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(05/09/05 1:38am)
For all of my fellow peers who are leaving here after four, and in some cases, five years of college life in Bloomington -- I'm jealous. When I spoke in front of the Indiana Daily Student's staff last Friday, I said the same thing -- and it's the truth. I came to IU in the middle of my sophomore year from a small university in the middle of Indianapolis -- and I was never more scared in my life.\nI left a comfortable, small campus where I had amassed a great group of friends (the main reason I stuck around one more semester in the first place). I had been on the rowing team, manager of College Mentor for Kids, and run for student government, all the while developing really close relationships with the professors in the journalism school. But, as much as I tried to omit it, I knew it wasn't the place for me. I remember going home on the weekends when I couldn't bear it anymore; I remember crying on Sunday nights because I didn't want to go back. I couldn't figure it out: I wasn't home-sick, but I just wanted to be anywhere that wasn't there. I never felt so alone and lost, and as a result, took it out on those that meant the most to me -- and for that I will never have more regret. \nAs I began to plot out my next move, I had IU in the back of my head, but dismissed the notion as I did in high school -- I wanted to be different and go somewhere that the rest of my high school hadn't invaded in triple-digit numbers. I finally realized that shouldn't stop me and I applied -- and got in. I will never forget that day, getting a big packet with an IU label on it made me happier than any day in the last 18 months. I knew then, at the precise moment, that I made the right choice.\nLooking back at the last 30 months at IU, I don't regret any of the decisions I made to come here. I learned more writing from the IDS and getting career advice from my professors than I think I would have gotten anywhere else. I've had experiences and learned through mistakes. I learned a new definition of what it meant to work hard. The things that have probably meant the most to me are the friends that I have amassed here, in my home for the last two years. These people, and you know who you are, have listened to me, given advice to me, and most importantly, they've been there for me -- no matter what.\nI left a lot of things in Indy; great friends, a scholarship and a lot of close relationships with professors. But deep down, I knew I wasn't a perfect match, no matter how many times I made myself walk around campus and try to find things that I liked. I don't have to force myself to love IU -- I always have and I probably always will. I found myself here, made lasting friendships with people I hope to see throughout my life and realized I love to write and what makes me cool and what makes me lame and who I really am. I found my match, and for that I will always be grateful.
(05/02/05 5:56am)
Red was the color of the day. Balloons, signs, T-shirts and banners all displayed the same simple design of a red ribbon Saturday with one thing in mind -- promoting AIDS awareness in Bloomington. With the help and support of the community, IU students and local sponsors, the day marked the first annual Bloomington AIDS Walk and raised more than $7,000 in the process. \nStudent Global Aids Campaign, in partnership with Starbucks, worked tediously to make this first-ever event a success.\nMore than 200 people gathered in front of the Sample Gates Saturday morning to donate time and money in support of a good cause.\nHuma Ansari, SGAC secretary, said she was impressed with the overall turnout of the walk and was happy to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS in the community.\n"This was our first large event this year involving the community, so we really didn't know what to expect," Ansari said. "Since this was Bloomington's First AIDS walk, we all dove into this knowing that it would be a very enriching and educational experience, We learned a lot about how to plan an event and reach out to others outside of just IU students."\n SGAC was fortunate enough to secure a sponsorship with Starbucks and raise in between $7,000 and $8,000 to donate to Bloomington Hospital's Positive Link program.\nStarbucks Manager Michael Jones attended an SGAC meeting months ago and suggested the idea of having an AIDS walk in Bloomington -- something that currently didn't exist. Jones said he was happy to see the community and students unite for a common cause and commended SGAC on a job well done.\n"I think it was a tremendous success to see the community come together -- that is a wonderful thing," Jones said. "SGAC far exceeded our expectations; (SGAC Chapter Founder) Dan O'Neill deserves considerable recognition for putting together this walk. It was so wonderful to see families out with students, it was truly a community event."\nJones also said that the support from community members and students only goes to show the anticipation of an event of this caliber in Bloomington.\n"This walk shows that Bloomington was waiting for something like this to happen," Jones said. "To me, what I love more about this walk was it was a representation of a very diverse community. There was not any one type of particular person represented and it was complete community representation."\nTammy Dutkowski, care coordinator for Bloomington Hospital Positive Link Program, said she was very grateful for the proceeds of a worthwhile event.\n"We're very proud of being the beneficiary of the First Annual AIDS Walk in Bloomington," Dutkowski said. "The idea has been kicked around for years and thanks to Starbucks and SGAC, they rose to the challenge and stepped up to the plate, and they did a phenomenal job. For students to pull together an event of this magnitude is impressive."\nVarious IU organizations showed up to walk for a good cause, including several members of IU Dance Marathon.\nHilary Hodes, external vice president for the IU Dance Marathon said this was a cause that IUDM supported tremendously.\n"Our Internal Vice President Kyle Dietz suggested the walk to us," Hodes said. "We also raise money for the Ryan White Infectious Disease Center, so it really interested us to participate."\nAnna Pizzi, public relations director for IUDM was thrilled with the overall success of the walk, and impressed with the corporate sponsorship of Starbucks adding to the cause. \nO'Neill extended thanks to SGAC for getting motivated to be involved with the community.\n"I think it's really cool how SGAC now has a more local focus and is motivated," O'Neill said. "We have a hands-on project that is having positive effects in the community and to see students so passionate about this cause is great."\nAnsari said any opportunity to promote awareness about an issue and bring together students and the community to show support is a great thing.\n"I think as students we should take every opportunity to get to know the community around us," Ansari said. "I feel that SGAC was very successful in bringing people together on Saturday. The walk was a wonderful way to meet new people and really appreciate what we are all doing for this cause."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(05/02/05 5:56am)
While many students will spend this week studying for finals and packing their belongings in preparation for the summer, the Department of Student Rights and IU Student Association President Alex Shortle will be preparing to address the IU board of trustees to propose an amendment to the new Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. The board will review the code for the first time May 6. \nThe Department of Student Rights, along with Shortle, submitted a letter to IU President Adam Herbert and the board of trustees proposing an amendment to the code's new version.\nThe new code calls for all nine IU campuses to adopt the same rules on student rights, responsibilities and conduct. Shortle and IUSA Director of the Department of Student Rights Chris Maher are sponsoring an amendment to the proposed code that would allow each campus to adopt its own procedures for academic misconduct hearings. \nShortle's letter to Herbert states that discussion of the code was not sufficient, and one universal policy for nine campuses is not appropriate because the campuses are too diverse. \n"I strongly believe that such an amendment is necessary for several reasons," Shortle said in his letter. "First, the proposed language was not given sufficient discussion or student input in committee because of the timetable and the committee's justified feeling that there were many important matters to attend to in the revision. Secondly, the custom and current policy of the Bloomington campus provides for a different role of advisors in disciplinary proceedings, one that is uniquely required for the proper functioning of the Bloomington system."\nCurrently, IU allows for each school to make any necessary procedural guidelines in accordance with academic misconduct hearings. The College of Arts and Sciences procedural guidelines states that an adviser may not speak on the behalf of a student during formal hearings. Recently, the Department of Student Rights criticized COAS for this policy, saying that a student may not be able to state their case to the best of their capabilities and allowing an adviser to speak on their behalf would be advantageous to the student. \nIf the new code is passed by the trustees in June, it would allow all nine IU campuses to have the same guidelines, which concerns some IU students.\nMatt Dattilo, associate director for public relations for the IUSA Department of Student Rights, said the support for students and their rights will continue to be their highest priority.\n"We are asking the trustees to allow for individual campuses to decide on procedures for misconduct that fits the specific needs of each campus ... (IUSA Department of Student Rights) supports the procedures that allow the current definition of the role of the adviser to continue to be in effect," Dattilo said. "IUSA will continue to fight for what it believes is in the students' best interest until there are no options left to pursue."\nJohn Waddell, the clerk of the court and Internal Affairs Committee chairman for the IU Student Body Supreme Court said he personally agrees with Dattilo, Shortle and Maher and will support their proposed amendment. \n"If it is pushed into proceedings, this will ally the fear of the regional campuses," Waddell said. "The point of a formal hearing is to be a conversation, but I realize that sitting on the other side of the table is this student, (and) sometimes they're terrified and they are not going to be able to enunciate or enumerate their points articulately or in a way that is convincing of their genuineness." \nWaddell said he fears that if the amendment is rejected, students will face harsher consequences if the code is not campus specific.\n"If the amendment is not accepted by the board of trustees, or that code is not changed and Bloomington cannot adopt their own procedures, my fear would be that more students would become victims of themselves," Waddell said. "I think that its very possible that more students will be found responsible and have to deal with the consequences of that or, at the very least, have more severe sanctions because they are unable to convince the hearing commission or any formal system of mitigating circumstances that they sought to improve themselves."\nMeghan Dwyer, External Affairs Committee chairwoman for IU Student Body Supreme Court, while not speaking on behalf of the court, said she feels a one-size-fits-all policy would be detrimental.\n"I want to make it clear that streamlining the policy, while it may be appropriate, is not in this instance," Dwyer said. "My personal feeling is it would be great if all campuses could have the same rules, but because all campuses are different -- for instance, Bloomington has many more disciplinary procedures than other campuses -- I do not feel it would benefit those involved. I do agree that the process needs to be individual and we need to choose based on what's most effective."\nDwyer also said from her experience in formal hearings, she feels allowing an adviser to speak on the student's behalf provides no benefit.\n"As a student representative I feel like it's my duty to question all witnesses and I don't think that an outside person is more effective," Dwyer said. "Also, not all students can afford attorneys, so I think it biases the process because it's supposed to be an academic environment, and I'm not sure if it really helps anybody. When I participate in a disciplinary hearing, I want to hear the kids speak; I think it goes against them if someone speaks on their behalf."\nNiko Finnigan, associate justice for IU Student Body Supreme Court, said he disagrees with Waddell and Dwyer and personally supports the current system. He said a uniform code would be a positive thing for IU.\n"Each code needs to be tailored to some degree to the needs of the campus. However, having a basic format, basic duties, rights, responsibilities for everyone at IU would be obviously positive. It creates one kind of universal theme throughout all campuses," Finnigan said. "The way the code is right now seems to be effective."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(04/29/05 4:51am)
After returning from a protest in Washington D.C., this past March, the Student Global Aids Campaign returned with vigor to promote AIDS awareness on a local scale. Now the group is planning a walk throughout IU Saturday to mark the first annual AIDS walk. \nSGAC secretary Huma Ansari said the goal of the AIDS walk is to bring attention to an important issue in the community.\n"Our goal is to get the word out that HIV/AIDS is a problem in the Bloomington community," Ansari said. "It's surprising how many people have misconceptions and how much little people know about the disease, and hopefully, with the walk, we can help to break down barriers."\nAnsari said she was worried about the turnout at first, but after securing a sponsorship, she is glad all the hard work paid off.\n"SGAC has never done anything this large in the community," Ansari said. "Initially, we didn't know what to expect and now it's turned out to be this really grand thing. We're expecting at least a couple hundred or so to turn out and participate."\nAnsari also said Starbucks manager Michael Jones attended one of SGAC's bi-monthly meetings and suggested the group have an AIDS walk which was something, he pointed out, that did not exist in Bloomington. \nJones said he wanted to get involved in the walk because AIDS prevention is an important topic for both himself and the company.\n"Starbucks stands on four pillars of community and volunteer involvement and one of them is AIDS foundations," Jones said. "It's something we are passionate about as a company, and I've always participated in AIDS walks. When I moved to Bloomington, I was taken aback when I looked at this wonderful community and couldn't believe there wasn't an AIDS walk."\nJones said he went to SGAC because of their global involvement. He attended the SGAC meeting to offer the idea of having an annual AIDS walk in Bloomington. He also said Starbucks donated funds in a grant form for SGAC for every hour that members volunteered. \n"That's what I love about Starbucks. It has such a heart that you just have to tap into it and find out how to give back to the community," Jones said. "We give to a lot of organizations. If you name it and it has a cause, then we can usually create some type of grant for it." \nAll of the proceeds made from the walk go to Bloomington Hospital's Positive Link Program, which provides assistance and support for patients with HIV/AIDS, said program manager Karen Danielson. \nDanielson said she is very grateful for a student group to put in the time and effort, not only into making the walk a great event, but bringing awareness to a real problem in the community.\n"We are delighted to be on the receiving end of SGAC's goodwill," she said. "This is extremely appreciated. Our work as a whole has a humbling nature about it, in that we see people with challenges and living with such hope and then to have a student group appreciate those challenges and go about addressing them and putting energy and time intensifies it. We are a very fortunate group to be working in the program that we are."\nPublicity chair for SGAC, freshman Anna Kostrzewsky, said unification among the group and hard work have made this a great experience.\n"It's been a unifying experience for the group, especially when we came back from Washington," Kostrzewsky said. "This was a good opportunity for us to come back to Bloomington and make a positive change in our own community."\nKostrzewsky said having a big name sponsor has made the event more credible and attracted more awareness to the issue.\nDanielson said overall turnout for the event will help to bring unity to a great cause in Bloomington.\n"This is one of these things where there's this great power in numbers and a great power in knowledge and appreciating the reality of HIV and AIDS," Danielson said. "When you gather a group of people together to do those things, of course we're very excited."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(04/21/05 6:14am)
It's been nine years coming, but if approved in June, all nine IU campuses will adopt a new standard code defining student misconduct rights and procedures.\nThe current IU Student Code of Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct states each individual school can determine its own polices to coincide with it. \nBut the Board of Trustees will have a first reading May 6 of a new code that will create a uniform policy for all schools at all nine IU campuses. The trustees will vote on the final version at their June meeting. If passed, the new code will take effect in fall 2005.\nAccompanying the code are sets of procedures, or ways a campus enforces academic guidelines. This year the procedures have been revised, but they will be completely rewritten in the spring of 2006 and will be campus specific, said Mary Popp, co-chair of the Bloomington Faculty Council and the University Faculty Council. She supports campus-specific procedures despite a uniform code to promote some flexibility regarding how individual campuses deal with infractions. \nOne part of the code that will change is a policy concerning formal hearings of student misconduct. The code now states students can be represented by an adviser at a formal hearing and have that adviser speak on their behalf. The code goes on to state that individual schools can adopt specific policy procedures for representation. \nThe College of Arts and Science and the School of Education each require students, not advisers, to speak on their own behalf. The new code will adopt this policy. \n"The adviser or support person may not participate in the proceeding, may not question the witness and may not make any statements during the proceeding," the new code states. The new code allows an adviser to be present at a hearing but not speak for the student. They are allowed only to advise.\nIU Associate Director for Public Relations for the IU Student Association of Student Rights Matt Dattilo is against the new code's policy. He believes if students are not allowed representation during formal hearings, more students will suffer penalties as a result of the hearings.\n"I believe we will see the number of students found responsible for infractions increase dramatically," Dattilo said. "I also think a number of those (students) found responsible will be victims of the system rather than their own misconduct."\nBut Popp, who wrote the new code, said the new policy is advantageous because the board can hear a first-hand account of what happened from students themselves.\n"The sentiment of the faculty board is that students need to be able to speak for themselves," Popp said. "We want to hear what the student is thinking, and they can certainly have advisers there to help them. But the adviser can't tell us what the student is thinking -- that was really the consensus of the faculty."\nChancellor Ken Gros Louis agrees with Popp and added the code is not intended to allow for a legal hearing but to talk with the student directly. \n"This is not a legal matter. If a student obviously breaks a law, then they would go in front of a court of law -- that's a legal matter," he said. "The desire is not to raise the campus judicial process. Since this is not about a violation of a law, we try to avoid making this a legal matter. The desire was trying to avoid a legal hearing."\nBut Dattilo argues some students are unable to speak effectively in front of a board or committee. The atmosphere during a hearing can be very intimidating for students to answer appropriately, he said.\n"I agree that the student has first-hand knowledge and that is valuable, but when faced with the types of questions board members ask and the imposing environment in which the questions are asked, invariably some students are not able to articulate their position on the situation," Dattilo said. "Those questions that board members ask are not nearly as innocent as they are portrayed -- the questions are very leading."\nDean of Students Richard McKaig said this change in the new code will affect only a small number of students, but the purpose of the hearing is to hear from the student, not the legal counsel.\n"The number of students who are involved in formal hearings is relatively small, and the number of those who have sought legal counsel is smaller," McKaig said. "I know the faculty felt strong that if a student had a lawyer present then professor felt he or she should have a lawyer too. Then we lose the educational purpose, and the hearing might as well be taking place in a court of law. It's important that the student's rights be protected ... As long as students can have advice, I think they're adequately protected."\nMcKaig also said the reason this particular part of the code was changed was to encompass all schools at IU-Bloomington to lessen confusion among students, especially students who might switch schools and therefore switch codes. \n"We have a lot of students who change their majors and their schools, and if each school has its own policies, it seems to be to be very confusing for the student," McKaig said. "I personally feel it's in the best interests of students to apply the code to all students so that they are clear on situation."\nIU Student Association President Alex Shortle said he wants IUSA to continue discussing issues at IU to stimulate change.\n"IUSA has a duty to raise these sorts of questions," Shortle said. "It is often those questions that catalyze change."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(04/20/05 5:45am)
Students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences might be surprised to discover a different set of rules than the rest of the Bloomington campus if they violate the student codes of academic misconduct at IU.\nMatt Dattilo, associate director for public relations for the IU Student Association Department of Student Rights, is challenging COAS' policy, which does not allow advisers to speak on a student's behalf at a formal misconduct hearing.\nCurrently, if an adviser is present for either the student or faculty, the adviser may not address the Academic Fairness Committee directly or answer questions posed by the AFC, according to the COAS Academic Fairness Committee Procedures for Hearings in Cases of Academic Misconduct. The adviser is not a direct participant in the hearing. An adviser is defined as anyone who gives counsel to the defendant.\nDattilo argues this is in direct violation of COAS students' fundamental rights in the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct. \nThe code states "that the student is required to be present at the hearing and may be represented by an adviser of his or her choice ... " The code then later states that individual "units," meaning specific schools on the IU-Bloomington campus, may create their own protocol for hearings, "which must be in general conformity with the guidelines provided."\nDattilo said this is a direct violation of College of Arts and Sciences students' rights to have an adviser speak on their behalf during a formal misconduct hearing. COAS students should not be treated differently from other IU students, he said.\n"Why are the rights of COAS students less valuable than the rights of other students on campus?" Dattilo said. "We're all students and equal -- no matter the school. In my opinion, the trustees' intention was to guarantee the same rights to all students, and not give more rights to one group of students over another."\nDattilo said he believes the wording in the code is too broad and should not give IU schools the power to deny a student the right to an adviser to speak on his or her behalf. \n"They are using the words 'in general' to step way beyond the boundary when they adopted this document," Datillo said. \nAssociate Dean of Students and Student Ethics member Pam Freeman said COAS students' rights are not violated.\n"My basic opinion is that I do not believe it violates the students or the code of rights," Freeman said. "Nothing in the code states a student's right to be represented by an adviser. I really do not believe the intent of the policy is violated at all if the College chooses to not allow students to be represented."\nFreeman also said if students disagree with the result of the hearing, they may petition the decision and have an adviser speak on their behalf at the appeal hearing.\n"The code says they can be represented at this level," Freeman said.\nDirector of Undergraduate Academic Affairs and Academic Assistant Dean of COAS Kirstine Lindemann said there is no need for an adviser to be present at the hearing, because the main goal of a hearing is to get a first-hand account from the student of what actually happened.\n"The College feels this is to be regarded as a chance for a student and a professor to discuss the situation in an objective and safe ground," Lindemann said. "The student can best represent themselves and what he or she did or didn't do in that situation rather than having an adviser speak on their behalf."\nIUSA Department of Student Rights Director Christopher Maher said he is troubled with COAS implementing its own policies and rules.\n"I am deeply concerned that one academic unit on this campus is permitted to diminish the rights guaranteed students in other units," Maher said. "I further believe that the IUSA Department of Student Rights has an obligation to bring this inequity to the attention of the student body."\nDattilo said by not allowing COAS students the right to allow an adviser to speak on their behalf, students might not have the opportunity to state their case to the AFC to the best of their abilities.\nFreeman disagrees: A university should hold a student responsible for speaking on their own behalf during the hearing, she said.\n"We're an academic institution and we hold students accountable. It is more important for students to interact on their behalf because it's a basic part of an academic experience for students and faculty to interact," Freeman said. "We're not talking about a court of law, the rights and procedures are not the same."\nDattilo said although a student might not go to jail, the repercussions from this type of hearing will follow the student throughout his or her academic and professional career.\nMember of the Student Affairs Committee and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Brian Clifford, who helped draft the original student rights code, was concerned with making sure students were not alone during the hearings, not whether the representative would speak for them or simply advise. Clifford said he does not understand the reasoning behind COAS' implementation of the specific policy.\nAfter sitting on the committee that wrote the wording of the code, Clifford said he can see both sides of the conflict but ultimately feels the procedural policies should be left up to each individual school.\n"I've worked with a lot of administrators and I also see the University's perspective ... we really do try to make this an educational process," Clifford said. "There are two policies that are going to conflict and we let the schools resolve this, but that doesn't mean this is the only rational position. Sometimes these conflicts arise -- there's always going to be difference of opinion. I think that COAS is a little strict in this policy."\nFreeman said COAS is only attempting to promote the best possible environment to discuss the situation between a student and professor.\n"I think it's sad, I don't believe there is any ill will by anyone," Freeman said. "I also know the faculty wants to do the best for the student."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(04/07/05 3:16pm)
With less than one month until graduation, IU seniors are almost finished with their college years. As future alumni begin to celebrate, there are a few loose ends seniors should tie up before leaving Bloomington for good. \nOne of the biggest potential problems for seniors is taking care of parking tickets and changing permanent addresses to receive their diplomas.\n"I think the main thing we encourage at the Registrar's office is for students to leave Bloomington with an up-to-date address," said Dorothy Kemp, references service coordinator for the Office of the Registrar. \nKemp also said that the quickest way for students to change their address is simply by changing their information on OneStart. \nAlthough it might be easy to change an address, graduating seniors might encounter more difficulties when trying to actually receive their diplomas at the end of the summer. IU policy states in order for a graduate to receive a diploma, they must have paid off their bursar bill -- including any outstanding parking tickets or library fines.\nParking Operations Service Representative Linda Coleman said students should contact the Bursar's Office to find out whether they have any outstanding tickets. \n"Generally, the parking tickets are billed to the Bursar," Coleman said. "Students can also verify if their account is current, or they can call Parking Operations for tickets that have been recently billed."\nWhile cleaning out house with bursar bills and parking tickets, seniors should also attend to other housekeeping issues such as student loans.\nBill Ehrich, associate director for client services said seniors should give loan lenders their new address and find out the specifics of their student loans. \n"Graduates need to know how much they've borrowed and from where, and they need to know when they need to start making payments," Ehrich said. "Then, once they get wherever they are going, they should let new lenders know their address. This way, the lender may be more willing to work with them. Lenders get discouraged if they can't find somebody."\nSenior Brett Leeper has taken care of his spring cleaning. Now he's left only to enjoy the rest of his last semester, Leeper said. \n"I've already talked to my loan provider about when I have to start paying them back, and my parents are getting me under their health insurance plan the minute I graduate."\nHowever, other seniors are not as prepared as Leeper, left to spend their last week tying up loose ends around campus.\nSenior Leila Riazi would like more guidance in helping her get all the things done necessary to leave Bloomington, but understands the hassle as part of the big transition to the real world.\n"I wish there was more guidance towards helping me know what needs to be done. I still have to change my address and check my bursar information," Riazi said. "I want to enjoy the last couple weeks of school and pass my classes, but I have to worry about making sure everything is done, but I guess that what this is all about, getting ready to be on our own." \nJohn Hobson, senior vice president of the IU Alumni Association, recommends seniors make the most of the semester and get to know the Alumni Association as the last weeks of the year draw to a close. Hobson encourages seniors come to the Senior Salute from 4 to 6 p.m. April 28 for free food and live music.\n"Certainly we recommend when seniors establish a permanent address that they will let us know so we can keep them in touch. I'm looking forward to seniors through commencement," Hobson said.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(03/23/05 6:05am)
So many professors are forgotten as many people pass through the giant that is IU, but to Kipchoge Kirkland's friends and colleagues, he will not be. Kirkland, assistant professor since 2002 in the School of Education, died of natural causes Friday, according the education school's Web site. He was 35.\nDirector of Recruitment and Retention at the School of Education Ghangis Carter said Kirkland will be extremely missed.\n"It's difficult to deal with his death from a couple angles. First, he was a young African American male and he was a friend. Those things come to mind," Carter said. "In a short period of time at Indiana University, he touched a lot of lives on campus and beyond; that's what we're dealing with."\nKirkland was born in 1970 and had pursued a life that was dedicated to helping others. After he received a degree in biology from Washington State University in 1992, he went back to school in 1996 and received a degree in secondary education and later became a high school biology teacher. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2001 and joined IU in 2002, where he became an assistant professor in curriculum studies and social studies.\nProfessor Paulette Dilworth spoke of Kirkland's gift with his students and his high spirits.\n"The power of his influence, caring commitment to excellence and wanting to see his students do the very best that they could, both at IU and in their chosen career paths, was immense," Dilworth said. "He had a very interesting and unique perspective because he was very well traveled and a culturist. He had a deep appreciation for all cultures and people, he always tried to find ways to share that with young people. That will be very hard to replace."\nCarter also said he had an instant connection with Kirkland, mainly because Kirkland was mentored by a good friend of Carter's while Kirkland was attending University of Washington to receive his Ph.D.\n"He was a real genuine individual, and I believe that's why the loss is felt deeply, not only by colleagues but also by students," Carter said. "You got a person who was real. We had an immediate connection and then a friendship so for that I'm extremely grateful."\nDilworth said Kirkland was very involved in the spoken word and was very devoted to his students. \n"He was committed to students and teachers, and I think that came through in his work and the work he was involved in both in Indianapolis and in South Africa," Dilworth said. "He was one of those people -- once you met him you always wanted to feel embraced by him; he had that presence about him. He had a common interest in youth and hip-hop culture. He was known around (the) country for his poems and spoken word. Much of the work he's shared with us over time communicated how much he loved life and being able to impact and influence other people. One of legacies he will leave is the relationship with other people."\nExecutive Associate Dean for the School of Education Peter Kloosterman said faculty will be helping to take over the classes Kirkland was teaching and also added that counseling will be available and a memorial service will be held.\n"For the rest of the semester the faculty will cover his classes," Kloosterman said. "It's really too soon to make other decisions."\nKloosterman said the mood at the School of Education is solemn, and faculty and students are still grieving over the loss.\n"There is a very somber mood, this was a big shock for everybody. Kirkland was very well liked and well respected," Kloosterman said. "He was a wonderful teacher, he did use a lot of poetry in his classes. He just went beyond normal instruction to get students involved in his classes. He was a real spark and a wonderful person."\nKirkland's desire to help others and make a difference in other people's lives is evident in his own words. His profile on the School of Education's Web site reveals Kirkland's devotion noted by his colleagues. \n"It is because of this reality that I've chosen a career in education," he explained. "Along the way, I have met students, teachers, mentors, elders, and families in diverse communities that have helped me to make this decision to do academic research in the areas of multicultural education, civic education and curriculum and instruction. It is my hope that I will touch the minds and hearts of future teachers and students with my passion and commitment to education, freedom and social justice. I do it because others have done it for me."\nKirkland's funeral will take place at 10 a.m. Friday in Sacramento, Calif. Members of the School of Education plan to attend. A memorial service to honor Kirkland will be held at 4 p.m. April 8 in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(03/22/05 5:34am)
Agents from the Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Units entered three Planned Parenthood health centers, including the one in Bloomington, earlier this month and demanded medical records on minors who had received health services. Planned Parenthood is now attempting to block efforts of Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter to seize more than 80 medical records of Planned Parenthood patients.\n"This is a clear-cut case of abuse of power. Instead of protecting medical privacy rights, the attorney general is selling them out to this fishing expedition," said Betty Cockrum, CEO of Planned Parenthood, in a statement. "We take our patients' privacy very seriously."\nPlanned Parenthood said they complied with the agents' demands and released limited information. Following that instance, the director of the Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Allen Pope, informed Planned Parenthood of his intent to seize an additional 73 medical records from 19 Planned Parenthood health centers. \nDuring the procedures, Planned Parenthood requested information regarding the necessity for the medical records. In response, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit refused to provide an explanation of the nature of the investigation, according to the Planned Parenthood Web site. Planned Parenthood believed the organization was obligated to provide the information the Web site stated.\nNow, Planned Parenthood feels it was not obligated to do so and has filed a lawsuit with the Marion County Superior Court to block Attorney General Carter's effort to seize confidential medical records of their clients.\n"The form letter provided by the investigator in each of the initial visits was neither dated nor specifically addressed. It provided vague or implausible rationale for the investigation. Though we have requested additional information, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has refused to reveal any further information or to provide an explanation for its sweeping scope," Cockrum said. "Our staff is trained to comply with the law, and when we handed over the initial records, we believed that we were compelled to do so by law. However, upon further review, it is our belief that the attorney general has twisted the law for some other purpose."\nSpokesperson for Attorney General Carter Stacey Schneider said his office received a complaint of abuse and is demonstrating its duties to investigate into the matter more thoroughly.\n"We are responsible for investigating complaints of abuse and neglect," Schneider said. "So as part of those duties we are pursing a compliant of potential neglected patients for failing to report child molestation, that's part of our statutory duties and as part of a pending investigation." \n"You need to see history of what's been provided, done in any abuse of neglect case, that is going to be encompassed in medical record," he said. "There's no other place we could really obtain that info outside of information with caregivers."\nSchneider maintains the office is only using authority necessary to investigate this claim of abuse.\n"We believe it's within our authority to investigate this neglect by a Medicaid provider," Schneider said. "We have state duty to pursue complaints and that's what we're doing."\nThe letter given to Planned Parenthood by agents upon entering the clinic stated, "The Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is investigating an incident report or complaint alleging possible patient abuse or neglect. ... The Indiana Medical Fraud Control Unit has the legal authority to review original documents upon demand. We are not required by law to provide advance notice of out investigations."\nPlanned Parenthood representative Teresa Browning said this latest instance is in direct violation of patients' medical privacy rights.\n"It is pretty scary to think that the government can request files," Browning said. "If a young person is being abused by a parent, we are trained to identify abuse and report it. Our staff is trained to identify abuse, not just sexual abuse. We can help get people help. But if you scare people from getting health care, you really perpetuate a bigger problem and people will be scared, especially young people, to seek help."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/28/05 6:26am)
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of young adults, including 12 IU students, converged in front of the White House Saturday to participate in one of the largest AIDS rallies ever.\nEchoing chants of "U.S. lead the way, fight global AIDS" helped to keep an estimated 8,000 demonstrators in high spirits as the march began and continued down a partially blocked-off Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Capitol. As a mile of students marched toward the Capitol, downtown traffic came to a standstill with people honking horns in support of the march, only fueling chants to increase in volume. Pedestrians walking along the opposite side of the street showed support for the march by clapping and giving thumbs up.\nIU's chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign took a dozen representatives to the march. IU SGAC Co-director Kunal Suryawala said he felt a sense of pride being in Washington, D.C. with other AIDS activists.\n"The biggest reason we wanted to come here was to show solidarity and show people and President Bush there is support for people in other nations," Suryawala said. "We care, and this is one disease we need to get rid of and this is the war we need to be fighting."\nSuryawala said he was impressed with the results of the march. "I looked back and I was in awe," he said. "It was crazy; there were so many people. I actually felt empowered. I think we really made a difference. President Bush was supposed to be in town, and you can't ignore 8,000 people in your backyard."\nMany who helped to organize the event said they were pleased with the participation.\n"I think the turnout is stupendous, and we definitely exceeded our expectations," said Noah Heller, former employee of SGAC. "This is one of the largest student contingents to really speak out on something. I'm ecstatic about how many new people we have brought out for this cause."\nThe Student Global AIDS Campaign, in partnership with Africa Action and Advocates for Youth, organized the largest youth AIDS rally in U.S. history, with an estimated 5,000 students from more than 120 schools participating. This first-ever national student AIDS march was coordinated with youth all over the world as part of Youth AIDS Day, a global day of youth action to end AIDS.\nThe protest began Saturday morning with speeches from AIDS activists and people infected with HIV, which helped to energize thousands of students for the two-mile march through downtown.\nOne of the speakers prior to the march was veteran civil rights activist Bernice Reagan, who said she was touched by seeing future leaders unite against an issue that affects fellow peers. \n"I am honored to be here today. My heart feels so good to see all of you here. Your ability to change the world is directly related to forming a position on something that might wipe you out," Reagan said. "When your freedom is challenged and you are treated as if you are powerless, you must stop that from happening. When I got word that a youth group was having an AIDS rally in front of the White House, I said 'hallelujah.'"\nEric Sawyer, an adult infected with the HIV virus and founder of ACT UP/New York, praised students for their hard work and told students to keep speaking out and making a difference.\n"It's really great to see the turnout today, especially with the leadership coming from young people. You are the ones that have to make a change and the future of the world is definitely in your hands," Sawyer said. "By taking the streets and opening our mouths, we're helping those people who don't have a way to find a way."\nIU's chapter of SGAC drove more than 600 miles to participate in the march to help raise awareness about the current AIDS and HIV problem.\nFreshman Philip Shelton said the point of marching for any cause is a good idea.\n"I was very happy with the turnout and the march overall, and I also excited to see that there were people our age involved in activism and to see young people care about an issue," Shelton said. "I'm really into labor rights and anything you can do to protest against I think is a good thing."\nIU sophomore Arnav Patel came with the group at the last minute and said he was impressed with the level of intensity from the students during the march.\n"I'm not particularly involved with this cause. I did enjoy this in terms of the grand scale of the protest," Patel said. "Everyone who was there was passionate and wanted to be there and the energy level of everyone was high."\nTurnout for the march was on the minds of all who attended Saturday's protest; 8,000 protesters were needed to make it the largest youth rally in history.\nMarch Coordinator Sean Barry attributed much of the day's success to the people who made it happen -- the students.\n"I really didn't do as much as the students have done," Barry said. "They are the ones who were on their campuses and informed their fellow students. They are the ones who mobilized and hold the government accountable for its actions."\nReagan said she is happy to not be the marcher and is happy future leaders are taking a dynamic position in activism.\n"I'm honored that I'm being honored as a freedom fighter. There hasn't been an organization that is fearless about what is threatening the future of people," Reagan said. "To be here and not be a leader or pointing my finger and be supporting leadership coming from a generation young enough to take over power makes my heart fierce."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/25/05 4:15am)
This Saturday, thousands of the nation's students and youth will rally together in front of the White House and march two miles to the Capitol to demand action to end HIV and AIDS. The first-ever national student AIDS march is being coordinated with youth all over the world as part of Youth AIDS Day, a global day of youth action to end AIDS.\nThe Student Global AIDS Campaign, in partnership with Africa Action and Advocates for Youth, is organizing the largest youth march and rally in U.S. history. \nNational Coordinator of SGAC Healy Thompson said she's very excited about this weekend's march and about relaying the message of ending AIDS worldwide.\n"We know this is just the beginning of the struggle," Thompson said. "By bringing young people together to propel the AIDS problem forward and to let the country and world know this generation will bring an end to AIDS."\nThompson also said the need to for student involvement in the AIDS awareness problem arises from the fact that half of all people infected with AIDS are under 25.\n"There are 40,000 new case of HIV reported every year; half of those infected are under the age of 25," Thompson said. "This is something our generation is facing. Everyone has access to prevention."\nKunal Suryawala, co-director of the IU chapter of SGAC, said planning for a trip like this weekend's required time and effort to raise the necessary funds.\n"We attended (Residence Halls Association) board of governors' meetings in the dorms to raise money, along with selling pizza in Ballantine," Suryawala said. "We've been trying to do as much as possible for car rental and hotel rooms and make this a good trip." \nSuryawala said he first got engaged with SGAC to get more involved on campus and realized the scope of the AIDS problem after he traveled overseas.\n"I wanted to get involved, and I recently went to India and saw so many cases of AIDS and how it was affecting people's families," Suryawala said. "There's not much I can do in India, but I wanted to do something here. I'm also hoping to go into medicine and I want to better people's lives."\nSuryawala said he hopes this weekend he can help bring attention to the AIDS issue both nationally and locally. \n"My biggest expectation is to get President Bush and his administration to make the changes that we want made," Suryawala said. "We want updated info of world AIDS and want to know what we can do locally here at school to help out with causes, for example, trying to get people more educated."\nSophomore Anjulee Patel, director of recruitment for the SGAC, is looking forward to the weekend's events and attending her first march. \n"My expectations are for eight to 10 thousand people in attendance at the march, which would be the biggest youth rally ever," Patel said. "I've never been to a youth rally; this should be a good way to get the word out."\nFreshman Anna Kostrzewsky said she is also eager to be a part of the biggest youth march ever.\n"I'm really excited to be a part of this march," Kostrzewsky said. "We've been doing a lot of planning to try and get ready."\nThompson said she is hoping to have at least 8,000 in attendance at Saturday's march.\n"Our goal is set at 8,000 -- a symbolic number of people who die every day of AIDS, and it's the number of young people who are infected every day."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/24/05 6:31am)
Bloomington is a step closer to finalizing the Downtown Plan with a presentation to the public from the consulting group Winter and Co. at the Convention Center Wednesday night.\nNore Winter, project manager for the Bloomington Project, was pleased with the meeting.\n"I thought it was a great meeting and the public gave great ideas and raised a lot of questions," Winter said. "We will be addressing their concerns."\nThe Downtown Plan, which is part of the Bloomington Growth Policies Plan, is designed to provide both a long-term vision for Bloomington's downtown, while acting as a guide to both public and private investment decisions for many years to come, according to the Planning Department Web site. \nPlanning Director Tom Micuda was surprised by the number of people in the audience. \n"I was very pleased with the turnout, it was higher than I had expected," Micuda said. "I was also pleased with the range of questions. Sometimes you can get stuck on the same issues, but I think there were a variety."\nThe presentation encompassed all of the five major parts of the new Downtown plan. Questions from residents in the packed Convention Center followed.\nMany of the concerns raised by Bloomington residents pertained to the parking situation downtown and the lack of attraction toward other alternate methods of transportation.\nKari Price, executive director of the Monroe County Historical Society, voiced her concern about the plan's philosophy.\n"From what I heard tonight, it sounds like they are trying to bring in more people and I feel like we don't know what to do with the people that are here now," Price said. "I would like to see how they plan on handling more people in the downtown."\nJohn Smith, owner of BikeSmiths, said he feels the Downtown Plan is not yet \nfinished and wants more consideration into other methods of transportation.\n"I liked the overall look of the plan but I feel it was too car oriented," Smith said. "I own a bike shop and I wish they would've reiterated more about alternate transportation. I just think in this community we don't need to reinvent more structures for parking. I don't think the plan is near complete ... I do hope that changes are made; I think the planners need a wake up call."\nWinter was not surprised with the parking concerns raised at the meeting and said no perfect solution exists.\n"I wasn't surprised with the concerns about parking, we knew it was a key issue. At the same time, it cannot be solved overnight," Winter said. "It does point out there is no one silver bullet. We can't keep building structures, and at the same time we can't do nothing, you've got to listen to all sides."\nOne Bloomington resident wondered whether or not the city should add more parking meters to the downtown area. Winter replied the idea has benefits, one being a high turnover rate, but possible repercussions as well. \n"You have to set up a system either designed to discourage or attract parking," Winter said. "But you must also realize that people come downtown because they want something different. You must think about whom you are targeting with parking structures and meters. It's not rocket science, but it takes a little bit of coordinated thought."\nCity Council Rep. David Sabbagh was intrigued with the meter issue and said he will be looking at that possible solution with greater interest.\n"We have to accommodate alternate transportation, but I really think that pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorists need to learn to co-exist," Sabbagh said. "I think the discussion on meter parking was very interesting, I will have to look more into that; and if it really does have the turn over rate that was discussed and it helps the parking situation, then I think we need to consider it and think more about it."\nThe Planning Department will take tonight's concerns and give their own comments and recommendations to Nore Winter. From there, Winter and Co. will put the final document together and submit it to the Planning Department. Then, the plan moves onto the Common Council for vote later this year.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/22/05 6:14am)
With four bills in the Senate and one in the House, the topic of abortion is hotly contested in the Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly. An Indiana House Committee approved legislation Wednesday that could mandate abortion clinics to be licensed and inspected once a year. Another introduced bill states a fetus can survive outside of a womb at 20 weeks and seeks to change the time of viability from 24 weeks to 20. Other legislation also would require health care providers to give pregnant women information about ultrasound images and heart tones of a fetus before performing an abortion.\nFor the first time since 1996, Republicans control both the House and Senate and are introducing some of the most regulatory legislation in the area of life sciences.\nTheresa Browning, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said this is the most troublesome legislation ever to come through the General Assembly. "This legislation session is the worst yet, in terms of abortion legislation, in our opinion," Browning said. \nJason Gray, former IU student and pro-life advocate, said he feels abortion suffers from a lack of health care guidelines regarding patient treatment.\n"One of the real problems with abortion clinics anywhere is that a lot of times the health care aspects of the service is the least of their concerns," Gray said. "There are a lot of cases where something can go wrong during the procedure and instead of looking to the health of the patient, they look at the negative publicity they will get."\nGray also said more regulation from politicans will create more accountability. \n"I totally believe that if something needs to be regulated by the government, it should be," he said. "I would love to see abortion providers held more accountable. I think the guidelines aren't strict enough."\nBrowning said one of the most problematic bills is Senate Bill No. 76, which states health care providers must offer pregnant women information about their ultrasound and heart tones before administering an abortion. She said this practice is already being done at all three Planned Parenthoods in Indiana that administer abortions, so the bill would change nothing except the regulation level there. Browning also said a heart tone often cannot be detected at the time the majority of abortions are given. The Indiana State Department of Health's Web site shows that in 2001, 94.9 percent of abortions were terminated before the fetus was 12 weeks old. \n"Abortion providers already provide ultrasounds to patients; they are performed to determine the gestation of the fetus. Patients are offered to see them as part of informed consent," Browning said. \nSen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, the author of Senate Bill No. 76, did not return repeated phone calls.\nAnother Senate bill proposed this session involving abortion would define an abortion clinic and impose regulatory procedures.\nSen. Jeff Drozda, R-Westfield, one of the co-authors of Senate Bill No. 393, which defines an abortion clinic and allows the State Department of Health to adopt rules concerning management, said he feels more regulation on abortion clinics is needed based on testimony. \n"There has been testimony in the House and Senate, where I have heard there is not regulation on the abortion clinics in the state. In the nine clinics, we've heard testimony that abortion clinics are not as regulated as veterinary clinics or tattoo parlors," Drozda said. "We need to find a balance between good regulations and women's health. I think it's important to make sure the nine (abortion) facilities are capable of handling emergencies; to not regulate would be a disservice to protecting women's health."\nBrowning disagreed with Drozda, saying clinics are already under strict regulations by the state and federal agencies.\n"To say they are not regulated is untrue," Browning said. "I cannot speak of tattoo parlors, but it is offensive to compare women's health to treatment of animals in a veterinary clinic. Abortion clinics are a highly regulated agency, and public discussion is fine as long as it is factual. The General Assembly is singling out nine abortion providers in the state to impose more government regulation. The complication rate with aborting is so small. It's one half of 1 percent -- that's .05 percent -- and in Indiana it's less than that." \nDrozda said he believes it is good to have public discussion on important topics that concern the state.\n"The bottom line is this is an open forum and discussion on important public policy issues," he said.\nDrozda also said bills concerning abortion have been introduced in the Senate before. \n"If you look at it, many of these bills have been introduced in prior sessions. So I think to try and pin it on the unique control in the General Assembly is not correct. I don't think that argument has merit," Drozda said. "I think that the House has been void of this discussion, and the Senate is a good breeding ground for it." \nSen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, said she feels discouraged by the legislation and the direction the General Assembly is moving. Simpson also said the General Assembly is imposing too many of their own personal beliefs upon the rest of the state.\n"The government should stay out my bedroom and my doctor's office," Simpson said. "There is a whole number of differences in opinion when viability begins and people who think life begins at birth -- the law ought to allow people to make their own choice."\nAnother controversial abortion bill passed the House of Representatives Public Policy and Veteran Affairs Committee Wednesday and stated a human fetus can survive outside of the womb at 20 weeks of gestation. The bill is stirring controversy because no state has tried to establish viability after the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe. vs. Wade that stated no viability could be established before the 24th week. \nMarch of Dimes spokesperson Tim Arndt said determining how old a fetus must be to survive outside of the womb should be left to the physician and the patient. \n"The March of Dimes position is that decisions about life-saving measures must be made by families and their physicians. The role of the March of Dimes is to fund research into the causes and prevention of premature birth and the treatment of its consequences," said Arndt.\nSenator Anita Bowser, D-Michigan City, is staunchly opposed to the legislation regarding abortion and said the bills are redundant.\n"It's restrictive, and people are this doing for political reasons, and I'll probably vote against them. There is no originality with this legislation," Bowser said. "We are rehashing issues that are passé and have restrictions, and we don't need more restrictions. I will fight this tooth and nail."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/04/05 5:44am)
Even the most seasoned puzzle fiends should be cautious of the mind-bending experiences that await them at WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology. Twenty puzzles comprising the "Brain Teasers 2" exhibit are on display on the second floor of WonderLab, a touring exhibition that opened this week and is available through May 8. WonderLab is the only Indiana location on the current exhibition tour.\n"Brain Teasers 2" is the sequel to the original Brain Teasers exhibition, which was at WonderLab last spring. The new brain twisters include unraveling mathematical conundrums, arranging geometric shapes to form new shapes and separating linked objects and then reassembling them. To make things more interesting, the 3-D puzzles use pegs, ropes, horseshoes, wooden shapes and other materials. Visitors must look for patterns, consider different perspectives and use creative thinking to work out solutions. \n"The second floor of the museum looks totally different," said WonderLab Associate Executive Director Karen Jepson-Innes. "There are puzzles that encourage different types of thinking and looking at things in a new way. It's really all about sharpening problem-solving skills."\nJepson-Innes said she saw the "Brain Teasers 2" exhibit at a professional museum meeting but couldn't get to the station because it was surrounded by people.\n"I thought it had attraction power," Jepson-Innes said. "What I liked about it was it was simple and it made me think and energized me. I was really impressed with its simplicity and it had a big impact on me personally."\nWonderLab Executive Director Catherine Olmer said she is pleased with the hands-on learning the exhibit, which was designed at the Oregon's Museum of Science and Industry and is visiting other museums across the country, brings to visitors.\n"This is a significantly large exhibit that we're very pleased to have. There are various kiosks at each station and you can sit there and ponder, poke and prod the puzzles to figure them out," Olmer said. "I find it impressive that an adult has no idea how to proceed and talk to children and know exactly how to solve it. Somehow as adults we lose a little bit of that."\nOlmer said one of the biggest reasons to come visit WonderLab is the interaction and involvement in the exhibits to help visitors learn about science.\n"When I was child and went to museums, it was all just a bunch of things you saw, and everything was dead and there was no activity. I think one thing that is key to WonderLab's success that we've taken to heart is that it has interactively involved our visitors in basic ways to discover the science behind each exhibit," Olmer said. "If somebody tells you, you won't learn it; you have to do it. The hands-on aspect is the reason why science classes have a lab, and then you have the most satisfying experience. To me it's incredible to see children and see their brains turned on and their eyes light up. To me, that's perfect when you've achieved that goal."\nBesides hosting the traveling exhibit for puzzle enthusiasts called, WonderLab also appointed New Development Director Christine Klinger.\nKlinger said she's excited to be back in Bloomington.\n"This is the most wonderful town in the entire state," Klinger said. "I'm familiar with Big Ten schools, so I like Bloomington a lot. There is a lot of diversity and culture and a breath of fresh air. Everybody is really civic-minded; the board members are all active."\nKlinger will be responsible for overseeing various WonderLab programs, including fund raising, securing grants and finding more events to offer to the public.\n"My job now will be to oversee fund-raising activities, including soliciting individuals and putting together an plan-giving program. I also have a high priority to secure grants for local foundations," Klinger said. "Securing sponsorships with businesses and local companies will be a top priority for me. Another big plan will be to secure and search for major funding opportunities for us. We're trying to bring in more traveling exhibits for the museum and purchase permanent exhibits."\nOlmer said she is very pleased to have Klinger on the WonderLab staff and says Klinger will bring new ideas to the organization.\n"We are thrilled Christine joined our organization and we are looking forward to great things happening for her," Olmer said. "WonderLab receives no revenues from governmental agencies, federal or state funds. We really rely upon the support of individual and business in the community and Christine is going to be a key instrument to connect with these people and help us to show that WonderLab is a great place to invest in."\nAll adults who visit WonderLab should try to find their inner children, Olmer said.\n"One thing I really like and helps me and also helps other adults is to discover the child still inside us. We have to deal with work and real life and this child inside us tends to get lost," Olmer said. "It's good to remember the child is still there, wanting to have fun and learn more about the world around us."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/03/05 5:24am)
Bloomington streets have transformed from a pre-winter smooth-concrete feel to a late-winter obstacle course of perilous pitfalls for many drivers. \nPotholes have been popping out of the asphalt on IU's campus and the surrounding Bloomington streets -- in turn upsetting IU students, town residents and guests. \nCity driver Brenda Rairdon, who lives on the South side, said she is frustrated with the potholes around particular areas of town.\n"Second Street is so bad that I avoid it at all costs," Rairdon said. "I hardly ever go down that road, and if I do, it's because I forgot."\nRairdon said drivers can try to be careful to avoid potholes -- although going slowly is not always effective.\n"If you're crawling you won't do damage," Rairdon said. "You can't slow down that much on a highway when you have a car behind you without causing another accident. Going 10 miles per hour can do damage to your car."\nJunior Colin Page said Bloomington personnel need to do more to repair potholes before the city's roads get worse over time. He cited an increasing number of cars in Bloomington as a reason for the roads deteriorating.\nDirector of Public Works Julio Alonso said the Bloomington Street Department has made repairing the city's thousands of potholes a priority. He said the department has repaired 3,157 potholes since Jan. 1. \n"We attempt to get to all of them as quickly as we can and focus on the places that carry a lot of traffic," Alonso said.\nHe said the current patching mix doesn't mix well with rain and varying temperature. The Street Department must use different asphalt until March because the plant that makes the hot asphalt does not open until then. Until March, Alonso said, the department will use a cold mix, which doesn't bond like hot asphalt. This causes a need to again repair potholes that have already been repaired, Alonso said.\nSophomore Marisa Alexander said though she swerves to miss some obstructions in the road, ultimately potholes are not good for her car.\nPotholes can sometimes be damaging to vehicles, no matter how slow drivers are going. Junior Anthony Bowers said driving over a pothole last summer caused more damage to his car than he would've liked.\n"Last summer, I ran over a giant pothole twice the size of my head and almost as deep," Bowers said. "I ran right through it because I didn't see, it was in the normal tread of the road, and I got a flat."\nGreg Seiter, AAA Hoosier motor club public affairs manager, said the best recommendation for avoiding vehicle damage is to slow down.\n"The best advice I can give is that people need to slow down," Seiter said. "Generally speaking, if you look at any given highway within a city and see people driving too fast, you should slow down. Slowing down will give you more time to see a pothole that you are approaching and hopefully avoid it. Also, if you go slow you're less likely to cause unnecessary damage to car."\nAlonso agrees with Seiter: Slowing down and knowing where problematic areas exist will help to avoid potholes.\n"I think the only thing I could advise folks -- be cautious and pay more attention to road conditions and be aware of certain conditions and be conscious of that." Alonso said. "Slow down where you can, and I guess, try to be more conscious of potholes."\nProblematic potholes can be reported to either the Street Department at 349-3448, or the Public Works at 349-3410.\nAlonso said he thinks Bloomington has done a good job patching the potholes.\n"I think we've been doing a pretty good job, this is a priority (for the) Street Department when we are not out battling snow," Alonso said. "So I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping up with them and taking care of them as possible as we can."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(02/01/05 6:14am)
Since 2000, every student who has applied for financial assistance or filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) answered a question that is being debated in Washington.\nLast Monday, an independent congressional committee recommended to Congress that the question on FAFSA forms asking students if they have been convicted of a drug crime be removed from the form, claiming it was irrelevant and deterred students from applying for aid. Problems with the question's wording have been causing controversy in Washington. A new provision has been introduced by Indiana Rep. Mark Souder to change the wording to ask only if a student has been convicted while attending a college or university. \n"I don't think it's a bad idea to remove the question," said Dean of Students Richard McKaig. "I agree with the committee. You have the average person who lives 60 to 80 years and makes one mistake when they were 16 and (might be put) in jail. At least in our society, you can have that same person can go back and receive a degree and make something of their life."\nNow with the committee's recommendations, Congress will decide on whether or not to remove the question by the end of the legislative session, said Tom Angell, director of communication for Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "The drug provision author, Rep. Souder, has said the drug provision is flawed and the enforcement is draconian," Angell said. "He wants a new proposal to include retroactivity. If a person had had a drug conviction prior to entering college, they could still be eligible. But if that person was convicted while in college, then their financial aid would be taken away."\nThe SSDP is a nonviolent, youth-oriented organization that neither encourages nor denounces the use of drugs and seeks to reduce the problems caused by drug abuse and drug policies. The organization is also committed to involving youth in the political process and promoting an honest and rational discussion of additional solutions to our nation's drug problems, according to the SSDP Web site. \nSince the question was added, it has affected more than 157,000 eligible students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.\nAngell said he's been working with his organization to remove the question since 1998 and said they are motivated because eligible students are being discouraged from applying for financial assistance. \n"The (independent congressional committee) said the question was completely irrelevant and the form could deter students from applying even if they were eligible," Angell said. "Somebody who had a drug conviction in the past may think they are ineligible, and the pure appearance of the question is deterring students from applying."\nMartin Green, press spokesman for Souder, said Souder is proposing a provision to the Higher Education Act. In 1968, Congress passed the Higher Education Act (HEA) with the purpose of expanding educational opportunities through the creation of federal grant and loan programs. Federal financial aid programs are the single largest source of student aid in the United States and provide an estimated $40 billion to 7 million students each year. Every five years, the HEA is up for reauthorization, and in 1998 Souder introduced an amendment. Green said Souder's amendment was clear and stated that if a student enrolled in a college commits an offense under federal or state law concerning the sale or use of any controlled substance, that student would be suspended from receiving their financial assistance. \n"A student in school at a university or college or community college who is convicted of drug crime while receiving financial aid can have aid suspended," Green said. "A student may resume financial assistance eligibility if they complete drug rehabilitation program and complete two unannounced drug tests."\nGreen also said the Committee on Education and the Workforce Committee will have the jurisdiction to change to nature of the drug question asked on FAFSA forms.\n"If the reauthorization bill is passed with the correction, the FAFSA form will be changed to instead ask if a student has been convicted of a drug crime while in school."\nScarlett Swerdlow, executive director of SSDP, said turning away students based on a single event does not help to sustain the drug problem in America and deters potential students from receiving an education.\n"Too many students have been turned away at the doors to higher education because of this harmful policy," Swerdlow said in a statement. "Denying education to young people caught up with drugs does nothing to help solve our nation's drug problems; it only makes them worse. Congress should immediately adopt the committee's recommendation."\nOverall, Angell is happy with the outcome of the committee's recommendation.\n"We're very pleased with committee's recommendation," Angell said. "They said what we've said for the past four years; it's irrelevant to deter an eligible student from receiving financial assistance."\nMcKaig agrees with Angell, saying that in our society, a person who makes a mistake should not be punished the rest of their life.\n"I don't think a mistake should prohibit a person from ever getting financial assistance. I think it's a good move that people can make mistakes and yet still come back and complete higher educational degrees."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(01/27/05 5:56am)
The land where popular downtown bar Kilroy's stands has a new owner: the IU Foundation. The Foundation acquired property on Kirkwood Avenue that includes Kilroy's by cashing in their option to buy the property, which they had been leasing for 15 years. The complete property they now own includes Kilroy's and a parking lot east of it, said Lynn Coyne, IU assistant vice president for Indiana University real estate. \nThe IU Foundation is a non-for-profit organization that utilizes private resources for IU.\nBarbara Coffman, director of communications for the IU Foundation said the nonprofit organization acquires land around town for the University, as opposed to the University having to deal directly with state. She said a reduced time frame and less paperwork requirements are advantages of using the IU Foundation.\n"Basically, the foundation acquires property two ways. It can receive property as a gift, or the University asks us to buy it," Coffman said. "But, if we ask the state (of Indiana) to lease or buy, it takes much longer. We'll buy a piece of property and lease it to IU and in this case, we had a lease for the (Kirkwood) property and we had to option to buy. The expired lease of 15 years was up at the first of the year -- so we took the option of buying."\nCoffman said Kilroy's extended its lease for another 2 1/2 years and no immediate changes will be made. Kilroy's continues to sublease the property as before, only under the conditions of different ownership.\n"There could be changes down the road related to Kilroy's," Coffman said. "There may be some, but that I don't know for sure."\nCoyne said plans for redeveloping the property in future years will be a main concern for the new owners.\n"Long term, there will be planning for redeveloping that is consistent with Kirkwood and Bloomington," Coyne said. "Bloomington is currently undergoing a downtown plan study."\nKilroy's General Manager Maggie Prall said the company has known about the changes for quite some time and does not think any foreseeable changes will occur in the meantime.\n"We've known for 20 years," Prall said. "As far as we know we'll remain the lessee until the building is gone; we don't foresee any changes in the immediate future."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu
(01/19/05 6:18am)
After only one week of being sworn in as governor, Mitch Daniels delivered his first State of the State address Tuesday night to a packed Senate Chamber. During his address Daniels introduced a tax increase on the richest Hoosiers. In addition, he declared education a top priority in the coming months.\nDaniels was also quite frank concerning the severity of Indiana's economy.\n"Let me sum things up: Our state's economy is too weak, too narrowly based and too often impeded by the very state government that should be its chief advocate and promoter," Daniels said. "The state government is too expensive, too antique in its practices, too indifferent to real, provable results and in place after place after place, too slow."\nDaniels proposed many solutions, some he was reluctant to make, to ultimately overcome economic problems affecting the state -- promising to balance the budget in two years. One such proposal involves creating more small businesses that he said will hopefully keep college graduates from leaving the state. Daniels also said getting Indiana on daylight-saving time would help businesses in a cost-effective way. \n"I propose that existing local economic development funds be freed to establish new venture capital funds in each region of our state," Daniels said. " ... But the loss of Hoosier jobs is no laughing matter and any step that might help is worth trying. So, without changing anyone's time zone, and without spending a penny, I ask this body to lift this handicap from Indiana's businesses and join the national and global economy in the use of daylight-saving time."\nOne of the most important proposals Daniels announced was to reduce spending by imposing a surtax on the wealthiest Hoosiers, which would cut his two-year balanced budget promise in half.\n"Even if we do all the difficult things I just outlined, we would still run a quarter of a billion dollar budget deficit next year, and still have no real savings set aside for the next rainy day. Duty commands to finish the job, to put our house in order and do it now," Daniels said. "So tonight I propose one more step that I would rather not propose. I ask for the most fortunate among us, those citizens earning over $100,000 per year, for one year, to pay an additional 1 percent on the income they receive. With this money we will achieve a balanced budget not two years from now but in the year immediately ahead, and bring our savings account to a level near the minimum standard of prudence."\nSen. Earline Rogers (D-Gary) raised concerns regarding Daniels' proposals and questioned the governor's solutions to improving education in Indiana.\n"We stand ready to work with the governor," Rogers said. "But we would like to talk about some questions we would like to raise. Education I guess was the most surprising thing to me. I think the state of education is competitive and that Indiana was moving forward and doing well. I think Daniels saying that Indiana is not competitive when it comes to education and that is sending the wrong message." \nSen. Timothy Lanane (D-Anderson) questioned the origin of the tax cuts and was surprised by the surtax on wealthy Hoosiers.\n"What we didn't get to hear is where are the cuts going to come from; I heard Medicaid mentioned, and that's some of the most vulnerable people to be affected by cuts," Lanane said. "I was much surprised on the surtax on individuals (earning) over $100,000. Our caucus hasn't much of an appetite to raise taxes; we'll have to see more later."\nHouse Republicans praised the governor's changes and added the debate on important issues would continue into April.\nRep. Ralph Ayres (R-District 4) praised Daniels for attempting to make Indiana competitive on an economic scale.\n"I think the Governor is developing a strategy that is competitive with other states," Ayres said. "When O'Bannon and Kernan would address the issues of the state, they merely stated a problem. Tonight Daniels said the problems are so severe that he proposed a temporary tax to cut our deficit spending."\nRep. Robert Hoffman (R-District 55) was happy overall with the outcome of the governor's speech and noted almost every campaign pledge was addressed in 30 minutes.\n"I think he covered almost every campaign pledge that he promised while out on the road," Hoffman said. "Daniels said 'Here's what I said and now here's what I'm going to do about it,' I was very pleased and I think there was a great reaction."\nSpeaker of the House Brian Bosma said the debate surrounding the issues from Daniels speech, including a tax increase will be debated until the last day of session, April 29.\n"The governor is urging us to tighten our economic belts temporarily," Bosma said. "So far, we have a modest tax increase and I'm sure more details will be available as we have the next 3 months to look it over. We've got a snapshot in our pocket and we'll keep taking photos until April 29."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(01/11/05 6:11am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The inauguration for newly sworn-in Gov. Mitch Daniels came Monday with a roar from the crowd of more than 10,000 people. Daniels pledged to continue aiming high and made a plea for publicly-funded institutions to help the areas within which they reside.\n"Our universities must also use every opportunity to help the neighbors whose tax dollars support them," Daniels said.\nWith those words, "My Man Mitch" became "My Gov. Mitch," Indiana's 49th Governor, Monday morning at the Pepsi Coliseum in Indianapolis. Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman also was sworn in during the ceremony. Daniels told Hoosiers to expect great things, but cooperation is needed.\n"It's time to raise a new barn in Indiana, a new, stronger structure to house new tools and to make possible far richer future harvests," Daniels said. "We will need the whole community to show up."\nDaniels also emphasized his desire to get to work and deliver his legislative agenda to the speaker of the House, Brian Bosma, after his inauguration. \nDaniels' legislative package includes eliminating ineffective city boards and state commissions, creating a department of agriculture, restoring public trust in government by enacting tougher ethical standards for executive branch employees, strengthening misconduct penalties for big business and improving schools for Hoosier children. \n"In the seats of honor at this ceremony are the VIPs of this weekend, people I met and came to know during my 16-month interview for the job I undertake today. They come from the largest of our cities, from the tiniest of our towns and from the rural spaces in between," Daniels said. "I love them as individuals, but I love equally the way in which they personify the qualities which, if called forth now, will surely carry us over our current difficulties and back to greatness as a state." \nDaniels also spoke about many younger Hoosiers' discouragement regarding current economic opportunities for college graduates in Indiana.\n"The young people of Indiana are watching us today, whether their classroom is tuned in or not. I know, from having met thousands of them in their schools, at their games and on the streets of their towns, that they love this state, and overwhelmingly they hope to make it their home as adults," Daniels said. "Over and over, they have told me in identical words: 'I want to stay, but?'..."\nTodd Perkins, a dairy farmer from Stroh, Ind., pop. 250, said he saw RV1 -- Daniels' mode of transportation for 16 months on his tours of Indiana counties -- driving through his small town two weeks after the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon died. Perkins was struck by Daniels' charisma after a half-hour discussion about the concerns of being a farmer in a small town.\n"I'm from a very small town, and I saw the RV going into town, so I told my son, 'Let's go meet the next governor of Indiana,'" Perkins said. "I talked to him for a half hour about my concerns. I'm a dairy farmer, so I'm worried about environmental issues. (When I talked to Mitch,) I was struck by how genuine and authentic he was, and I had always wondered about people in his position. It's time for change."\nDawn Stephenson, a resident of Monroeville, Ind., spoke about how personable Daniels was when she met him during breakfast one day in her town. \nStephenson's son was left disabled in an automobile accident. With this concern in mind, she talked to Daniels about her worries regarding disability issues and offered him a special gift.\n"He was so personable when I talked to him, he talks with his eyes. I was so impressed, and he wanted to know about me," Stephenson said. "As I left that room, I remember touching the cross pin that was on my shirt. I had been wearing it ever since I found out about my son's accident. I went back inside the restaurant and gave my cross to Mitch and told him might need it. He said he'd been given a lot of things, but he'd never been given a cross off someone's shirt. I'm so very blessed to have met Mitch and have him lead us in a new direction."\nAmong new friends were old friends, like Will Ukes, a former teacher from Westlane Middle School - known as Westlane Junior High School when Daniels attended. Ukes said he remembers Daniels as a trouble-free student. \nMike Aycok, a former classmate of Daniels' at Westlane, said the governor was "fun-loving, respectful and highly energetic."\nDaniels reiterated the need for change as a key topic Monday.\n"Let's nobody sit home. ... Every person who volunteers at a free clinic, a food bank, a nursing home, is putting a plank in place. Every young person who studies a little harder or signs up for a tougher course is driving a nail," Daniels said. "Every citizen who stops smoking, or loses a few pounds or starts managing his chronic disease with real diligence, is caulking a crack for the benefit of us all."\nNewly sworn-in Lt. Gov. Skillman, a member of the Indiana General Assembly since 1992, became the first woman elected to Senate Republican leadership. Skillman said she is excited to go back to the General Assembly and preside over the Senate. \n"I'm very excited, this is the first time I've not seen many of my colleagues in awhile," Skillman said. "I'm eager to see my old friends on both sides of the aisle."\nDaniels concluded his speech by saying it's time to get to work.\n"We know our assignment; we will spare no effort. We ask only that you join us, each in your own best way, in rebuilding an edifice of excellence in which a great Hoosier future can be housed," Daniels said. "And now if you will excuse me, I have to get to work."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
(01/10/05 6:08am)
As of 11 a.m. today, Mitch Daniels officially will be Indiana's new governor. To celebrate, Daniels brought together everyone that helped him claim victory -- from his grassroots supporters to the VIPs.\nHis inauguration ceremony, which ends at 12 p.m. today, concludes after a weekend of events. Daniels extended VIP invitations to the ceremony to people of all classes whom he met along his tours of Indiana, specifying: No tuxedos allowed. The events were styled as "no frills," according to his inauguration committee. Adding to the festivities, Bloomington's own a cappella group Straight No Chaser entertained Sunday evening along with Ball State's University Singers at the Inaugural Dinner in downtown Indianapolis. \n"(A no-frills celebration) was basically one of the two things that the governor-elect told the inaugural committee from day one after election," said Marc Lotter, Daniels' press secretary. "There were to be no tuxes, and this needed to be a weekend full of events to bring in Hoosiers from across the state. The VIPs were all those special folks he met along the campaign trail." \nSunday's events included an afternoon gospel celebration on the Indiana State Fairgroundsin Pepsi Coliseum. Gospel performers Bill and Gloria Gaither and the Gaither Vocal Band, the Anderson University Chorale and Divine Revelation Church Choir from Anderson all performed at the festivities. Lotter, who attended the afternoon celebration, said the hundreds of performers did an excellent job.\n"Two hundred and thirty gospel performers were there," Lotter said. "It went very well. The Gaithers and the Divine Revelation Choir just did a phenomenal job. People were on their feet, it was great." \nLinda Goad, chairwoman of the Inaugural Committee, said inauguration weekend included something for everyone.\n"We are thrilled to be able to offer Hoosiers a sampling of some of the best homegrown talent from across our state," Goad said in a statement. "As Mitch has said from the beginning, there (is) something for everyone during inaugural weekend."\nSunday evening's celebrations included a sold-out $500 dinner and a gala for 1,500 attendees. Radio personality Tom Griswold from "The Bob and Tom Show," a local Indianapolis radio show, emceed the inaugural dinner. Several musical acts provided entertainment, including Straight No Chaser. \nThe inaugural ceremony will showcase musical performances from high school bands from across Indiana. The Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger High School Band and Evansville North High School Band are scheduled to perform. Also, as promised by Gov.-elect Daniels during the campaign, the Jasper-Newton Community Band will play at the ceremony.\nTickets to the 9,000-seat Pepsi Coliseum are sold out for today's inauguration, which is set to start at 9 a.m., with Daniels being sworn in promptly at 11 a.m.\nMembers of IU's College Republicans were in Indianapolis Sunday night to attend the dinner and will be attending the swearing-in today.\nCollege Republican and IU student Tyler Wallace said he is most looking forward to the inauguration itself because it means the start of a new administration.\n"I'm looking forward to the swearing-in because it's the beginning," said Wallace. "I think there's a lot of stuff in store, and the next four years will be good. Tomorrow is the start of that." \n-- Contact Senior Writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.
