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(10/03/08 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A man with an eye patch and a pirate hat approached freshman Leah Neff, the boat behind him swaying back and forth in the 10th Street wind.“Arrrghhhh you registered to vote?” he bellowed, clipboard and pen in hand. The pirate, senior Brendon Liner, was just one of many volunteers throughout campus registering students to vote before Monday’s deadline.Neff, a native Hoosier who said she has not voted before, filled out the black-and-white form and gave it to another volunteer.Liner, president of the Indiana Public Interest Research Group, and other members of INPIRG spent Thursday afternoon at the intersection of 10th Street and Fee Lane.“This is part of our New Voters project, which is to get students registered to vote nationwide,” Liner said. “Our goal is to register 3,000 voters through our events on campus, and we’re also doing door-to-door canvassing and canvassing in the dorms.”As Liner and a few volunteers registered students at the “Vote Boat” event, small groups of students reported back from other locations on campus, bringing back small stacks of new-voter registration forms. The large number reflects both the high national interest in November’s elections and increased interest from young people, especially college students.“I care who is our president,” Neff said. “This is the first time I’m voting, and I already know who I’m voting for.” INPIRG members will be back out with the Vote Boat, as well as knocking on students’ doors, until Monday’s deadline. Liner said his group is different from other political groups on campus because it doesn’t endorse a candidate.“This election is paramount, and Indiana especially, this is one of the first years that the status quo here could be changed, and students will help decide if Indiana stays a red state or goes blue for the first time since 1964,” he said.Senior James Stout, another volunteer, said he wants to get students to register because politics are important and voting is the way to “make our voices heard.” Stout, also wearing an eye patch and pirate hat, said he doesn’t spend a lot of time volunteering, but said he made it a priority for this year’s election because “things are changing and this is a very important time.”As the sun started to set over the Arboretum, Liner, Stout and the other volunteers kept up their pirate yells. Some of the students walking by laughed, realized they needed to register or just looked up in bewilderment, while others turned away, turned up their iPods or quickly took out their cell phones and started talking.“Some people don’t want anything to do with us,” Stout said. “But most people realize we’re just trying to get people to the polls.”
(09/19/08 4:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three years ago, there was a huge deficit.IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan was getting heat from students and trustees, and his department was struggling to meet financial goals from ticket sales, especially in football.But at Thursday’s board of trustees meeting, Greenspan delivered the athletics department annual report and painted a starkly different picture.Having spent the better part of a decade running up debt, Greenspan’s department has gone from annual deficits of more than $2.5 million in 2001 to a surplus of more than $6 million in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.The turnaround makes a success out of the department’s long-term plan, passed by the trustees and former IU President Adam Herbert in November 2005. The plan called for the elimination of budget deficits by 2008.The plan involved a set of cutbacks – including taking 500 seats away from the student section on the lower level of Assembly Hall and raising student basketball ticket prices by $4 per game – that allowed the athletics department to shy away from a $30 athletics fee for students.Herbert asked Greenspan to formulate the plan at the September 2005 board of trustees meeting following eight consecutive years of large deficits.The athletics department has raised income across the board, according to Greenspan’s report. IU recently signed a contract with adidas worth more than $2.6 million per year until 2015-2016. Revenue from football ticket sales has been almost $2 million more than budgeted projections since the plan was enacted, and Memorial Stadium will host eight home games this year, all but guaranteeing Greenspan an even bigger surplus.The extra money will go toward new projects like the North End Zone Project and the basketball training facility, which have already been funded. Plans are in the works for other projects, like a new baseball and softball facility where the North Fee Lane Fields are currently located.Greenspan also commented on other aspects of IU athletics and took a moment to focus on compliance – an issue brought to the forefront by NCAA charges against the men’s basketball program and former coach Kelvin Sampson. Greenspan said IU has a “good compliance culture” and cited the University’s history of compliance and self-reporting. He said IU self-reports about 25 second-tier violations each year – about middle of the road for big state schools – and that the NCAA looks favorably upon schools that self-report. -Staff writer Matt Dollinger contributed to this report.
(08/29/08 5:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>DENVER – Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., accepted his party’s nomination in front of a crowd of more than 70,000 people Thursday.Speaking on the final night of the Democratic National Convention at INVESCO Field at Mile High, Obama outlined the policies he will run on for the next three months. Obama, who hopes to become the first black president, stuck with the same themes Democrats have focused on all week.SLIDESHOW: Obama speaks at the DNC“This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive,” he said. “Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And ... we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight.”Preceding Obama’s speech was a series of what the announcer in the stadium called “regular Americans,” including Barney Smith of Marion, Ind.Smith, who informed the crowd he was a “lifelong Republican” until recently, told his own story - that a declining economy forced him to sell the machinery he used to earn a living. Smith said he wants a president who will “work for Barney Smith, not Smith Barney” (the financial company). Obama hit on several themes that will hit home with Hoosiers, promising to get rid of tax cuts for the rich and Fortune 500 companies, and reverse the recent slide in the job market.“We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president – when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush,” Obama said.By focusing on Bush, Obama kept with another of the Democrats’ themes this week: comparing Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to the current president.Obama also talked about other hot-button issues like the war in Iraq. “In the face of those young men who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who joined up during World War II,” Obama said. A star-studded lineup preceded Obama Thursday evening, including former Vice President and 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore and musicians Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow, among others. Obama’s speech concluded the four-day long Democratic National Convention in Denver. Republicans will meet next week in Minneapolis, and McCain is expected to announce a running mate Friday.
(08/28/08 4:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>DENVER — Sen. Evan Bayh delivered a scathing attack on the Bush administration and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Wednesday, citing what he called “this administration’s disgraceful incompetence.” The Indiana senator and IU alumnus even linked their policies with problems in the Hoosier state.Bayh, who was on Sen. Barack Obama’s shortlist of candidates for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination and is thought to still have presidential ambitions, wasted little time in declaring McCain as just another Bush.“Let’s start with some good news,” Bayh told the Democratic National Convention crowd at the Pepsi Center. “In less than five months, the Bush Administration will be gone, finished, outta here. Forever. Unless, of course, John McCain is elected, in which case we’ll have to endure four more years of the same old thing.”Bayh’s critical remarks come as part of an increased effort by Democrats to criticize the Bush administration during this week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. Throughout his speech, Bayh called McCain’s proposed policies “wrong” and “divisive”.“John McCain is not a bad man, but he is badly mistaken about embracing the Bush agenda,” Bayh said. “He says he agrees with George Bush on virtually every major issue. He votes with Bush 90 percent of the time.”Bayh brought national issues closer to home for Hoosier voters.“What’s most incredible, he says our economy has made ‘great progress’ over the past few years,” Bayh said. “Try telling that to middle-class families across Indiana trying to make ends meet.”Indiana delegates interviewed before Bayh’s speech said the senator’s national influence will push Hoosiers to vote for Obama in November.“It looked until very recently like (Bayh) was in a very good position to be vice president, and that absolutely puts Indiana on the map as far as Democrats are concerned,” said Peter Mullen of South Bend.In addition to his criticism of Republicans, and McCain in particular, Bayh tried to cast Obama as a candidate with specific plans on hot-button issues, including the high cost of a college education.“He will lower health insurance premiums for middle-class families by $2,500 a year and offer a $1,000 tax cut for middle-class families to offset the high cost of gasoline,” Bayh said. “He will give students a $4,000 tax credit for college in exchange for community service. He will reduce the record deficit and bring fiscal responsibility back to Washington. And finally, after too much treasure and too many lives lost in Iraq, Barack Obama will responsibly end this war and bring our sons and daughters home.”
(08/28/08 4:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>DENVER – Barack Obama was officially chosen as the Democratic nominee for president Wednesday, making the Illinois senator the first black nominee from either of the two major political parties. The vote also brings to a close a hard-fought battle for the nomination that saw the two front runners – Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., – contest states like Indiana that had been largely irrelevant in previous elections.Delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver began voting Wednesday afternoon. But instead of taking votes from every delegation, when the roll call for delegate votes was passed to New York, Clinton motioned for a consensus vote, which was met with a roar from the Pepsi Center crowd.Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., gave Obama a ringing endorsement during his speech early Wednesday evening, citing problems in Indiana and across the Midwest that he said the first-term senator is equipped to combat.“Barack Obama offers specific ideas to help struggling middle-class families meet the challenges they face each and every day,” Bayh said. “He will create more than five million new green-collar jobs, including ... Midwestern farmers producing America’s fuel. He will invest in hybrid technology and alternative energy.”Endorsements of energy sources like corn-based ethanol could win over Midwestern voters looking for a boost in a faltering economy.Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., stuck with the Obama campaign’s biggest theme: change.“Obama has tapped into the oldest American belief of all,” Biden said a few minutes before the Illinois senator made a surprise appearance onstage. “We don’t have to accept the situation we cannot bear. We have the power to change it.”Obama’s nomination comes after one of the closest-fought primary seasons in recent years. He and Clinton were at odds until June 7, four days after the last primaries, when Clinton conceded, having hoped to secure the nomination through superdelegates.Former President Bill Clinton, who was criticized for appearing angry and frustrated when Obama’s campaign overtook Sen. Hillary Clinton’s, put aside his support for his wife and tried to answer some of the barbs thrown at Obama by Republicans – especially what conservatives see as Obama’s lack of experience.“He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose,” Clinton said. “He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful president needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives.”With the formal nomination locked up, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya will intensify his efforts to call for a change in direction after eight years of President George W. Bush. Obama, who appeared in Bloomington twice last spring and lost the Indiana primary by less than 1.5 percent, has built much of his campaign on attracting young voters, especially college students. His April visits to the women’s Little 500 and Nick’s English Hut were met with wild enthusiasm by IU students.Obama’s formal nomination is a milestone in the racial history of the United States, but references to his race have been conspicuously muted this week. Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the notable civil rights leader, avoided any reference to Obama’s race, as did other black speakers during the first three days of the convention.Obama will take the stage down the street from the Pepsi Center at INVESCO Field at Mile High tonight, delivering his acceptance speech to a stadium full of 70,000-plus Democrats at the last night of the convention. He told reporters earlier Wednesday that his speech will shy away from political rhetoric and focus on helping “middle class families live their lives.”
(08/27/08 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>DENVER – Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., hoped to arrive at the Democratic National Convention here under different circumstances.Bayh, a former governor of Indiana, was one of three finalists in Sen. Barack Obama’s hunt for a running mate, raising his profile and underscoring the growing importance of Indiana in presidential politics.Obama ended up picking Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice-presidential nominee. But Indiana delegates said Tuesday that Bayh will remain a presidential contender in the future and that there will be an intense battle between the Democratic ticket and Sen. John McCain and the Republicans over Indiana this fall.“For years, it was a forgone conclusion that Indiana would go to the Republicans,” said Peter Mullen, a delegate and auditor for St. Joseph County in South Bend. “We were the first state in history to declare for a Republican, but people are saying maybe that won’t happen this year.”Indiana’s electoral votes last went to a Democratic candidate in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson overwhelmingly defeated Barry Goldwater. The previous win in Indiana for the Democrats was in 1936.Mullen, who carries with him a letter he got from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the early 1960s, said voting patterns will shift dramatically for the first time in decades.“The level of involvement got lower and lower,” he said, “but Sen. Obama’s entry into the race has generated tremendous interest in the system, particularly in young people.”Bonnie Reese, the Indiana 1st District chair and a delegate at the convention, said she was happy with Indiana’s influence on a national stage. Clinton added that Indiana is particularly suited to go Obama’s way in November because the state “has so many working people, and Obama will really resonate there.”Indiana would have been even more prominent had Bayh been picked as Obama’s running mate, she said.“I believe Evan was passed over because he’s too close in age to Sen. Obama,” Reese said, “but he’ll be back.”Another delegate, Fay Allen of Jeffersonville, Ind., said Bayh is “still young” and “will be in the presidential race eight years from now.” Allen, an IU graduate, believes Indiana could go blue this year, citing a “special atmosphere.”There are 85 Indiana delegates at the Democratic National Convention, and almost 4,500 delegates in total. Allen said it is “wonderful” to be a delegate and was surprised at the enthusiasm and pageantry of the first two days of the convention.Likewise, Reese, who has been in politics for 45 years and is attending her first political convention, was excited to see some of the most prominent Democrats speaking.“I was elected to come here as a delegate,” she said. “I’m a Hillary (Clinton) delegate, but we’re here to come together as a party.”Reese, Allen and Mullen, along with the other nearly 4,500 delegates in attendance, will officially make Obama the Democratic nominee Wednesday during the “roll call,” where each state’s delegation will announce the number of votes apportioned to each candidate who ran for the nomination earlier this year. Convention organizers are expected to take roll call from a few states before motioning to declare Obama the nominee by consensus.
(08/26/08 4:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>DENVER – Bob Pastrick, one of 85 Indiana delegates here, is no stranger to conventions. After all, he’s been going to them for almost 50 years.Pastrick, 80, and thousands of other Democrats descended on Denver on Monday for the start of the Democratic National Convention, the first of two week-long gatherings of the nation’s major political parties. His first was in 1960.“I’ve been a delegate for a hundred years,” joked Pastrick, who was mayor of East Chicago for 33 years until voted out of office in a special election, having been linked with a voter fraud scandal that forced out three top aides and three city councilmen. “But this one is special. It’s the most important election we’ve had since, well, a long time.”Pastrick is just one of 85 Indiana delegates and nearly 4,500 more from across the nation who will attend the convention this week. They will hear a variety of speakers each day, culminating with Democratic nominee Barack Obama on Thursday.Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean opened the convention Monday afternoon, saying it is important for Americans to, as Obama’s slogan says, “Vote for change.”“America realizes we cannot have four more years of the same, ineffective approach to governing,” Dean said.Pastrick said this year’s election has a special significance for the state of Indiana, given the large voter turnout in the April primaries, the effort the Democrats are making to win the state in November and national prominence of the former Indiana governor, Sen. Evan Bayh, who was a finalist in Obama’s search for a vice presidential candidate. Obama even campaigned twice in Bloomington last spring, appearing at the women’s Little 500 bicycle race and at a speech in Assembly Hall.“We’ve had a major contender for Obama’s number two spot, and I think the state of Indiana has a lot of problems – problems that can only be solved with new leadership,” Pastrick said.Obama came into the convention with Democrats worried that his early advantages were giving way under an aggressive effort by Republicans to raise questions about his experience and background. Obama is counting on rallying new voters on his behalf and is especially focused on college students and other young people.While political parties in the United States used to use conventions as a method for selecting a nominee, the meetings now serve as a media platform for each party. With a star-studded lineup of speakers, including former President Bill Clinton, vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Obama’s wife Michelle, among others, this week’s convention all but guarantees the Democrats a week of front-page news, television clips and analysis.But as much attention as the media gives to Democrats this week, the focus will shift quickly when the Republican National Convention kicks off next week in Minneapolis. Because incumbent parties generally schedule their conventions after the challenging party’s, Republicans will be in a position to spend a week responding to every word said in Denver. But Democrats are throwing barbs of their own, and unlike the 2004 Boston convention, where speakers were encouraged not to attack President Bush, Denver speakers have been encouraged to take a more ruthless approach.“Republicans say John McCain has experience,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “We say John McCain has the experience of being wrong. On the failed Bush policies that have weakened our economy and taken us from the Clinton surplus to reckless Bush deficits and on raising the minimum wage for millions of American workers, Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong.”IDS reporter Peter Stevenson will blog daily from the DNC this week on the Politiker.
(04/02/08 7:43am)
Twenty-four hours ago, it couldn’t get any worse for IU basketball fans. Rumors of players leaving or getting kicked off the team circulated around message boards, and it looked like coaches were turning down the IU job left and right.\nBut as news filtered from fan to fan Tuesday that IU had made a hire – former Marquette coach Tom Crean – there was palpable relief.\n“I think it’s a very good hire for the University and the team,” Student Athletic Board President Michael Melwid said. “It’s nice now to have a coach to head up the program and start looking towards a good next season.”\nStudents at the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building, playing just a few courts away from members of the team Tuesday evening, said they were happy with the hire.\n“Obviously, our first choice was (Washington State coach Tony) Bennett, but he didn’t want it, so I think Crean is a great coach to have,” junior Patrick O’Marro said. “Indiana is historically known as a great program, and to a coach that’s appealing. They get a program that has a lot of history, a lot of credibility, and they get to bring it back up from where it is right now – it gives the coach an opportunity to put his own mark on the program.”\nThe announcement came just a few weeks after IU crashed out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round, and created a search committee to find a replacement for Kelvin Sampson.\nBig-name coaches were on the lips of many IU fans, but Crean’s hiring came somewhat out of the blue, especially after media reports as late as Tuesday afternoon speculated University of Nevada, Las Vegas coach Lon Kruger would be offered the job.\n“A lot of names were being thrown around, names like (Louisville coach Rick) Pitino and (Tennessee coach Bruce) Pearl,” sophomore Mike Blackwell said. “I think they were a little bit out of the question, because of the sanctions we could be getting next year.”\nIU Student Association President W.T. Wright said he and other student leaders had some input on the hiring decision, and were happy with the decision to hire Crean.\n“Myself and two other students on the Student Athletics Board sat down with search committee members,” Wright said. “We’ve also had discussions with the team and brought that to the committee.”\nWright said basketball team members told him they wanted a coach who would “respect them as men, not just as players,” and would be a father figure. He added that he and the Student Athletics Board members sat down with Bruce Jaffee, business professor and faculty representative on the Athletics Committee, and Wright said he also spoke with search committee head Harry Gonso on the phone.\nCrean is coming to a program surrounded by questions about its players. IU officials said Tuesday that sophomore guard Armon Bassett and junior guard/forward Jamarcus Ellis had been kicked off the team, though Ellis disputed the claim Tuesday.\nStudents interviewed said they hoped Crean will keep IU’s current players as well as bring in top-level recruits.\n“Recruiting is the most important thing at this point,” Blackwell said. “They have to get the kind of guys that are already here to stay. I think they have to try to get Bassett to stay, he’s key.”\nWright agreed, saying that Crean already has experience recruiting in Indiana.\n“It’s important to focus on someone that appreciates Midwestern basketball and that can keep that IU image,” he said. “It’s important that our team is a bunch of Indiana guys, and Tom Crean knows Indiana.”
(11/28/07 5:51am)
IU is one of the top American schools for international education, according to a report released Nov. 12 by the Institute of International Education. The report says the University is in the top 20 nationally, both in terms of international students here on campus and IU students in study-abroad programs.\nDirector of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said the large number of study-abroad opportunities available at IU will help students learn about parts of the world that will be important in years to come. IU President Michael McRobbie is trying to expand those opportunities even further on his trip to China this week, MacIntyre said. \n“President McRobbie really believes in the next century China and some of the other countries in Asia will play such an important role in the world that American students have to know more about them,” MacIntyre said. \nAccording to an IU press release, 3,976 international students were enrolled at IU-Bloomington in the fall of 2006, making IU 15th in the nation and fifth among Big Ten schools. In the same semester, more than 1,600 IUB students studied abroad – the 10th highest nationally for one-semester programs.\nLynn Schoch, director of communications for the Office of International Programs, said studying abroad is rapidly becoming a more important experience for students.\n“There is almost no job anymore that doesn’t have the need to deal with more than one culture,” Schoch said. “In science, in teaching and many other things, you’ve got to be able to deal with people from other cultures.”\nMcRobbie is currently in China meeting with administrators at several colleges and universities. He is expected to sign agreements that will provide study-exchange opportunities, sending IU students to China and bringing Chinese students to Bloomington.\n“IU students have more opportunities for international experiences than ever before,” IU Vice President for International Affairs Patrick O’Meara said in the press release. “These experiences add incalculable value to the education that IU affords. Encountering more international students around them and having the opportunity to go abroad themselves assures that Indiana students will be fully prepared to compete in the global marketplace.”\nSchoch said IU’s goal isn’t just to have the most international students of any school, but to recruit outstanding students from the best universities overseas.\n“With international students, what we’re looking to do is recruit the best and brightest from all over the world, really good students who will contribute to the campus,” he said. “There has really been a desire to maintain a solid international population and to make sure we serve them well.”
(11/08/07 5:28am)
Students, staff and faculty can now sign up for the campus-wide emergency alert system on OneStart. IU officials announced the OneStart program Wednesday, and are encouraging everyone on campus to sign up.\n“It is very important that students go to the (OneStart) page and add their personal contact information,” said Mark Bruhn, associate vice president for information and infrastructure assurance. “If there’s an emergency on the Bloomington campus, if contact information isn’t provided then it won’t be in the emergency notification system.”\nThe signup page can be accessed by logging into OneStart and clicking on “Go to the Emergency Notification content,” a link that appears on the main OneStart page for students, staff and faculty.\nAs of Nov. 7, the emergency alert system can be used to send e-mails and deliver pre-recorded voice messages to cell phones and landlines. Administrators plan to include text message alerts within two weeks. Users who wish to receive text message alerts will have to sign up when the system is activated and then reply to a confirmation text message.\n“The point we’re trying to make with this is that the students who want to be a part of this absolutely have to go into OneStart and give us their contact info,” IU Media Relations Director Larry MacIntyre said. “The more students who sign up, the more \neffective the system will be.”\nBruhn said students should not just sign up for the e-mail alerts, but also the phone alert system, because e-mail doesn’t get to the recipient immediately.\nIU officials began planning for an emergency alert system in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings last spring. At the time, then-Provost Michael McRobbie and former IU President Adam Herbert called for a University-wide review of campus security measures. Officials decided they needed a way to get the word out about campus emergencies quickly and accurately.\nAccording to an IU media relations press release, emergencies that will precipitate an alert include “any incident that involves death, serious injury, or threat of death or serious injury to people; significant damage to University facilities, property and or data; or significant disruption of University operations.”
(11/07/07 11:52pm)
Students, staff and faculty can now sign up for the campus-wide emergency alert system on Onestart. IU officials announced the Onestart program Wednesday, and are encouraging everyone on campus to sign up.\n“It is very important that students go to the (Onestart) page and add their personal contact information,” said Associate Vice President for Information & Infrastructure Assurance Mark Bruhn. “If there’s an emergency on the Bloomington campus, if contact information isn’t provided then it wont be in the emergency notification system.”\nThe signup page can be accessed by logging into Onestart and clicking on “Go to the Emergency Notification content,” a link that appears on the main Onestart page for students, staff, and faculty.\n- For more on this story see Thursday''s Indiana Daily Student.
(10/24/07 4:49am)
It’s no secret that college is getting more and more expensive. \nAccording to an annual report released Monday by the College Board, makers of the SAT, college tuition across the country is rising much faster than inflation. On average, tuition rose about 6.6 percent at four-year public colleges and universities, the report said. IU’s tuition rose by about 5.1 percent for in-state students and 9.2 percent for out-of-state students this year, and it will continue to increase next year.\n“The increasing price of tuition makes it more difficult for everyone to go to college,” said Indiana Commission on Higher Education Associate Commissioner Bernie Hannon. “It’s disturbing that the tuition increases are going up faster than federal aid.”\nThe 6.6 percent average tuition increase for four-year public universities made the average tuition $6,185 this year, according to the College Board report, up $381 from last year. Next year, IU’s out-of-state student tuition will go up a staggering 11.3 percent, while in-state tuition will rise 5.3 percent, according to a May 24 Indiana Daily Student article. \nIn the last 10 years, according to the IU Fact Book, tuition for out-of-state students has more than doubled from about $4,480 per semester in the 1996-97 school year to about $9,800 per semester last year. In the same period, tuition for in-state students has multiplied by more than five times, going from $1,491 per semester to $7,460.\nAnd at the same time, federal aid is covering less tuition than ever before. Hannon said federal Pell grants, awarded based on need, covered a “huge portion” of tuition in 1970, but now meet just a fraction of many students’ needs.\n“When you talk about the net cost of a tuition, what the student really pays, that number has gone way up,” Hannon said. \nHe also noted that more students are being forced to take out loans from private companies.\n“There is a huge pressure on students,” said Indiana Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Stan Jones. “Borrowing has tripled in the last 10 years, and more people are borrowing than ever, and the deals you can get from a private company are not anywhere near the bargain that something like a (federal) Stafford Loan can give you.”\nAccording to the IU Fact Book, students took out a total of $486,127,920 in loans for the 2006-07 school year, up more than $50 million from the previous year’s total.\n“I get financial aid, but it doesn’t cover everything, so I’m lucky that I’m almost done,” said senior Larry Fuller. “But for people who are just starting college, I’m sure some won’t be able to pay for their schooling if the cost just keeps going up.”
(10/22/07 5:23pm)
Dunn Meadow was packed with IU fans Wednesday as the “All Campus Celebration” kicked off.\nCompetitors threw bean bags as they took part in the “World’s Largest Cornhole Tournament,” playing in teams on more than 70 cornhole boards. Most played on regular-sized boards, but some played on giant 8-foot long boards with holes large enough for a pumpkin. Cheers went up as someone made a shot, while the other team groaned.\n“I saw the signs posted around campus about the tournament, and I thought it might be neat to come see how well I could do,” said senior Preston Hughes. “Plus, they told me there would be a bunch of free food.”\nLater that evening, a raging bonfire kept visitors warm. Student organizations set up booths around the grassy area.\n“I had great hope when we were throwing on the big boards,” said IU trustee Pat Shoulders, who was teaming up with trustee William Cast. “But Dr. Cast and I went a combined 0 for 16 on the regular size boards, so it’s not looking good.”\nHughes said he thought he and his partner had a chance of winning, but were really just there for the fun of it.\nStudents who participated in the tournament got T-shirts and food from the Indiana Memorial Union. A capella groups Straight No Chaser and Ladies First both performed voice-only renditions of popular songs.\nAs the night got colder, the tournament field got smaller and the bonfire got bigger. Large poster boards with brackets had teams playing from 3 p.m. into the evening, with brackets of 32 teams playing in a format much like the NCAA basketball tournament.
(10/19/07 4:21am)
Newly inaugurated IU President Michael McRobbie unveiled his master plan for the University on Thursday. \nAt the forefront of his plan are commitments to remodel all dorms on the Bloomington campus, allocate $1 billion for construction of new buildings and continue a dedication to hire the world’s leading faculty.\n“By early next decade, our goal is nothing short of having nearly a billion dollars of new construction underway, providing the essential space and facilities to support world-changing and life-enhancing research, education of the highest quality and innovations to fuel the state’s economy,” McRobbie said in his inaugural speech.\nSuch an ambitious plan will require a huge amount of funding, especially given the decline in state appropriations over the last three decades – state funding accounted for about 47 percent of the budget in 1975, but according to the 2006-2007 IU factbook, state funding only made up about 23 percent of IU’s total operating budget for the 2006-2007 school year.\nMcRobbie said that about $500 million in buildings have already been funded and planned, and that the rest will be paid for with alumni donations and a matching program that will ease the strain on the state and IU’s endowment.\nHe also established a new program for recruiting top professors: the Herman B Wells Presidential Professorship, which is designed to recruit outstanding faculty, especially Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and other professors who are the very best in their fields.\nThe plan calls for renovations or rebuilding of all of the Bloomington campus’ dorms. Residential Programs and Services Executive Director Pat Connor said after the ceremony that he isn’t sure of the exact remodeling plans yet, but that there is space for both expansion of current buildings and construction of new ones.\nMcRobbie said during his speech that new living space for students is crucial to attracting the brightest young minds to IU.\n“Today’s students have more choices than ever before in pursuing a college education,” he said. “A crucial element in these choices is the quality of the student learning and living environment.”\nMcRobbie’s decision to focus on building expansion and top-quality faculty is a marked departure from the policies of the previous IU president, Adam Herbert, who came into IU with the missions of finding a new Bloomington campus leader and balancing the athletics budget. McRobbie has also worked to distance himself from the problems that plagued Herbert’s presidency, namely a huge divide between the administration and IU professors that led to a faculty revolt in the fall of 2005.\nThe plan calls for a number of new initiatives, including a $1 million “intercampus research fund” that will help researchers on different IU campuses collaborate and a $4 million program to increase graduation rates.
(10/19/07 2:30am)
After almost four months at the helm of IU’s eight campuses, IU will inaugurate President Michael McRobbie. A 3 p.m. ceremony today at the IU Auditorium will confirm McRobbie as IU’s 18th president.\nThough McRobbie has been in office since the summer, his inauguration will mark his official induction into the IU history books, and gave him a chance to reveal his long-term vision for the University.\n“It is a long-standing tradition at universities to inaugurate a president,” said Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre. “This, in a sense, is going to really be the day that we launch a new vision for the University.”\nMaster of Ceremonies and IU Foundation President Curt Simic will introduce McRobbie, who will deliver his keynote speech, outlining his plan for IU.\n“The President intends to say a lot of things in his speech that are very specific and very concrete, as to where he wants to take IU over the next decade or two,” MacIntyre said. “He’s going to be laying out his vision a lot more concretely than he’s ever done until now.”\nThe ceremony will open with a performance of “Inaugural Fanfare,” composed by IU Jacobs School of Music professor David Dzubay specially for McRobbie’s inauguration. As almost 200 IU faculty members march through the hall wearing black robes, representatives will join them from universities around the world, including England, Korea and McRobbie’s native Australia. Other musical performances will include Jacobs School lecturer and Grammy Award winner Sylvia McNair singing “Songs of the Auvergne.”\n“It will be pomp and circumstance at its best,” said Dean of Students Dick McKaig. “It will be a great day for the president and for IU.”
(10/18/07 2:17am)
News that there will no longer be a print edition of the IU schedule of classes has been met with mixed reactions from staff, faculty and students. \nFrom now on, the schedule will only be available on the Registrar’s Web site.\nIU-Bloomington Registrar Roland Cote said the Web version is better than the old print version because it can be constantly updated.\n“The schedule of course offerings changes from the moment it is published; it changes daily,” Cote said. “Courses might be offered, canceled, changed in location, so the most accurate results can only be found online.”\nBut several academic advisors said the paper version of the class schedule is much easier to use.\n“The bad thing about the Web version is that you have to go from subject area back and forth over and over again,” said biology advisor Mary Anne Miller. “Whereas, if you had the book like we used to get, you could just open it up and go right to the course you wanted.”\nSuzanne Schwartz, coordinator of the Biochemistry Graduate Program, called the Web \nschedule “inefficient.”\n“From the advisors’ standpoint, in trying to talk to students and advise them, it’s just not user friendly with the online version,” \nSchwartz said.\nFor years, the Registrar’s office printed a booklet that listed all of the classes offered for a semester. \nCote said his office tried moving to a Web-only system a few years ago, but the reaction from different IU departments was so strong that the Registrar temporarily went back to a print version, and printed the schedule in the Indiana Daily Student instead of a \nseparate booklet. \nIDS Business Manager Susan Elkins said it only cost the University about $8,300 each time the guide was printed, but printing the booklets cost about 10 times \nas much. \nThe cost covered only the layout and printing fees, so the IDS made no profit from the guide.\nCote said the Registrar’s office surveyed students about the course schedule and most responded that they weren’t worried about having a paper copy of the schedule. \nIf students had protested the change, he said, they might’ve reconsidered their decision. \nMiller acknowledged that it was nice to have a recently updated schedule on the Web.\n“We’ve already changed some of our courses for spring, and we updated it right away, and they wouldn’t have gotten that with the booklet,” she said. “The book is really convenient, but it’s impossible to keep it updated.”
(09/27/07 4:00am)
Maybe it's the tropical climate in Ross's hometown of Miami that adds a hint of brightness to his raps. Whatever the reason, the sun certainly shines a little light on the usually menacing MC in Rise to Power, a collection of circa-2000 tracks previously unreleased by Ross's former record label. \nTo be sure, there's plenty of thug talk on the disc. In the velvety "Strapped," for example, the Boss warns anyone who crosses him: "You'll wake up with no ribs / in a fridge in Chicago." So much for Southern hospitality. \nBut daylight peeks through on tracks such as R&B-crossover "Street Love." After a few seconds of sweet-nothing croons from special guest Next, Ross introduces the track by declaring, "Let's thug it out" before dropping a beat that sounds like it was copped from early-'90s Prince. \nFans of Ross' 2006 debut Port of Miami need not fret, though. Just as we would expect from the man best known for dealer anthem "Hustlin'" -- yeah, you know it's your ringtone -- cocaine references abound on Rise. On "B.L.O.W. (Block Life is Our Way)," the Boss trades verses (and recipes) with coke-raconteur Pusha T of Clipse, who spits over a track that plays like a nightmare-ensuring lullaby: "I seen the coldest of winters / Mountains of snow / Made fiends tremor." \nDespite other highlights such as the time-signature-bending "Dear Lord," which finds Ross dealing with his faith, and plucked-guitar groove "Simple and Plain," there's nothing on Rise to Power that matches the bare-knuckled swagger of the Boss's more recent hits. Regardless, the album should slake fans until the release of Trilla -- yes, that is a play on "Thriller" -- due out later this year from Def Jam. Maybe we'll finally get some snow this winter.
(09/18/07 4:24am)
When Bob Woodward uncovered the first details of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein in 1972, he worked against a government that clouded itself in secrecy and became infamous for hiding important information from the American people. Woodward believes the current administration is much the same.\n“I think the Bush administration has made an effort to keep things secret and an awful lot has come out,” Woodward said at a press conference Monday afternoon. “I go to bed at night with a lump in my stomach thinking about what we don’t know.”\nWoodward spoke to a packed lower level at the IU Auditorium Monday night, discussing the newest book in his series on the Bush administration, “State of Denial.” He focused on his work developing anonymous sources, from W. Mark Felt, the mysterious FBI investigator who was known only as “Deep Throat” until 2005, to sources inside the Bush administration that have leaked secret memos and government reports.\nSince Watergate, Woodward has worked to pull away the curtain from influential institutions and people including the Supreme Court and Alan Greenspan. Most of his recent work, however, has concentrated on the Bush presidency and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.\n“I really thought it was interesting what he said at the end, that with secret government, democracies die in darkness” said graduate student Todd Hertling, who said he spent a total of two years serving in the military in Iraq. “That’s an important message to take – that we should have truth and honesty \nin government.”\nWoodward said that the Bush Administration had consistently ignored reports from inside their own government about trouble in Iraq and continued to tell the public that the war was proceeding better than it actually was.\n“Reports came in from the intelligence agencies saying ‘It’s bad now and it’s going to get worse in 2007,’” Woodward said, “And right at that moment the president went and gave a speech in Chicago and said ‘This will mark the moment that the terrorists begin their retreat’ – absolute total contradiction of the reality of the underlying violence.”\nThe speech ended with a short question-and-answer session, during which Woodward championed investigative journalism and the idea that government should be held accountable to the people.\n“He’s a great figure in the history of journalism – maybe one of the finest,” said IU president Michael McRobbie, who attended the event. “When you see Bob Woodward, you’re looking at a piece of history in a sense.”\nSchool of Journalism Director of Communications Beth Moellers said that it was fairly easy to bring Woodward to IU, and that he is just the first in a series of fall lecturers that the School of Journalism \nis sponsoring.\n“Very few people have the level of experience that he does,” Moellers said. “Very few people are Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists – it’s pretty much just Carl Bernstein that can match his experience.”
(09/17/07 9:58pm)
Legendary reporter and Washington Post editor Bob Woodward will speak at the IU Auditorium today. Woodward’s speech will focus on his new book “State of Denial.” \nWoodward is best known for his work with Carl Bernstein during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s. The two reporters developed a relationship with the secret source “Deep Throat,” and uncovered a scandal that would rock America and lead to Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974. Meetings between the two reporters and former FBI Assistant Director W. Mark Felt led them to link a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters directly to the Nixon administration.\nAs an associate managing editor at The Washington Post, Woodward led coverage of the 9/11 attacks and the Bush administration’s response, all the way through the war in Iraq. “State of Denial” is the third in Woodward’s “Bush at War” series, and it chronicles the administration’s decisions during the war.\nThe lecture will be held at 7 p.m. in the IU Auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Questions for Woodward can be submitted at a table in the auditorium lobby before the speech. Doors will open at 6 p.m.\nThere will be a book signing in the auditorium lobby after the speech.
(09/09/07 10:32pm)
Three IU students were named in a lawsuit filed Thursday by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to a news release. The students are accused of copyright infringement stemming from use of peer-to-peer downloading programs on the IU network.\nSophomores Sydney Russell, Christopher Vines and Tabi Berkey were all sued for violating copyright laws, according to court summonses obtained from the U.S. District Court. Each summons lists some of the songs the students shared on peer-to-peer programs, as well as the program they used.\n“Just as we hold accountable the sites themselves for encouraging this illegal activity, we must also hold responsible the individuals who disregard the law,” said Steven Marks, executive vice president and general counsel for the RIAA in the news release. “Because of the multi-billion dollar decline in music sales due to the theft of music, the record labels’ ability to invest in and promote new artists is seriously compromised. Given the growing number of legal services in today’s digital market that offer high-quality, hassle-free and affordable music, the message to music fans is simple: don’t risk it, pay for it.”\nLawsuits were filed Thursday against network users from 16 other colleges and universities, including the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin and Purdue University.\nRussell, Vines and Berkey were each offered pre-litigation settlements in the spring. The RIAA started an initiative in February designed to offer student offenders a pre-litigation settlement at a discounted rate, and only defendants that did not accept the settlement were named in the new lawsuits. According to the court summons, Russell used a peer-to-peer program called Ares to share a total of 341 audio files, Vines used a program called Gnutella to share 1,172 files, and Berkey used Gnutella to share 600 files.\nThe RIAA is a trade group that represents recording companies in the U.S. Its membership includes most of the major music labels, including Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Bros. Records, and Interscope Records.\nNone of the students named in the lawsuit were available for comment by press time.