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(12/08/09 5:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU administrators said tuition will not be raised this year or next school year after the state cuts about $150 million in funding from Indiana’s seven public universities.But, administrators said they don’t know yet how much money IU will receive and what they will do to make up for the loss. Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education will work with University administrators to decide how the cuts will be allocated.Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels gave the commission 30 days when he announced the cuts Dec. 4.IU board of trustees President William Cast said the University has to look at its reserves and look at what cuts it can make without cutting into the heart of the University.As funding from the state has decreased from about 80 percent to about 22 percent during the past 40 years, tuition has filled the gap, he said.“The times we live in, more and more, the individual is expected to foot more of the bill if they can afford it,” Cast said.IU has planned several scenarios about what to do with funding cuts, said IU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Neil Theobald.He said it’s impossible to know which of those scenarios will be used until the extent of the loss is known. He said the cuts will come from as far away from the classroom and the research laboratory as possible.The $150 million cut is 6 percent of what the state was suppose to give its universities during this year and next. But the universities have already spent a quarter of that, so it’s more like a 10 percent cut of what’s left, and it’s “very significant,” Theobald said. The University has slowed hiring and frozen salaries during the past year to deal with consequences of a troubled economy. Tuition was raised this summer because IU received about the same amount of money from the government as it did during the past two years despite increases in operating costs. In the past year, about 50 positions at IU have been eliminated through a University hiring slowdown, and 550 more students than last year are enrolled, Theobald said.“There’s a tremendous gain in efficiency here at IU, and we need to continue that,” Theobald said.Because funding for empty positions is cut in half – making them unfillable – staff members are now stretched too thin, said Peter Kaczmarczyk, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 4730.Kaczmarczyk said he’s not worried about the uncertain funding situation because the money amount is relatively small compared to what the staff has had to endure. But he said the staff members couldn’t continue to carry the burden, and he looks forward to speaking to the administration about the situation.In a statement released Dec. 4, IU President Michael McRobbie said he hoped the funding decreases would be made fairly among the universities; however, it’s uncertain how much of a decrease IU will have to deal with.He said he would like the Commission for Higher Education to take into account that IU and Purdue University have been pressured to reduce trustee-approved tuition hikes. After state Sen. Luke Kenley, chairman of the state budget committee, threatened to block approval of building projects at the two universities, IU offered in-state students with a B average a $300 tuition credit.Cast said it would be good if the commission could take into account graduation rates, because the commission has been trying to come up with incentives to graduate on time and to stay and work in Indiana.
(11/19/09 5:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two months after its formation by Bloomington Provost Karen Hanson, a safety task force has called for the creation of a newer and safer type of crosswalk.The task force, which was formed Sept. 18 after student Peter Duong was hit and killed by a car on Fee Lane earlier that month, made five main recommendations to Hanson. One of the recommendations formed by the task force, which is made up of students, faculty, staff and members of the Bloomington community, is to test two crosswalks with “safe zones” on Fee Lane and to install them at several other locations if they improve traffic safety. If a pedestrian walks into the street before a car enters the “safety zone,” the pedestrian has the right-of-way, according to the recommendations. Indiana code on whether a car or pedestrian has the right-of-way at “midblock” crosswalks, which connect sidewalks between traffic lights, is unclear, said Kurt Zorn, co-chair of the task force. Confusion is increased because some students come from states where laws are different. The recommended crosswalks are designed to clear up uncertainty and to be easy to explain. The task force members from the IU Police Department and Bloomington Police Department were comfortable with the idea, Zorn said.The committee discussed how the markings would alert drivers more than other crosswalks would and make drivers feel as if the road is narrower, said Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith.“It’s a unique kind of marking, so hopefully it gets driver’s attention,“ Goldsmith said. Another recommendation calls for increased education and awareness on traffic safety, including more education for drivers, bikers and walkers through literature and programs focused on new students.“The education part is focused on everybody,” Goldsmith said. He said that everyone needs to be aware of their responsibility as pedestrians, drivers and riders in a crowded environment.Zorn said he wants to remind people of the rules.“Everyone needs to pay attention to the ‘rules of the road’ so to speak,” he said.To keep the message in the minds of students and staffs, the report recommends an ongoing media campaign. The report also recommends changing some bus stops, including extending the right turn lane in front of the Herman B Wells Library 100 feet to the west so stopped buses don’t block the right turn lane. It also suggests adding a left turn arrow for those turning onto Fee Lane from the eastbound lane on 10th Street.The last two recommendations are to hire an engineer to survey the pedestrian, biker and vehicle traffic throughout campus and to create a standing committee or advisory body to keep track of traffic safety.Some of the recommendations came from task force members. Others came from a suggestion e-mail account Hanson set up shortly after Duong’s accident, Zorn said.“Most of us read through the 500 or so suggestions that came through and there were some common themes,” Zorn said.Recommendations from the task force1 Have an education program at the beginning of each semester2 Create crosswalks with “safe zones” where pedestrians have the right-of-way and implement two trial crosswalks on Fee Lane3 Moving or eliminating campus and city bus stops4 Having a traffic engineer study bicycle and traffic patterns5 Forming a committee or board for continuous oversight of campus traffic safety issuesTo see the task force’s complete recommendations, members and meeting minutes, go to www.iub.edu/provost/traffic.
(10/29/09 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ballantine Hall was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a fire alarm was pulled in the building.Hundreds of students waited outside the building for about 30 minutes while firefighters searched for a source of the smoke in the building. A Ballantine staff member pulled the alarm on the seventh floor after smelling smoke on the sixth floor, said Bloomington Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Kerr said. Firefighters never found a source of the smoke, Kerr said.Jessica Jackson said she had just started her criminal justice class on the ground floor when the alarm sounded and her teacher told the class to evacuate the building but not to go home. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said about what she thought when the alarm went off. “Is there a real fire, or is it just a drill?”Freshman Felicia Adamson said the alarm went off during her class on the third floor. She said she’d heard about the smoke on the sixth floor and was surprised.“They’ve always been drills,” she said.
(10/22/09 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Memorial Union will allow students to remain in the building 24/7 starting today. The Union Board voted Oct. 15 to keep parts of the Union open to students, as well as hotel guests, for 24 hours. From 2 to 6 a.m., students with a valid university ID will be allowed to enter or remain in the Union.With the new Student Technology Center computer lab, members of the Union Board thought students should be allowed to use the Union and its resources all night, said Union Board President Andrew Dahlen. It’s a place for students to study, he said.The Herman B Wells library’s 24 hours Information Commons is popular with students, Dahlen said, so Union Board thought it would be good to have another location to utilize.“It’s definitely a great benefit to students,” Dahlen said.The idea came from IU’s Vision of the Ideal College Environment report, as well as from internal forums Union Board conducted last year.The purpose of the new policy is for the students to use the new Student Technology Center, said IMU Building Manager Andy Smriga.The policy that students must have a valid IU ID has been implemented because in the past unwanted visitors have tried to stay the night, he said. The policy also states that in 12 months, the 24-hour rule should be reviewed to determine if there are safety issues or a negative impact.Smriga said that there is always a building manager roaming the IMU at night, so if a student feels unsafe, they can either find him or her or go to the front desk, who will radio. The building manager is trained in first aid and can escort students to their cars.“We just want to make this feel like home for students late at night,” Smriga said.
(10/12/09 4:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the past, when cars and people collided, it was the roads, lights and speed limits that had to change. Now, officials say, campus is difficult to change, and the best way to reduce accidents is to change attitudes.Professors, students and staff have had serious and not-so-serious accidents, close calls and even deaths. On Sept. 9, sophomore Peter Duong died crossing Fee Lane. Since then, at least five people have reported being hit by a vehicle on campus. The attitude shift and road changes might not come easily.Bloomington isn’t as progressive as it thinks it is, especially when it comes to traffic issues, said Jim Rosenbarger of Bloomington’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Commission. Rosenbarger is concerned about 10th Street and the bypass, which he said is built like a highway.“IU doesn’t support a pedestrian-friendly environment,” Rosenbarger said. “They still seem to be stuck in the 1960s and ’70s.”Traffic problems near campus became painfully obvious in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Distinguished Professor Emeritus of history Ssu-Yu Teng died in April 1988, months after being hit by a car on Atwater. After Teng’s death, history lecturer Lana Ruegamer collected more than 2,500 names on a petition for more safety measures on the street. On December 30, 1988, an 8-year-old was also hit on Atwater and critically injured.The Bloomington City Council then lowered the speed limit on the street from 30 to 25. But the council said it couldn’t legally justify adding traffic lights on the street because not enough people crossed it every day. Four years later, another pedestrian was hit.Mathematics Professor Emeritus Max Zorn died March 9, 1993, three months after being hit while crossing Third Street. This finally led to the City Council approving traffic signals.Past solutionsTo try to remedy traffic issues in years past, IU has closed off the “heart of campus.” An A-pass is required to drive during the day down Seventh Street to the IU Auditorium, Ballantine Hall and other buildings. IU Parking Operations issued 5,893 A-passes in the fall of 2009, said parking manager Doug Porter. But, Hanson said, the heart of the campus has expanded. Having academic buildings on 10th Street and 17th Street means students, faculty and staff must dodge traffic on busy streets to get to classes, residence halls and labs.It would be hard to close 10th and Seventh streets, but the city has been discussing different options to make 10th Street safer, such as making it a one-way.As IU has expanded, campus parking has made the traffic issue tougher. According to preliminary drafts of IU’s master plan, parking on campus near the academic buildings fills up during the day, but parking near the stadium does not.In the early 1990s, IU professor George Smerk wrote a transportation fee/bus pass plan, which he said he hoped would keep students’ cars away from campus.Smerk said he wanted the fee to allow for more bike racks on campus, traffic signals at major crossings and a Capital Replenishment Program for parking operations, according to a 1992, Indiana Daily Student article.“The idea behind the pass is to keep people from bringing their cars to the main campus – a very small area that won’t change,” said Smerk in the article.Putting together a task forceAfter Duong’s death, Karen Hanson, provost and executive vice president of IU, assembled a 19-member “Bloomington Campus Safety Task Force,” co-chaired by Paul Sullivan, acting vice president for administration, and Kurt Zorn (unrelated to Max Zorn), a School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor and associate vice provost for undergraduate education.Task force members include IU faculty, staff, representatives from the Bloomington community and two students.“Basically the charge from Provost Hanson was to look at the issue of traffic and of course pedestrian safety on the Bloomington campus, with specific attention being paid to the Fee Lane area, but not exclusively to Fee Lane,” Kurt Zorn said.Kurt Zorn said he thought a solution to the traffic problem would be more crosswalks, until he learned pedestrians don’t have the right-of-way at crosswalks that cut through streets – the ones that aren’t at intersections – unless there is a stop sign or signal light.Ideas have been discussed by the task force, but a big part of the solution should be education and a change of attitude, he said.“The thing that gets lost on people, for the size of the campus and the number of people, students, faculty, staff that traverse the campus regularly, we have a remarkable safety record,” he said. “Now that’s not all that satisfactory when you have a death on Fee Lane.”He said looking both ways and being cautious before crossing a street, like many were taught as children, is useful but often unheeded. Everyone needs to be more careful, he said.“It’d be nice if everyone just slowed down a little bit, paid attention,” he said.Sophomore Scott Williamson, a task force member and IU Student Association director of government relations, agreed.“An important part of this is changing our attitudes so people are more aware of the rules about pedestrians and crosswalks in Indiana and the safest way to be a pedestrian,” Williamson said.
(09/02/09 4:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IUB Libraries removed a promotional video from YouTube after concern it promoted drinking.The four-minute video showed students in the Herman B Wells Library bouncing ping-pong balls off walls, desks, shelves and down stairs and landing them into a red plastic cup. The video also featured several librarians.The librarians in the video didn’t see the final product until it was put online, said Eric Bartheld, director of communications for IUB Libraries. He said he edited them into the video.Some viewers associated the ping-pong shots with a drinking game, Bartheld said. The libraries do not endorse inappropriate behavior, he said.The appeal of the video relied on the extraordinary execution of the ping-pong shots, Bartheld said. He insisted the video was not doctored.“We believe the video to be very entertaining,” Bartheld said. “But, it proved in part to be a bit controversial. We decided to do the right thing and remove it from the site.”The video was up for about four days before it was taken down Aug. 28. The idea was given to the libraries from Kelley School of Business students for a marketing class. Their assignment was to find a way to market the libraries’ services to students.The Indiana Daily Student was unable to determine which class and which students were involved.The video had two purposes, Bartheld said. One goal was to increase awareness of library services. The second was to promote the library’s game night on Aug. 27, which was designed to introduce freshmen to the libraries’ services in a fun way. The event, co-sponsored by University Information Technology Services, Best Buy and the Library Commons Cafe, attracted 500 students. The motivation behind the video was to show the libraries’ services in an entertaining way, Bartheld said. He said it’s a challenge to get the message out about what the libraries have to offer students.“We are entirely motivated by the desire to help students do well academically and succeed at IU,” he said.
(08/14/09 11:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU administrators discussed new and continuing building plans at the trustee’s facilities committee meeting on Aug. 14.As the new man in charge of IU’s facilities, Tom Morrison, Vice President of Capital Projects and Facilities, reviewed IU’s project list, which includes projects that have started and projects that have yet to be started. Morrison took over the facilities responsibilities from former Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Terry Clapacs, who retired in May.Morrison spoke about a plan for a new music school rehearsal building, which could be ready to present to the trustees as early as October, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.University architect Bob Meadows and representatives from the Kelley School of Business spoke about a proposed annexation.The business school is “well on their way” to having the financing to build another undergraduate building on Fee and 10th close to where the undergrad program is currently housed, MacIntyre said. The new building would contain a number of high-tech, wired classrooms so students could watch lectures from anywhere in the world.For example, someone in Tokyo can discuss Asian development with students in Indiana, MacIntyre said.After the new addition is put in to place, there are plans to renovate the existing classrooms. By the time the construction and renovations are complete, the school will be the most modern business facility in the country, he said.
(07/09/09 12:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pending Senate confirmation, former Bloomington mayor John Fernandez will take his years of economic development experience to the national level. President Obama appointed Fernandez to be the assistant secretary of commerce for economic development and Economic Development Administration administrator.Fernandez will oversee programs that give federal money to community projects across the nation.In a statement released by Bloomington’s First Capital Group, Fernandez said he was humbled and honored by the nomination.“I look forward, if confirmed, to joining Secretary (Gary) Locke and the exceptional team he has assembled at the Department of Commerce as we work to promote innovation and competitiveness, and help American communities have sustained economic success,” he said.As senior vice president and partner at First Capital Group, Fernandez coordinates “corporate development and expansion projects,” according to First Capital Group’s Web site.He deals with real estate and “revitalization initiatives throughout the United States.”First Capital itself helps big business ventures get off the ground or expand.He also works as of-counsel at the law firm Krieg Devault. Before that, Fernandez was senior vice president at Finelight Strategic Marketing and Communications. Fernandez served as Bloomington’s mayor from 1996 to 2003 and had been president of the Bloomington City Council since 1991.He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1985, a master’s degree in public administration degree in 1989 and a law degree in 1992, all from IU.“He to me is one of the more progressive developers in the community,” said Ron Walker, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation.His progressive developments are not only because of green buildings, but because he has a close relationship with tenants to make sure what they’re doing is successful, Walker said.Walker oversees the Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership, which Fernandez is credited with creating while he was mayor. The project, completed in 2004, made Bloomington more well-known for its life sciences industry, Walker said.It’s unclear what Fernandez will focus on when he gets to office, whether it’s life sciences or another industry or goal.“There’s so many changes going on there, I don’t know what kind of directives he’ll be given once he takes office,” Walker said.But, Walker said, he does believe Fernandez is looking out for the small business and the community. Fernandez works for a small business and he supports high quality jobs that have a future to them, Walker said. Fernandez, whatever he does, will capitalize on community strengths, he said.“I think he’s a community-minded guy,” Walker said.Fernandez is the second person from Bloomington appointed by Obama awaiting Senate confirmation. IU Maurer School of Law professor Dawn Johnsen is still awaiting confirmation to head the White House Office of Legal Counsel.
(05/01/09 4:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fighting and gunshots at a campus dance during Little 500 weekend forced University officials to meet Wednesday to discuss policy.Dean of Students Dick McKaig met with Steve Veldkamp, assistant dean of students and director of student activities, and other University officials to discuss violations of the dance policy. On April 25, the IU student group A Person Among People sponsored a dance that about 600 people attended. The dance took place in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Alumni Hall. A fight at the beginning of the dance and another fight later shut down the event, McKaig said.Police directing traffic at the event heard gunshots and found five 9 mm shell casings and two .45-caliber shell casings in an IMU parking lot. The gunshot investigation is only loosely connected to the meeting, McKaig said. A similar protocol meeting is routine after incidents occur at student organization sponsored events. A Person Among People failed to follow policy for the dance, McKaig said. Paperwork wasn’t turned in on time and the private security company the group hired wasn’t vetted by the IU Police Department. If the group followed proper procedures, it might not have prevented the fights or gunshots, McKaig said. Students attended the dance during IU’s Little 500, which is infamous for its drinking. McKaig said he didn’t hear that there was a problem with alcohol at the dance. There is little trouble with alcohol at most dances, he said. Alcohol is prohibited at campus student-sponsored events.He said the guidelines groups organizing dances must follow are based on best practices from universities across the country. The Office of Student Organizations and Leadership Development’s Web site described A Person Among People’s mission as “To unite people from all backgrounds to evoke change by actively involving themselves in intelligent conversation constantly.”
(04/30/09 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU’s Campus Bus Service wants to expand its fleet of part-time student drivers next fall.The recruiting push aims to save money, said Perry Maull, operations manager at IU Campus Bus Service.Health care and other costs are rising for full-time operators, and part-time student workers aren’t paid benefits. It costs an extra 35 cents per dollar in benefits to pay a full-time worker, Maull said.“The expenses have to be in line with the budget,” Maull said. Expenses are growing faster than revenue, he said.For the 2009-10 school year, students taking more than six credit hours will pay $56.50 for transportation fees, up more than $3 from this year. However, next year IU might not accept as many students to its freshman class as it did this year, so an increase in the fee doesn’t necessarily result in more money, Maull said.A November 2006 Indiana Daily Student article stated that a campaign to hire student drivers concerned several full-time drivers, some of whom said they thought they were being forced out of their jobs.One currently vacant full-time position will be replaced by student positions, Maull said, but he doesn’t have plans to eliminate more positions.Currently, 29 students work part-time transporting the masses around campus, and the service hopes to increase that number to 50 by next fall, Maull said.Breaks during the school year leave full-time drivers with little to do, Maull said. During the summer, many of the 20 full-time drivers are laid off.“We’re at full blast 32 weeks a year. The other times we’re scrambling,” Maull said.More students will be needed to drive the Hoosier Night Owl, the new version of the Midnight Special. Maull said there are plans for student supervisors for the Hoosier Night Owl service.Student bus drivers are closer to the students they serve, which makes it easier to figure out what’s working and what’s not working, Maull said.“You all are the people who use the bus,” Maull said.Part-time drivers go through the same training as full-time drivers. During the summer, new drivers must go through 105 hours of paid training – 45 in the classroom and 60 behind the wheel, Maull said.Doctoral candidate Erik Winarski said he’s been driving a campus bus part-time since September 2007.He said he hasn’t sensed ill feelings from full-time drivers to student drivers. He said it’s the best part-time job he’s ever had.“It’s been a lot of fun to come to work,” Winarski said.
(04/28/09 2:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>T-shirts, hats, watches and shoes from high-end brands such as Clae, Supra, New Order, Nooka and G-Shock line the walls and stock the display shelves of Dope Couture.Even with weak nationwide retail sales and a state unemployment rate at about 10 percent, customers apparently still buy the $29 shirts from the Web site and the North College Avenue boutique.Besides the trendy shop where “indie kids,” skaters, DJs and promoters from IU coexist, businesses in such industries as food, retail, computers, design and life science are starting or expanding in Bloomington.New businesses face challenges but also have unique advantages. If they can find a niche and sell an outstanding product, they will do well, said Morgan Hutton, advocacy initiatives coordinator for the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. IU students and alumni help drive the economy in a college town that helps shield it from what’s happening nationwide, she said.Some businesses are cyclical, said Johannes Denekamp, a senior lecturer in the Kelley School of Business. For instance, he said, in a bad economy, people go back to college and they need books, which companies such as T.I.S. provide.The economy is fickle, Denekamp said. New businesses, which have a low success rate, have a harder time surviving in the economy, he said. However, they don’t have to deal with slowing sales.“They don’t have the sense of weathering a downturn,” Denekamp said.T.I.S. recently opened The Indiana Shop store on Kirkwood Avenue and will open another Indiana Shop in the mall soon.President of Bloomington-based T.I.S. Tim Tichenor said it wasn’t perfect timing. He said the company doesn’t normally open two stores in a community at the same time, but the opportunity could not be passed up.The company was in the mall from August 2006 to February 2007 but had to leave because another store that sold IU merchandise had an exclusion clause, meaning T.I.S. could not sell IU merchandise in the mall anymore.That store left and the mall invited T.I.S. back last September. T.I.S. will now open an additional location in the mall in May. At the end of 2008, Steve & Barry’s went out of business, leaving a valuable spot on Kirkwood open.T.I.S. is feeling the bad economy a little bit, Tichenor said, but the IU market should stay strong even in hard times.Dope Couture’s boutique opened seven weeks ago, and the owner, senior Matt Fields, has plans to expand his line to include more brands, fleece and maybe even denim.Dope Couture has been online for two years, and it stepped up sales last summer, Fields said.The store relies on IU students, Fields said. The Internet helps keep the store going.“While I was sleeping, I sold 15 shirts,” Fields said of his online business.IU and local staple companies shielded Bloomington’s economy from becoming as bad as many communities in Indiana, Hutton said.Most businesses are conservative in the bad economy, settling for flat sales instead of the bigger returns they might have expected a year ago, he said.Banks aren’t willing to give out as many loans for new businesses, but money is still available.“Locally, there are banks writing loans every day to local people,” Hutton said. The economic situation in the country is different from anything anyone has been involved with, Hutton said.“Nobody has the answers,” he said.
(04/27/09 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It annoyed Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry when fans treated the show as a religion, said his long-time executive assistant Susan Sackett.Sackett, who worked with Roddenberry on Star Trek from 1974 until he died in 1991, spoke Saturday in Woodburn Hall about humanism in Star Trek. The talk was co-sponsored by the Secular Alliance of IU and the Center for Inquiry in Indiana.Roddenberry didn’t want to create a religion, Sackett said.Through Star Trek, Roddenberry said a belief in a God interferes with humans’ ability to treat each other with respect.Sackett said Roddenberry introduced her to this idea of humanism, where humans don’t need a higher power and can develop morals with reason.Sophomore Aaron Rincon, who described himself as a “trekkie,” disagreed with this definition. Rincon, who said he was converting to the Eastern Orthodox religion, said humanism can exist with the supernatural.“We need humanism,” Rincon said, defining it as caring for the fellow man. “I don’t care how you do it.”Humanism is also the idea that everyone is equal, Sackett said.The Starship Enterprise had men and women from different races working together, a strange idea in the 1960s and 1970s, she said.The show’s financiers resisted putting these ideas into the mainstream media.Roddenberry believed television exists to make money, not to entertain and inform, Sackett said.“The purpose of television is to sell toothpaste and hemorrhoid cream and that’s about it,” she said. But Roddenberry got around TV’s commercialism to express his views on morality and his opposition to the Vietnam War, Sackett said.For instance, the Enterprise’s crew had a rule that it could never interfere with other cultures, she said. It broke the rule in nearly every episode, though.This is what brought graduate student and Star Trek fan Steve Stanzak to the talk. He wants to use Star Trek to teach a class about the ethics of meddling with other societies.“The episodes do a good job of showing its strength and weaknesses, I thought,” Stanzak said.Aliens expressed a lot of Roddenberry’s views, which let his controversial message get past conservative censors.“You can say whatever you want as long as it’s little purple people on a different planet,” Sackett said.Sackett showed a clip from a 1967 Star Trek episode called “Return of the Archons.” An Enterprise crew member, Sulu, is “brainwashed” on a planet called Beta III where inhabitants dress and act similarly, where people walk around in a haze, Sackett said.The planet is controlled by Landru, which the crew discovers is a 6,000-year-old computer Landru installed to ensure the planet’s peace and goodwill.The clip showed that a world as a theocracy would be dull, Sackett said.“You attacked the body, you have heard the word and disobeyed,” a cloaked guard tells the Enterprises’ crew. “You will be absorbed.”
(04/16/09 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Armed with a gavel, Union Board of Directors President Andrew Dahlen conducts weekly Union Board meetings in observance of Robert’s Rules of Order.At these meetings, Dahlen, 15 other student directors and three non-student directors decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of dollars of student money. For the 2010 fiscal year, Union Board will control $340,000.Student directors plan and pay for movies, speakers, musicians, Miss IU, Hoosier Sweetheart – about 300 programs in all.But despite all the programs and all the money, the Union Board still feels like they need to get the word out.“Cutting fliers – that’s what we do all the time in the Union Board office,” joked freshman Hannah Kinkead, director of public relations.Students call the shots. Non-student directors include an alumnus, Dean of Students Dick McKaig, a faculty representative and the director of the Union. But directors make decisions at the weekly meeting on a majority vote.“You just have to be accountable for what you decide,” said senior Audree Notoras, film director.Since the programs Union Board puts on rely on student money, students are the main constituents, Dahlen said.It cost about $40,000 to bring author Maya Angelou to IU, Dahlen said. Though the University paid for Angelou’s visit, Union Board spends about that much for speakers, he said.“Maya Angelou (is) an exception. We are the only student organization with the power to bring big-name speakers and lecturers to campus,” Dahlen said.The directors oversee the Indiana Memorial Union. They decide what will happen with the bowling alley, and they are trying to get meal points accepted at the IMU, Dahlen said.They are a voice to the higher powers of the University, Dahlen said.Union Board started a hundred years ago as a social club designed to bring different campus groups together, Dahlen said. Today the mission of campus unification is the same, but a larger campus with 40,000 students brings new challenges, he said.In places with large populations, there’s bound to be divisions, Notoras said.“We try the best we can,” she said.Dahlen said he spends 30 to 40 hours at the IMU. Keeping up with school is a challenge for the junior studying political science and international studies with a minor in Swahili and an African Studies certificate.Directors have to keep 25 to 30 hours of “office hours” at the Union Board.“The office, it’s kind of a second home for all of us,” Kinkead said.
(04/13/09 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Police Department officers armed with a defibrillator saved the life of an IU staff member early Sunday morning.A Residential Programs and Services supervisor saw a 47-year-old RPS food services worker fall to the floor in a kitchen in Forest Quad, said IUPD Capt. Jerry Minger, reading from a police report.Co-workers called 911 at 3:33 a.m., according to an IUPD press release.IUPD Sgt. Shannon Ramey arrived and found the woman with an irregular heart rhythm and with troubled breathing, Minger said.The woman had gone into fibrillation, when the heart “quivers” and fails to pump blood like it should, Minger said.Ramey started CPR until IUPD Officer Joe Amandola arrived with an automatic external defibrillator, a machine that regulates heart rhythm.Officers placed one electrode on her side under her arm and another on her chest so the machine could assess her heart. The machine’s voice command told officers she needed a shock to reset her heart rhythm, Minger said.The machine sent electricity through the woman’s body and her heart started to beat normally.“The person would have died if this had not happened,” Minger said.Officers continued to perform CPR breathing on the woman until a Bloomington Hospital ambulance arrived.In 2001, the IU Foundation paid to place a defibrillator in each IUPD squad car. Minger credits the defibrillator machines with saving 10 lives on campus.Forest does not have a normal dining hall, but its Greenleaf Dining Hall is used for special events. Greenleaf had no events scheduled for Saturday night.The woman had not complained about illness or discomfort prior to the incident, Minger said.
(04/12/09 9:11pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Police Department officers armed with a defibrillator saved the life of an IU staff member early Sunday morning.A Residential Programs and Services supervisor saw a 47-year-old RPS food services worker fall to the floor in a kitchen in Forest Quad, said IUPD Capt. Jerry Minger, reading from a police report.Co-workers called 911 at 3:33 a.m., according to an IUPD press release.IUPD Sgt. Shannon Ramey arrived and found the woman with an irregular heart rhythm and with trouble breathing, Minger said.The woman had gone into fibrillation, when the heart “quivers” and fails to pump blood like it should, Minger said.Ramey started CPR until IUPD Officer Joe Amandola arrived with an automatic external defibrillator, a machine that regulates heart rhythm.Officers placed one electrode on her side under her arm and another on her chest so the machine could assess her heart. The machine’s voice command told officers she needed a shock to reset her heart rhythm, Minger said.The machine sent electricity through the woman’s body and her heart started to beat normally.“The person would have died if this had not happened,” Minger said.Officers continued to perform CPR breathing on the woman until a Bloomington Hospital ambulance arrived.In 2001, the IU Foundation paid to place a defibrillator in each IUPD squad car. Minger credits the defibrillator machines with saving 10 lives on campus.Forest Quad does not have a normal dining hall, but its Greenleaf Dining Hall is used for special events. Greenleaf had no events scheduled for Saturday night.The woman had not complained about illness or discomfort prior to the incident, Minger said.
(04/08/09 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU signed an open-ended agreement Tuesday to provide language and culture training to the Indiana National Guard.IU President Michael McRobbie and Indiana’s Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, signed a document that cemented the institutions’ 3-year-old partnership.The contract gives IU and the Indiana National Guard flexibility if the Guard needs different language trainers, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.Currently, faculty and staff from IU teach Pashto and Dari at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Ind. Both languages are spoken in Afghanistan. IU will also teach culture and regional laws. The agreement makes it easier for the Indiana National Guard to contract IU’s expertise in language and culture.IU has more than 60 language programs, said IU’s director of community relations Kirk White. White is also a Lt. Colonel in the Indiana National Guard.Camp Atterbury is where civilians and members of the military prepare for deployment to Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.The agreement is one of McRobbie’s priorities, MacIntyre said.“We want to support the state and the federal government,” MacIntyre said.McRobbie thinks the agreement will help support national defense as well as the state economy, as Camp Atterbury receives outgoing military, MacIntyre said.“A lot of people come through Atterbury every year,” MacIntyre said.The agreement is supported by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, White said.The war in Afghanistan isn’t going to be won on the battlefield, White said, but through thinking.He also said there is academic freedom in which faculty members would not have to participate in any agreement to which they morally object.
(04/06/09 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Student, faculty and professional representatives chose the upcoming editors-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Student and the Arbutus yearbook Friday.After public interviews conducted by the IU Student Media Board, junior Natalie Avon was chosen as the fall 2009 editor-in-chief of the IDS, and senior Sara Amato was chosen as the summer 2009 editor-in-chief. Junior Katie Myrick will be the editor-in-chief of the Arbutus for the 2009-2010 school year.Avon is currently a managing editor at the IDS, a position previously occupied by Amato, who is now the newspaper’s Web editor and design chief. Myrick is also a design chief and has worked at the IDS as art director.It’s a time of instability for print media, with IDS advertising sales down 9 percent and only a handful of college yearbooks left in the state.All the upcoming editors said they would like to expand and improve their respective Web sites.Avon, who ran unopposed, said she’d like to see more Web-only articles on www.idsnews.com.Amato, who also ran unopposed, said she’d like to see news updated on the Web site.Amato also said she would like to see the main article of the site change daily, even though the paper comes out twice a week during the summer.Myrick ran against freshman Christine Ashack and junior Marc Epstein.Online technology and software can go well with the traditions of the yearbook, Myrick said. She said she’d focus more time and energy on the Arbutus Web site.“We have a lot of really great photos that aren’t used in the yearbook,” she said. “Why not put them on the Web site?”Myrick said she’d also use technology such as Facebook and Twitter to increase the yearbook’s marketing. All three candidates for Arbutus editor-in-chief said many students do not know what the Arbutus is.Both Avon and Amato said they would like to see longer investigative, in-depth reporting. They said they want to see that coupled with more “briefs” when a longer story is unnecessary.They said they’d like to use less traditional ways of telling a story when appropriate, such as using graphs and graphics instead.All three editors said they would like to go into journalism as a career.Avon said it was her goal to become IDS editor-in-chief since she was in high school. She said she would like to have a career in journalism, but with the industry as it is, she is thinking about law school.“I’m still trying to pursue journalism very much,” Avon said.Avon has great potential as editor-in-chief, said Director of Student Media Ron Johnson. Johnson advises the IDS and the Arbutus.With her already wide journalism experience, including several positions on the IDS staff, Avon has the ability to plan and execute practically, he said.“It’s an extremely difficult job,” Johnson said.
(03/31/09 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Dean of Students candidate Frank Sanchez said he was driven by the way administrators treated students at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska.He said he felt administrators there didn’t have enough time to sit down with students, and it made him wonder about their role.“How do administrators get these jobs?” he asked.Sanchez spoke Monday in the Whittenberger Auditorium to students, faculty and staff. He is one of the remaining four candidates for the vice provost for student affairs and dean of students position. The successful candidate will replace retiring Dean of Students Dick McKaig.Sanchez said he became interested in administration after his wrestling career at Nebraska ended. He needed a way to help pay for housing, so he became a residential assistant.After that, a new world of student leaders and administrators opened up, he said.“I learned the importance of administration,” Sanchez said.He said he wants to become IU’s next dean of students to support and advise student leaders while moving forward with the outgoing McKaig’s legacy. These goals are part, he said, of putting the “student experience” first.Sanchez took questions ranging from his views on alcohol on campus to his experience with the greek system. He spoke about empowering students to make the campus better.When asked about IU’s alcohol policy, he said IU is a dry campus in policy, and it’s good to curb campus drinking for safety.“I’ve seen campuses who have not done anything in that way and it’s spun totally out of control,” he said.But, he said, the way to do it is through students. He said he’d put programs in place where students hold themselves to a higher standard.Sanchez also answered questions about diversity. He said minorities are “not where they need to be,” adding that the world is losing so many brilliant minds because minorities aren’t getting the support they need. “It’s what happens when you put a freshwater fish in a saltwater pond,” Sanchez said.A solution, he said, is creating programs where students feel comfortable doing research in something having to do with their own cultures. To do that, he said, students need professors who are minorities.Junior Eric de la Rosa said Sanchez is not just racially diverse. Sanchez has a lot of different ideas on what college is and what it’s supposed to be without focusing on a certain student group, de la Rosa said. De la Rosa cited philanthropy at the University of Denver as an example of how Sanchez is committed to helping all students and the entire community.However, some students weren’t pleased with Sanchez.The candidate didn’t have enough experience working with a greek system, said sophomore Alexander Groysman.Groysman also said Sanchez seemed uninformed on some of IU’s policies, such as its alcohol policy. He added Sanchez isn’t a proper candidate for the campus as a whole.Sanchez is qualified in many ways, Groysman said, but it isn’t enough.“This gap is significant enough, it could cause problems,” Groysman said.
(03/23/09 3:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Police Department arrested a Bloomington man during spring break after police investigated him for promoting prostitution on the Internet.Police say Mark C. Gillette, 47, used Craigslist to recruit male prostitutes. An undercover officer responded to one such advertisement.The officer agreed to meet Gillette on March 16 at the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building, where the subject was arrested, according to an IUPD press release.Police arrested Gillette for promoting prostitution, a class C felony, which could come with a penalty of two to eight years in prison and a possible $10,000 in fines.He was also wanted on a warrant for failure to appear at meetings or failure to register as a sex offender.Gillette had been released from jail Feb. 28, and a warrant for his arrest was issued March 10.Gillette was arrested in the same location, by the same IUPD officer, for promoting prostitution three years ago, said IUPD Capt. Jerry Minger.Gillette has no affiliation with IU, according to the press release.
(03/11/09 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students on sophomore Elizabeth Solik’s dorm floor divide themselves by race, she said, because that is what they’re used to doing.Students hang out with those they are most like. Contact with other people is often a passing, “Hey, I recognize you,” Solik said.“It’s not because we didn’t want to associate,” she said.Situations like this happen all over campus.“We all look for our own comfort zones,” said Edwin Marshall, vice president for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs.IU administrators said they hope this is a pattern that will not continue much longer.Large increases in diversity, at least statistically, are expected to come to IU.The number of underrepresented minorities – which includes IU’s black, Hispanic and Native American populations – on Bloomington’s campus is supposed to double by the 2013-14 school year, IU officials said. In May 2006, IU’s board of trustees voted in favor of a measure making the increase official.The number of minorities from the 2007-08 school year to 2008-09 increased from 7 to 7.4 percent of the total student population, according to the IU Factbook.Marshall said the number of underrepresented minorities at IU is increasing, but not as much as he would hope.With an increase in IU’s admissions standards, there might be a small “hiccup” in minority recruitment, Marshall said.But interaction with diverse people on campus needs to increase because students live in a global society, Marshall said.“We need to create it where it does not exist and increase it where it does exist,” Marshall said.The best way to increase diversity is to create a welcoming campus environment, he said.Too often, people don’t appreciate what diversity is about, Marshall said, adding that diversity helps create a forum for understanding.If IU students would step out of their comfort zones and talk to different people, he said, there would be greater engagement throughout campus.“We all have the responsibility to realize this goal,” Marshall said.The classroom is a good place to start reaching out. Marshall said places such as fraternities, sororities and other social clubs are also good places to commence discussion.A good catalyst is a conversation about common points of interest, Marshall said.But, Marshall said, minorities should not be looked at as different from other students. He said there needs to be a better job as a society of looking at the “education pipeline.”Dean of Students Dick McKaig said an increase in minority students would help people from different backgrounds interact.“It would come more naturally,” McKaig said. Some are not convinced a greater number of diverse students by itself will foster this kind of understanding.“There’s always still ways for people to segregate,” said senior Michael Wolfe.To help recruit and mentor minority students, IU announced in January it would give $1 million to fund different programs across the University system.IU has programs for elementary through high school minority students through the Office of Community and School Partnerships.McKaig said there are financial and aspiration challenges for students to get to college and that the University needs to devote resources to programs to get young students interested in college. Those who aren’t prepared won’t be able to go to IU, he said.About a third of the students who participate in the programs go on to attend IU, said Kim Morris-Newson, director of the Office of Community and School Partnerships. The idea is to get children interested in college early, Morris-Newson said.“We get them interacting,” Morris-Newson said.But officials say making IU-Bloomington more welcoming to minority students requires more than work from the administration. Marshall said students and faculty have to make a conscious effort to interact.“Everyone has to reach out,” he said.