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(03/09/07 5:00am)
Concerns are being raised as some are urging Indiana leaders to take a closer look at death penalty processes within the state and calling now for a suspension of all executions. \nA report by an Indiana assessment team found that Indiana needs to call an “immediate moratorium” on all death penalties due to inconsistencies and failure of standards within the system, according to an IU press release. A report, completed with the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project also found that the state’s application of the death penalty is “seemingly random and highly inconsistent” and is only upholding “10 of the 93 death penalty protocols suggested by the ABA,” according to the release.\nAccording to the Clark County prosecuting attorney’s Web site, the death penalty in Indiana might only be used in murder cases. Murder is given “a fixed term of 45 to 65 years imprisonment, with at least an advisory sentence of 55 years, and up to a $10,000 fine,” according to Indiana code 35-50-2-3 of 2006 titled “Murder.” A death sentence, which is requested by the prosecuting attorney, can be issued if the person on trial is at least 18 years of age and is not found to be mentally retarded, according to the Web site. \nAccording to Indiana code 35-38-6-10, “If the inmate is pregnant, the execution will be suspended until no longer pregnant.”\nJoseph Hoffman, an IU Law School professor of a course on death penalty law, has participated in numerous studies considering death penalty procedures in nine states including Indiana and Illinois. Hoffman, for the most part, agrees with the recommendations of the ABA but warns Indiana to proceed with caution and understanding. \n“There are a few recommendations I don’t agree with, some that states have tried and have not worked,” Hoffman said of the ABA’s death penalty protocols. “The report is most important as a catalyst to get people thinking about the death penalty.” \nHoffman also warns that the members of ABA are mostly opponents of the death penalty, and that neutrality in this issue is hard to find. \n“Many people either don’t have a strong opinion or have a really strong opposition to the death penalty,” Hoffman said. “I think that it is important for people have an ax to grind on; people like me who don’t come at it with a political agenda.” \nHoffman agreed that students should be more aware of and form an opinion on the death penalty. \n“The death penalty is a kind of symbol of our criminal justice system,” Hoffman said. “Everyone in Indiana should care.”
(02/21/07 5:00am)
Through wind, rain, snow and even fire, the 10th Street location of Pizza Express still feeds pizza-craving IU students. The orders kept coming, and out of appreciation the store will be holding a “Fire Sale” from 4 p.m. Wednesday to the 3 a.m. closing time Thursday.\n“We were really thrilled by how much support we got from our customers while we were closed,” said co-owner Jeff Mease. “We set up a mini call center where we were able to answer the phone from the campus store and direct calls to the next closest store and we were amazed at how strong the business stayed.”\nApparently the system worked so well that a few students, like sophomore Jodie Cantrell, did not realize the campus location was closed. \n“I didn’t even know there was a fire,” Cantrell said.\nThe fire, which ruined equipment and closed the 10th Street Pizza Express for the past six weeks, did not slow down business in the other stores, Mease said, and he hoped it wouldn’t hinder business in the campus location. Mease said the stores rarely do “short-term sales” like the “Fire Sale” and while he said he is not sure what to expect, he hopes to draw a crowd. \n“We’re going to be prepared for a busy night,” Mease said confidently.\nAll Pizza Express stores are participating in the “Fire Sale,” which features the restaurant’s popular Big Ten Bargain – a 14-inch pizza with an order of bread sticks and two drinks – for $10, according to a press release. An order of breadsticks will also be $2. The sale is meant to coincide with the 10th Street location’s reopening, although the store has been open for a short period of time since the fire.\n“We just wanted to get open for a couple days to see if there were any snags,” Mease said.\nA few students are already making plans to attend the sale. \n“We will probably go, it just depends on how cheap it is,” freshman Craig Price said. “(My friends and I) eat pizza anyway a couple times a week and if there is a sale we’ll go with that.”
(02/13/07 8:27pm)
Half-moon kicks, eye jabs, and terms like "the elbows are fantastic," "get him in the balls" and the "importance of avoidance" were just a few of the issues stressed in the Collins Coffeehouse Monday night. There, the IU Men's Coalition held a self-defense seminar as part of the V-Day Campaign, an ongoing effort to raise awareness and funds to curb violence against women. \n"We're trying to reduce attacks on women and have them walk confidently," IU Self Defense Club President Paul McCarthy said on behalf of IU Men's Coalition, of which he is a member.\nThe seminar, led by Division of Recreational Sports self-defense teacher and IU Self Defense Club, taught excited students different moves for particular situations as well as key concepts for overall protection -- not to mention a little common sense.\n"The key is avoidance," McCarthy started during the seminar. "If you're thinking of going down a dark alley at night, don't go down the dark alley."\nHe stressed the importance of using common sense and avoiding bad situations, including not putting purses or bags across shoulders, which gives a violator the perfect way to choke a victim. Also, activities such as talking on the phone or listening to music could take away from awareness -- a main tool of avoidance. \nThe skills taught were introductory, but can also prove to be effective, McCarthy said. Basic kicks, punches, eye jabs and fighting stances were practiced by two-person teams throughout the night. McCarthy showed some of the best places to hit, such as the nose, which makes an attacker's eyes water, ensuring an easier escape. \n"Aim for the muzzle area," McCarthy said about using punches. "That way, even if he moves, you will hit the jaw or the head."\nSome skills were important, but also fun -- as indicated by participant's chuckles. The "sharp shout," a quick Jackie Chan-like yelp that students practiced while switching stances, surprises the attacker, gives the victim more power and tightens the stomach muscles against a punch, McCarthy said. By using the "tush push" -- swinging the hips back and the arms forward and pushing the backside out -- a victim can create space between himself or herself and the attacker. \nMcCarthy said he highly recommends students to take a class or join the IU Self Defense Club, especially incoming freshmen and women. Members of the club provided extra help and served as models throughout the seminar.\nThe best tip, sophomore Aditi Deodhar said, was the "four concepts" that apply to any situation. The concepts are steps that ultimately lead to safety. \nStep one is to do "anything and everything" to get in a fighting stance. This is mostly a natural defense, such as tensing up. The second step is to "blow smoke" or use any counter attack that will weaken the attacker. The third is to "get out" or basically to loosen any grip or hold the attacker may have. The fourth and final is "fight or flight," the decision and action of running away, or if the attacker is still coming to fight back just enough to get to a safe place. McCarthy recommended the steps to be fast and "blended together."\n"You can't always predict what situation you'll be in," Deodhar said about the four steps. "Having general concepts that can apply to every situation help."\nShe said she agrees with McCarthy that self-defense is important for students at IU. \n"It's definitely needed," she said. "Better safe than sorry."\n- Check out a Feb. 12 IDS article to learn more about IU's V-Day Campaign.
(01/30/07 3:39am)
Busy signals, random surveys, phone cords and expensive landlines are becoming a thing of the past for most IU students.\nInstead of paying extra for a home phone, students are increasingly using just their cell phones. \nThis trend is not unique to IU. Young people are more likely to only use cell phones, according to a May 2006 Pew Research Center report. The number of cell-phone-only users is growing nationwide, and it is high in Bloomington because of the population's college-student-skewed demographics. According to the report, people under the age of 30 who are not married and are not homeowners are less likely to have a landline.\nA representative from Blue Marble Telecom, a local telephone company in Ellettsville, Ind., that provides service to Bloomington residents, was unable to provide much information about student landline subscriptions for a simple reason: "We don't have many students use our telephone services."\nA big reason students choose to circumvent the use of a landline is the expense. \n"It's not very cost-effective," said junior Tiffany Weiss, who already has her own home and does not plan on getting a landline in the future. \n"Last time I did (have a landline) was freshman year in the dorms," said fifth-year senior Aaron Sarazan. "Once I got my cell phone and it was free to call anywhere in the U.S. and I got broadband, there was no need." \nBut saving money could end up costing young adults some representation in national polls, because pollsters are only able to contact people with landlines.\nForty-eight percent of people ages 18 to 29 have a cell phone only, while just 14 percent have landlines, according to the Pew report. \nSome students in Bloomington are not aware that Americans are polled using landlines, but this does not affect their decision.\nDifferent area codes, while common, also do not deter students. \n"Almost all of my friends have different area codes," Weiss said, "It is common on campus especially." \nStill, there are reasons why students would want to have landlines in the future. Students with dial-up Internet connections or parents worried about not having a landline could be prompted to reconsider their telephone choice.\n"I think it (the landline telephone) will continue to be around in rural areas for Internet purposes," Sarazan said. "But I think they are dying out more or less." \n"The only reason I would (get a landline) is because my mom has an anxiety issue," senior Megan Slater said. "She is worried that if I forget my cell phone she won't be able to get a hold of me."\nSophomore Henry Lin said he feels the same as others who have not made the cell-phone switch. \n"It would be too strange if I don't have a landline and stayed (in Bloomington) for a long time," Lin said.
(12/07/06 3:53am)
Drunken Facebook wall posts seem like a good idea at the time, but some students are finding out those decisions could cost them when looking for jobs.\nAccording to an October survey of more than 1,150 hiring managers nationwide by CareerBuilder.com, one quarter of hiring managers reported using Internet search engines to screen job candidates. One in 10 said they have used social networking sites, including Facebook or MySpace. \nThe survey also said that more than half of hiring managers have chosen not to hire an applicant after viewing their profiles on such Web sites. Why? Managers said the sites have divulged some candidates' poor communication skills, links to criminal behavior, unprofessional screen names and lies about qualifications. Employers are not just looking at professional profiles but personal profiles, pictures, screen names and online correspondence. \nEmployers don't use everything they find against potential employees -- some say what they find on the Internet can actually help a candidate get the job. \n"While sharing information online can have a potentially negative impact on your job search or career plans, it can also be leveraged as a tool to differentiate yourself to employers," Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder.com said in a statement. "Highlighting professional and personal accomplishments and showcasing your creativity can help a candidate make a positive, lasting impression on employers and validate why he (or) she is the right person for the job."\nReasons for this also varied among employers. A majority said they hired the candidate because her background information supported her professional qualifications for the job.\nThe managers on CareerBuilder.com are not the only ones using the Internet. The National Association of Colleges and Employers conducted the same survey with many of the same results. ExecuNet, a business social networking site, released a survey that indicated 77 percent of recruiters search candidates using the Web, and 35 percent said they've eliminated a candidate based on the information they uncovered. \n"Companies spend a great deal of money to recruit, hire and train candidates," Kelley School of Business professor April Legler said in an e-mail interview. "They are using every means available to them to find both good candidates and to eliminate potential problem candidates before they get them onto the company payroll and then discover they've inadvertently hired a problem employee."\nBill Gillis, a graduate student in the School of Journalism, feels this approach would be more helpful in a field like banking than a field like education.\n"Professions that are concerned with background for security issues would probably really use it," he said. "But many people in the University probably wouldn't use it because of the privacy issue."\nLegler said she believes employers will use the Internet more and more to screen applicants.\nStudents are also predicting a rise in the trend. \n"Technology makes it easier and easier," Gillis said. "It seems logical just for that reason."\nLegler said the best way to avoid trouble with potential employers is to keep all online personal profiles and activities private or keep them clean and truthful.\n"It's like getting a tattoo," Legler said. "Do not post anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see"
(11/07/06 4:05am)
Walking into Beck Chapel is like disappearing into warm memories and solemn vows. It is a haven where troubles are left at the heavy bronze doors and dreams are fulfilled within the walls. No wonder the chapel means so much to so many.\nTo Chris and Alicia Dickens, Beck Chapel signifies love and romance. Having just celebrated their fifth anniversary Oct. 6, the couple went back to their favorite place on campus, the place they said "I do," like so many other IU couples.\n"We didn't belong to a church in town, and I always wanted to have the church I got married in feel like it was full of people, not just half-way," Alicia Dickens said about choosing Beck Chapel. "We had to limit our guests to family and very close friends, but those are the people you really want to have with you anyway."\nBeck Chapel holds approximately 150 weddings a year, usually with about 65 people filling the 16 golden oak pews. Many couples, like the Dickens', choose to have receptions at the Indiana Memorial Union.\n"We had our reception at the University Club in the IMU," Alicia Dickens said. "It worked out well; we just walked right over, and then those who didn't attend the wedding could get into the reception and start celebrating."\nThe hardest part about having a wedding at Beck is the scheduling, and it has been for many years, Alicia Dickens said.\n"It was difficult to find a weekend in the fall that didn't interfere with football," she said.\nThe price, however, is very affordable. Beck Chapel Committee Chairman Steve Keucher said the board keeps a "break-even basis" for maintenance when charging for weddings. The chapel costs $300 for a three-hour wedding, which includes the chapel, curator, organ and organist, candelabra and kneeling bench, said Beck Chapel Assistant Director Hollie Lutz of the IMU.\nThe curators, Ken Shidler, Mary Dee Johnson, Ellen Stern and Margaret Howe, make sure the ceremony goes smoothly by meeting with the chapel officials and organist.\n"They do a wonderful job and really add to the value of the chapel experience," Lutz said.\nThe chapel has an official chaplain, Joe Emerson, who oversees payment for officiate services and the ceremony. The organist, Elaine Sonnenberg, is a Jacobs School of Music student working on her doctorate in organ and has played for more than 100 weddings.\nThe IMU Meeting Services staff takes care of the administrative needs for a wedding. \n"The Chapel receives facility care for custodial, maintenance and the grounds surrounding the chapel," Lutz said. "They do an excellent job keeping the chapel ready for clients."\nEven for guests of Beck Chapel weddings, the place holds good memories.\n"It's a spectacular sight to see the bride and groom standing on the cobble steps leading to the chapel," said Dean for International Programs Patrick O' Meara, who has attended many weddings at the chapel.\nO'Meara quoted the poet T.S. Eliot by describing Beck as "a still point in a turning world," referring to the hustle and bustle that surrounds the quaint chapel.\n"I know that people have gone there when they have serious problems to meditate," O'Meara said. "It's a place someone can go to reflect."\nBeck is nondenominational chapel, providing copies of the Bible, Koran, Torah and other religious texts.\n"It's very welcoming," O'Meara said.\nThe chapel is open seven days a week and 24 hours a day during finals week. To reserve a wedding date at Beck Chapel, contact the reservation office at 855-8855.