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(10/29/13 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Six Interfraternity Council members spent their Saturday afternoon resuscitating mannequins.These members are taking part in the Greek Safety and Medical Training Initiative.The initiative is a partnership between IFC, the Indiana Collegiate Emergency Medical Service and IU Culture of Care. The program allows greek members to become certified in CPR and first-aid by the American Heart Association.Started in spring 2013, the program aims to encourage chapters to have their members trained in proper procedures in case of an emergency, said senior Jordan Shwide, IFC vice president of communications.This year, IFC is covering the cost for two people from each chapter to attend the certification class.The classes are four hours long and are in line with AHA standards, Shwide said.The medical course is taught by IC-EMS executive members. All members are IU undergraduate students and are certified instructors by the AHA.The classes consist of hands-on training with mannequins and dolls, videos, first-aid basic training and adult CPR.Last year about 80 greek members were certified, said Ryan DesCamp, junior and IC-EMS president. Next semester IC-EMS plans to expand their training program to include the IU Panhellenic Association as well as the Multicultural Greek Council, he said. DesCamp is a member of Delta Chi fraternity. He is a nationally and state certified EMT. “I’m kind of like the medical person of my fraternity,” he said. “If anyone needs help, they come to me.”DesCamp said with recent University events, medical training is imperative.“With the two events that happened at the beginning of the year, recognizing an emergency is the first step,” he said. “This training aims to offer that.”DesCamp said he believes this initiative is a good step in the right direction in terms of ensuring the safety of the greek community. “Every little step helps,” he said.“The greek community is a very high-risk population. Everyone knows that. I think these are great steps to take to keep everyone safe.”Jack McCrum, sophomore Phi Kappa Sigma member, said he took this training to have a larger role in his fraternity.“I think this is a very positive initiative to mitigating potential risks,” he said. “I think that any fraternity, if they can, should alleviate all possible risks. I just want to be able to be more prepared and ready to respond to negative situations if they were to happen.”There will be two other classes offered this semester, on Nov. 3 and Dec. 7.Cody Guzman, freshman Delta Chi member, said he felt this was a good opportunity for him and his fraternity.“I want to know how to properly do CPR,” he said. “I want to be able to have this experience if and when I need it.”DesCamp said he believes this medical training can be useful to many members of the greek community.“My goal with IFC is to give each chapter more resources,” he said. “We need to be proactive in trying to stop bad things from happening. Although no one’s perfect, when they do occur, chapters need these resources in an event of an emergency.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/24/13 4:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Local businesswoman Sandy Keller is helping at-risk women dress for success. She created My Sister’s Closet, a 15-year-old nonprofit organization that provides women with free business attire including pants, blouses, shoes, accessories and a variety of suits.To help increase inventory, the IU Panhellenic Association has paired with My Sister’s Closet to sponsor a clothing drive through Nov. 21.Boxes will be set up in each household of Panhellenic-associated sororities.My Sister’s Closet offers women two professional outfits for their interviews, Keller said.If they get hired, they are given three more professional outfits.My Sister’s Closet is supported by income it receives from purchases of its clothes, Keller said., The PHA aims to boost its inventory. Senior MaryClaire Cieply, My Sister’s Closet public relations coordinator and Delta Gamma’s director of public relations, organized the event.“Because I’m a part of the greek system, I figured it would be an easy way to get connections,” Cieply said. “My Sister’s Closet and IU PHA have similar messages about women.”Cieply encourages women to donate gently used business wear via a sorority’s donation box. Each article of clothing is assigned a point value. Upscale clothing such as blazers are worth five points, while casual shirts and jewelry are worth one point.The points are added up at the end of the donating period to determine a winner. IU PHA will award the winning sorority $200 to go toward its philanthropy.“I hope this brings awareness to My Sister’s Closet,” Cieply said. “PanHel is a target group. We are women. We know how hard it is to find a job.”Cieply said she believes this is the first time IU PHA has done a campus-wide clothing drive with a community organization.“We want women to get a better chance of receiving employment,” Cieply said. “If more people knew about this, they could try to help out as much as they could.”Keller said she appreciates the clothing drive IU PHA has organized. “We are constantly looking for trendy and professional attire,” Keller said. “We need to keep inventory coming into the store to meet the needs of these women.”My Sister’s Closet has worked with many student organizations before, including some through the Kelley School of Business, and sororities Delta Delta Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma.“We would not be able to exist without the help of IU students,” Keller said. “It would be impossible.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/24/13 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ignorance and fear have worsened the spread of global diseases. Improved education might be the only way to fix it, New York Times reporter Donald McNeil Jr. said. Dozens of IU students and community members spent their Wednesday evening learning about global health obstacles, sex and murders of albinos. McNeil, a science and health reporter, gave his lecture “Sex, Albino Murders, Tightwad Superpowers, Drone Strikes and the Battle For Global Health” Wednesday.McNeil specializes in plagues and pestilences, covering diseases such as AIDS, malaria and avian flu.“I don’t write about wellness, I write about disease,” McNeil said. “Worms, germs and things that make you squirm.”McNeil talked about wellness as a modern concept.He has traveled to countries including India and South Africa, investigating their pharmaceutical companies and prevalent diseases.He spoke of murders of albino people in foreign countries, specifically in Tanzania and South Africa.These murders are primarily used for witchcraft, he said.Many witchdoctors use severed albino parts in their practices.“More than 70 albinos have been murdered in the last few years,” McNeil said.These practices are used in fear of modern vaccines, he said.“Lack of education, ignorance and fear have caused this,” he said. In foreign countries such as Uganda, improper education has contributed to many anti-HIV/AIDS campaigns, preventing needed treatment, McNeil said.In the U.S., there are 50,000 new infections of HIV/AIDS a year. McNeil said many infections are spread due to failure of treatment.HIV/AIDS treatment can make recipients of the virus 96 percent less infectious, he said.“Our response to AIDS is a failure,” McNeil said, “We don’t need a happy, fix-it solution, we need a new plan.”McNeil emphasized the steps health professionals in foreign countries are taking toward improving health care, including using sterilized tools more frequently. Despite improvements, world health problems still exist, McNeil said.For example, different polio forms are spreading between countries.“Globally, we are not nearly out of the woods yet,” McNeil said.McNeil’s lecture was part of the IU Student Association’s Collegiate Readership Program.The program provides free copies of The New York Times and USA Today at locations on campus including residence halls and the Indiana Memorial Union.“These papers are a great resource for students to have in college,” said junior Aparna Srinath, IUSA’s co-chief of outreach. “It allows the students to get a worldly perspective while they’re here at IU.”Srinath said she is thankful IU students had the opportunity to meet a traveled journalist.“This allows the students to get a prospective from a journalist that’s taking a global view of things,” Srinath said.“Being in the U.S., students don’t usually get a perspective on global issues and aren’t able to hear from someone who’s reported on this.”The New York Times selected and sent McNeil for the lecture, Srinath said. “His experiences, travels and enhanced learning about global health is a topic that can appeal to a wide variety of students,” Srinath said. McNeil said he has enjoyed his journalistic experiences and travels.“The nice thing about journalism is that you learn while you work,” he said.
(10/21/13 3:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The women of Sigma Delta Tau will spend their afternoon playing with the children at Middle Way House today. It is the first day of the sorority’s “SDT Gives Back” Week.SDT is the first IU sorority to devote an entire week to community service, said Hayley Grossman, SDT’s vice president of recruitment.SDT Gives Back Week is today through Oct. 26.Women in the sorority will volunteer at a variety of communal nonprofit organizations including the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Beverly Healthcare of Bloomington Nursing Home, Community Kitchen of Monroe County and IU Campus Gardening.This week was created by junior Vice President of Philanthropy Chelsey Brown.“I thought we should create more events to give back to the community,” Brown said. “Every chapter has a philanthropy to give back nationally, but I wanted to give back to our community.”Brown said she doesn’t want this to be solely SDT’s philanthropy.“This could be something the whole greek community could do in the future,” Brown said. “There’s so much variety in the community there’s something to do for everyone.”Brown said she wanted to push for a communal project in which the sorority could help out an assortment of organizations.“We wanted to do a service project in a creative way that involves all of the sisters,” Grossman said. “We wanted to do it as a complete unit, and no one has ever done this before.”Grossman said this is a way she and the entire sorority can give back to Bloomington. “We want to give back to our community, especially because Bloomington has given our sorority so much,” she said. “It’s such a welcoming community. Most of our sorority is from out of state, and this is the one place we have in common.”Though this is their trial year, Grossman said she hopes to have this week of service every year in the future.The final event is a community walk around campus on Oct. 26.The “Out of Darkness” walk is an event to raise awareness about suicide prevention, depression and other mental disorders.This event is a 3- to 5-mile walk and will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.It is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.Participants will meet at Memorial Stadium.The walk is open to anyone who wants to register. The registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 25. This week of service is in addition to SDT’s national organization’s philanthropy, Prevent Child Abuse America.Prevent Child Abuse America is a voluntary organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse through citizen action, according to the national website. In September, SDT staged a carnival called “It’s GREAT To Be A Kid,” and the event donated more than $3,000 to the organization. The chapter members also sold a custom OPI nail polish shade, “Girls Achieve Grapeness,” until Oct. 20.These sales supported Jewish Women International. All of the proceeds will go to JWI programs that help young women become safe and independent.“We plan on doing this every year,” Grossman said. “I think from now on this will be a very important tradition for SDT.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/17/13 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 50 IU students stretched, squatted and lunged across the Barnes Lounge at the Ashton Residence Center on Wednesday.The workout, led by graduate student Bakari Taylor, was the first of four events in the coming weeks organized by Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the oldest African-American sorority on campus. Taylor discussed nutrition, healthy eating and exercise techniques before the workout, and he encouraged students to take advantage of the “Eat Wright” stations in campus dining halls. “Just try to make your plate as colorful as possible,” Taylor said, “Eat real, natural foods.”Students were also encouraged to take pictures at the event and post them on Instagram with the hash tag #PRETTYfit.The mini-week of events is coined “InsTAUgram” in order to encourage social media publicity of the Tau Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, said IU senior and hostess of the Tau Chapter Cheyenne Starner.“We know a lot of people get information for our chapter through our Instagram account, so we wanted to use that,” Starner said.These initiatives are formulated into mini-week events demonstrating the sorority’s initiatives. These “Skee-Week” events, named after the Alpha Kappa Alpha call “skee-wee,” focus on community education, said IU senior and AKA Vice President Diamond Malone. Alpha Kappa Alpha will repost the pictures taken at their events with their respective hash tags and put them on their own Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Three other events will coincide with “InsTAUgram.” Students can learn about fiscal responsibility during a discussion and simulation today in the Neal-Marshall Grand Hall. An interactive debate about poverty in black communities will take place Oct. 23 in Ballantine Hall. Students may also attend a self-defense class Oct. 24 in the Neal Marshall Center. Each event starts promptly at 7:08 p.m. In military time, this is 19:08, the year Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded. The Tau Chapter was established at IU in 1992. “We want these people, especially emerging leaders, to leave each event with something,” Sterner said. “Whether that’s advice on financial management, good character initiatives or good academic initiatives, we want them to take away something from this.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/17/13 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nine months ago, junior Nick Haddad found a small, malnourished male dog with no collar at Griffy Lake.Haddad’s friend took the dog to the local animal shelter after their discovery. Two weeks went by, and no one claimed the dog.The animal shelter then notified Haddad the dog would have to be euthanized if he wasn’t adopted.Haddad adopted the dog. “Griffy,” as Haddad calls him, is a 10 1/2 year-old Chihuahua-Pug mix, weighing around 10 pounds.“My house became his permanent home,” Haddad said. “He was happy here.”Griffy lived with Haddad in his IU-owned house at 14th Street and Indiana Avenue until Monday, when Haddad received an email from his housing owner with the headline “Pet Violation.” IU Real Estate, the owner of the property, told Haddad he was in violation of the “no pet policy” section of his lease. IU Real Estate performs quarterly inspections on houses to check furnaces and any damages. Haddad was instructed remove Griffy, pay a $500 fine and pay for any damages Griffy may have caused to the house.“Once we became aware of it, we brought it to his attention,” IU spokesman Mark Land said.Haddad said Griffy did not cause any complaints among the other neighborhood tenants.“He hasn’t caused any damage,” Haddad said, “They would’ve noticed damages when they were doing the inspections.”Haddad said it’s unclear why it took IU Real Estate nine months to respond.Haddad said Griffy was usually on the couch or roaming the hallways when the employees were there for inspections. “They’d leave a note on my door when they left, so I knew they had been there,” Haddad said. “Griffy would’ve been out.”IU Real Estate had already been to his house multiple times because of a bat problem he had earlier in the year, Haddad said, and no one ever said Griffy was a problem.Land said IU Real Estate followed lease procedure, which states dogs are not allowed. “However, there are exceptions if the dog is a service dog and the tenant can provide proof from some sort of care provider.”In order to keep his dog, Haddad applied for Griffy to be labeled an emotional support dog, a special type of dog allowed in his house under the Fair Housing Act.Haddad is currently being treated for depression, something he said will hopefully help the case he makes for Griffy to be considered an emotional support dog.“Although I know I needed help, I also still need to keep the one thing that’s been helping me out the most,” Haddad said.Haddad met with IU Real Estate Wednesday to discuss the situation.IU Real Estate ruled he will be able to keep Griffy as long as Griffy is classified as a service dog. Haddad said he is grateful they listened to his appeal. “They’re people, too, so they understood the situation,” Haddad said. “At the point that I found him, I was going through a really hard time in my life, and he basically helped me rehabilitate in a way. He made me so much happier.”
(10/14/13 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Twenty-eight men competed for the title of Big Man on Campus in an all-male talent show Friday. This event, Zeta Tau Alpha sorority’s annual philanthropy, is considered the largest single-house philanthropic effort in the country.In total, Zeta raised $175,003.16 to benefit the NFL Pink Ribbon Project and the IU School of Medicine for further breast cancer research, said IU junior Aly Ricker, Zeta philanthropy chair.Sophomore Joe Weber of Theta Chi was crowned Big Man on Campus. Weber performed a compilation of Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana songs on guitar.All contestants were members of an Interfraternity Council fraternity or the Evans Scholars. Each one had a “sorority coach,” someone to help them with their routines or help raise additional funds.The men had to do weeks of fundraising prior to the event, Ricker said. They raised money in the form of online donations, canning, ticket and T-shirt sales, and the percentage of attendants who showed up to support a specific contestant, at the actual event. Funds and sales converted into points added to each contestant’s overall score. Talent show contestants were judged on stage presence, skill level and creativity.Junior Kyle O’Neil from Phi Kappa Sigma performed a dance routine featuring “Bust A Move,” while donning Americana pants.“This is a great event because it gets representatives from every house together,” O’Neil said.On a recent trip to Chicago, O’Neil said he was surprised at how omniscient Zeta’s pink ribbons were at the Bears game. “It’s amazing how universal the pink ribbons are,” O’Neil said. “ZTA ribbons were all over Soldier Field.”Some other acts included musical performances, dance routines and a comedic routine. DJ Prather of Kappa Alpha Psi performed an original rap he wrote, which as about breast cancer and Big Man on Campus.Many of the performances were dedicated to a close family member or friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer.Dan Kuchan and Chris Nardi of Alpha Tau Omega dedicated their performance to Nardi’s mom who was diagnosed two years ago.Sophomore Tobie Lapin of Sigma Delta Tau read an essay she wrote about the importance of breast cancer research and finding a cure. Her mother passed away 11 years ago from a rare form of breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer.This is more difficult to detect than regular breast cancer because there is no lump, Lapin said.Lapin reminisced of her mom and the importance of making an effort to remember her.“You never know when these special moments will be taken away from you,” she said. “Even the memories that don’t make a lot of impact on our lives are the ones we may forget in the future.”“I love you, Mommy” was the last thing Lapin said to her mom before she died. “I am grateful each day for my choice to give her that message, because if I could re-live that night, I would have done the very same thing.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/07/13 2:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This semester is the first time the Interfraternity Council will award its own scholarships to fraternity members.The scholarships, which have yet to be formally named, will be awarded to both general fraternity members and fraternity presidents. There are three scholarships total.The IFC released applications Oct. 1. Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to general fraternity members and one $1,500 scholarship will be awarded to one president. The deadline for all applications is 11:59 p.m. Nov. 3.The general member scholarships will be awarded each semester, and the presidential scholarship will most likely be awarded on a yearly basis because some fraternities appoint a new president each year instead of each semester, said Brett Benigni, IU graduate student and vice president of finance for IFC. Winners will be based on academic achievements and on a dedication to the IFC and greek community, said IFC President Sean Jordan.The IFC wants this scholarship to recognize some of its exceptional community members, Benigni said.“Many of our IFC members are doing their job by incorporating our values in their communities, and we thought that some of them deserved to be acknowledged for that,” Benigni said.General members must submit a résumé and answer one of two open-ended questions. There will be two winners, one for each question.The first question asks how the applicant has integrated his fraternity’s values into his everyday life. The second question asks how the applicant has worked to create a community among IU greek life.There is also a minimum 3.0 grade point average requirement, an IFC standard, Benigni said.Fraternity presidents applying for the scholarship must answer one open-ended question in addition to submitting a résumé. The application will ask the applicant how he has incorporated IFC initiatives of Value Integration and Creating a Community into his chapter. This serves as a combination of the previous two questions, Benigni said.The IFC has an annual budget for community programs, Benigni said. Scholarships fall under this category. Most of the IFC budget comes from the individual IFC chapters through member dues, Benigni said.“These men should be rewarded for driving our initiatives into the greek community,” Benigni said. “This is a good way to award and increase our high expectations of our members.”General members and presidents are free to apply more than once, Benigni said. Winners are also able to apply again, but they must apply with a different set of credentials.This means the applicant must have different answers to the application questions, Benigni said. “I think this is a good first step in this direction,” Benigni said. “We think it fuels the vision we see for the greek community.”The IFC plans to continue issuing these scholarships in the coming semesters, Jordan said. “We want to keep rewarding high performing members not only for their academics, but also in terms of achieving our over-arching IFC initiatives,” Jordan said.Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/04/13 2:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Zeta Tau Alpha’s annual all-male talent show, Big Man on Campus, intends to raise funds once again this year for breast cancer research and awareness.This event is considered the largest Greek-led philanthropic effort in the country and will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 in the IU Auditorium. The talent show will feature 28 men from 24 various campus organizations, specifically fraternities and the Evan’s Scholars.These men will perform various acts, including singing, dancing and playing instruments. A parody of “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus performed by one of the contestants is also scheduled, Aly Ricker, Zeta philanthropy chair and IU junior, said. Tickets cost $20 at the door and $15 in advance. Tickets are available for early purchase on their website, bmociu.com. Proceeds from the event will help fund breast cancer research and awareness initiatives. “Everyone works for this cause,” Ricker said. “One in eight people will get breast cancer during their lives. We always say, ‘Fight for your sisters.’”This year, the proceeds will go to the NFL Pink Ribbon Project and the IU School of Medicine for further breast cancer research, she said.“We just want people to be aware of the things they can do for breast cancer prevention,” she said. “Things like getting mammograms and monthly self-checks. We want to spread awareness through our pink ribbons as well.”In addition to winning a trophy and the title of Big Man on Campus, the winner will also get a portion of the funds donated to a philanthropic organization of his choice.Each competing organization is assigned a “sorority coach,” someone to help them along in the pageant process. These coaches provide moral support and help their contestants raise money in order to increase their scores.Alpha Xi Delta Panhellenic Delegate and IU junior Tessa Angermeier will be a sorority coach for the second year in a row. This year, she and fellow coach and sister, junior Abby Ostmeyer, will be supporting two members of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.“It’s really fun being a coach,” Angermeier said. “It’s really relaxed. Zeta lets you do however much work you do or don’t want to do.”Many sororities have two coaches, and many fraternities usually have one or two participants, she said.“It’s a really good way to bring lots of campus organizations together,” Angermeier said. “It makes the Greek campus come together for a good cause.”This year, Zeta is also allowing the coaches to participate with the men in their acts. In addition to the coaches, participants are also free to use other members of their organizations as props, back-up dancers or singers.“It’s a really funny show,” Angermeier said. “The boys embarrass themselves on stage, but in a good way.”This event offers multiple opportunities for the participants to raise money through multiple outlets, she said. All of the participants are encouraged to raise money prior to the event through online donations, canning or ticket and t-shirt sales. Each of these will be converted into points for each participant. Points are also given during the event itself. Participants must excel in multiple categories in order to win, and every way they fundraise will contribute to their overall points.“It’s not actually a popularity contest. It’s still a philanthropy,” Angermeier said.Follow Greek life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(10/01/13 2:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hoosiers, not Hazers.This message is being displayed on numerous IU Greek houses in honor of National Hazing Prevention Week. Last week, IFC and IUSA Culture of Care representatives distributed informational fliers, tank tops and stickers discussing the consequences and prevention of hazing.On Monday, IFC sponsored a presentation called “Hazing on Trial” at the Whittenberger Auditorium. Dave Westol, an attorney from Carmel, Ind., who specializes in the litigation surrounding hazing incidents, led the presentation.Westol has worked with more than 200 IFC councils and tours the country giving his presentation at other universities.Westol spoke about hazing litigation but specifically focused on identifying hazing behavior. He gave one example of new members of a sorority who were made to curtsy every time they saw another member. This allowed senior members to exert a sense of entitled control, he said.Hazing is any situation that intends to humiliate, harass or intimidate a member, he said. “This keeps the brightest young men and women from joining your chapters,” Westol said.He stressed the consequences of hazing. Not only can chapters be fined, but they can also lose their charter, leaving alumni members homeless when they come to visit campus.“This was our capstone for the effort with Culture of Care, though this event specifically focused on the Greek community,” said Ben Weisel, IFC vice president of risk management and IU senior.Not only was this an informational presentation, but also a form of risk-management training, Weisel said. “We need to have the people that are influencing change in their respective houses here so they can get that information and implement them into their houses,” he said.Weisel estimated at least five members from all 33 IU Interfraternity Council fraternities attended the presentation.The fraternities were encouraged to bring their younger members in addition to their executive boards. “We want to create a lasting impression on the younger members,” Weisel said. “We need to seed this information as deep as we can.”He said the IFC is also making an effort to check in with the individual chapters every so often to monitor their progress, and he hopes Westol’s presentation will implement a change within the Greek community. “They need the knowledge that their liability starts and ends at a certain point,” he said. “We want this presentation to be a catalyst to a new start.” Follow Greek life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/30/13 2:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A banner sporting the letters “GB” will be displayed on Woodlawn Field for the next eight weeks. The “GB” stands for the Greek Bowl, an intramural flag football league organized by Sigma Nu fraternity.Sixteen Interfraternity Council chapters are participating in the league, said junior Andy Glovsky, Sigma Nu philanthropy chair.The games are played from 4 to 10 p.m. every Friday, with the exception of a Thursday game Oct. 10. Ten fraternities played in the first round of games Friday. The winners of the five games were Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Alpha Mu. The playoffs will take place Nov. 16 after an eight-week regular season. Sigma Nu hopes to secure Mellencamp Pavilion as the location for the playoffs, Glovsky said. The playoffs will be head-to-head matches, similar to that of March Madness. A one-day playoff tournament is scheduled for Nov. 15, with the championship game following the next day.All donations will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Sigma Nu’s philanthropy this year. St. Jude’s is the current leader in childhood cancer research, Glovsky said.“St. Jude’s is completely community based, and we’ve never had something like this before for our philanthropy, so it’s nice to get something like this going,” said senior Mike Udoh, Sigma Nu President.The games are free and any student is invited to attend, greek or non-greek, Glovsky said.Buckets and boxes are located around the field during the games for people to submit donations. Greek Bowl tank tops are sold at booths, and concessions of water, Gatorade, hot dogs and hamburgers are also available for purchase to benefit St. Jude’s. “Any donation will help us reach our goal and help St. Jude’s continue their mission,” Glovsky said.Sigma Nu aims to raise $10,000 for St. Jude’s, Glovsky said.They have already raised $6,000 prior to the beginning of the Greek Bowl, he said, through team registrations, donation letters, contacting campus organizations and canning. In addition, he said, they want to bring three children who have been treated by St. Jude’s to some of the Greek Bowl games during the coming weeks.“We want them to feel like an MVP,” Glovsky said. The philanthropy is the brainchild of Glovsky and Udoh, and it is the first year the fraternity has organized the tournament.“We pretty much said, ‘We have an amazing idea and we need to run with it,’” Glovsky said. “It was a dual effort on both sides to get this event to where it is today.”Both of them thought of the event last semester and worked with IU Recreational Sports to make it a reality.“I think this event is bringing back that Friday Night Lights feeling, when we were playing football in high school,” Glovsky said.In addition to helping St. Jude’s, Glovsky said, this league also aims to bring together greeks as a whole. “With this event, I want to bring together the entire greek community,” he said. “We’ve had some rough roads on the outside image of greek life, and we need to change that. We need to realize we are all a community, and we shouldn’t be separated.”Glovsky and Udoh said they also want this to be a stepping stone for future cooperation within the individual chapters themselves, Udoh said.“We’re trying to take these greek rivalries and turn them into working towards strengthening the greek community,” he said.Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/26/13 3:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU sophomore Steven Kiley dedicated his summer to rhinos. He spent two months in South Africa and Botswana working to conserve rhino populations.Through the Jenna Clifford Rhino Project Young Presidents’ Organization Internship Program, Kiley studied the current status of rhinos in Africa, worked on two game reserves to help their current working conditions and promoted awareness about the current plight of the rhinos.The goal of the internship was to provide support for StopRhinoPoaching.com, an independent, non-governmental organization that aims to raise awareness of the issue, according to its website.Kiley said the funds help purchase anti-poaching units the game reserves need, such as vehicles, helicopters, watch dogs and other equipment.“You would not believe what goes into this when the rhinos get poached,” Kiley said.All five interns, including Kiley, took a film training class in order to learn how to professionally record their experiences.Kiley and his fellow interns decided to turn the videos they collected over the summer into a film. They are in the final stages of creating a 15-minute documentary on the rhino poaching crisis, Kiley said.In addition to the raw animal footage, the group will also include statistical graphs, trends and the projected future status of rhinos, Kiley said.He said the group hopes to premiere the documentary at the Durban International Film Festival in Durban, South Africa, in addition to another film festival in Los Angeles. “This is a wake-up call,” Kiley said. “I didn’t even realize rhinos were being poached. I want people to realize what’s going on, how it can be fixed and how serious the issue actually is.”About 700 rhinos have already been butchered in South Africa, Dex Kotze, CEO of Jenna Clifford, said. “If this carries on like it is, in 12 years rhinos will be extinct,” he said.Kiley is also trying to promote the documentary at IU, possibly going to the IU Cinema or Union Board, he said.Kiley said he wants to raise as much awareness as he can about the war on rhino poaching. “People don’t realize a rhino horn is worth more than gold right now,” Kiley said. “There’s only about 20,000 rhinos left in the world. Two are poached every eight hours. I want all of this to be shown. I want people to walk away with the message and the intent to pass this on — to stop the poaching all together.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/23/13 3:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Members of the IU and Bloomington community were able to briefly experience the life of an Air National guardsman before the football game Saturday.The Air National Guard Mobile Experience is a hands-on, interactive simulation that aims to replicate real-life training of an Air National Guard career.“We’re walking people through a journey of an Air National guardsman’s career,” said Corey Boykin, Air National Guard Mobile Experience Tour spokesperson.Though the exhibit was open to anyone who wanted to participate, the Air National Guard is specifically targeting college students for recruitment, Boykin said. The mobile experience tent was available to any participants from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Orange Lot Parking, near the student entrance to Memorial Stadium.Boykin said they were at the football game because college football is a market the National Guard is trying to move into for recruiting.“This is a demographic we’re looking for the Air National Guard,” Boykin said.The simulation was set up in a basic timeline of what a guardsman can expect over his or her career. The simulation started with registration of enlistment, where participants were able to submit their basic information to “enlist” in the Air National Guard. Then, a medical challenge simulated technical school training for those interested in pursuing a medical career in the Air National Guard. Participants could then train on a pull-up bar that represents the physical training of an Air National guardsman, Boykin said. The simulation ends with a replicated reconnaissance mission that one would experience during a drill weekend in field training. Most of the simulations were performed on iPads, tablets and miniature TV screens.In addition to the stations, recruiters were on site to answer any questions regarding enlistment. “We have recruiters on site that can walk you through what would need to be done if you wanted to join the Air National Guard,” Boykin said.Typically, the age of enlistees ranges from 18-39, Boykin said. The mobile experiencealso aimed to stress the fact that students can enlist in the Air National Guard while studying full-time in college. Guardsmen only have to serve one weekend per month and two weeks per year near their home. In addition to the limited required service, guardsmen also receive tuition assistance.“Depending on where you live, the Air National Guard can pay for your entire college education,” Boykin said. “There are also a lot of opportunities job-wise. The Air National Guard has 200 different career fields.”The Air National Guard Mobile Experience tour will travel from state to state until December, hoping to educate and recruit as many people as possible, preferably college students, for the Air National Guard.Follow Greek life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/20/13 3:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU students, staff and faculty gathered at the Maurer School of Law Thursday evening to hear about the current state and future of Afghanistan from Nasir Ahmad Andisha, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Fiji.Andisha spoke about the current economic, political and security challenges the country now faces as United States and NATO forces prepare to withdraw in 2014. Melissa Biddinger, the associate director of the Australian National University-Indiana University Pan Asia Institute, said the event was a great opportunity for people to expand their viewpoints of Afghanistan.“One of the goals of the institute is to promote interest and understanding in Asia,” Biddinger said, “With the major transition that Afghanistan is facing, we think it’s important for everyone to have an understanding from an Afghanistan perspective about what the future may bring.”Andisha’s lecture was titled “Afghanistan Post 2014: Challenges, Opportunities and the Way Forward.”“By every measure, with support from the U.S. and other international partners, Afghanistan of today has seen dramatic improvements,” Andisha said.The people of Afghanistan, Andisha said, are living much longer, children have more access to education, and the economy has grown 11 percent in 2012. Also, for the first time since the Soviet Union invasion in 1979, Afghanistan has an independent media in place.“As long as we have this strong cooperation with other governments, Afghanistan will continue progressing,” Andisha said, “This will not be solved in a single generation.” However, he said there is a possible obstacle to Afghanistan’s improvement. “The stability in Afghanistan is linked to the regional security complexes and a proxy regional power struggle on the Afghan soil,” Andisha said. This struggle has created space for Al Qaeda and other groups to overrun the region.As long as this struggle is not contained, it is close to impossible to have a stable and secure Afghanistan, Andisha said. One solution, he said, would be a security arrangement between U.S./NATO and Afghanistan that ensures the enduring presence of forces in Afghanistan. Another solution would be an intentionally recognized and guaranteed neutralization of Afghanistan that could ensure stability of Afghanistan while addressing the security concerns of the surrounding countries.Though neither of these policies are completely guaranteed, Andisha said he hopes Afghanistan will eventually become a stable, neutral country. Biddinger met with Andisha prior to his speech. “The information he shares is actually quite hopeful,” she said, “I was much more pessimistic about what might transpire until I met with the ambassador. I’m cautiously optimistic.”The event was sponsored by the Center on American and Global Security and the ANU-UI Pan Asian Institute.CAGS is a research unit within IU that explores and investigates the current security challenges the U.S. is facing in the contemporary 21st century. The ANU-UI Pan Asian Institute is a program that emphasizes area study centers and foreign language programs that revolve around the pan-Asian region.Andisha is currently a Ph.D. candidate for Diplomatic Studies at the Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy at ANU.Biddinger said the ambassador is friends with a faculty member within the ANU-UI Pan Asian Institute, which was the primary reason they were able to book him. This was his first visit to Bloomington and IU.Andisha offered to come to campus and they agreed, Biddinger said. “We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to bring Afghanistan issues to campus,” she said.Biddinger stresses the opportunity this provides for students. “It’s so rare we here in Indiana get a chance to hear from Afghans themselves,” she said, “With the way that our news media will cover things, it’s often general and decidedly from an American prospective. It’s important for our students to have a more holistic perspective in relations to Afghanistan.”Follow Greek Life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn
(09/19/13 3:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last weekend marked the first official rush event for Alpha Sigma Phi since its reestablishment in January.Alpha Sigma Phi has 19 potential recruits so far, said sophomore Alec Friend, alumni relations director, family relations director and brotherhood development director for the fraternity. With this, their plans of almost doubling their member count is within reach this fall.Though Thursday’s interfraternity recruitment event in Dunn Meadow was the official kick off, Alpha Sig brothers also tried to recruit potential pledges in other ways, such as those living near them in the residence halls. Tommy Thompson wasn’t expecting to rush a fraternity.He said he wasn’t interested in Greek life until he met some brothers from Alpha Sigma Phi.Thompson, a freshman, met Alpha Sig brothers Michael Rudolf and Jonathan Lenkey during Welcome Week, he said. “What I initially noticed about Tommy was that he was intelligent, classy and fun,” Rudolf said. “Since we hold similar values, we thought he would be a great fit for our organization.”Thompson said he wasn’t initially planning on rushing, but changed his mind after he met some of the fraternity members. “They told me that they’re striving for the highest GPA average on campus for all of the fraternities,” Thompson said, “They also stressed that they’re not the stereotypical fraternity, not like the things you hear about, like over-drinking, hazing, stuff like that.”Thompson said he has attended several informal rush events with the brothers such as soccer games, bowling, tailgating and off-campus dinners. The Alpha Sigs even participate in an intramural flag football league.Alpha Sig’s rush events are for every member of the fraternity, not just the pledges, Thompson said. “The guys who are rushing as well as the standing members of the fraternity come to these events,” he said. “I think it’s really cool to get everyone cohesive from the start and not just have the pledges separate. I like that they have everybody already meeting and greeting.” In addition to striving for the highest GPA for all IU fraternities, Alpha Sig is putting an emphasis on philanthropy this year, participating in five philanthropic organizations instead of their one last year, Thompson said.Thompson also appreciates the networking that can be provided through Alpha Sig. Thompson said he is happy with the process so far and looks forward to continuing his rush process. “I know that fraternities are really good for connections, and that would be one thing I’d really like to get out of it,” he said. Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/16/13 2:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sororities dominated overall grade point averages of IU greek organizations last semester.For the spring 2013 semester, the top three positions were taken by sororities — Kappa Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi and Phi Mu, with average GPAs of 3.496, 3.470 and 3.439, respectively.Every semester, each IU fraternity and sorority and its members are evaluated for an overall GPA. These GPAs are an average of members’ GPAs, which are compiled into a list, complete with rankings for each fraternity and sorority.Alpha Omicron Pi has been within the top three for the last two and a half years. The sorority’s semester GPA was based on 188 women, said an officer of AOPi, and 18 of them had GPAs of 4.0. Phi Mu has consistently scored in the top five for its GPA over the past few years, junior and Phi Mu president Olivia Koufos said. Last semester, its average was based on 186 women. This semester, Phi Mu is aiming for the No. 1 ranking.“I’m very happy and excited about our ranking,” Koufos said, “I think it says a lot about our chapter as a whole that we put a really strong focus on academics, which is something that Phi Mu values a lot.”Koufos dedicates a lot of Phi Mu’s success to its scholarship chair, junior Jennifer Risting. Koufos said Risting helps the women make flashcards, revise their notes and make binders of their work, which the women turn in at the end of the semester.“With the help of our scholarship chair, in addition to setting goals, I think that’s how we attained our GPA,” Koufos said.If a member’s GPA drops below a 2.9, she is sent to Phi Mu’s Standards Board. The board’s officers help the Phi Mu sister work with Risting and other older sisters to set specific, weekly goals. In addition to setting specific goals, the women also have personal academic sheets in which they track their progress in their classes.Some of the women have formed a library club, Koufos said, where they take a trip to the library and study together. “We all kind of joke about it, saying, ‘You’re an official member of the library club,’” Koufos said.Phi Mu also has a “Smarty Pants Award.” Each week at its chapter meeting, the girls submit the name of a fellow sister who they think demonstrated academic dedication that week, and the winning sister gets a roll of Smartees candy.“We also set goals as a chapter every semester,” Koufos said, “We want the girls to have something to strive for.” Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/12/13 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Interfraternity Council recruitment kicks off today. All 33 IU IFC chapters will have tables set up in Dunn Meadow from 3 to 7 p.m. This event is open to all freshmen and sophomore men interested in any IU fraternity. Senior and IFC Vice President Tom Ault said recruitment allows the entire IFC community to come together in one place. “There isn’t a person that comes in on a level higher than anyone else,” Ault said.Students are encouraged to explore the different fraternity chapter tables and introduce themselves. On a later date, recruitment chairs will contact those who signed up and invite them to an event in which they can learn more about that chapter.This event isn’t solely for those who know for certain they want to join a fraternity, Ault said. “If you’re unsure, come out,” Ault said. “If you’re dead-set on joining a fraternity, come out and talk to as many chapters as possible.”This is one of the few events where a student can learn about IU Greek life as a whole, not just individually through each fraternity, Ault said. “We have every IFC chapter at one event, and this doesn’t happen often,” Ault said.Fall recruitment tends to have more participants than spring recruitment, said Jordan Shwide senior and IFC vice president of communications. “You can either leave without signing, or you can leave knowing you found a fraternity you really like,” Shwide said. Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn
(09/10/13 3:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the floor below the Office of the Vice Provost for Research sits a research lab of less than 10 people, only two of whom are full-time employees. The Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology, which was established in 1965, is a 10,000 square-foot research lab that houses multiple collections of archaeological findings. These findings include a raw material collection, a projectile points type collection and Eli Lilly’s personal collection. Many of these collections are defined by the location in which they were found and at what time. The collections include stone tools, pots and fragments and shards of raw material such as clay.However, because space is so limited, the lab staff is having difficulty furthering its research, Director April Sievert said. Sievert and her team of researchers are preparing a formal request to the University for additional funding for expansion. “I’ve only been in this job for eight months now, but every day I learn something new about the collections and how amazing they are, but also what we need,” Sievert said.In addition to the lack of space, Sievert said, the facility is having climate control issues. To protect the collections from damage, the temperature and humidity must be controlled and dirt and insects kept out.“Now as a director, I have to figure out how to go about solving some of those long-term problems,” Sievert said, “It’s a huge responsibility to keep the collections safe and to make them accessible to people and to promote research with them.”Because of the limited space, Sievert said she and her staff are unable to perform critical rehabilitation on the collections. Rehabilitation would require the team to take out the collections, re-clean them, and re-package them, which they do not have room for.“We want to do this so the collections aren’t just sitting on some box with labels, wrapped in paper that was used 40 years ago,” Sievert said.Currently, Sievert and other staff members are working to make a case to the University, emphasizing the importance for more space for the collections in addition to looking for grants to fund different aspects of their work. Their main objective, Sievert said, is to demonstrate to the University that the lab’s archaeological work could benefit other historical research, such as the ethno-history archives. Sievert said one of the most interesting aspects of her job is not only working with all types of different people and trying to facilitate their research, but also trying to help the lab take its next steps into the future of archaeology. “I’m really interested in research with extant collections — collections that have been there for a long, long time that have been generally understudied,” Sievert said. “We have more of that than anything else in the lab.”Sievert said she believes these extant collections are the future of archaeology.“A lot of digging has been done,” Sievert said. “A place like this allows for research to be done on stuff that has already been dug up. It’s just that no one has done the research or intensive analysis on it. You can learn so much.”Many of these collections are now able to be studied due to new technology, Sievert said. “There’s so much research that can be done especially now that we have much better equipment to use,” Sievert said, “Now, we have high-powered microscopes, we can look at the elemental composition of something, or we can extract residues.”Though the lab is primarily used by its staff, undergraduate students, graduate students and even visiting researchers are allowed to use the facility as long as they fill out a “Visiting Researcher Form” prior to their visit. This also allows the lab staff to find whatever the visiting researcher may be looking for, especially since a basic artifact catalog typically has 250,000 lines, Sievert said.In addition to rehabilitating the collections, Sievert said she would also like to see more students in the lab. “It would be great to have a little bit more modern curation space and more workspace where the students could actually lay out the collections,” Sievert said, “Right now, we’re making the best of what we have and trying to find more space by just doing a little bit more organizing.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(09/06/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU reached record enrollment with 46,817 students this semester, the University announced Wednesday. This figure, however, includes 4,490 high school students also tallied because of changes in a program for high school students seeking college credits with IU.Excluding high school students taking classes at IU for college credit, record enrollment was announced in fall 2011 with 42,731 students, 404 students more than those currently enrolled.Though the Advanced College Project has had an online application for four years, this is the first year it has had a modified electronic application that allows students to register for classes more quickly and efficiently, said Kyla Cox, director of public relations and community outreach for the Office of Vice Provost for Undergraudate Education. Therefore, this is the first year high school students enrolled in classes with IU have been figured into the University’s official enrollment tally, said Todd Schmitz, executive director of University Institutional Researching and Reporting.This year, the ACP enrollment date for IU was the same date for actual IU undergraduate students. This earlier enrollment date increased the chances of high school students to be included in the census, ACP Director Mark Beam said. “Our goal is to get the student enrolled in the class as soon as they can be registered,” Beam said. “This allows the program to more closely mirror the IU experience. There’s a specific deadline you have to meet. The students follow the exact course enrollment process as the undergrads do through OneStart.”ACP offers its students a number of IU classes, including biology, mathematics and economics. These courses use the same syllabi and textbooks as a class being attended on the actual IU campus would.Students enrolled in the ACP are able to take these courses at their high school campuses. Teachers employed at these high schools learn how to teach the course from IU professors, then become certified by the IU departments to teach the courses to high school students, Beam said.“They really are high school teachers, but they’ve been elevated to teach college courses,” Beam said.Several hundred high school students are still expected to enroll in IU classes through the ACP after this semester’s census was recorded, Beam said. Even with the additional ACP students, this year’s census still proves more accurate in tracking the number of enrolled high school students than those in previous years, Schmitz said.“We have a better sense now of the number of high school students,” Schmitz said. With the inclusion of high school students, IU enrollment has increased 11.1 percent from last year, according to a press release. “It’s going to be a one-year blip in reporting, but we’ll have a better sense going forward,” Schmitz said.Follow greek life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn. — Samantha Schmidt contributed reporting
(09/03/13 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Sara Wilson is the last remaining member of Theta Nu Xi, Indiana University’s only all-inclusive and multicultural sorority. Wilson, Theta Nu Xi’s president, said she looks to recruit a steady number of new members this month. “We are a social greek organization that embraces the different races, cultures, religions, backgrounds and lifestyles of women or those who identify as female,” Wilson said. Although other sororities on campus are culturally inclusive, all other cultural sororities are oriented around a specific ethnicity, Wilson said. Theta Nu Xi aims to recruit members of all ethnicities and cultures. Theta Nu Xi is the only multicultural organization at IU part of the National Multicultural Greek Council, and is not subject to traditional Panhellenic recruitment. Wilson said she is looking for seven new pledges. Aside from Wilson, all previous members graduated at the end of last year. “We’re typically a smaller sorority,” Wilson said, “Sometimes it’s harder for us to recruit because we don’t have a specific demographic.”Theta Nu Xi needs younger members to help the chapter grow, Wilson said, especially because she will have to pass on her duties to a new member. She will be studying abroad in Togo in West Africa next semester and plans to graduate upon returning. Jasmine Collins, an IU alumna and Theta Nu Xi’s IU chapter advisor, said the group was created for women who don’t feel like they fit into a specific single racial or ethnical affiliation. “We are diverse by design,” Collins said, “We were founded to be a multicultural organization. It’s in our name. It’s part of our mission.”Wilson said fall recruitment is not only important for new members, but also to keep the sorority at IU. “IU needs something like Theta Nu Xi to truly bring diversity to the campus and to speak out about social issues and controversial topics,” Wilson said. “I don’t want IU to be without it.”Wilson plans to recruit at today’s Student Involvement Fair, and will be offering free hand-made earrings to potential members, Wilson said. Theta Nu Xi is also planning an event called “TNX-Giving” this year, which will give international students a chance to experience a traditional, American Thanksgiving.“We want the student population to be emerged in a different type of culture,” Wilson said.Wilson said she looks forward to integrating her charity work into the new pledge class. he has worked with Pages for Prisoners, English as a Second Language and the Hilltop Garden. “We do a lot of community service, so in a way, we’re very much advocates for social change,” she said.Theta Nu Xi’s letters are designed to promote their main theme of uniformity, said Wilson. The Greek letters are meant to look like the word “one”.“We want our image out there to be one of togetherness and equality,” she said.Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.