Community Arts

Hoosiers will advance to College Cup with win against St. John’s

Thanksgiving week was very good to IU men’s soccer coach Mike Freitag and his team, as the Hoosiers notched two impressive home victories in the NCAA Tournament and received a commitment from one of the top high school soccer players in the nation.

Do charter schools measure up?

During the 2002-03 school year, Indiana joined the rest of the country in a grand experiment to reform the education system by opening its first charter schools. Education is one of those paradoxical issues where the vast majority of Americans agree the current system is broken, but little ever changes. Given that much of this is the result of a partisan deadlock over issues such as school vouchers and teachers unions, charter schools have steadily grown as the less controversial option. Today some 1.2 million American pupils attend charter schools, and as of this fall, 49 charter schools were in operation across the state of Indiana. Concentrated in the urban areas of Indianapolis, Gary and Fort Wayne, but also scattered in other areas across the state, including Evansville and Lafayette, these schools were supposed to perform better than and spark innovation from their faltering peers. However, the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP) at the IU School of Education conducted a study concluding that, so far, charter schools haven’t radically shaken things up very much. Charter schools are publicly funded and operate with a great degree of autonomy. Critics often question how accountable charter schools really are to their charters when the penalty of closing the schools is often difficult to enforce, and teachers unions are wary of lost rights under the charter system.

Running the Floor: Demon Deacons too much for young Hoosiers

Now the fun begins.

The regrets of President Bush

I have a very complicated opinion of President George W. Bush.

IU preps for talented point guards

On Wednesday, the Hoosiers will face one of the best floor generals in the country. Without an All-American in the backcourt, IU plans to use a point guard by committee approach to run its offense. In search of size and depth, IU coach Tom Crean played freshman Malik Story at the point position for the first time Sunday. Story, a 6-foot-5, 222-pound freshman from Los Angeles, has primarily played frontcourt positions this season, splitting time with freshman Nick Williams at power forward. But Crean said the Hoosiers would take advantage of Story’s versatility, playing him at as many as four positions this season.

Tragic Friday

I’ve heard plenty of mildly amusing shopping tales, including my favorite of police being called in to break up a fistfight between two women over a purse at a Coach Outlet store. These, coupled with the fact that I’m a big fan of sleeping in, have usually kept me out of Black Friday fray.

Watch out Perez, I am coming for you

I just spent the last hour and a half thinking of something to write about. Sure, I love arts and entertainment. I could write about my love for small, unknown bands on YouTube such as the Florida-based band Boyce Avenue (I own the CD, and I have played all of its videos on YouTube at least 40 times each). I could talk about the passion I hold inside for Brad Pitt and his ever-changing facial hair (sorry Brad, the stach must go).

Around the Arts

IU jazz musician tours Europe, releases new CD

She toured Europe over the summer and recently released a new CD, but jazz pianist Monika Herzig’s life isn’t all glamour.

Around the state

ANDERSON – A coroner says a man died of cancer just before his car crashed as he was driving himself to a hospital for treatment.

Man arrested for punching Arabic speakers

A Bloomington man was arrested on Sunday after police say he assaulted two individuals for speaking Arabic.

Body found on Purdue campus

The Tippecanoe County Coroner and the Purdue University Police Department are investigating the death of a man found behind a Purdue University residence hall early Tuesday morning.

How the West was won and French culture was forgotten

PARIS – During the course of the past 11 and a half weeks living in Paris, there are a few things I have learned Parisians simply cannot live without. The most crucial being cigarettes, dark-colored clothing and sitting at a cafe having drinks with a friend.

Confessions of a boy genius

Nineteen-year-old senior, Yun William Yu, came to IU when he was 15. He’s earning three degrees and applying to medical school, but his GPA is a mere 3.993 thanks to an A-minus in a freshman-year honors analysis class.

Sticking out

Students chart their courses, define their degrees with abstract academics.

Of hope and light

IU's war machine finds a new legacy in lifesaving cancer treatment.

Body found behind Purdue University residence hall

The Tippecanoe County Coroner and the Purdue University Police Department are investigating the death of a male found behind a University residence hall early Tuesday morning.

R.I.P. rickroll

I usually try to abstain from watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Personal economics

I’m a reluctant economics minor. Not a bum student of the economy, but certainly not the kind that will be forever enshrined glowingly in the halls of Wylie.

Fighting diseases without facts

Americans have been known to make a few jokes at Canada’s expense, mostly about Canadians’ funny accent. A decision recently made by the student government association at Carleton University in Ottawa might cause people to start making a few jokes about their judgment. What did they do to prompt Macleans, a Canadian newsmagazine that profiles education, to call them “the least-intelligent student union in the country”? They withdrew from a national fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis. The fundraiser involved freshmen at 65 universities and colleges in Canada. Participants have raised millions for research of the disease during the past 50 years in a traditional event held during student orientation week. The reason Carleton’s student association gave for withdrawing from the program is just as important as what it did.