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(09/14/06 4:08am)
With more than 1.3 million articles and counting, Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, provides a wealth of information. But because that information can be changed at anytime by anyone, many faculty members believe it has no place in the classroom.\nIn a July episode of the satirical news show "The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert showed viewers just how easy it is to manipulate Wikipedia entries when he changed the article on African elephants to say their numbers had tripled in the past six months and urged viewers to do so as well.\nIn the segment, Colbert coined the term "wikiality," or reality decided by democratic vote.\n"Together we can create a reality that we can all agree on -- the reality we just agreed on," Colbert said in the segment.\nSince the show aired, new or unregistered users have not been allowed to edit Wikipedia's elephant page.\n"I would not allow Wikipedia to be (cited in a paper), as it has been tainted," clinical assistant professor of optometry Dr. Susan Kovacich said in an e-mail. "Unless, of course, all the tainted info comes from Stephen Colbert."\nIn an unscientific survey of 222 IU faculty members conducted by the Indiana Daily Student, 44 percent of faculty members said that even if they have issues with the Web site, they at least allow students to cite Wikipedia articles in work they turn in, compared to 35 percent who expressly disallow it.\nAn additional 5 percent said whether they allowed students to cite Wikipedia depended on the assignment or class level the professors were teaching. Finally, 16 percent of those responding to the survey said they either did not have a classroom policy on Wikipedia or it did not apply to what they taught.\nSeveral faculty members referenced the Colbert episode and "wikiality" when replying to the survey.\nAssociate professor of informatics L. Jean Camp allows students to cite Wikipedia in papers but will take off points for it.\n"Wikipedia does have weaknesses, particularly on contested topics," Camp said in an e-mail. "Imagine doing research on the decline of elephants since the 'Colbert Report' Wikipedia episode! \n"On a more serious note, the neutrality and viewpoint of some articles varies day to day. It is a fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Whether or not one reads this in the Wikipedia entry on the current conflagration depends on the day you read it." \nStill, Camp said Wikipedia is not the worst citation she has ever seen in a paper.\n"The worst reference I have ever seen consisted entirely of a domain name: CNN.com," she said. "There was no title, no date, nothing except a pointer to an entire cable network's Web site."\nEven professors who didn't mention Colbert often mentioned the concept behind "wikiality" as one of the reasons they distrusted Wikipedia.\n"The idea that just anybody can write on a subject really flies in the face of what a university is all about -- expertise," Italian professor Peter Bondanella said in an e-mail. "Expertise is not a democratic quality."\nOther faculty members expressed displeasure with online information sources in general.\n"I do not allow students to cite any online source that is not peer-reviewed to assure quality of the information," assistant professor of anthropology Frederika Kaestle said in an e-mail. "I also do not allow the use of online sources that are highly ephemeral, as that defeats the purpose of citations."\nOther professors were wary of Wikipedia because it lacks the same peer-reviewing procedures as academic journals.\n"Good sources need good gatekeepers, peer review, editors and fact checkers," history professor David Ransel said in an e-mail. "I wrote a book many years ago about a major Russian political figure. The Wikipedia article on this person says that he died in Italy. The person in question not only did not die in Italy -- he died in St. Petersburg -- but he had never set foot in Italy!" \nStill more faculty members said they did not accept Wikipedia citations because they did not consider any encyclopedia an acceptable source.\n"The real issue is that encyclopedias of any kind are not the proper source for papers at the university level," assistant professor of political science Brian Rathbun said in an e-mail. "The point is to dig deeper. Wikipedia is a starting point for further research at best." \nSeeing an increase in the number of Wikipedia citations in student papers, Alan Liu, an English professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has developed a policy for appropriate use of Wikipedia as a source.\n"(A) Wikipedia citation can be an appropriate convenience when the point being supported is minor, noncontroversial or also supported by other evidence," according to Liu's policy. "In addition, Wikipedia is an appropriate source for some extremely recent topics (especially in popular culture or technology) for which it provides the sole or best available synthetic, analytical or historical discussion"
(09/14/06 4:04am)
The Presidential Search Committee met for the first time Wednesday on the IU Purdue University-Indianapolis campus.\nThe profiles of potential candidates were discussed and Shelly W. Storbeck, the committee's consultant from Edward W. Kelley and Partners, outlined the search criteria, said Trustee Sue Talbot, who is chairing the committee.\nThe committee is searching for a candidate with "demonstrated understanding of the academic enterprise and experience in articulating and defending academic values" and "proven managerial experience with a large and diverse staff of a complex academic enterprise," among several other qualities, according to a position announcement the committee released after the meeting.\nTalbot declined to announce a time table for when the new president might be named.\n"We will be establishing a time table that will include whatever we need to ensure the very best fit for Indiana University," she said in an e-mail. "We will search until we find the right candidate for this job."\nTalbot and the trustees will conduct two open forums Friday on the Bloomington campus for public input regarding the search for the next president. The forums will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Redbud Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nCurrent IU President Adam Herbert said in June he would consider stepping down before his contract runs out in 2008 if a replacement is found before then.\n"Presidential searches are very difficult," Herbert said in a June 29 Indiana Daily Student article. "What this is essentially doing is giving the board two years of total flexibility to choose the next president for Indiana University, and I just think that's the optimal situation for the institution"
(09/14/06 3:14am)
A WISH-TV poll released Tuesday night shows Democratic candidate Baron Hill taking a slight lead in the closely-watched 9th District race.\nThe telephone poll of 400 likely voters conducted Sept. 5-8 found 46 percent supported Hill, while 40 percent supported incumbent Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, according to The Associated Press.\n14 percent were undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points. Libertarian candidate Eric Schansberg was not included in the poll.\n"Baron Hill has traveled through southern Indiana day-in and day-out and this only confirms what he has heard -- that 9th District voters are hungry for a change," Hill spokeswoman Abby Curran said.\nThe poll found strong support for candidates within their own party -- 85 percent of Democrats backed Hill and 76 percent of Republicans backed Sodrel. Hill scored better with independents; 52 percent of whom said they supported Hill, compared to 29 percent for Sodrel.\nSodrel's campaign downplayed the importance of the poll Wednesday.\n"It has a high margin of error, and if it was automated it's not very reliable at all," Sodrel spokesman Cam Savage said. "This is early in the race before a lot of grassroots work has begun ... The only poll that we really care about is the one at the end."\nSchansberg said he was "disappointed" the poll didn't ask voters about his candidacy.\n"I hope they didn't include me because they're outside of the district, and they're not aware of the interest my candidacy is generating in the media here," he said. \nHill announced Tuesday that he will participate in a two-issue debate focusing on energy and education Oct. 1 on the IU-Southeast campus. \nSchansberg, who is an economics professor on the campus, has signed on for the debate as well.\nSavage said Sodrel has not yet agreed to the debate because he is unsure if Congress will be out of session in time for him to attend. He also said the format is not yet finalized.\nThe format for the debates has been a point of contention between Hill and Sodrel this election. Hill has pushed for a series of hour-long debates that focus on one or two issues. Sodrel prefers multi-issue debates such as the one held at IU's WTIU studios Aug. 31.\nSchansberg has proposed a compromise of three single-issue debates and a final multi-issue debate which Hill has publicly accepted.\nWhen Hill and Sodrel previously faced off for the 9th District seat in 2002 and 2004 there was only one debate each election.\n"Already we've done as many debates as Hill gave us in '02 and '04," Savage said.\nHill was the district's representative from 1998 until 2004, when Sodrel defeated Hill for the seat by fewer than 1,500 votes.
(09/13/06 2:56pm)
Wikipedia prides itself on being the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. \nBecause it's so easily accessed and covers such a wide range of topics -- 1.3 million and growing -- Wikipedia has become a major resource for college students.\nThat's a trend that has some faculty members making Wikipedia a core part of their curriculum and others denouncing it as the ultimate proof that the Internet is full of unreliable information.\nThe English-language version of Wikipedia was founded in January 2001 by Jim Wales, who dropped out of the doctoral program at the Kelley School of Business in the mid-1990s.\nIn the past five-and-a-half years, Wikipedia has grown to become one of the top 20 most-visited Web sites, according to Alexa. \nFew IU faculty members surveyed for this article completely dismissed the relevance of Wikipedia or had major issues with students at least consulting the Web site to become familiar with a term or concept.\nWikipedia becomes an issue in the classroom when students attempt to cite it in their work, professors said.\n"I would consider Wikipedia to be fundamentally an entertainment Web site -- similar to, say, CNN and its wildly unhelpful representation of 'news'," assistant professor of history Konstantin Dierks wrote in an e-mail.\nDierks' view might actually be the minority at IU. In an unscientific survey of IU faculty members conducted by the Indiana Daily Student, 44 percent of faculty members said that even if they have issues with the Web site, they at least allow students to cite Wikipedia articles in work they turn in, compared to 35 percent who expressly disallow it. \nAn additional 5 percent said whether they allowed students to cite Wikipedia depended on the assignment or class level they were teaching. Finally, 16 percent of those responding to the survey said they either did not have a classroom policy on Wikipedia or it did not apply to what they taught.\nWhile casually researching one of his favorite NHL teams, the Edmonton Oilers, David Rubenstein, a professor in the Kelley School of Business, became convinced Wikipedia can offer students unique information.\n"Here was a team that didn't have a lot of talent but went to the Stanley Cup Finals," he said. "I thought 'What is the secret to their success?' I thought, maybe it was their management, so I looked up their coach, Craig MacTavish and found out he had spent time in jail because he had struck and killed a woman while drunk driving ... I had never heard that before. I don't think I could find that anywhere else in the world."\nEven though he allows students to cite Wikipedia in assignments, Rubenstein warns that he doesn't see it as the final authority on a topic.\nMany other faculty members said they allow Wikipedia to be cited but never as the only source.\n"For every paper, students have a minimum number of scholarly (peer-reviewed) references that they must utilize. Wikipedia doesn't count as one of these, but they can use it, and cite it, to get a first look at a concept on which they are writing," assistant professor of social work Sabrina Williamson Sullenberg said in an e-mail.\nAssistant professor of fine arts Julie Van Voorhis allows students to cite Wikipedia as long as they can support the information.\n"I allow it, with a caveat -- the information cited must be correct, and the burden of proof for the accuracy of the information is with the student," she said in an e-mail. "Wikipedia is uneven, but does contain some interesting articles. Besides, in our digital/Web-oriented age, the ability to assess the validity and usefulness of Web resources is an important life skill."\nWhether or not they allow Wikipedia citations, many professors voiced concerns with the overall accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Those concerns might not be entirely warranted, though.\nIn December 2005, the science journal, Nature, chose 50 entries on various scientific topics from Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica to be peer-reviewed by an expert in the field. The study found that on average, Wikipedia articles contain 3.9 errors per article while Britannica articles contain 2.9 and concluded that "Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries."\nBut it's not just students citing Wikipedia in their papers. According to Wikipedia, in 2005, 57 academic articles were published that cited an entry from the Web site.\nChristian Sandvig is an assistant professor of speech communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Later this year, he is due to publish an article titled "The Structural Problems of the Internet for Cultural Policy," in which he cites the "slashdot effect" entry in Wikipedia as "an excellent overview" on the topic.\nThe slashdot effect is when a larger Web site links to a smaller one, causing it to slow down or even shut down for a period because of the excessive traffic.\n"I think this was a special case," Sandvig said. "The paper is about communications technology, so I think it's appropriate. I think it's different than if (the paper) was a biography of an English king."\nSandvig said he feels the article is accurate because of his expertise with the topic and that if the Wikipedia article is tampered with, it will be quickly fixed, but he still warns students about the site's credibility.\n"I tell them to picture some fish," he said. "There's a larger fish eating a smaller fish, and that one's eating a smaller fish and so on. Those are all different sources. Wikipedia is the smallest one, and the biggest is a peer-reviewed journal"
(09/13/06 2:50am)
Star Wars fans will always debate whether Han or Greedo shoots first, but there will never be any argument as to who were the first people in Bloomington to get their hands on the unaltered original trilogy DVDs.\nMore than a dozen Star Wars fans waited outside Best Buy on Monday night to get their hands on Episodes IV-VI in their original theatrical form and the new video game "Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy." Bloomington's Best Buy was one of select store locations to release the DVDs. The Hoosier Alliance, the official Bloomington Star Wars fan club, coordinated the event with Best Buy.\n"We were the first ones here," said Bloomington resident Bryan Kiefer as the clock approached 11 p.m. "We got here at 7 because we thought it would be crazier like two years ago."\nWhen the original trilogy ("A New Hope," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi") was first released as a box set on DVD in September 2004, more than 200 people waited outside of Best Buy for it, according to a Sept. 24, 2004, Indiana Daily Student article.\nThe unaltered versions of those three films still hold a special place in the hearts of hardcore Star Wars fans who grew up in the 1970s and '80s with the movies. \nMany fans were angered when in 1997 George Lucas released a special edition of the trilogy with new footage, music and improved special effects.\n"People grew up with Han shooting first and a pasty old white guy as Luke's father at the end," said Chris Miller, who drove from Louisville to wait outside Best Buy. "You grow up and you feel cheated when someone comes along and tells you that's not the way it is."\nOne of the more controversial changes to "A New Hope" was a scene where Han Solo is confronted by a bounty hunter named Greedo inside of a bar. In the 1977 version of the film, Solo fatally shoots Greedo, but in the special edition, Greedo fires at Solo before Solo kills him.\nIn the 2004 DVD release, Lucas continued to change the trilogy. At the end of the 1983 and 1997 editions of "Return of the Jedi," a ghostly Anakin Skywalker, played by middle-aged actor Sebastian Shaw, appears to his son Luke.\nIn the DVD edition, Shaw was digitally removed and 25-year-old Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in the prequels, was inserted in his place.\n"If they were going to change it, they should have done it with Obi-Wan and Yoda younger too," said Russell Thomas, wearing a purple cloak like the emperor from "Revenge of the Sith" and holding a lightsaber. Russell also drove up from Louisville for the event.\nThis is also the first time the original Star Wars DVDs have been released individually in any form. As of Tuesday, Best Buy was selling each movie for $19.99 or the set of three with an exclusive tin for $69.99.\nEric Stuckey, president of the Hoosier Alliance, said he only planned to purchase "Return of the Jedi" now for the original music.\n"There's a big question of whether to buy this or wait," he said. "There are rumors on the Internet of a big boxed set next year with all six movies and even more footage. Usually you can trust that"
(09/12/06 10:27pm)
Virtually no one disputes that two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.\nIt's everything that occurred before and after the event that's open to debate for some.\nLeading the discussion of alternative theories about what happened that sunny September morning is a group that calls itself Scholars for 9-11 Truth.\nScholars for 9-11 Truth is a "nonpartisan association of faculty, students and scholars, in fields as diverse as history, science, military affairs, psychology and philosophy, dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9-11," according to the group's Web site.\nThe group was founded in December 2005 by James H. Fetzer, a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Minnesota at Duluth and former Marine Corps officer.\n"The greatest thing an academic fears is being embarrassed," Fetzer said. "Most faculty I run into say they'd never run the risk of doing something like this. These are people who are putting all their chips in the pot here because they care about truth, science and country." \nBased on his own research and the research of other members of Scholars for 9-11 Truth, Fetzer has come up with a far-reaching alternative theory of the events that made up the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.\nFirst, he said it was not the impact of two Boeing 767s that brought down the two towers.\n"The World Trade Center was designed to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707," he said. "That's very comparable proportionally to a 767."\nFetzer said he believes the fires in the towers did not burn hot enough or long enough to bring down the towers.\nInstead, he proposes that a group, apparently working for the U.S. government, set up explosive charges in the buildings several weeks before Sept. 11, and it was those charges that brought down the towers.\n"There were unusual security lapses two weeks before," he said. "(Government officials) shut down sections of the building and shut down cameras under the pretext of upgrading communication cables. That had never happened before."\nFetzer's theories don't end with what happened in New York. He said he believes United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania was not brought down by passengers attacking the hijackers, but rather by jet fighters scrambling to thwart the aircraft from attacking a landmark.\nHe also proposes that it was either a missile or a smaller plane that crashed into the Pentagon.\n"There's no wreckage from a Boeing 757 there," Fetzer said. "No fuselage or seats or bodies were ever found there. In the tapes released by the Pentagon, you can't see a 757 in the video tapes, and (the plane) is 71 feet high."\nHe also says the Boeing 757 is not physically capable of hitting the Pentagon in the way that it did.\nMarc Bogonovich is a graduate student in the biology department and a student member of Scholars for 9-11 Truth. He does not share all of Fetzer's beliefs about what happened Sept. 11 but said he thinks that there are enough inconsistencies about the attacks that more research needs to be done.\n"I think it's best to say I honestly don't know," he said. "I don't know what happened. It would be unexpected to me if the government was not complicit in the events, though. Though it wouldn't shake my world if it wasn't."\nHe said students sometimes approach him after class because of his involvement with the group.\n"Students come up to me, and they're aware of my involvement," he said. "They tend to be sympathetic to the 9/11 truth movement. ... I'm surprised there's not more members at IU."\nThe number of people who believe the government had something to do with the Sept. 11 attacks is significant. A Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll of 1,010 adults this summer found 36 percent of respondents suspected the government planned the attacks or allowed them to happen.\nBut why would the government go to such lengths and kill more than 3,000 people? Fetzer said he believes it helped grease the wheels of a new U.S. foreign policy strategy in the Middle East.\n"There's a huge number of reasons," he said. "It was important for the president to move the Patriot Act through without Congress reading it. It gave the administration the chance to launch offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan, to build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan and use Iraq as a base in the Mideast."\nFetzer readily admits that his ideas and research make up a conspiracy theory, a label many researchers dread, but he said his theory is no less credible than the one presented by the government.\n"The government offers its own theory that's a conspiracy theory in which 19 Islamic fascists outsmarted the best defense system in the world under the direction of a guy in a cave in Afghanistan," he said.\nSome academics believe Sept. 11 conspiracy theories do not deserve the kind of attention they are receiving.\n"There is a long and deep tradition of conspiracy theories in American politics, and this is the latest incarnation," political science professor Russell Hanson said in an e-mail interview. "That angle, and not the veracity of claims, is being played in the 'mainstream media.' Personally, I don't place much stock in the theory, and I don't know anyone who does."\nIU India Studies Director Sumit Ganguly views conspiracy theories as a defense mechanism to help people deal with traumatic world events.\n"As a general rule, I am disinclined to believe conspiracy theories which seem to abound in American political life when catastrophic events (occur), such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor or the assassination of President Kennedy," he said in an e-mail interview. "These events are so troubling that many individuals take refuge in conspiratorial beliefs to explain them."\nUniversities are beginning to strike back at professors who hold controversial views about Sept. 11. Last week Brigham Young University put Steven E. Jones, cochair of Scholars for 9-11 Truth, on paid leave.\nA spokeswoman for Brigham Young University told the Chronicle of Higher Education the decision was based on the "increasingly speculative and accusatory nature of statements being made by Dr. Jones regarding the collapse of the World Trade Center," as well as concerns that his work was not being published in the proper venues.\nStill, Fetzer said he believes the work he and other members are doing is worth the risk of losing their careers.\n"We are honoring the victims of 9/11 in the highest possible form by caring enough to ask how they died and why they died," he said.
(09/11/06 5:29pm)
Democratic candidate for the 9th Congressional District Baron Hill charged Friday that his opponent, Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, is running an ad violating the clean-campaign pledge they both signed last month.\nThe ad, which is currently only running on Louisville TV, shows Sodrel on the campaign trail while a voice-over claims Sodrel ran for Congress "to stop career politicians like Baron Hill from shipping our jobs overseas."\nThe commercial concludes with the line "liberal Baron Hill has gone Washington -- literally. He stayed there and went to work for a big lobbying firm."\nFlanked by more than a dozen supporters holding campaign signs, Hill took issue with both comments at a press conference Friday afternoon on the steps of the Monroe County Courthouse.\n"I don't know what he's talking about," Hill said. "I've \nnever sent one job overseas."\nHill claims the ad violates part of a clean-campaign pledge both candidates signed last month that bars "unfair, or misleading attacks upon the character of an opponent."\nThe pledge was drafted by the Monroe County Religious Leaders.\n"Misrepresenting the truth is not what politics is about," Hill said. "The people of southern Indiana deserve better than this."\nHill said though he did work for a Washington lobbying firm after losing the 9th Congressional District race in 2004, he was not a registered lobbyist, which he said the ad infers.\n"I worked for a lobbying business representing clients in southern Indiana," he said. "I was never a registered lobbyist."\nSodrel spokesman Cam Savage defended the ad, saying it was not negative and the statements in the ad are based in fact.\nAs evidence of "Hill shipping our jobs overseas," Savage cited Hill's vote in 2001 to normalize trade relations with China.\nSavage also criticized Hill's position with a lobbying firm.\n"Baron Hill says special interest groups are a problem in Washington, yet he went to work for a special interest lobbying firm," Savage said. "It's hypocritical. He wants people to forget his record."\nSavage said Sodrel's campaign has endured much worse than the ad running on Louisville TV.\n"I don't see this as an attack ad compared to what the liberal allies of Baron Hill such as moveon.org have been doing to Mike Sodrel for 18 months now," he said. "They have been making automated phone calls, some of which are misleading and others that are flat-out false."\nSince negative attacks are subjective, it is difficult to clearly say if an ad goes over the line, said political science professor Russell Hanson.\n"Clean campaign promises are nice, but that means different things to different candidates," he said.\nHanson said he wasn't sure of the reasoning behind Hill's press conference Friday.\n"I'm not sure what Hill hopes to gain, besides putting Sodrel on the defensive," he said.\nThis could also be a sign the closely watched race is about to heat up.\n"Both sides are going to do what they can to point out what they think is false about the other candidate," Hanson said. "If you want to consider that negative campaigning, we'll probably see more of it."\nThis is the third time Hill and Sodrel have faced off for the 9th District seat. Hill was the district's representative from 1998 until 2004, when Sodrel defeated Hill for the seat by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian candidate and economics professor at IU-Southeast Eric Schansberg is also running for the seat.
(09/08/06 4:50am)
As hundreds of thousands of college students across the country protest the Facebook News Feed, another recently introduced feature has gone largely unnoticed.\nA new election feature allows politicians to interact with younger voters. Students can also let all of their friends know who they support.\n"We wanted to do something to increase the political voice of the people on Facebook, a group that tends to be on the younger side of the electorate and which is often underrepresented in Washington and state capitals," Facebook's elections project manager Ezra Callahan wrote on the Facebook blog. "By bringing politicians to Facebook, you can engage with candidates on your turf, in ways that are familiar and meaningful to you."\nCallahan's post claims that Facebook now features more than 1,600 profiles for candidates in House, Senate and state governor races.\nSen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is one of the Hoosier politicians with a more detailed profile. The profile notes he enjoys country, rock and bluegrass music, his favorite movie is "It's A Wonderful Life" and apple pie is one of his favorite foods. He lists some of his interests as energy independence, national security and the war on terror. \nBayh's Press Secretary Meghan Keck said the senator provides all the original information for his profile and continues to provide input by updating it regularly.\nMore than a year ago, Bayh's office asked Facebook to remove a fake Evan Bayh profile because it confused some constituents, Keck said in a May 26, 2005, Indiana Daily Student article.\nCandidates in the hotly contested 9th Congressional District are also paying attention to Facebook.\n"Communicating with the 18- to 25-year-old demographic can be difficult," said Cam Savage, spokesman for Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th. "This allows us to talk to people who turn to the Internet before they turn on the radio or TV."\nLike the blog on his official Web site, Sodrel's profile has been updated by volunteers, but Savage didn't rule out the possibility of Sodrel updating it personally in the weeks before the Nov. 7 election.\n"When he visited the U.S.-Mexico border a few weeks ago, he was sending back (blog) posts on his Blackberry," Savage said.\nHe said future updates will probably include information about campaign issues and Sodrel's voting record.\nLibertarian candidate for the 9th District and economics professor at IU Southeast said his campaign had reviewed Facebook but was unsure of how to use it yet.\n"We looked into it and there are 342 libertarians on IU's campus," Schansberg said. "We thought about maybe sending T-shirts to them, but we don't have any grand plans. We'll have a presence on there soon though." \nBaron Hill, the Democratic challenger for the 9th District seat, also has a profile on Facebook but has not updated it yet.
(09/07/06 5:14pm)
Baron Hill, Democratic candidate for the 9th Congressional District, addressed the IU College Democrats Wednesday and promised change if re-elected to Congress.\nHill is facing Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, for the third time in what is expected to be another close race. In 2002, Hill won the seat by about 9,000 votes. In 2004, Sodrel won the seat by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian candidate Eric Schansberg is also running.\nHill held the seat from 1998 until 2004 defeat.\nSpeaking to a crowd of more than 200 in Jordan Hall, Hill touched on a variety of topics, including health care reform, the war in Iraq and ethics.\n"Everywhere I go, people come up to me complaining about the high cost of health care," he said. "Even Republican businessmen are coming up to me saying something has to be done about the cost of health care."\nHill said that before legislating health care reform, Congress needs to debate whether health care is a right or a privilege.\n"It's hard for pharmaceutical companies to tear apart a plan if it's a right for people," he said.\nBefore the speech, state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, introduced Hill, reminding those in attendance how important this race could be in deciding control of the House of Representatives.\n"I think we are on the verge of making history in the U.S. Congress," Pierce said. "This is ground zero in a battle to take back Congress and make the American people our priority."\nHill promised a quicker end to the Iraq war if Democrats gain control of the House in November.\n"If you put us in power we will bring the troops home sooner rather than later," he said. "And we will do it with honor. We won't cut and run."\nThough Hill voted to authorize President Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003, he now says he was lied to about the necessity of the invasion at a meeting attended by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.\n"They showed us centrifuges they said Iraq was using to make nuclear weapons and drone airplanes they said could fly under the radar to attack the U.S. with chemical and biological weapons," Hill said. "Then four months later I met with an air force general who said it was all made up."\nIf Democrats retake the House, Hill also said there would probably be investigations into the Bush administration, but he also urged restraint among his fellow party members.\n"I think Democrats need to be careful," he said. "We can't assume we're going to impeach this president like some members of my party want. There need to be investigations, but not a witch hunt."\nSodrel addressed the IU College Republicans at the group's call out meeting Monday.
(09/07/06 4:28am)
If Eric Schansberg doesn't look like your average politician, it's because he's not.\nHe's an economics professor at IU-Southeast.\nSitting in the Indiana Memorial Union, wearing a light blue dress shirt and munching a sub at lunchtime, this slim, balding figure fits well with the rest of the faculty here.\nHowever, Schansberg isn't taking a break between classes. He's actually resting after a morning of campaigning for the 9th District's congressional seat at Wednesday's Information Fair.\nSchansberg is the Libertarian candidate in one of the most closely contested House races in the country. The race is viewed as an epic third battle between Republican incumbent Mike Sodrel and the man from whom he won the seat in 2004, Democratic challenger Baron Hill. But don't call Schansberg a spoiler.\n"This is a grand experiment," Schansberg said. "I don't know if this is going to be the perfect storm or I'll just rain on their parade a little bit. In the perfect storm scenario, people aren't happy with either candidate, and I'm doing favorably in the debates. I can't set it up much better than that."\nOne of the most common questions asked of Schansberg on the campaign trail is: What is a Libertarian? And he's always glad to answer.\n"We believe that people are allowed to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt other people," he said. "We believe in a limited form of government like in the Constitution."\nSchansberg has tried a grassroots approach to campaigning, attending all 20 county fairs in the 9th District and just talking to people.\nSometimes only a handful of people wanted to hear what he had to say, other times he spoke with several dozen potential voters, he said.\n"In the downstate towns we've gotten terrific media coverage," Schansberg said. "I was on vacation in Columbus and about half the people there were at least aware of me."\nA major boon for his campaign came with his inclusion in the first debate last Thursday at WTIU on IU's Bloomington campus. \nIn a poll on the Louisville Courier-Journal's Web site, 31.8 percent of respondents said they thought Schansberg won the debate.\nDebates themselves have been a hot topic in this race. Hill says he is "holding firm" on one-issue debates, while Sodrel supports debates that cover a variety of issues.\nSchansberg proposed they compromise with three one-issue debates, the topic of each decided by each candidate, and a final, multi-issue debate. Hill publicly accepted the offer in a Tuesday press release, but Sodrel has yet to respond.\nSchansberg calls himself "the only true fiscal conservative" in the race, appealing to Republicans, and also "the strongest defender of the poor and the middle class" appealing to Democrats.\nWhile Hill and Sodrel debate the "fair tax," which would replace many kinds of taxes with one federal sales tax, Schansberg says the real tax issue affecting the middle class is payroll taxes.\n"15.3 percent of every dollar you make goes to payroll taxes," he said. "If you earn $41,000 a year and have a family of four, you don't pay any income tax, but $6,000 of that goes to payroll taxes."\nFirst and foremost, Schansberg is an economist. He spouts off statistics on tax policy and social security reform with speed and accuracy most people only use to order lunch.\nHe freely admits that he has no previous political experience, but he also thinks he'd be much more effective as a congressman than at any local level.\n"Federal policy I know like the back of my hand," he said. "I know federal policy better than (Hill or Sodrel) do. It's state politics I don't know as much."\nSchansberg became interested in economics while an undergraduate at George Mason University, more out of necessity than anything else.\n"I had bad grades, and I didn't want to get kicked out," he said. "The only class I really liked and was passing was economics, so I took another. I got really fired up about public policy in undergrad."\nHe went on to Texas A&M for graduate school, then joined the faculty at IU-Southeast where he's been teaching for the past 14 years. In the early '90s he became active in the Libertarian party, finding in his study of public policy that both the Democratic and Republican approaches were lacking.\nThough his profile has grown in the district, few of his students realize he's running for Congress.\n"I said I had to cancel office hours for the debate and a few people looked up, like, 'Really?'" Schansberg said. "They think that their teacher being in the race is cool, but there hasn't been too much response"
(09/05/06 5:33am)
Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, urged young people to get out and vote in his speech at the IU College Republicans call-out meeting Monday night.\n"It's important for young people to get engaged," he said. "They have more to win or lose in this next election. I'm in the fall of my career, but they're in the spring of theirs. If we pass the wrong laws and the wrong regulations now, they'll suffer longer."\nSodrel is facing Democratic candidate Baron Hill for the third time in what is expected to be another close race. In 2002, Hill won the 9th District seat by fewer than 500 votes. In 2004, Sodrel won the seat by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nAfter explaining the differences in political parties' beliefs, Sodrel took questions from the audience on a variety of issues, including the war in the Iraq, the "fair tax" and immigration reform.\nSodrel said huge strides have been made in improving technology in Iraq and that most of the country has been secured. He also compared the conflict to World War II.\n"The difference is that those fascists wanted to dominate us, and these fascists want to exterminate us," he told the crowd of more than 100.\nSodrel reiterated the comments he made about immigration at the first 9th District congressional debate Thursday, again calling for the borders to be secured.\nHe spent more time discussing in-depth the "fair tax," which he favors. Sodrel explained that the fair tax would abolish many kinds of taxes and eliminate the IRS.\nThose taxes would be replaced with a 23 percent federal sales tax on all goods purchased in the United States.\n"There are a lot of problems with the tax code as it is now," Sodrel said. "I could write a check for $10,000 to Bill Gates, and he wouldn't have to pay any income tax on it, and I wouldn't have to pay a gift tax, but if I leave a $5 tip for a waiter or waitress, they have to pay tax on it."\nThe crowd of College Republicans was supportive of almost everything Sodrel said.\n"It was a great speech," said junior Jon Lubitz, a member of the group. "He cleared a few things up and clarified a few of his positions."\nBefore the speech, College Republicans Chairman Shane Kennedy lauded Sodrel's character.\n"I'm glad to support this gentleman because he's the representative of the district I live in, and I'm glad to support him because he's a member of the party I support, but he's also very likeable, which in politics is sometimes very hard," Kennedy said.\nAfter his speech, Sodrel addressed the question of more debates. Sodrel prefers the multi-issue format such as the debate held Thursday on campus at the WTIU studios.\nHis opponent Hill said Thursday he is "holding firm" on a series of one-issue debates.\n"I understand his position, but this is a big district," Sodrel said. "I know we can stream things, but there are 20 counties and four media markets. I don't think single-topic debates would be productive. Maybe there's a middle ground, and we could limit a debate to four topics."\nLibertarian candidate and economics professor at IU-Southeast Eric Schansberg issued a press release Friday proposing a series of three single-issue debates on topics of each candidates choosing followed by a final open-format debate.\nHill and state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, will speak at the IU College Democrats call-out meeting tomorrow. That meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Jordan Hall A100.
(09/04/06 4:14am)
IU officials announced Friday that Bennett Bertenthal, a professor of psychology and computational neuroscience at the University of Chicago, will take over as the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.\nBertenthal has been a member of the University of Chicago faculty for almost six years, researching the perceptual, motor and cognitive development of the brain, according to an IU press release. He is also a former assistant director of the National Science Foundation.\n"Dr. Bertenthal brings a very impressive record of academic and leadership achievement to Indiana University," said IU President Adam Herbert in a statement. "His impressive experience in fostering faculty collaboration and leading multi-disciplinary research initiatives will be especially valuable as we expand the IU research enterprise."\nBertenthal said he looks forward to helping IU grow as a research institution. \n"IU has begun initiating a very ambitious plan to enhance its research and educational opportunities," he said in an e-mail. "I am especially excited about the life sciences initiative, which will help to make IU one of the leading centers in the country for research in the life sciences. As an administrator, I have tried to provide bold and visionary leadership, and I look forward to working with the faculty and other administrators to make this a time of unprecedented growth for the University."\nIn January, Herbert said he hoped to have the COAS dean position filled by May 15, \naccording to a Feb. 2 Indiana Daily Student article. In early May, Bertenthal was named one of three finalists for the position, and the deadline was moved to mid-June. June came and went without any more word on the next head of COAS. \nBoard of trustees President Stephen Ferguson said both Bertenthal and the University had to be satisfied with the new COAS dean. \n"We knew who was involved and how the negotiations were preceding," Ferguson said. "This is a big decision. We knew (Bertenthal) had to satisfy himself that this is what he wanted to do. ... The dean of COAS is a very important position, but (we) think this is something everyone will be pleased with." \nThough Bertenthal said it was still too early to discuss his exact plans for the school, he said he was impressed by IU and Bloomington when he visited this summer.\n"My wife and I were both impressed by the warmth and collegiality of the faculty and the town," he said. "We visited a few times during the summer and always felt that Bloomington would be a very easy place to fit in." \nBertenthal's appointment will be confirmed by the board of trustees at its Sept. 22 meeting in Bloomington and he will officially begin his new role Jan. 1, 2007.\nKumble Subbaswamy vacated the COAS dean position earlier this year to become provost at the University of Kentucky after being passed over for the IU-Bloomington chancellor job. Professor of sociology David Zaret is currently acting as interim COAS dean.
(09/01/06 4:27am)
The three candidates for the 9th Congressional District seat debated several issues on the IU campus Thursday night, but the topic that came up repeatedly was energy.\nRep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, Democratic challenger Baron Hill and Libertarian Eric Schansberg agreed America must reduce its dependence on foreign oil but each had different ideas on how to do it.\nHill proposed more research into new energy sources such as hydrogen and solar power.\n"I believe there is an energy crisis going on in this country," Hill said. "We've got a problem, and we can't solve it by digging for more oil."\nSodrel said he believes that gaining energy independence lies more in researching coal as a fuel, calling America "the Middle East of coal."\nSchansberg, an economics professor at IU Southeast, said the government should be less involved in finding new energy sources.\n"The government should not be in the business of picking winners," he said. "Why subsidize one fuel over the other? Let the market decide these things."\nThis is the third time Hill and Sodrel have faced off in the 9th District. Hill narrowly defeated Sodrel in 2002, but Sodrel won the seat in 2004.\nSeveral viewers watching the debate on WTIU or listening on WFIU called in with questions about the Iraq war.\nSodrel said that the United States can't "cut and run" in Iraq and compared the conflict and the war on terror to World War II.\n"There are no separate wars," he said. "This is one war of liberty versus fascism."\nHill, who voted to authorize the war in Iraq in 2003, said he had been lied to by the Bush administration about the reasons for entering the conflict but said it was important to take care of the troops who are there now.\nSchansberg said Iraq was a complicated situation and that it was too early to move out troops or gauge the success of the new government.\n"I don't think there should be a timetable for withdrawal," he said. "I think that would give away too much of our strategy and be a problem for morale."\nBack on the home front, all three candidates said they opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants but again proposed different ways of dealing with the issue.\n"We tried (amnesty) once before in 1986," Sodrel said. "We didn't secure our borders — now we have between 10 and 12 million people here illegally. We are a nation of immigrants. It's part of our culture, but we can't stand unlimited, illegal immigration."\nEnforcing existing penalties for employers of illegal immigrants is a better way to stem the tide of illegal immigration, Hill argued.\n"We need to make it loud and clear that there are consequences for hiring these people," Hill said. "If we take away their income, they will stop coming here and those here illegally will go home."\nSchansberg advocated a combination of increased border security and enforced penalties for employers.\nFor now, Thursday's debate, sponsored by WTIU, Hoosiers for Higher Education and the Bloomington Herald-Times, is the only debate scheduled for the election season as Hill and Sodrel have yet to finalize the terms of other meetings.\n"I'm holding firm on single-issue debates," Hill said after the debate. "The people of Southern Indiana deserve better. If (Sodrel) won't debate single issues, I'll take that as a duck."\nHill is proposing at least three single-issue debates about energy, values and immigration.\nSodrel and Schansberg are in favor of multi-issue debates such as Thursday's for different reasons.\n"With the size of the district, I think it's a bad idea to have one-issue debates," Sodrel said. "If we have one-issue debates in different counties, people may not hear what they're interested in."\nHill said that was not an issue as technology would ensure single-issue debates could be seen by everyone in the 9th District.\nSchansberg said one-issue debates were unnecessary.\n"I think Baron just wants one-issue debates on his talking points," he said.
(08/31/06 3:47am)
The next Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences should be announced in coming weeks, search officials said.\nLaw School Dean and search chairwoman Lauren Robel said the selection of the candidate to lead IU's largest school should be expected within a couple weeks.\n"Provost (Michael) McRobbie is negotiating with a finalist, but for a number of reasons beyond his control, the process has not been completed," said IU Director of Media Relations Larry MacIntyre in an e-mail.\nIn a May 8 article, the Indiana Daily Student reported the finalists for the position were Bennett Bertenthal, professor of psychology and computational neuroscience at the University of Chicago, Edward Donnerstein, dean of the College of Social & Behavioral \nSciences at the University of Arizona and Eric Friedlander, professor of mathematics at Northwestern University.\nIU President Adam Herbert said he expected a recommendation from the search committee by early June, according to the article.\nKumble Subbaswamy vacated the COAS dean position earlier this year after being passed over for the IU-Bloomington chancellor job. Professor of sociology David Zaret is currently acting as interim COAS dean.
(08/31/06 2:54am)
The owners of Rooftop Quarry have a very simple message for IU students: Stay out.\nOff-duty police officers will begin patrols of the area, also known as "Sanders Quarry" and "Longhole Quarry" Friday.\nTrespassers will be arrested and prosecuted. Their cars will be towed and impounded, the owners said.\n"It's a beautiful place, and if we could, we would love to open it up to the public," said Indiana Limestone director of materials Brett Skillred. "But the liability from injuries is something the company can't live with."\nRooftop Quarry has been a hot spot for students even before it was made famous in the 1979 movie "Breaking Away."\nBut many students who go there are not aware it's also private property. Often students injure themselves jumping from the rocks of the quarry, which has been a headache for Indiana Limestone.\n"We've been to court numerous times over injuries, none of which have been successful (for the injured)," Skillred said. "I don't think people realize that if we lost a lawsuit like that it could cause us to close and hurt a lot of families."\nAlong with the patrols the quarry is also putting up more signs warning people they are trespassing. Many older signs had been torn down over the years, according to a June 8 Indiana Daily Student article.\nIn the past the quarry had been very easy to access by students because of the sheer number of keys and passes the former owners had handed out.\n"It escalated until it was just out of control," Skillred said.\nOn an average day he says he has to tell between 30 and 40 people, almost always IU students, to leave the quarry. That's usually enough.\n"It's different people every time," he said.\nEntering the quarry without authorization is considered criminal trespassing, a class A misdemeanor with a penalty of no more than year in jail and a fine of $5,000 or less, said Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann.\nDepending on someone's past record though, they can often go through a pre-trial diversion program which carries a fine of about $400 and probation or community service.\n"The quarries aren't as pristine as they used to be," Salzmann said. "They have to do this. There are too many kids getting hurt"
(08/30/06 5:21am)
Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, and Democratic challenger Baron Hill will square off in their first debate Thursday.\nAfter weeks of banter and barbs, Democratic challenger and former congressman Hill has signed on for a debate that will cover a variety of topics — the format Sodrel lobbied for.\n"Unfortunately we had to agree to a multi-issue debate," Hill spokeswoman Abby Curran said. "Mike Sodrel said it would be a waste of time and resources to have a single-issue debate, but we believe these issues deserve more than the two to five minutes you get in this type of debate."\nThe first debate is scheduled for 8 p.m., Aug. 31 at the WTIU television studios in Bloomington. The debate is sponsored by WTIU, Hoosiers for Higher Education and the Bloomington Herald-Times.\nHill, Sodrel and libertarian candidate Eric Schansberg will be asked questions by the three-person panel of Bob Zaltsberg of the Herald-Times, Jim Shella of WISH-TV and Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier-Journal.\nThe debate will be live on WTIU and simulcast on WFIU. Audience members can also e-mail questions to wtiu@indiana.edu or fax questions to 855-0729. A phone number for call-in questions had not been determined by press time.\nThis race marks the third time Hill and Sodrel have faced off in the hotly contested 9th District. In 2002 Hill narrowly defeated Sodrel by about 500 votes. Sodrel won the seat in 2004 by about 1,500 votes.\nSodrel spokesman Cam Savage said Hill was trying to avoid some topics with a series of single-issue debates.\n"I think if you're running (for) Congress, you should be ready to answer any question at any time," he said. "When you're in Congress, you don't have the luxury of debating some issues and not others."\nHill, who served as 9th District representative from 1998 to 2004, previously proposed a series of four debates about energy, values, health care and the economy.\nSome media outlets reported that Hill was ready to back out of Thursday's debate, which he flatly denied in a letter his campaign sent out Tuesday.\n"Baron will debate (Sodrel) as many times as (Sodrel) wants," Curran said. "He'll have 10 debates on 10 issues if that what he wants to do."\nSodrel's campaign isn't buying it, however.\n"I don't think he wants to debate, despite the angry rhetoric from his press releases," Savage said.
(08/29/06 4:13am)
Student leaders are petitioning the IU board of trustees for a larger part in the search for IU's next president.\nMembers of the IU Student Association, Residence Halls Association, the greek community and other campus groups will present a letter to the board this week voicing concerns that the only student member of the recently appointed Presidential Search Committee is Michael Renfrow, a graduate student from IU-South Bend.\n"We are concerned because the IUB campus is primarily undergrad," RHA President Matt Jarson said. "I don't believe a graduate student at the South Bend campus who has never lived in a residence hall or taken a class here can fully represent Bloomington."\nThe groups initially asked that an undergraduate student from IUB join the search committee, but the trustees didn't concede.\n"We understand that a wider range of students want to be involved, but they need to understand that we have already started the process of appointing the committee and that is what it's going to be," said trustee Sue Talbot, who is chairing the committee.\nAt an Aug. 18 conference, the Association of Big Ten Students passed a motion 8-0 with three abstaining in support of IUSA seeking "adequate representation (that) should, at a very minimum include a student representative from a traditional, flagship campus."\nIn a letter addressed to IUSA issued last week, Talbot reminded the student government that Renfrow is not the only student that will have input in the presidential search.\nAs the committee narrows down its finalists, student trustee Casey Cox will have some say in the selection.\nCox is a third-year law student on the Bloomington campus, as well as a former IUSA president.\nIUSA, however, said it does not feel Cox can represent IUB as well as some other students.\n"Casey is not a voting member of the search committee," IUSA Vice President Andrew Lauck said. "And he's still a grad student. Plus, his role as a trustee is not to do what students want but to serve all taxpayers."\nStudents can still get involved in the process by contacting the trustees or attending any of the public forums on the presidential search later this year.\n"We're not taking this lightly, but I don't think this is a major issue," she said. "Students are important to us, and this is not an effort to close them out."\nThe search committee will meet for the first time as a group Sept. 13 at the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Conference Center.\nCurrent IU President Adam Herbert said in June he would consider stepping down before his contract runs out in 2008 if a replacement is found before then.
(08/29/06 3:42am)
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana President Gerald I. Lamkin announced today that he will retire in June after serving as president of the college since 1983 and a faculty member since 1967.\n"My time at Ivy Tech has been one of the most rewarding times of my life," Lamkin said in a statement. "We have made tremendous strides in establishing an effective and enriching community college system for the state of Indiana."\nIn December 2003, IU and Ivy Tech signed a historic agreement that allowed students to begin a degree at Ivy Tech then transfer to IU-Bloomington, according to a Jan. 9, 2004, Indiana Daily Student article.\nThe "Hoosier Link" program, as it became known, also allows Ivy Tech students to live in IU dorms.\nA new Ivy Tech president should not change that agreement, said Ivy Tech spokesman Jeff Fanter.\nDuring Lamkin's 23-year presidency, Ivy Tech saw its enrollment increase by 300 percent, according to a news release from the college. Donations to the Ivy Tech Foundation have increased from $350,000 to more than $13 million during his tenure.\nOne-third of Indiana college students are now enrolled at one of Ivy Tech's 14 campuses; IU is the only college system in Indiana with a larger enrollment.\n"Very few people who have a dream get to see it become real," Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement. "Gerald Lamkin is the father of the community college system in Indiana. He has led Ivy Tech to its central position in the economic future of Indiana." \nLamkin will continue to serve as president emeritus.\nDetails of the search for a new president are not yet known, other than candidates from all over the country will be considered. Ivy Tech is now the third Indiana college searching for a new president. \nIU started its search recently after IU President Adam Herbert told the board of trustees in January that he would retire in 2008 when his contract expires. In June, he amended that statement, saying he could step down earlier if a replacement is found. In addition, Purdue University President Martin C. Jischke announced earlier this month that he will retire in June 2007.
(08/29/06 3:32am)
This isn't your daddy's solar system anymore, says astronomy professor Constantine Deliyannis.\nAs of Thursday, the International Astronomical Union, the group responsible for naming celestial bodies, redefined what makes a planet, kicking Pluto out of the exclusive club.\nUnder the new definition, a planet is any body orbiting the sun that is spherical or nearly spherical because of its own gravitational forces and has "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."\nPluto is a spherical body in orbit around the sun but fails to meet the last part of that definition.\n"It's a very sensible decision," Deliyannis said in an e-mail. "It's certainly true that given our ever-expanding knowledge of the solar system and its structure, and particularly the large number and variety of round objects that (we) now know it contains, it was time to revisit what we mean by 'planet' and decide upon a more precise definition."\nPluto was declared a planet soon after its discovery in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tambaugh. \nAstronomers began to doubt its status years later as more and more Pluto-sized objects were discovered in an area beyond Pluto's orbit known as The Kuiper Belt and theorized that Pluto was not a planet but rather the largest of those objects.\nSeveral other definitions of a planet were presented at last week's IAU conference in Prague, Czech Republic.\nOne plan widely reported in the media would have let Pluto keep its planet status and immediately add three more planets to the solar system. Those new planets would have been Pluto's moon Charon; 2003 UB313 (nicknamed Xena by its discoverer), an object in orbit around the sun beyond Pluto; and the asteroid Ceres, located in orbit between Mars and Jupiter.\nMuch like Pluto, Ceres was considered a planet throughout the 1800s but was eventually demoted.\nIf the IAU had gone with that plan, another 12 objects would have been candidates for planethood. Some astronomers estimated that definition could have brought the total number of planets in the solar system up to 200.\n"There must have been substantial sentiment at the IAU that planets must somehow be special -- that we cannot allow every little round object ... to be promoted to the status of 'planet,'" Deliyannis said.\nThe new definition classifies Pluto, Ceres and "Xena" as "dwarf planets." Charon is now recognized as a "small solar system body," a classification that serves as a catchall category for numerous asteroids, comets and satellites, according to The Associated Press.\nCutting the solar system down to eight planets probably won't impact many people's daily lives, but it does mean that textbooks and courses from elementary school to college will have to be revised.\n"When I was in elementary school, I learned a mnemonic for the order of the planets at the McDonnel Planetarium in St. Louis," said professor of astronomy Phyllis Lugger in an e-mail. "It was: 'My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.' Keeping with the theme of food that children enjoy, I suggest the following for the new mnemonic: 'My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos."\nLugger said she sent her idea to the chair of the planet definition committee, who thought it would work well for young astronomy students.\nDeliyannis also sees some exciting possibilities in classes at IU.\n"The specific new IAU definitions of planet and dwarf planet can lead to whole new sets of discussions and debates, involving students," he said. "For example, panels or teams could be set up within a class to debate the pros and cons of these new definitions."\nThe IAU's new definition isn't the final word on what makes a planet a planet, either. In the past 20 years, dozens of extra-solar planets have been discovered orbiting nearby stars. Most of these planets appear to be extremely large gas giants like Jupiter, but astronomers don't yet have the technology to tell if they are spherical or have cleared the neighborhood of their orbit.\nThese planets also appear to have highly eccentric orbits more similar to Pluto's than Earth's.\n"Today we know very little about extra-solar planets," Deliyannis said. "I am sure that eventually we will have definitions of objects orbiting other stars, and these definitions might perhaps be guided, at least in part, by the definitions of 'planet' and 'dwarf planet' adopted for our own solar system at the IAU meeting in Prague"
(08/28/06 4:15am)
Dozens of students shared tears and laughter Sunday as they exchanged stories and memories about Alvin Henry Jr.\nHenry was an Eigenmann Hall resident assistant and senior who was killed in a May 20 car accident on I-65 just south of Crown Point, Ind. \nGathering in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center, the Black Student Union hosted the memorial service for the popular and involved student and announced the creation of a scholarship fund in his honor. \nBefore the service began, pictures of Henry were projected 15 feet high on a screen in the Grand Hall as gospel music played. In every photo, Henry, who friends called "Alvie" or "A.J.," was shown smiling.\n"Alvin was the type of person who made you smile every time you saw him," said senior D'Anna Wade, president of the Black Student Union. "He was a good-spirited person. He was always full of joy and happiness."\nHenry was active in campus life as a resident assistant in Eigenmann Hall, member of the executive board of the BSU and contributor to the Indiana Daily Student.\nHe graduated from Wirt High School in Gary in 2003 and came to IU to study political science with hopes of going to law school and eventually entering politics.\n"A lot of people's greatest fear is going outside their comfort zone," said BSU treasurer and junior Yetunde Okunade before reading one of Henry's favorite poems, "My Deepest Fear" by Nelson Mandela. "But a lot of people here are blessed with a lot of skills, so don't be afraid to go out and try new things like Alvin did."\nThe BSU hopes to raise $5,000 this year and $1,000 every year after for the Alvin Henry Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will be given annually to two members of the group who share Henry's ideals.\nThose who knew Henry well dedicated poems and songs to him at Sunday's memorial service. Several people told stories of how Henry touched their lives.\n"I only met Alvin one time," said D'Anna Wade's mother Deborah, who spoke at the service as an evangelist. "But he made a lasting impression on me. Every time I talked to D'Anna, I would ask her how Alvin was doing."\nDeborah Wade told the crowd that Henry should be remembered for the choices he made in his life to help those around him.\n"Scripture tells us that we all have choices," she said. "Our choices don't just affect us but others as well. And because we were all impacted by the positive choices Alvin made, I haven't heard one bad thing about him."\nThis week the BSU will sell raffle tickets at several events on campus for a 23-inch TV to raise money for the scholarship fund. For more information on how to donate to the fund, e-mail blbsu@exchange.indiana.edu.