You form bonds with people, but in the back of your head, you’re questioning if you’re doing things right or if other people are doing things better than you.”Finding out“There were other people on my floor who applied,” she said. “When you find out, you have to make sure you keep it low key until you find out who else made it, or else it could get awkward.”Her experience so far “Overall, me personally, I’ve had the best experience that I could ever have imagined. It’s not necessarily like that for everybody.”The hardest partTime management is the biggest challenge, Buchanan said. Because resident issues could pop up at any time, RAs needs to plan ahead. She also said becoming an authority figure that enforces rules was also an adjustment, but it was necessary.Finding balance“Take time to do your work, but also make time to hang out with your old friends and your friends who you won’t see on a daily basis,” she said.What she’s learned“Skill-wise, it’s increased my social ability, but it’s also helped me with time management and learning to sit down and study,” she said. “There are times when every minute of the day is scheduled out so you can get everything done. I’ve probably become more open to more views and ideas, more diversity in my thinking just because I’m surrounded by so many people that are different than me.”Main advice“To actually get the job, get to know the heads of the residence centers,” she said. “The more people that you know and that enjoy you and your personality and your work, the better your chances are for getting the job.”ADAM KOUBAJunior, second-year RA in McNutt Quad’s Kelley LLC.Business, supply chain management and information and process managementThe workload“It’s not that bad. They say you work 40 hours per week, but some of those hours are just availability hours,” he said. “They always tell you that it’s a big time commitment, and at the beginning it can be a bit overwhelming, but there are always people to help you out, and there’s always time to just relax.”Why he applied“Coming into college, I wanted to be an RA. I wanted to be that mentor and help people out,” he said. “No one is going to lie and say that compensation package doesn’t hurt.”On interviewing Kouba said applicants need to do their homework, research what RPS is looking for in an ideal applicant and make sure applicants show how they can provide that.On the dual role of an RA “There are always the good times that you’re hanging out with your residents,” he said. “But there are also times that you have to be the enforcer where you have to bust people or have to deal with people lighting your bulletin boards on fire.”What he didn’t expect “You don’t expect to be as close to the other staff members as you get,” he said. “Now that I’m part of it, it’s basically like you’re in a frat with the other staff members.”Main advice “Throughout the whole process, be yourself,” he said. “Everyone else in the process is going to be really open. That’s a part of being an RA: accepting others. So, you do the same. Even if you don’t get the job, building those relationships and connections is putting yourself in a better place than if you didn’t apply at all.”TARI MORALESSenior RA on Teter Quad Elkin 1, CUE during her sophomore yearPre-physical therapyWhy she applied to be a CUEMorales said she has always appreciated diversity. “I knew I would have fun with the job, and I would learn a bunch from it.”CUE downside“I didn’t really know the staff as well as I wanted to last year,” she said. “Sometimes I didn’t feel like I was in the loop. You need to make yourself get in there to know what’s going on.”CUE advice“I’m sure that a lot of the CUES that are applying now are open-minded because you have to be to apply. Just keep your eyes, ears and hearts open,” she said. “You need to be quick on your feet, and take everything as a learning experience.”On switching to an RA“I wanted to be able to program around what residents wanted, and I felt like I could better know them if I became an RA on the floor,” she said.What was unexpected“There’s more confrontation in the RA position,” she said. “I’m OK with it now, but at first, it was challenging.”Favorite RA activity“I like going on walks and just hanging out in residents’ rooms,” she said. “You don’t even need to do much. Just let them know that you’re there and listening and knowing what they are going through at the moment.”Main advice“Patience is key,” she said. “Don’t feel overwhelmed with things going on with the job and school.”
(12/01/11 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At a school of more than 40,000 students, individual student input can get lost in the shuffle. The second commissioning of Vision of the Ideal College Environment Report will try to fix that.IU President Michael McRobbie commissioned the first VOICE Report during the 2007-08 school year to gather student input on the campus environment and how it can be improved. Four years later, IUSA re-commissioned the report because of campus changes, said Augustin Ruta, IUSA Chief of Internal Affairs and co-executive director of the VOICE committee. “The VOICE report is a compilation of student thought about where IU is now and how ideas can create a framework of how to make improvements,” Ruta said.The first VOICE Report helped create the Student Technology Center in the Indiana Memorial Union and bring WiFi to all campus residence centers.VOICE will focus on five areas: student collaboration, intellectual curiosity, facilities, campus safety and technology. It is does not cover all campus issues but will explore these areas in depth.The report will bring together campus leaders to research and write a hundred-plus page report. The presidents of the IU Student Foundation, the IU chapter of the Timmy Foundation, Union Board, Student Recreational Sports Association and Residence Halls Association will chair committees.Small groups of committee members from campus organizations are currently in selection process. Student committee members will be set by winter break and ready to begin work in the new semester.Though IUSA is facilitating the report’s creation, IUSA doesn’t intend to promote its own concerns, said Jarad Winget, IUSA chief of intergovernmental affairs and co-executive director of the VOICE committee. IUSA executives connect committee heads with campus resources necessary to complete the report.Through a system of student surveys, focus groups and meetings, VOICE committees will gather student input during the coming months. After the report’s expected completion late next semester, it will be given to IU administrators for examination and consideration.Max Shelton, president of the IU chapter of the Timmy Foundation, is heading the Intellectual Curiosity Committee, which will explore the ways to expand and improve educational opportunities. “I feel like a lot of people get frustrated sometimes that their voice isn’t getting heard,” Shelton said. “All the elements are there, but I don’t know if we had a mechanism to bring those voices together. That’s why this project seems fantastic because you have various campus leaders from all over campus working together.”
(11/16/11 4:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After more than a month of idea development, a graduate student team’s campus walk map took first place in the IU Student Association co-sponsored case competition.The campus walk map would serve students by incorporating information about walkways on campus, including shortcuts such as paths in the Arboretum or Dunn’s Woods. Much like the Google mapping event IUSA sponsored last month, the winning case competition idea would help students and campus visitors more easily navigate campus. One main difference, however, is that the technology would be on an IU server and not operated through an outside company, said Justin Peters, first place team winner and a graduate student in information science.Peters teamed with Paul Rohwer, a graduate student in computer science, for the competition. They estimated they spent a combined 40-50 hours of work on the project, from doing research to interviewing resources to building a working prototype of the walk map.The two found out they took first place Nov. 9, the same day a team co-led by Lindsay Thompson, a senior informatics major, learned it took second.“The big reason why we wanted to do it was because the case competition would set more strict deadlines for us on our capstone project,” Thompson said.The team developed a sustainability dashboard that would be accessible online and display metrics regarding the University’s resource use, such as water and electricity consumption. Their plan would also include a student dashboard, where students could log in to view their own personal consumption habits.Though Thompson and her teammates Sarah Wever and Polly Chang, both senior informatics majors, came in second, they will still pursue their idea, Thompson said, as their capstone project. The team will receive $750, which Thompson said she will apply toward replacing many things she lost in the Terra Trace apartments fire in October.IUSA co-sponsored the competition with University Information Technology Services and the Office of Sustainability. Open to both undergraduate and graduate student teams, the mission of the competition was to create “a tool, system, or process that aids students, facilities and staff in living and working sustainably on campus through sustainable computing,” according to the competition handbook.Teams addressed at least one of three content areas: reducing the environmental impact of IT at IU, leveraging IT for campus-wide sustainability gains and capturing and presenting metrics about campus sustainability.“We’re not only reducing our environmental impact by encouraging people to walk more, but we’re harnessing the power of the servers we already host,” Peters said of his team’s idea.A first round of competition, ending Oct. 10, narrowed the field to three teams. Those three teams were then responsible for developing prototypes of their ideas and giving a 15-minute presentation to the judging panel made up of eight members from organizations such as UITS, IUSA and the Office of Sustainability.Ben Calvin, senior and logistics director for the Office of Sustainability who served as a judge in the final round of judging, said all three of the finalists offered excellent proposals, but there were differences between them.“They were all pretty well developed and had done a great amount of background research,” Calvin said. “I think, in the end, it was about the final vision being not only very clear but also within reach.”Idea feasibility and practicality were aspects IUSA stressed from the start of the competition, and ultimately it was the first place team’s idea that proved strongest in future usability, Calvin said. Thompson and her teammates were initially disappointed by their second place finish, she said, but they have gotten a lot out of the competition. “I had never competed in a case competition before, and neither had my teammates, so it was an experience that we were really happy to have in our undergrad experience,” she said. “It’s an experience that I think all informatics (students) should do to really hone their skills. It forced us to compete, so it made our project a lot better.”Peters and Rohwer, who won $1,500 in prize money, are looking forward to the next step in the project, they said.“I hope it gets applied to not only IU Mobile, but that it gets used on a variety of applications, so it’s not just a one-trick pony,” Peters said.Current plans will have Peters and Rohwer’s work eventually integrated with the IU Mobile app, they said.Rohwer’s hope centers around the students who will one day use the application.“I hope that pedestrians on campus become first-class citizens instead of cars.”
(11/11/11 5:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When news broke that IU had lost one of its own in an apparent suicide in late September, IU Student Association members said they knew they could not stay silent.Through the production of a suicide awareness video, IUSA members said they hope to both educate and empower students who struggle with emotional issues, as well as their friends, IUSA Treasurer Kyle Straub said.“When I heard about the suicide, I knew we had to get a message out to students,” Straub said. “It saddened me that someone didn’t get the help that he needed.”The five-minute video, which will be filmed Saturday and released during the week before finals, will be split into two parts. The first will feature various campus leaders speaking on the topic of suicide awareness, warning signs and campus resources.One recommended campus resource is Counseling and Psychological Services, which Straub asked to review the script for the video.Nancy Stockton, director of CAPS, said the video is a wonderful idea that could be more effective than a typical print resource. “Research tells us that students value the opinion of other students and referral of other students, almost more than the opinions of any other sources,” Stockton said. “The more we can educate students through the help of fellow students, the better.”The second part of the video will focus on a student who has personally struggled with emotional difficulties and sought help: Straub.“The purpose of me coming in the second part is to put a face and a story to depression,” Straub said. “You don’t know who is affected by depression. People who are depressed don’t have to be those stereotypical people. It can happen to anyone. But you don’t have to live with depression forever.”Myths and a certain degree of stigma still surround the topic of suicide, Stockton said. She said she hopes this video will speak directly to affected students and those around them.“It’s powerful for a student to hear another student’s story, stepping forward and sharing his own difficulties,” Stockton said. “When he’s recognized as a student leader, it can take away some of that stigma.” Though filming is set for this weekend, the video won’t premiere until the week before final exams. “The reason that we’re doing it during finals week is because that is the first time freshmen have had finals and had to deal with that stress, and they are also reflecting on the past semester,” Straub said. College, in particular, can place extra stress on the typical young adult, Straub said.“Coming to college creates a lot of different challenges,” he said. “Some people are upset. Some people are angry. Some people are nervous. These feelings go away for most people, but for some, they don’t.” The college environment combined with developmental factors also plays a factor, Stockton said. “The video does a good job of delineating some of the stressors,” she said. “It’s an age period where people experience a first episode of a mood disorder. Impulsivity has been found to be implicated in suicide attempts. And what we’re learning about brain development, it’s a development stage when people are a little more impulsive. Alcohol and drug experimentation are probably a little higher in this age group, and they too are associated with suicide risk.”While exact details on where the video will be viewable are still in development, the message is clear.“It’s about making that commitment to yourself to get help and overcome the struggle,” Straub said. “Get help from someone. Just ask for help. There are so many people here on campus, and off, that are willing and ready to help.”
(11/10/11 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The slightly yellowing paper covers more than half her desk. Some edges are torn, others slightly folded. But the colors are clear.The livery stable is colored in a rosy pink. The cobbler is a bright yellow. The tin shop is a mossy green.A black stamp in the upper-right corner reads “Population 1900. Frankton, Madison Co. Ind. Sept. 1895.”This century-old map, in addition to some 10,000 others, has recently been made available for public viewing and downloading through a joint project between IU and Historical Information Gatherers.Digital versions of the colored maps are now accessible via the Indiana Spatial Data Portal, which is open to the general public.Before Historical Information Gatherers digitally scanned the maps, anyone seeking the maps would have needed to travel to Bloomington to access the full-color physical copies, said Lou Malcomb, head of government information and Kent Cooper services at the Herman B Wells Library.“We can now preserve the artifacts and make the information readily portable,” Malcomb said. “This will make things a hundred times more easy.”IU’s physical collection of maps was created by the Sanborn Map Company between 1883 and 1966, though the ISDP currently only contains digitized maps through the year 1923.IU’s maps, which cover more than 300 cites in Indiana, were originally used to determine insurance liability after fires. Now, they serve as glimpses into the rise of cities across the state.The maps show the layout of towns, including buildings, railroads, streets, piping and natural waterways. Such information is clearly useful for a historian but could also be used by genealogists, urban planners, environmental and civil engineers, antique enthusiasts and ethnographers, Malcomb said.“This is a lot of industrial American history in these maps,” Malcomb said. “It was a critical period of development in the industrialization of Indiana. It just was an interesting time period in general.”The digital archiving process was made possible by a grant from IndianaView, an association committed to promoting the sharing of public-domain image data, according to its website.Anna Radue, IU database and geographic information systems specialist, applied for the grant and, after receiving it, was able to process the thousands of files.The most difficult aspect, she said, was creating a geographical footprint for each file so it can be located on a searchable map, Radue said.IU’s network will power the ISDP system, and University Information Technology Services will maintain the database as needed.“By making the color imagery at no cost, it’s just part of a modern information infrastructure for the state,” Radue said. “People that are looking at historical documents will find this very interesting. We’ve just tried to make this information accessible for the general public.”While the paper maps have been available on campus for a number of years, students don’t always take advantage of this particular resource, Malcomb said.“I’m hoping that students will use them because there’s great historical value in these maps if they take their time to look over them,” she said.Now, perhaps, they will.
(11/09/11 4:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A new partnership between the Campus Recreational Sports and the IU Student Association could bring sustainability-minded exercise equipment to IU.Three stationary bicycles, retrofitted with electrical generators, will undergo a demo period next week as part of a larger plan to install the electricity-generating bikes at the Student Recreational Sports Center in the coming months.The bikes will convert a rider’s pedaling kinetic energy into electrical energy via the small generators. That converted energy will then be run back into a University building’s power grid through a standard power cord. The bikes, which ride like regular stationary bikes, will show students how many watts they generate during their exercise. This knowledge will hopefully translate into a greater appreciation of energy and its conservation, said Ellen Spurgeon, chief and director of sustainability for IUSA.“You are giving back,” she said. “You could work on a bike that takes energy, or you could ride a bike that gives back, in terms of sustainability. By having that knowledge, it will hopefully transition into other aspects of people’s lives.”The current IUSA administration campaigned on a platform of SRSC sustainability during the spring 2011 election and began working on the initiative during the summer. IUSA contacted RS early in the process and received help reviewing different vendors, gathering information from other schools with similar programs and setting goals for the program. RS and IUSA eventually chose Seattle-based Plug Out Fitness from other competitors due to its simple product design and relative cost effectiveness. RS had been watching the development of energy-harnessing exercise equipment and, when approached by IUSA, viewed this as a beneficial partnership, said Chris Arvin, program director of fitness and wellness for RS.“This technology represents a teachable moment,” Arvin said. “We feel like we can raise awareness through the novelty and cool factor of the product.”IUSA spent $3,946.41 on the three bikes, which retail for a few hundred dollars more than traditional stationary bikes. Approximately $80 was spent on three-kilowatt meters that will show riders their energy output.However, the energy generated by bike users won’t be significant enough to have a financial or energy-saving impact. Not yet, anyway.“The technology is not yet there to save money or to cut our costs significantly,” Arvin said. “The technology is not putting a significant amount of energy back into the power grid.” Typical bike users during a typical workout can generate anywhere from 50 to 150 watts, which is enough to power a cell phone for a week, according to Plug Out’s website. When applying the watt output to SRSC consumption, the converted energy is just a drop in the bucket, able to only power a few light bulbs at best, Arvin said. He is instead focused on receiving student feedback on the educational opportunity the bikes will facilitate.“We want to be able to give our regular users the opportunity to use the bikes and get their feedback,” Arvin said. “The idea of doing something for the environment really resonates with students. I anticipate that the bikes will be well-received.”RS will collect student feedback on the bikes on various days throughout the remainder of this semester and into early 2012.IUSA members and RS employees will be near the bikes, solicit feedback from users and explain to them the significance of their wattage output. “The bikes can’t educate people. It’s the tool,” Arvin said. “That’s one of the primary reasons why we want people there to educate the students.”For now, the demo will help raise awareness of the bikes’ arrival in Bloomington.The demo will take place from noon to 8 p.m. Nov. 18 in the lobby of the SRSC and will consist of teams of Little 500 bikers competing for the highest wattage output.“IU is such a bike-oriented school,” Spurgeon said. “The riders would tie in the educational component to the IU tradition of Little Five.”Assuming positive user feedback, expansion of the Plug Out program is a definite possibility, Arvin said.“We want to know it’s meaningful to students and that the technology meets our expectations,” he said. “If it’s yes to both of those, we will evaluate future expansion.”
(11/03/11 3:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the last few weeks, Union Board has operated without two of its top three executives.Senior Dan Haddad, former vice president of programming, resigned Oct. 3, and Erika Hall, vice president of membership, resigned on Oct. 10. Both vice presidents’ terms would have ended in December.“I’ve got some concerns about the future of Union Board if two exec members are resigning,” Haddad said. “The overall Union Board experience could be improved. I think they’re taking the right steps in doing that.”Though Hall — who declined an interview — resigned just one week after Haddad, it was by no means a joint separation, Haddad said.The resignations were fairly abnormal, given both their vice presidential status and when they resigned, but not necessarily completely unexpected, said Amanda Malkowski, Union Board public relations and marketing director.“I would say it was fairy abrupt but not incredibly shocking. I think you can infer from that what you may,” she said. “Based on how their investment seemed compared to other directors at that time, it wasn’t incredibly shocking. It was abrupt because it wasn’t discussed outright.”It is Union Board policy to open all vacated positions to the entire student body. The board (made up of student directors and adult advisors) decided not to fill the spots for the remaining months and will instead redistribute Haddad and Hall’s workloads among other directors.Malkowski has taken on many of Hall’s responsibilities, which included planning a biennial alumni reunion scheduled for this weekend. Union Board President Evan Farrell has taken over many of Haddad’s bookkeeping responsibilities.“We’re just trying to function as well as we can while lacking those two individuals,” Malkowski said. “It’s a shame to lose anyone out of any of us, especially someone in a vice president position. We have to continue on. “We still have programming to do. We still have committee members and assistant directors who look up to us and depend on us to provide organization.”Haddad said his departure was influenced by a number of factors and cited a recent stunting of personal growth while working for Union Board.“I think I’ve done all that I could as Union Board vice president, and it’s time to focus my time on other campus activities,” he said. “I’ve resigned to focus more on IUSA and my future career. It’s unfortunate that we had to step down due to surrounding circumstances.”While Haddad would not go into detail about specific circumstances, he said many of his concerns focused on both the interpersonal and financial aspects of Union Board.As vice president of programming, Haddad dealt mainly with budgetary affairs. He actualized events and helped make the Union Board budget as a whole. In this capacity, he worked with many committee directors, who are in charge of putting on events.“It might be time for Union Board to seriously reconsider the electing and instructing of their directors,” he said. “I’ve seen a lack of enthusiasm of the board itself.”Some directors are elected to Union Board through student elections, and sometimes, students who receive many votes from a friend group can be picked instead of dedicated students from within Union Board, Haddad said. This process, he added, could lead to directors that aren’t as well informed as they should be.Financially, the Union Board budget was cut from about $450,000 to this year’s $370,000.“It was not enough to significantly affect our programming, but we keep it in mind,” Malkowski said. “It’s brought up at almost every meeting that we need to be extra careful about our budget.”Mandatory student fee money funds Union Board, though the Committee for Fee Review can change the amount students pay toward the student organization.“I don’t feel like they‘ve been using their money as effectively, as evidenced by our Committee for Fee Review cuts,” Haddad said.When the committee announced the cuts in the spring, citing a lack of fund transparency, Farrell was initially frustrated.“It takes away our ability to do as many big events as we could have,” Farrell said. “The spirit of Union Board isn’t dependent on a budget number. We’ve just been kind of limited in the size of our events. I respect all the things that they told us and all the challenges they put before us.”Farrell, who worked with Haddad and Hall as his vice presidents, acknowledged the trio had their differences.The now-seniors all met their sophomore year and worked together in a directorial capacity their junior year, when Hall served as lectures director, Haddad as comedy director and Farrell as films director.“I guess it was the first time we had worked as extensively with each other,” Farrell said. “It was different to just see how people worked and operated and communicated on business terms. I think that they had frustration, personal frustration. There were times when they brought them to me, and I worked to address those frustrations, but there were things that I was unable to address.”Some of these frustrations stemmed from how he interacted with them, Farrell said.“They had some criticism of my working style with them,” he said. “I had to find ways to better work with them and directors. I’m one to not take criticism personally. There are adjustments, but there are always adjustments you have to make.”Malkowski, who said she considers both Haddad and Hall good personal friends, was also aware of the executives’ issues.“They were all very good friends when they were all directors on the 2010 board,” she said. “Once they got into their new roles, I’m not sure if they saw eye to eye all the time, but that was never made aware to us as directors. There was never any obvious conflict. We wouldn’t sit at meetings and think, ‘Oh boy, they’re fighting,’ or anything like that.”She described what she saw as a gradual decline in motivation in Haddad and Hall since the beginning of the calendar year but did not expect them to resign.“Yeah, it’s sad. I do agree that if you’re not going to invest your whole heart into a position like this, you should not be in that position,” she said. “In that sense, I am not as angry as I would be otherwise. I think it deserved someone who would give it what it needs, and they were not able to do that.”Farrell would not directly comment on Haddad or Hall’s performance this year, saying that instead of wondering why they resigned, he is focusing on moving forward. Although, he said the job is often trying and a constant learning experience.“I think that when you’re a director, you’re constantly learning things as you go,” he said. “Now that I’m almost done with the job, I see things more clearly. Once you’re done, you finally get it. No one is a perfect director. Just as there are ways I could improve as president, there were ways they could have improved as vice president.”Union Board OfficesPresident oversees meetings, represents Union Board at all Indiana Memorial Union executive meetings. Chairs the Policy Committee, which proposes changes to the union board constitution and bylaws and allocates Student Activities Tower office space.Vice president of programming serves as chief financial officer. Evaluates each programming committee to ensure they stay on budget. Chairs the Budgetary Affairs Committee, which reviews proposals for programs and sets operating budgets.Vice president of membership maintains alumni relations, evaluates recruitment and retention efforts of all union board committees and records union board meetings’ minutes.Public relations and marketing director promotes Union Board’s mission and sponsored programs.
(11/01/11 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the second time, IU has been passed up as a host for a U.S. presidential debate.The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the sites for the three presidential and one vice presidential debates, and IU did not make the cut.“It’s kind of, as you can assume, pretty devastating news,” said Riley Voss, Union Board director of debates and issues and one of the initiative’s leaders. “There was a lot of work that went into this, 12-plus months.”IU’s bid for a debate was coordinated by a coalition of campus organizations, including Union Board, the IU Student Association, the Political and Civic Engagement Program and Residence Halls Association. The Student Debate Coalition officially submitted the bid in April after months of preparation the began in fall 2010.The commission contacted IU President Michael McRobbie on Monday to inform him IU was not selected. McRobbie contacted the student leaders of the initiative.“A lot of us were shocked because we all kind of thought this would be our year,” IUSA President Justin Kingsolver said. “We heavily invested in the proposal.”He said the bid cost about $7,500 to campus organizations and offices.“This is something a lot of people have thrown themselves into,” he said. “I can’t see another school having such a strong application.”The schools selected by the commission to host presidential debates next fall were Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., and the University of Denver. The vice presidential debate will be at the Centre College in Danville, Ky. Washington University in St. Louis is the backup site.Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said selecting the host schools requires balancing the logistics and schedules involved with each site. “The reason they were chosen is not quite the reason the other schools weren’t,” Brown said. She said the commission looks for “four sites that are not only sound, but they work well together.”Kim DeVigil, director of news and public affairs for the University of Denver, said the campus is starting to prepare programs to pair with the debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 3, 2012.“It’s not just a one-day event but a full year of programs,” DeVigil said. “It’s really an exciting day for DU, but it’s also a great day for the city and county of Denver. Colorado has never hosted a presidential debate.”One of the requirements to be selected by the commission was to create additional academic programming around the debate. Voss said the Student Debate Coalition at IU worked with academic schools and departments on campus as well as other student groups to prepare for a full year of debate-centered courses and programs.These programs, which potentially would have included eight-week courses and special speakers, would focus on understanding presidential debates and the role they play in the larger presidential campaign, Political and Civic Engagement Program Director Michael Grossberg said. “For us, it was an opportunity to think creatively about how we might contribute to this larger project,” he said. “It’s still going to be a very consequential election, and we hope students get involved in it, since that’s a goal of the program.”Voss and Grossberg both said many of the programs will likely continue, even though IU lost the bid.“I think with the youth vote being so important, a lot of these programs should be in effect,” Voss said. “I don’t think we need to scrap this idea of turning IU into a politically active university.”He said decisions about the continuation of specific debate-themed programs negotiated with different offices and divisions on campus should begin coming out in the next week. He also said even without the debate, the University should try to get candidates on campus.“My goal in the last nine months has been getting this set so we can motivate and activate students politically,” Voss said. “Just because we don’t have a debate doesn’t mean we can’t have presidential candidates on campus and have programs.”IU first applied for a presidential debate in 2008. The initiative began with Jeff Fraser, then an IUSA freshman intern, and then-IUSA Vice President Andrew Lauck. While the University didn’t receive a debate, it was a finalist, which helped pave the way to being a finalist for the 2012 debate.“Luckily we had the bid from ’08, and a lot of the changes that were made were made in the four years since,” Voss said.From the get-go, the Student Debate Coalition has been a student-run group. The University worked with students and supported their efforts to become a host site, but the proposal and preparations were all made by students.“We would have been honored to host one of the presidential debates, and we congratulate the schools that were awarded a debate,” Mark Land, associate vice president for University communications, said in an email. “The IU team, led by the Student Debate Coalition, worked hard to put together a competitive proposal, and IU would have been an outstanding host, but sometimes things just don’t break your way.”Voss said he hopes to see IU apply for a 2016 debate and that he will leave documentation of the best way to go about doing so with the next committee.“I think we’re going to be more prepared for it next time than were this time,” Voss said. “I don’t think IU is going to stop applying until we get one.”
(10/28/11 1:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The School of Public Health at IU recently moved one step closer to existence.The Indiana Commission for Higher Education approved IU’s request to change the name of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation to the School of Public Health-Bloomington.“We’re moving forward and declaring publicly that everything we’ve done up to this point has been working toward public health,” said Kathleen Gilbert, professor and executive associate dean of HPER.The Oct. 14 approval by the ICHE, the highest point of approval at the state level, was the second-to-last major milestone in securing an official name change.“It was really important because at this point, from every layer, we’ve received approval to become a school of public health,” said Michael Reece, associate professor at HPER and chair of the HPER Academic Council. “The next step, and the most important step now that we’ve shored up support here at home, is to submit our application to the accreditation body.”That final step comes next summer when IU submits a change in category application to the Council on Education for Public Health, a national public health accrediting agency. If successful, that process will take HPER from having a public health program to official recognition as a School of Public Health.The renaming will affect more than the school’s title.While all currently offered majors will stay in place, new programs and majors are being phased in, which will help the school gain accreditation in years to come and expand student options, Reece said.“All of the current programs will stay in place,” Gilbert said. “All are strong programs that are very much needed. We stated very clearly from the beginning that all the pieces stay put.”Part of the transition includes new Ph.D. programs in epidemiology and environmental health, as well as four new majors under the Master of Public Health degree. Individual and family health will receive more emphasis.Despite the changes, the legacy of HPER won’t go away, Reece said. “It’s important to note that the faculty have made a commitment to maintain the traditions of HPER, so we want to be able to maintain a lot of the character and tradition we have,” Reece said. “It’s more than a name change. We will be working toward becoming a full-fledged school of public health. It’s going to be a totally new direction for us, but for those that have appreciated the traditions of the school of HPER over the years, it will still feel very much like home.”Faculty will reap a benefit from the switch to public health, as it will make them eligible for new funding opportunities and allow for new collaborative projects between content areas.Students, too, will benefit.“This has a huge impact for the face of who we are and so people have a clear understanding of what we are,” Gilbert said. “Just in terms of preparing student for a market, having an accurate description of who you are and what you can do, it better prepares students.”The school’s name change is one aspect of the IU Public Health Initiative, which is to address health issues across the state.“It expands what we can do for the state,” Gilbert said. “We have real public heath needs that aren’t being met because we don’t have a school of public health. This is hopefully one way we can engage people in taking care of themselves.”
(10/26/11 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Breaking with its usual policy of not funding student organizations that receive mandatory student fee money, the IU Student Association Student Organization Funding Board granted IUSA $10,000 for the Shine 4 Lauren concert in September.The IUSA Funding Board exists to provide monetary support to registered student organizations.It is the policy of Funding Board to “provide funding to eligible student organizations not provided institutional support through fee collection policies made available by the University,” according to organization guidelines.IUSA, however, receives a portion of the mandatory activity fee charged to students. The IUSA general fund receives $1.29 per student per semester.When planning the Shine 4 Lauren concert, IUSA collaborated with many student groups, including Union Board, the IU Student Foundation, the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Association, IU Dance Marathon and IU Student Television.After the organizations contributed as much as they could from their individual budgets, there was a lack of funds, said Kevin Courtney, IUSA vice president of administration. Group members first considered cost-cutting measures but determined that to maintain the vision of the event, costs were fairly inflexible.“Our next alternative to still keep it a student-led event was to include Funding Board,” Courtney said.Funding Board worked with the IU Student Life and Learning office and staff to suspend the rule about mandatory fee-funded organizations, Courtney said.“We made a loophole so we could fund the event since so many groups were affected,” Funding Board Co-Director Kristen Walker said. “The event had a significant effect within the student body, and a lot of people were interested in the case.”Walker and Co-Director Danny Schuster sought approval and advice from Student Organizations and Leadership Adviser Tracy Teel, who advises Funding Board, and Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Activities Steve Veldkamp before granting the exception.Aside from bypassing the funding rule, IUSA was treated like all other student groups — it had to prepare all the necessary application materials, present before Funding Board and have its proposal evaluated on a number of criteria.IUSA requested $33,550 for the event, although Funding Board can award student organizations a maximum of $10,000 per semester. IUSA received the full $10,000.“(That) was more than any one of our organizations could contribute,” Courtney said. “This was just another opportunity to make sure every student on campus had a little part in putting on the Shine 4 Lauren concert.”Of Funding Board’s approximated $380,000 yearly budget — which includes $2.21 per semester of each student’s mandatory activity fee — Funding Board has already given out $131,102 as of Monday.While five student organizations have received Funding Board’s $10,000 per semester maximum, including Raas Royalty dance competition and student theatre organization the University Players, the average amount this year is about $2,200, Schuster said.IUSA has spent $8,207.31 of the Funding Board contribution and has some remaining invoices to pay, IUSA Treasurer Kyle Straub said. Any remaining funds after those bills are paid will be sent back to Funding Board.Walker and Schuster described Funding Board as “semi-independent” from IUSA, as the two student organizations maintain separate operating budgets and personnel.However, as the names would suggest, they are unavoidably linked. They share an office — the Funding Board office is a small cubicle near the door of the larger IUSA office in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Student Activities Tower. They share overhead — IUSA pays the rent for itself and Funding Board and shares office supplies. They share leadership — the IUSA president approves non-voting Funding Board co-directors recommended by Funding Board members, and appoints four of the 11 voting board members.Schuster said overhead is easier when working with IUSA, and although the two are connected, they maintained impartiality in the recent IUSA funding.“We’ve always had a very good relationship with IUSA. We trust them, and they trust us,” Schuster said. “At the end of the day, we function separately, but we share overhead.”Courtney, while acknowledging the organizations’ connection, reinforced legitimacy of the request for funds.“It would be extremely difficult to think there were any false motives between IUSA and the IUSA Funding Board,” Courtney said. “I don’t think anybody would have that thought if they were able to sit in the meetings with the Spierer family like we did. It comes down to all these student groups being as compassionate as possible.”And Funding Board, he noted, had every right to deny IUSA money.“The students that were elected to Funding Board were elected to make those choices,” he said. “They could have easily given us less money or no money at all. They had to balance this event taking place with helping future organizations. These students were confident that they felt that allocating us money was well worth it.”As for student groups who don’t receive University-mandated funding, there is still much of the year’s funding left, Walker said.“It’s kind of first come, first served,” she said of applying for funding. “We do the best we can. There are very few groups we turn down.”
(10/21/11 2:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After half a decade of minor yearly changes, the IU Student Association bylaws are undergoing significant alterations.The new revisions to the governing documents of IUSA were inspired by a desire to re-empower the congressional branch and streamline the traditionally complicated and wordy document, said Riley Parr, a freshman political science major and IUSA intern who collaborated on the revisions.Parr is one of three interns for Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs Jarad Winget, who spearheaded efforts to edit, condense and update the bylaws this summer. Winget made initial changes to the old bylaws and sought input and modification requests from other members of the executive branch.IUSA Congress will spend a mandatory two weeks reviewing the bylaw changes once the document is finalized within the next month or so. “The sole purpose of this overhaul was to give power back to Congress, both in structure and in a business sense,” Winget said.Though the 27 independent changes aren’t sweeping, there are some significant new aspects, Winget said.Certain congressional responsibilities have been shifted from the executive branch’s vice president of Congress to the legislative branch’s speaker of the house. In years past, the vice president of Congress has usually handled congressional meetings and has also taken an active role in appointing chairpersons to congressional committees.“Right now, they’re very executive intensive,” IUSA President Justin Kingsolver said. “We’re trying to give more power back to the speaker of congress and committee chairs.”Such power comes in the form of independent running of congressional meetings and the ability to appoint committee heads, which, to a fair degree, has already been happening this semester, Winget said. The revisions to the bylaws simply put that policy in official writing.A second change restructures certain areas within IUSA.Congress, which previously included many small, specifically focused committees, now supports five main committees that are broader in nature.The elimination of the assistant director position within executive departments affected the executive branch’s structure.Previous versions of the IUSA bylaws specifically set forth an executive department structure, while the new bylaws will allow leeway for executives to create and adjust departments.The revised bylaws will also address the IUSA Funding Board, which gives funds to registered student organizations. However, this piece of the bylaws will not be heavily edited due to the semi-autonomous nature of Funding Board.The IUSA elections code, which outlines official IUSA election procedure, will also be packaged with the updated bylaws upon completion of its revisions.One of Parr’s main focuses this semester was fulfilling Winget’s requests concerning the bylaw revisions.This involved an initial review of the completed IUSA bylaws in early September. The review consisted of making grammatical and structural edits, as well as addressing inconsistencies or holes in the document. Parr was later tasked to create a presentation comparing the old and newly revised bylaws to be shown to the rest of the IUSA executive branch. Determining the impact of the bylaw changes, Parr said, depends on how much leverage students ascribe to the IUSA government in general.“I prefer to look at IUSA as a representative to the University,” Parr said. “If they’re giving more power to Congress instead of the executives, they might be better able to carry out the wishes of the students they represent.”
(10/19/11 2:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Student Association Congress convened as a whole for the second time this month Tuesday night with 33 of 47 members present.Presidential reportPresident Justin Kingsolver addressed Congress about progress made by executives on various initiatives.Kingsolver recently spoke to the Bloomington Faculty Council against a new proposal to increase the number of Friday classes for IU students in an effort to curb weekend drinking and better utilize classroom space. Kingsolver argued changing the academic calendar would not curb drinking and could in fact be detrimental to students who use Fridays to work, travel for interviews or do field work outside of the classroom. He encouraged Congress members to speak against the proposal to their professors and teachers and for Congress to draft a resolution on the topic. The president also announced a new initiative concerning student tuition. In 1988, IUSA supported a tuition hike to support building the Student Recreational Sports Center. Approximately $400,000 per year went toward the construction; however, everything has been paid off, and Kingsolver said he views the present time as a “small window” to get that money back for students.ResolutionsThe first resolution of the night proposed more effective marketing of the IU Safety Escort program at a maximum cost of $200. The Congressional Affairs Committee noted that current marketing is lacking and affirmed the resolution to explore more effective and realistic promotion of the program. It passed by a majority vote.The second resolution encouraged the IU Transportation Department and the City of Bloomington to look into the advantages of installing four digital walking signs at the intersection of North Jordan Avenue and Law Lane as a preventative measure. The University Affairs Committee stressed in the resolution the potentially unsafe nature of the intersection to both pedestrians and drivers. The resolution passed with 75 percent of Congress members in favor.Another resolution suggested adding a crosswalk at the exit of a path located 100 yards west North Jordan Avenue and Law Lane. According to the resolution, this is another potentially dangerous intersection for pedestrians due to low driver visibility. It passed with 67 percent of members in favor.The final resolution condemned the tuition increases that were implemented this summer for in-state students. The resolution called for the creation of a committee that would explore alternatives to future increases. Such a committee would create a report that would be sent to the Board of Trustees. Kingsolver pleaded to Congress, saying it would look best for all of Congress to vote unanimously on the matter, which it did.New BusinessTuesday’s meeting marked the first time Congress members officially used newly purchased electronic clickers. Working through some initial hiccups, Congress members were able to master the use of the clickers by the end of the evening.Sophomore Sidney Fletcher, an IDS columnist, filled the vacated position of grammarian. This position was formerly held by sophomore Derrick Wade, who resigned due to other personal commitments. After a few moments of silence, Fletcher volunteered for the position and was confirmed by majority hand count.
(10/13/11 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Despite a recent hacking of the IU Student Association’s website, plans for a revamped online site have been in the works since April 2011. The project is expected to be completed by Oct. 21, though it might run into late October. After the current administration entered office last spring, one of its goals was to update the website, which it began doing early this school year. IUSA operated a WordPress blog, but it didn’t quite meet the needs of the organization due to inflexibility and lack of customization, IUSA treasurer Kyle Straub said.As a result, IUSA’s agenda included plans to update its web presence.The problems began in September, when University Information Technology Services notified IUSA that its website had been infected with some combination of malware and viruses, and the website would need to be shut down to prevent potential harm in the future.“The problems with the web have expedited the process, (so we will) make sure to get the website up and running as soon as possible,” said Jarad Winget, IUSA chief of intergovernmental affairs.Winget said UITS told him the attacks against the website were not directed solely at IUSA, but rather at a number of IU domain sites. In fact, since many WordPress sites were disrupted by the bugging, he speculates an automated program, not a person, most likely bugged the site. “It wasn’t so much a direct attack as it was the danger of being on the Internet,” said Keith Weisberg, junior and IUSA CIO. “It was kind of bad luck, and it just happened to IUSA.”The website, http://iusa.indiana.edu/, originally displayed an alert saying it had been hacked, though it now reads, “Currently under maintenance.” This placeholder page will stay until the new website launch tentatively set for Oct. 21.IUSA recruited campus talent to aid in the building of its website. Weisberg announced IUSA’s plans to redesign its website to his informatics capstone group, which included senior informatics major Lindsay Hicks. Though she said she had never visited the old IUSA blog, she saw the website redesign as a way to boost her experience and show off her creativity, so she accepted the challenge. Her main goal is to improve website usability and increase IUSA’s web presence, she said.IUSA formerly used only the WordPress blog but will now have a blog and a website. The website will contain more static reference content, such as contact information and history, while the easy-to-use blog will be updated more regularly with news and events, which will appear on the website’s homepage.Hicks will build that website from scratch, incorporating old content from the blog with a new design. The new site will be modeled to look like the official IU-Bloomington homepage with familiar cream and crimson tones. IUSA members want to make its new site look like it belongs to the IU system of web pages, Straub said.Unlike the old IUSA website, which Hicks noted contained dead links and under-utilized features, the new site will have an easy-to-use navigational toolbar and active links. The blog will still operate on WordPress but will be given more security than in the past, when there was virtually none.“We’ll put on a whole new world of security to our new blog,” Weisberg said. “We won’t have to worry about a random occurrence.”IUSA executives met with Hicks on Sunday to give her final necessary content and guidelines for the website. She will now plug the new information into a design she’s had in place for weeks. “It’s just making sure I get them what they want and how they want it,” Hicks said.
(10/13/11 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Since it assumed office in April, the current Big Six IU Student Association administration has spent approximately 30 percent of its announced $91,400 operating budget.Newly updated figures indicate IUSA spent $15,036.45 between Sept. 5 and Oct. 7 on various platform initiatives, as well as everyday operational costs.IUSA helped to finance parts of September’s Shine 4 Lauren event, including staging and sound equipment. To help defray the costs, IUSA applied for and received $10,000 from the IUSA Funding Board. While the exact amount of the costs are yet to be determined, the money has already been applied to the updated budget, thus reducing the amount spent to about $5,000. PlatformsThe most expensive item in this budget installment was a $3,946.41 expenditure on three PlugOut Cycle exercise bikes, which are part of the SRSC sustainability platform. Monitors that will display the amount of electricity generated by humans powering the bikes came in at just less than $80.A little more than $100 was spent to cover web hosting and domain name registration costs for Hoosier Youth Advocacy, a student-led organization that is aiding IUSA in its efforts to secure medical amnesty and tax-free textbooks on a statewide level. Other InitiativesTwo bike repair stations, at a total cost of $2,461, were purchased for students to be able to make quick fixes to their bikes when out and about on campus. Just less than $2,500 was spent on the blue ribbons given out at the Shine 4 Lauren event in September. CongressThe IUSA Congress will soon be using 62 clickers to increase voting efficiency, at a cost of $1,984.Operational CostsThe largest operational cost is rent — $2,397 — for the IUSA offices housed in the Indiana Memorial Union. This will be a one-time charge.Other costs in this category, which range from Internet access to printer ink to “E” parking passes, total $1,273.85.LeadershipUnder the umbrella of “special events,” IUSA has spent $291.50. This includes supplies for a “Sex, Drugs, & Rock n’ Roll” event on campus and food purchases for various functions.
(10/11/11 1:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU may soon become one of the most well-mapped universities in the country.That’s the goal of a new partnership between the IU Student Association, Google and students.One of the current IUSA administration’s campaign platforms was a pledge to develop an application for campus mapping. One of Google’s missions, with particular regard to its Map Maker system, is to help communities across the globe better map the places most important to them.“It was a natural fit,” junior and IUSA CIO Keith Weisberg said. “It was great that Google wants to get the world mapped up as much as they do.”The potential improvements made to Google Maps during the two-day “MapUp” event, which began Monday and ends today, would most help new students and campus visitors to navigate when walking around campus.Though Google will facilitate the campus mapping, students will power it.“We’re especially excited about university student mapping because they have the tech savviness to be comfortable working with computers,” said Adam Lasnik, program manager for Google Map Maker and an IU alumnus. “They have great knowledge about their university communities, and students often have a flexible schedule so they have flexibility to map what they care about.”Work sessions Monday and today are helping flesh out the already existing map of the IU campus on Google Maps.Students can add buildings that aren’t on current maps or modify existing structures. They can also insert pathways that cut directly across campus — such as those in the Arboretum or Dunn Forest— expanding current maps that only recognize vehicular roadways. Google Maps users will be able to use these new listings to map their walks on campus.Interested students are encouraged to participate in the sessions where they will be split into work groups to map out small areas of campus. Participants will learn how to use Google’s Map Maker program, then apply their knowledge of campus to make improvements to Google Maps.No major technological experience is necessary, Weisberg said. All a student needs is a laptop. “Some buildings aren’t even on there,” said Sara Wimmer, senior and Google campus ambassador. “If you don’t know where a building is, good luck. We’re trying to make it easier to navigate the campus.”This partnership with Google during the summer after Weisberg interned at company headquarters in California. After discussing IUSA’s mapping initiative with IUSA’s Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs Jarad Winget, Weisberg offered to approach Google to gauge its interest in helping IUSA.“I was in the unique position of connecting people who had the same goal,” Weisberg said. Google bit at the opportunity.IU is one among few universities to receive a visit from Google to help map the campus, Lasnik said. “We are only going to a limited number of universities,” Lasnik said. “IU is one of the select universities that the Google team is visiting. I’m particularly excited because this is my graduate school alma mater, and it’s my first time coming back.” Google Map Maker is available for any Google account holder to use, though the program is relatively new — it didn’t open to United States users until April 19. The two-day mapping event serves as a way to organize students and show them what is possible with the program.“The worldwide community is really strong. The U.S. community is still new and growing,” Lasnik said. “We see mapping on Map Maker as not just an activity or as a tool, but as a set of communities. We are looking forward to bringing IU students into that community and map what they care about.”
(10/06/11 3:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a late start and minor construction holdups, new bus platforms and shelters near Memorial Stadium are nearly ready for use.Work slated to begin in May 2011 was not underway until July, pushing the completion date past the beginning of the new school year and into late September. Now, Oct. 17 is the new start of operations. “It would have been ideal to have it all done at the beginning of the school year, but it didn’t,” said Perry Maull, operations manager for IU’s Campus Bus Service. “A few more weeks was nothing.”A specialized bidding process and other requirements came with the use of federal grant money for the project, which delayed the start to mid-summer, IU Landscape Architect Mia Williams said.Four platforms, or raised sidewalk areas, have been constructed on the west edge of the white parking lot of Memorial Stadium. Two of the platforms will welcome bus riders as they arrive, and the others house two bus shelters where students will wait for incoming buses.The new shelters, which are much bigger than current shelters on campus, include translucent roofs, interior light fixtures and display cases. Shelter stonework was given a special chemical coating to make graffiti easier to clean up.“These shelters will look like nothing else on campus,” Maull said. “We’re looking for replacing the wooden ones on campus. They’ve seen better days. This is a design for the future.”With new infrastructure comes a new configuration that consolidates old multiple-stadium stops, with both A and X buses meeting at the new platforms.“Each bus can independently access the platform and pull away without bothering the other buses that are there already,” Maull said.Buses will now circulate uniformly, entering the parking lot from 17th Street, entering at Gate 6, looping to the platforms and exiting back onto 17th Street. “I’m hoping there will be less hang-ups in traffic,” Maull said. “We’ll have to see. Plans are one thing, but what happens on the ground is another.”The completion date moved from late September to mid-October after later-than-expected delivery of various construction components.“There are too many different components to estimate exactly when it’ll be done,” Maull said. “But now we’re close enough to use Oct. 17 as a start of operations.”Construction on the platforms and shelters is now complete. The process of telling the contractors what adjustments or changes to make has begun, Williams said. These small alterations will be completed before the new target date.“We’re pretty close to having it ready,” Maull said. “It’s just these last few pieces to get done. We can’t start using the platforms and shelters until all the construction is complete.”
(10/06/11 3:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Student Association Congress met Tuesday with 28 of 53 members present.Presidential remarksIUSA President Justin Kingsolver addressed Congress to express sadness regarding recent student tragedies. He announced plans to form a “culture of care” committee, comprised of leaders from across campus, which would address issues of inclusion and student response to peers’ needs.IUSA plans to promote a psychological awareness week, scheduled for Nov. 14 to 19, that would equip students with knowledge on the various resources IU provides to those in need of psychological services.ResolutionsCongress’s first resolution proposed that all IU professors provide class syllabi to students prior to enrollment. This would reduce the number of add/drops, which are often due to exam and midterm schedule conflicts, according to the resolution. It passed by a unanimous 27-0 vote, though there was debate on the feasibility of the resolution’s implementation and enforcement. Congress’s wishes will be passed on to Office of the Provost for further consideration, after which they may or may not be implemented. Another resolution, passed unanimously 27-0, promoted the removal of certain “unfair” University fees regarding class scheduling. “Unfair” fees include those given to students who add classes within their credit limit, students who add a class after dropping a wait-listed class and students who are forced to pay a fee due to University changes to classes.The final resolution supported the creation of laminated posters promoting conservation. It was passed by a vote of 26-1 after a few members debated the use of non-recyclable products to promote recycling. Congress allocated $395 for 500 half-sheet advertisements that will be placed across campus.
(09/30/11 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More students are signed up for the inaugural Project Green Challenge at IU than from any other university in the country.Approximately 100 IU students have already pledged to take the 30-day challenge, with hopes to engage and educate high school and collegiate students on leading a green lifestyle through small changes.Judi Shils, founder and director of Teens Turning Green, a California-based nonprofit organization, conceived the challenge idea in the spring. In designing the competition, Shils recruited environmentally conscious campus leaders from across the country.Ellen Spurgeon, chief and director of sustainability for the IU Student Association, helped bring the challenge to IU. She serves as a campus liaison and is one of 12 Project Green Challenge interns.“I was skeptical at first if IU had the demographic for it,” Spurgeon said of the perceived lack of support for sustainable efforts at IU. “It’s different in San Francisco. Here, it’s a select group. I just didn’t know how worthwhile it would be.”After assessing potential benefits and receiving a few convincing calls, Spurgeon threw herself into the planning of the challenge. She developed an outreach plan targeted at various campus organizations, such as Union Board and the Student Sustainability Council.Those who take the challenge, which occurs Oct. 1-30, will receive a daily email containing a challenge to complete that day. These challenges were written by students, eco-minded companies and nonprofits and will range in topic from food to fashion to fitness.Emails will also include video messages from celebrity spokespeople and green authorities and supporters, as well as resources to help participants complete each task.Challenges will prompt participants to use social media to share photos, videos and experiences with others across the country and internationally. They will ask students to make a small change in their daily lives that could have a larger impact.“Our goals are trying to demonstrate what can change very easily and help students see change happen and become green advocates on their own campus,” Shils said. “My ulterior motive is to show kids how really powerful they are. If they can work together — cross schools, cross states — we will have critical mass, and the change will happen.”Each challenge has three levels of difficulty: green, greener and greenest. More involved and creative responses will increase students’ chances of winning a variety of daily prizes.Many sponsors, such as Whole Foods and The Container Store, are helping Teens Turning Green offer the daily challenge prizes. The competition offers larger prizes, such as gift cards, food and supplies for the top-10 student contributors and a grand prize that includes a $5,000 college scholarship, makeover and eco dorm room transformation. The most successful school will also receive a yet-undetermined reward, Spurgeon said.Noting the importance and achievability of the challenge, Shils encourages all students to consider the initiative.“Take a dive. You have nothing to lose,” she said. “It’s a great way to create habits and actions that will stay with you for the rest of your life. And there are cool prizes.”With just one day left until the start of the competition after months of dedication and hard work, both Spurgeon and Shils have high expectations for the challenge.“I want students to walk away with a feeling of accomplishment,” Spurgeon said. “It is easy to implement these steps and realize it is easy to take part in the green movement and that there is a big community for this, even if at IU it doesn’t feel like that.”Shils complimented IU’s participation in the challenge thus far.“Ellen was one of the most spirited responses we’ve had,” she said. “I’ve been really inspired and amazed by her energy. To see kids this powerful, this committed, this passionate — that’s the goal. That power of one is living proof on your campus. I applaud all of you.”
(09/29/11 1:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A new competition is tapping the knowledge and ingenuity of IU students.The IU Student Association, co-sponsored by University Information Technology Services and the IU Office of Sustainability, has launched a campus-wide contest to make IU’s computing more sustainable.Students will be challenged to create “a tool, system, or process that aids students, facilities and staff in living and working sustainability on campus through sustainable computing,” according to the competition handbook.By doing so, more resources could be saved, lessening waste and directing energy toward other academic initiatives, thus benefiting IU, according to the handbook.“IUSA is supported by the student body. IU is about education. Why not invest in an educational opportunity to solve a campus sustainability problem?” said Ellen Spurgeon, chief and director of sustainability for IUSA. She will lead IUSA’s involvement in the competition.Initially an idea of the reviveIU platform during campaign season last spring, the Big Six administration was interested in implementing a program, created by Netherlands-based company Ecofont, on campus for a number of reasons — namely price and a potential for sustainability benefits. The program was offered to IU at a significantly reduced cost and promised to save IU up to 25 percent on ink and toner, Spurgeon said. However, after looking into the program this summer, IUSA and UITS discovered the program would work only on the Windows operating system and print only Microsoft Word documents — which is only a small portion of printing on campus.From that disappointment came the case competition, which IUSA members hope will carry on the sustainability spirit of the initial plan. The organization will redirect funds budgeted for the Ecofont initiative and apply them toward rewards for successful groups. The case competition calls on both undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to work in groups of two to five to create a solution addressing at least one of three related areas under the umbrella of sustainable computing.The first category concerns reducing the environmental impact of IT at IU. This primarily entails lessening print and paper use. Considering IU goes through more than 160 million sheets of paper yearly, according to the competition’s press release, a reduction could lead to both campus and environmental waste reduction.A second topic, leveraging IT for campus-wide sustainability gains, would aim for increased sustainability using infrastructure already in place. A potential project, for example, could focus on reducing campus computer energy consumption. The last area covers capturing and presenting metrics about campus sustainability. Projects that address this issue would construct methods to show students on campus how much energy they are using. A display that monitors electric, water and paper usage installed in school buildings, for example, would visually remind students of their consumption and perhaps motivate them to change their ways, according to the handbook. Such monitoring would also help IU better manage its resources.Regardless of which category the team chooses to address, technology will play a substantial role. UITS, the co-sponsor, will act as a resource to teams during the competition and help implement the winning idea after the competition concludes.Susan Coleman Morse, project manager with the UITS Communication Office, said she helped IUSA and Office of Sustainability construct the competition.“When Ellen proposed this, we saw it as a great way to continue the partnership between UITS and student leadership,” Morse said.UITS will field groups’ questions regarding IU’s infrastructure and resources and help assess the likelihood of the proposal’s implementation.“UITS is looking forward to partnering with IUSA and the sustainable IT working group to leverage technology that will support sustainable practices at IU,” Morse said.By being partners with UITS and the Office of Sustainability, IUSA will ensure the winning idea becomes a reality — despite its one-year term, Spurgeon said.Coleman Morse, Spurgeon and Bill Brown, IU director of sustainability, spoke at Monday’s callout meeting, where approximately 10 groups indicated interest in participating. The callout marked the first day of the first round, which runs until Oct. 10.The competitors have until then to develop a video and paper that pitches their product ideas and provides a rough game plan for creating the product.A judging panel made up of IU staff, faculty and IUSA members will then narrow the field to three teams, each of which will receive $500. They will base their decisions on feasibility of implementation and general quality of the product, Spurgeon said.Round two will take place from Oct. 13 to Nov. 7, during which time groups will gather student surveys, develop prototypes and create an implementation timeline. They will also be required to make a presentation and answer questions from the judging panel. The case competition will conclude Nov. 11 with an awards ceremony, where the winners will take home $1,500 and the ability to implement their idea. Second place will receive $750.Spurgeon has helped bring the competition from planning stages made in the spring to full implementation, she said. Spurgeon also said she is not worried about the success of the competition — she has faith in the ability of IU students, she said.“We’re pretty confident with the groups we’ve been reaching out to,” she said. “We expect a great product out of this. We wouldn’t be rewarding a product that we didn’t think is quality.”