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(06/03/04 2:22am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Before Buddy Rice took the checkered flag at the Indianapolis 500 Sunday, the rain had scared off about half of Kevin Kuehn's group of friends from Green Bay, Wis.\nBut Kuehn, sporting a Coors Light hat and a red rain jacket, said after the race that the wait was worth it.\n"It's Indy," he said, as the track-side screen flashed a tornado warning. "We'll be back next year."\nThe day at the track began and ended with ominous storm clouds and downpours, but somehow, amid a windy, stormy afternoon, there was time for 180 laps and an exciting finish -- a payoff for thousands of soggy, but enthusiastic, race fans.\nThe start of the race was delayed two hours by rain and was stopped for rain about 45 minutes later on lap 28. About two hours later the race got the green flag again, only the third time in track history that has happened on the same day after a rain delay. The race has been delayed five times in the past 10 years due to rain.\n"I would've lost money twice today," State Police Sgt. Andy Clarke said. "I didn't think we'd see the first green. And I didn't think we'd see the second."\nAfter the rain returned again, and Rice took the simultaneous yellow and checkered flags, race fans flocked to the exits to the sounds of tornado sirens.\nLori, an usher from California, said the day could have been worse. She was assigned to pit duty in 1997 when it rained so much the race wasn't completed until Tuesday. She was surprised to see so many people leaving the track when the first red flag flew. \n"Everybody says just wait five minutes with Indiana weather, and it'll change," she said.\nAnd it did -- long enough, at least, for the race to be official (101 completed laps).\nMany fans braved the rain by hoisting umbrellas and staying in their seats or seeking cover under the stands or elsewhere.\nValerie Leak took a nap on a concrete landscaping curb in the shadow of the Bombardier Pagoda, while her husband, Jeff, kept an eye on an umbrella, rain jackets and coolers. \nThe Indianapolis couple, who haven't missed a race in 10 years, never considered leaving. Others headed to the gift shops, where items like dry T-shirts, stuffed "500" monkeys and die-cast race cars, particularly that of 2001, 2002 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, flew off shelves.\nOf course the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's official $5 ponchos and $18 umbrellas were popular as well. \nDrivers waited out the delay in their trailers or garages, half expecting the race would be delayed until Memorial Day or later.\n"This race is so big, I will run it whenever they want to," Sam Hornish Jr. said. "If they say line up at 2 o'clock in the morning, I will be out there to go."\nJeff Leak, of Indianapolis, woke up his wife for the exciting finish. "Rain is just part of it," he said, "so you gotta' live with it."\n-- Contact staff writer Cory Schouten at cschoute@indiana.edu .
(05/13/04 2:15am)
A Monroe County jailer has been charged with two counts of felony battery in the case of a Bedford man who died while being booked into jail.\nAt a hearing Wednesday at the Monroe County Justice Building, Judge Marc Kellams said he found probable cause for the arrest of jailer David Shaw, who used a Taser gun to repeatedly shock James Borden last November.\nBorden, 47, died Nov. 6 as he was being processed for a probation violation. \nSpecial prosecutor Barry Brown presented evidence in the case about three weeks ago, but Kellams said it took a while to carefully review all the facts.\n"In my 24-year career, I have never had a matter of determining probable cause that was as perplexing as the one I address today," Kellams said. "These are serious allegations against employees hired to work in often the most miserable of environments, and with the most difficult of people."\nThe judge said Shaw has 24 hours to turn himself in to the Indiana State Police Post for processing, after which he will be released on his own recognizance.\nShaw faces two Class C felonies -- battery while armed with a deadly weapon and battery causing serious bodily injury. Each count could carry two to eight years in prison and a $10,000 fine.\nKellams' decision allows criminal charges to proceed, but a decision on guilt will be left to trial.\nKellams found no probable cause to charge another jailer, Chris Hutton, who allegedly pushed Borden to the ground before Shaw shocked him. Brown had also asked the judge to charge Hutton with misdemeanor assault.\nMonroe County Jail Commander Bill Wilson and County Sheriff Stephen Sharp could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A statement released just after Borden's death said "standard police procedures by trained officers to control combative or uncooperative individuals" were used.\nA handful of Borden family members who attended Wednesday's hearing said they were happy to see justice being served. After leaving the courtroom, they called other family members about the result.\n"I'm happy that they took it seriously enough to change things for the next person," said DeeAnn Pineira, Borden's sister. "That's the ultimate goal of this."\nBorden's death and the subsequent investigation and court hearings have taken an emotional toll on the family. Before the hearing began, Dorothy Borden, James Borden's mother, took out a crumpled pocket-pack of tissues. She used them several times during the hearing.\n"We don't want this to happen again," she said. "One is enough."\nHer son, who was under house arrest for operating while intoxicated, had been seen wandering near a local convenience store Nov. 5, where employees called police to report his unusual behavior.\nLawrence County Community Corrections requested he be taken off home detention and asked for a warrant for his arrest.\nThe next day, Borden was evaluated by EMS personnel, who determined he needed medical treatment, but instead, police arrested Borden and escorted him to the Monroe County Jail.\nUpon his arrival at the jail, Borden was shocked at least half a dozen times by Shaw, who said Borden was being "uncooperative." Shaw used an M26 Taser gun with 50,000 volts in each shock.\nIn his opinion, Judge Kellams pointed out while Borden was uncooperative, he never expressed or acted out a threat to himself, an officer, or another person -- one of the Correctional Center's own directives for using Tasers.\n"It is clear that his actions were inappropriate and not in line with the training he received for the use of Tasers," Kellams said.\nKellams said the exact number of shocks recorded on the Taser was 11, but the number of times Borden was stunned was probably six, according to the autopsy.\nThe Monroe County coroner's office concluded Borden died from an irregular heartbeat caused by an enlarged heart, pharmacological intoxication and electric shock. \nBrown, a former Monroe County prosecutor, was named as special prosecutor in February to determine whether criminal charges should be filed. The Indiana State Police conducted the investigation.\nKellams said an inquiry should be conducted and policies put in place that will prevent similar behavior in the future.\nOnce filed, the case will likely be reassigned to a new judge.\n-- Contact staff writer Cory Schouten at cschoute@indiana.edu.
(11/21/03 3:54pm)
The parents of an IU sophomore who died almost three years ago from injuries he suffered at a Theta Chi rush party have settled a lawsuit they filed against the fraternity.\nA jury trial had been scheduled for Nov. 17 in the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana, but at the last minute, attorneys scheduled a settlement conference for Wednesday. The terms of the settlement will not be released.\nThe student, Seth Korona, died Feb. 4, 2001, of a skull fracture he sustained at a party a week earlier at Theta Chi. After doing a "keg stand," police said, Korona fell and hit his head on a metal door frame at the house.\nKorona was hospitalized two days later and remained in a coma until he was taken off life support. He was 19.\nUpon completion of an IU Police Department investigation, Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann decided not to file criminal charges, but IU disciplined students through its campus judicial process.\nWendi and Gary Korona filed their lawsuit against Theta Chi in November 2001, saying the fraternity played a role in their son's death by providing alcohol and for failing to get Korona medical help. Theta Chi's local chapter was disbanded after Korona's death.\nTheta Chi attorney Bryce Bennett said the case has been "resolved," but he would not discuss terms of the settlement.\nKorona lawyer Richard Hailey did not return phone messages Thursday, but last week said he expected a seven-figure judgment from a jury trial.\n"I think this is a major recovery case, no doubt about it," he said. "If the jury verdict is low, it sends a clear signal the public doesn't care about how these chapters behave."\nBut the lawsuit will never see a jury.\nBennett said Wednesday's resolution agreement includes no acceptance of liability on the part of the fraternity, but he said the Koronas plan to pursue legal action against Bloomington Hospital and other healthcare providers for malpractice.\nState law puts no cap on Theta Chi's liability but limits damages that could be imposed on Bloomington Hospital at $1.25 million.\nDoctors initially treated Korona for meningitis, but culture tests eventually ruled out the bacteria. The county coroner said if doctors had known immediately that Korona had sustained a blow to the head, they might have been able to do more to treat him.\nHank Nuwer, an expert on hazing and binge drinking on campus and a Franklin College professor, said few similar cases ever go to trial, and settlement figures are rarely made public.\nHe said undisclosed settlements can provide closure for both the victim's family and the fraternity.\nStill, he said the settlement should send a message that serving alcohol at rush activities is "nonsensical."\n"Parents would like to think their son's death sends a clear message and will change things," Nuwer said.
(05/21/03 11:06pm)
IU-Bloomington ranked second in drug arrests and fifth in alcohol arrests among four-year colleges for 2001 in a report in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.\nNationwide, the Chronicle reported a 5.5 percent increase in college drug arrests and a 4.7 percent increase in alcohol arrests.\nAt IU, officials said new law enforcement strategies and the relative size of IU's on-campus population are explanations for IU's ranking as a national leader in campus arrests.\nBecause of size differences in the campuses the Chronicle surveys, Dean of Students Richard McKaig said a per-student ratio of arrests might be more useful.\n"The fact of the matter is that large universities with large resident populations are always going to lead the list in these categories," McKaig said.\nAnother factor that led to IU's high arrest rates in 2001 was a new law enforcement strategy, McKaig said. To support the Bloomington Police Department, the IU Police Department began patrolling house parties near campus. Since those citations are made by the IUPD, they count as campus arrests instead of city arrests.\nPolice also have been issuing more citations instead of actual arrests. Since writing a citation takes about as long as writing a parking ticket, more violators can be processed.\nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said the increase in drug arrests is because more students and campus officials are health conscious and don't tolerate smoke in their residence halls. Reports of smoke coming from a dorm room account for more than 90 percent of IUPD's drug arrests.\nBut the Chronicle report doesn't mean more students are drinking and using drugs, Minger said.\nHe said drugs were far more prevalent on campus in the early 1970s, and alcohol use was more flagrant in the 1980s, especially during Little 500 weekends.\nThe times have changed, Minger said. Stepped-up education and enforcement efforts are supported by federal and state governments and University officials at every level.\n"Everyone has the same message they've been trying to tell the general population," Minger said.\nAt IU and across the country, arrest numbers continue to rise, and Minger said that's more encouraging than the other way around.\n"I would be more concerned as a parent if the numbers were low," he said.
(05/21/03 11:05pm)
In a letter to the editors of Time magazine, IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm accuses the weekly newsmagazine of exploiting and sensationalizing IU's party image.\nIn its May 12 edition, Time published an article describing IU's party scene, with the headline "When they party, they party hearty."\nThe article supports Princeton Review's August ranking of IU as the nation's No. 1 party school. It also mentions visits from a porn company and "Girls Gone Wild" film crew as part of IU's "growing p.r. problem" caused by excessive partying.\n"The party ranking meant that the administration's exertions were having little effect," the article says. "In fact, a shocking 52 percent of students said in a survey last year that they are binge drinkers."\nThat figure is about the only thing campus officials don't dispute in the article.\nWhen IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger heard the University was to be featured in Time, he said he hoped to see some data that would support or contradict IU's party school label.\nHe didn't find it.\n"They went around and asked a bunch of partying, drunk students if this was a party school," Minger said. "I've taken some research classes, and that doesn't seem like a valid sample to me."\nIn her letter to Time, Brehm said the obvious way to find students who drink at any university is to go to nearby bars.\n"Unfortunately, by doing so, you exalt a misleading example of typical student behavior," she said.\nBut Jenifer Joseph, the reporter on the story, said she spoke with other IU officials, including Dean of Students Richard McKaig and Dee Owens, director of the Alcohol and Drug Information Center.\nBut those quotes were cut by her editors.\nJoseph, an Ohio-based freelance writer, also explained why the article ran several months after IU was ranked No. 1 party school. Joseph said she was done with the story, and it was ready to go by last fall, but it was held.\n"I thought the story had long since been dead and buried," Joseph said. "But they resurrected it."\nTime editors did not return phone messages by press time.\nBrehm said Time took the easy way out by not carefully examining the rationale behind the party school ranking.\n"Recent studies show that our strict enforcement of alcohol policies is making a real impact on alcohol use among our students," Brehm wrote in her letter. "It is unfortunate that Time appears to be more interested in exploiting the problem than in reporting on the remedies."\nBut sophomore Will Loy, who was quoted in the article for partying 14 nights in a row, said IU officials are again overreacting to media hype about the University's party-school image. Partying is a priority for college students everywhere, he said.\nLoy said his parents didn't mind seeing him quoted in the article, but his dad was a little worried about what IU might think of it.\nSenior Krissy Selleck, who was also interviewed by Time, was quoted as saying, "We all got fake IDs the second we joined the sorority."\nBut Selleck said she has never owned a fake ID.\n"I was shocked when I saw (the article)," Selleck said. "Our quotes were out of context."\nMcKaig said quotes from drunk students should have been left out altogether.\n"When you take such a slanted interview approach, you don't do the readers or the institution a good service," McKaig said.\nMcKaig, who was interviewed but not quoted in the article, said sources with a different point of view could've been found anywhere on campus.\nBut he said Time was probably more concerned with the party-school point of view. \n"It's juicier to read about exploits of wild life in college than about students working hard in school," McKaig said. "Maybe it's just what the editors think people want to read"
(05/05/03 5:04am)
Tests are on George Boyd's mind this time of year. Tests in medical science. Tests in political science. Tests in business. Tests in English. Even tests in physical education.\nFinals week is the most demanding time of the year for Boyd. He barely has time to enjoy the view of Indiana Avenue from his office in Franklin Hall. He barely has time to watch the cops catch speeders and to watch cars turn the wrong way down Indiana. And he barely has time to stop and talk.\nA student might have five tests this week. Boyd, a full-time employee at IU's Bureau of Evaluative Studies and Testing, has thousands.\nOn a wall in his office, Franklin Hall Room M002, a sign says: "Due to the present workload, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice."\nThat's because this week, they'll be inundated for the second week in a row with bubble sheet tests and course evaluations from every IU department. \nBoyd and his co-workers scan thousands of bubble sheets in an average week. But this week makes "average" look mild. As is always the case, though, they'll aim to process tests in two hours.\nIf you've filled out a bubble sheet at IU since the late 1980s, Boyd probably scanned it through one of IU's two optical mark readers. If you fill one out today, Boyd will probably see it shortly.\nIn an average year, employees here process more than 1 million documents, said David Perry, director of assessment and testing. About two-thirds of them are tests and course evaluations. The rest are surveys, research projects or GED tests from all over Indiana.\nAn $80,000 Digitek scanner does most of the work, processing up to 10,000 forms per hour. But the scanning room has a second, older machine, as a backup.\nFor each test or survey, the scanner produces a data file, which is converted into a statistical report summarizing the bubble sheets.\nAt least once a semester, a student complains that the machine made a mistake on their test, Boyd said. But it's not possible for the machine to make a mistake on just one test, since every sheet is scanned the same way.\n"Every time this has ever come up, the machine has not misread," he said.\nBefore and after they are scanned, tests and surveys are kept under constant supervision until they are returned to their department or professor.\nThe room's location also adds an element of security. The part of Franklin Hall that houses the scanning room is hidden away in what used to be the library stacks.\nBut, never fear, your test will find its way.\nJust remember to use a No. 2 pencil. The machine only reads pencil, since it reflects light and pen doesn't. And the machines are pretty sensitive, so it's also a good idea to stay within the bubbles. Other than that, you should be ready to take your test.\nBoyd will be ready to run it through the scanner. He's seen something like 15 million bubble sheets in his day.\nAnd you thought you were going to see a lot of bubbles this week.
(05/01/03 5:45am)
In Shelbyville, Ind., middle and high school classes let out early Wednesday. The mayor's office shut its doors at 1 p.m. And an entire town stopped to remember a city council member, state representative and longtime teacher -- IU grad and former IDS sports editor W. Roland Stine.\nStine, 62, died Thursday, when a pickup truck crossed the center line of State Road 44 and hit his car head-on. The driver of the pickup had a blood alcohol content of .21 percent, more than twice the legal limit.\nAn hour earlier, Stine had voted for a failed proposal to increase prison time for first-time intoxicated drivers who kill.\nStine had been a state representative for only three months, but his impact -- especially on young people -- had been profound.\n"Everyone in the office loved him," said Bridget Bobel, his Statehouse assistant.\nBefore he represented the Shelbyville community at the Statehouse, Stine taught in the Shelbyville Central School system and served on the Shelbyville City Council.\nBut when Stine attended IU in the late 1950s and early 1960s, his dream was to be a sports writer.\nIn a letter to journalism professor Owen Johnson, Stine remembers how telephone operators answered the IDS phone with "Beat Purdue" the week before the Bucket game. He remembers an airplane from Purdue dropping flyers over campus that said, "Crybaby Dickens Purdue will Beat Your Chickens." And Stine was there the night Jimmy Rayl scored 56 points in a Hoosier basketball victory over Minnesota.\nThose days at IU were among his fondest memories.\nAfter graduation, The Indianapolis Star told Stine to come back in 10 years when he had some experience, so he took a position as a teacher in Shelbyville.\nHe taught there for 40 years.\n"He was the most popular teacher here," said Shelbyville Middle School Principal Denny Ramsey. "He had a way of reaching students on more of a personal level."\nAbout 2,000 former students and friends attended a memorial service for Stine Wednesday at Shelbyville Middle School.\nAt the memorial, Shelbyville Mayor Frank Zerr said "every superlative adjective that could be thought of" had been mentioned in the last few days.\nStine and Zerr were on opposite ends of the political spectrum -- Stine a Republican, Zerr a Democrat. They were also on opposite ends of an in-state rivalry -- Stine was an IU grad, Zerr earned a Purdue degree.\nAnd they were next-door neighbors for 17 years.\n"He was a truly dedicated man who truly loved his family and loved his community and loved the state of Indiana," Zerr said in a phone interview after the memorial. "He'd always told me he never wanted to live anywhere else"
(04/28/03 4:56am)
I heard the rumor too.\nProfessors are supposed to relax on the assignments and tests this week so students can diligently prepare for finals week.\nI've been hearing it for three years, and I can tell you it's a myth.\nThere is no dead week.\nAt IU, the week before final exams is officially called "free week."\nAccording to University policy, the week "shall be free of major or final exams, except for practical tests at the end of lab periods. Paper projects may be due only if assigned well in advance."\nIf they had left out that second sentence, maybe it wouldn't be the week from hell.\nInstead, it's a week that's anything but free, full of papers, projects and group work. The fact it follows Little 500 makes it no easier.\nSophomore Ryan Bradley said he's expecting the "busiest week of the semester."\nBradley has a group presentation for X204 due Tuesday, an X201 lab final on Friday and a ton of finals next week to study for.\n"I would not call it dead," Bradley said. "It's a misconception that nothing's going to be due dead week."\nBut after four semesters at IU, it's no longer a surprise. Bradley doesn't count on any free time during free week.\nDean of Students Richard McKaig said he can sympathize. While eating dinner with two students Sunday night, McKaig heard about papers and projects that are due this week and about upcoming tests.\nDead week isn't what it used to be, he said.\n"Some of traditions of dead week have gone by the wayside," McKaig said. "Maybe the culture of campus has changed what dead week means."\nProfessors aren't as light on assignments and tests as they once were this week, and student groups are less likely to hesitate when planning dead week events.\nReligious holidays pushed Little 500 back this year, McKaig said, leaving the event undesirably close to dead week.\nAnd in the past, IU has also offered reading days, when classes are canceled so students can focus on studying. But many students would probably take advantage of that for other reasons, like this weekend's Kentucky Derby, McKaig said.\nStill, McKaig said there is no groundswell of conversation about resuming dead week traditions.\n"My impression is over time there has been an erosion of fewer activities and very limited academic assignments," McKaig said. "It's like another week for the semester."\nThat's exactly how sophomore Keith Turpin looks at this week. He has projects due in a couple of classes.\n"After four semesters, I've never seen a decrease in work during this time period."\nSenior Aasif Bade, who has two group projects due this week and five finals next week, said dead week should be truly dead. That means IU should cancel classes and leave the extra time to the students' discretion.\n"If you have one final, yeah, I'm all for partying all week," Bade said. "If you have five, like me, you'd be taking advantage of the time. I hope so at least"
(04/24/03 6:46pm)
Every year, MaryEllen Diekhoff looks forward to Little 500 weekend. She loves working Saturday and Sunday. And it gets even better as she gets older.\nOK, enough with the jokes.\nLittle 500 is not a party for the Monroe County Deputy Prosecutor.\nFor Diekhoff, Little 5 is about pretrial diversion. It's about processing hundreds of students for alcohol violations. It's about opening the Monroe County Justice Building on a Sunday -- the only time it's open on Sunday all year.\nIt's been a Little 500 tradition since 1988.\nThat's when riots broke out in Varsity Villas after the race, leading to more than 500 arrests. The system wasn't prepared then to deal with large numbers of arrests and citations during the famous college weekend.\nNow, it is.\nPlanning begins months in advance and involves campus, city and county police, the prosecutor's office, IU dean's office, student groups and the athletic department.\nThey discuss specific plans for traffic control, stepped-up security around dorms and apartment complexes and race-day logistics. And each law enforcement agency gets instructions on pretrial diversion -- an option that allows first-time offenders to have their charges dropped after one year.\nEveryone arrested during Little 500 weekend who qualifies for pretrial diversion has a court date of 8:30 a.m. Sunday. Diekhoff provides paperwork for defendants from Friday evening through Saturday morning and Saturday evening until 4 a.m. Sunday.\nLast year, about 250 took the pretrial diversion option during Little 5 weekend, fewer than in recent years.\nIn part because Bloomington is a college town, Diekhoff said pretrial diversion is an attractive option. \n"You don't really want to have a record when you get out of college, even if it's a misdemeanor," she said.\nBut pretrial diversion isn't a party for students either.\nIt's punishment to the tune of about $400 in fines, alcohol education classes and half a day Sunday cleaning up trash left by Little 500 revelers.\nJon Peter, now a senior, went through it his sophomore year. He and a few friends were breathalyzed and cited by plainclothes officers on Friday of Little 500 weekend.\n"It definitely kept me from drinking the rest of that weekend," he said. "It was kind of a bummer."\nAfter waiting in line for hours Sunday morning, signing up for an alcohol class and paying more than $300 in cash (they don't accept checks), Peter spent four hours cleaning up trash around Bill Armstrong Stadium.\nFor some students, being hungover doesn't make picking up trash any easier, Diekhoff said.\n"If the weather is warm and the sun is beating," she said, "I think you forget that party you were at the night before real rapidly."\nFortunately, after a year, the courts also forget.
(04/21/03 5:10am)
Ever wondered what happens to the old tables, chairs and dressers when a residence hall gets new furniture? Or where old computers go when campus labs are replaced? Or what happens to the old basketball rims and exercise equipment from the Student Recreational Sports Center?\nMany of these items end up at the IU Surplus Store.\nWhen IU gets new stuff, it tries to find a place within the University for its old stuff. If that's not possible, the old furniture, computers and equipment go to the surplus store, 2931 E. Tenth St.\nAbout 90 percent of the merchandise in the store, which used to be a warehouse for office supplies, falls into the categories of furniture or computers. But if you look closely, there are treasures.\nThe store, which opened in 1994 but only recently to the public, has carried everything from barber chairs to card catalogues, industrial-size kitchen mixers to Marching Hundred band uniforms.\n"We carry anything IU wants to get rid of," said Roger Stout, an employee at the store.\nOver the years, the store has seen some unusual items.\nEarlier this year, the store had to sell a dance floor that had been in the Poplars Building, a former sorority house. They turned to eBay, as they do on occasion, and found a buyer in Ohio.\nAnd when Myers Hall was cleaned out, it was the store's responsibility to sell several metal containers with wheels and roll-top covers -- cadaver tanks.\nIf you were looking, those are no longer available.\nBut you're in luck if you're looking for a photocopier, typewriter, fax machine or a safe without a key or combination. They also have cleaning equipment, old IU Outdoor Adventures tents and study tables from the Main Library lobby.\nMany of the items are sold individually, but others are sold as lots. For those items, sealed bids are taken every six to eight weeks, from small business owners, students and even local school districts.\nThe next few weeks are the busiest time of the year for the store, as students move out and campus departments take stock of what they no longer need. With a better selection, it's also the best time to buy.\nIndividually, you can get most computers for less than $400. Chairs and tables range from $10 to $50. As lots, 15 or so computer monitors or hard drives can go for as low as $50.\nIf you're looking for a particular item, you can sign up for the surplus store e-mail list, and they'll let you know if they get the item you want in stock.\nThe store only takes checks and money orders and is open 8 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
(04/17/03 5:06am)
When students arrived in the fall, they found a new portrait on a wall in one of the campus' largest classrooms.\nThe portrait is of Dr. Herman Hudson, founder of Afro-American studies and the Afro-American Arts Institute at IU, a man who died in late February and will be remembered in a memorial service today at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre.\nBut many students who have classes in Woodburn Hall 100 don't know who Hudson is or why his portrait hangs there.\nThat's because months after the painting was hung, there is no plaque identifying Hudson.\nSoon, that will change.\nThe new portrait hangs near the back of Woodburn Hall 100, on the same wall as one of the room's infamous Benton mural panels.\nThe Benton panel, which in depicting Indiana history shows Ku Klux Klan members burning a cross, was protested last spring by a coalition of students who said it was offensive.\nSince the Hudson portrait was too big for its expected home, the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, the painting was hung in Woodburn Hall last summer, said Sherry Rouse, curator of campus art.\nIt is the first painting in what will be a gallery of people who have made significant contributions to race relations at IU, which will also include Herman B Wells, Rouse said.\nIn the portrait, by Bloomington artist Bob Kingsley, a smiling Hudson looks out from an office, with a bookcase, an American flag and a scenic view of campus behind him.\nWhile the portrait was placed in Woodburn to honor Hudson, some students still don't know about his legacy.\nCarolyn Randolph, political action chair of the Black Student Union, said the University "seemed to throw the picture up there with no explanation."\nRandolph said she'd like to see both a plaque honoring Hudson and a mention of the IU legend in a video that educates students on other artwork in the classroom.\nRouse said the placement of the portrait was never intended as a response to the protests about existing art in Woodburn, but as a way to honor Hudson.\nA plaque with a biography of Hudson's contributions to IU is in the works and should be up before the end of the semester, said Gloria Gibson, associate vice chancellor for Multicultural Affairs. IU is working with Hudson's family to best honor his legacy in a place that enjoys high student visibility.\nChancellor Sharon Brehm said the goal was to find a suitable place to hang the portrait, properly recognize Hudson's contributions and make people feel good about the painting.\nHudson is known nationally for his work at IU, said Mike Wilkerson, communications coordinator for the Office of Student Development and Diversity. It's only appropriate that he also be honored locally, in a classroom.\n"He was brilliant and persistent and passionate," Wilkerson said. "It's impossible to imagine the campus without him"
(04/14/03 4:47am)
The last time Playboy did a Girls of the Big Ten pictorial, back in 1997, the issue featured nine IU students, more than any other Big Ten school.\nOfficials at the popular men's magazine hope an open-casting call at a local hotel turns up as many qualified candidates this time around.\nCandidates will be interviewed at a hotel today and Tuesday, said Playboy publicist Theresa Hennessey. Finalists will be photographed later this week for the magazine's October edition, one of its most popular issues.\nNate Jackson, a bouncer at Nick's, has been doing his part.\nBetween 10 and 11 p.m. Thursday, he handed out about 40 pink fliers advertising the open interviews.\nMany women were shy in front of their friends and turned down a flier at first, Jackson said. Later, they came back alone to pick one up.\nThe fliers, handed out at the bars, gave a telephone number to set up an appointment at an unnamed local hotel.\n"I wanted to grab a lawn chair and a six pack and sit outside the building," Jackson said, "but they didn't give a location."\nWomen can find out the location and set up an appointment by calling the photographer, at 312-315-7342. They must prove they are a student of legal age.\nHennessey said usually between 50 and 100 candidates show up for interviews, but Playboy is looking for quality over quantity.\nIn its tour of Big Ten schools, Playboy visited Purdue and Michigan State last week and will visit Iowa and Ohio State next week. Interviews at each location consist of head shots and full body shots in two piece bathing suits, Hennessey said. Successful candidates here will be called back later this week for a photo shoot somewhere in Bloomington. That location will also remain a secret.\nOther than advertisements in the IDS, Dean of Students Richard McKaig said he has heard nothing about the visit.\nHe said the interviews are conducted off campus, and it's a personal choice for students.\n"I guess I pay more attention to the quality of our academic programs than these indicators of campus social life," McKaig said.\nWhen a porn film crew from California taped in Teter Quad and other locations on campus, it generated controversy on campus and in the national media.\nBut Playboy's visit hasn't been raised as an issue, McKaig said.\nHennessey said there's a reason for that.\nShe called Playboy's pictorials "classy" and "fun" -- along the lines of Maxim, Esquireand GQ. \n"We don't consider ourselves 'porn,'" she said. "We don't even consider ourselves in the same league as the other crew that came"
(04/10/03 5:26am)
For almost 80 years, IU presidents and their families have watched students walk to classes from the Bryan House porch.\nThey've watched seasons change and flower gardens bloom from the house on a hill, between two streams of the Jordan River.\nThe next IU president will probably enjoy the same view when classes resume in the fall.\nUntil then, the house, built in 1924, by IU president William Lowe Bryan and his wife, Charlotte, is without a permanent tenant.\nBut even during the times Bryan House hasn't been occupied by one of the six IU presidents who have lived there, "it's still (been) a warm, historic kind of house," said Elaine Finley, director of campus events.\nThe colonial revival-style house, modeled after Woodrow Wilson's home in Washington, D.C., has a full schedule of dinner parties, luncheons and meetings with interim IU president Gerald Bepko and his wife. The South Garden will play host to the traditional Senior Sendoff in May. And the house will get minor repairs and a new paint job in the coming weeks.\n"Being an old house, it's much easier to do repairs on it when no one is living here," Finley said.\nIU has grown around the house since it was built on the eastern edge of campus, making it one of only a few presidential homes in the country actually on a college campus.\nThe proximity to campus has been mostly a blessing, but there are exceptions.\nAfter former IU president Myles Brand fired Coach Bob Knight, a mob of students trampled the landscaping around the house and burned the president in effigy.\nBut a few months later, another group of students stopped by the house to sing Christmas carols.\nThey were surprised when Brand and his guest, John Mellencamp, met them at the door.\nQuite a few celebrities have signed Bryan Hall guest books -- including Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Eleanor Roosevelt and Jane Pauley.\nSince the Brands moved out in January, furniture and paintings that were in storage have been returned. The Brands, like first families before them, put personal touches into their home, but some features never change.\nThere's the 1915 T.C. Steele landscape painting in the living room and the grandfather clock, a gift of the Class of 1905. And there's the mirror that's probably seen the countenance of every IU president. The mirror in the entry hall of Bryan House belonged to IU's first president, Andrew Wylie.\nSince 1955 when William Lowe Bryan died in the home's library, living in the house has been one of the top perks of being IU's president. It comes with a maid, cook and gardener and is within walking distance of every building on campus.\nThe house has been vacant for remodelings and when IU president Joseph Lee Sutton chose not to live in the house from 1968 to 1971.\nIn 1971, two students and their son were asked to stay at the Bryan House, to keep it up so it wouldn't be vacant.\nBill and Shirley VanKeuren had stayed in apartments in Evermann and Tulip Tree, but were happy to make the campus landmark their home -- and to watch other students walk to classes from the Bryan House porch.
(04/07/03 5:26am)
A woman called in a bomb threat on the Indiana Memorial Union bowling alley in late February, then called back 10 minutes later to emphasize she was serious. Both times she dialed 5-IUIU.\nAt IU's call center, operators asked the caller questions from a bomb threat procedure list, called the IU Police Department and retrieved a recording of the call, which turned out to be a hoax.\nMost callers to 5-IUIU want the number for a student or department, campus directions, building hours or game times.\nBut occasionally calls are memorable.\nThere was the time a male student called to inquire where on campus he could sunbathe in the nude. The operator said, "If you find out, call me back."\nAnother caller had a child coming to IU, had a boat and wanted to know if there were slips available in the Jordan River.\nWhen IU was named the No. 1 party school, concerned parents clogged phone lines, and when a porno featuring students was released, callers wanted to know where to buy it.\nOn the porn question, campus operators provided no answers.\nCalls to 5-IUIU reflect the mood of campus, whether it's prominent news stories, the next big game or the weather, said Sandy Cunningham, a call center supervisor.\n"We have the temperature control of what's going on at the University," she said.\nThe 24-hour call center, located near 10th Street and the Bypass, fields about 900,000 calls a year, said telecommunications support manager Mary Lou Emmons.\nThat's down from about 1.5 million calls in 1992, a drop attributed mainly to telephone numbers programmed into cell phones.\nWith the exception of pornography, operators will try to answer almost any other question.\nThey give out the score after basketball games and the times and locations of SAT tests, both of which are updated on a dry-erase board in the call center.\nOperators use a computerized directory of campus departments and buildings, a home page with links to sites like campus maps and bus schedules and a telephone directory of all registered students.\nWhen a caller was looking for someone to raise a baby squirrel she had found, an operator referred her to the Campus Division.\nAnd around Thanksgiving, operators field questions about turkey preparation. Those who know the answers are more than willing to help.\nWhen operators get questions, they try to answer them.\nBut they don't always get questions.\nLate night operators get drunk dials or calls from students looking for rides home from the bars. And operators have also been asked out on dates.\nBut those calls are rare, especially when a busy day means 500 to 600 calls per shift.\n"We care a lot about the calls we get," Cunningham said. "We want people to call us"
(04/03/03 5:48am)
Andrea Howell spends 40 hours a week in a building about the size of a portable toilet.\nWhen it rains, water seeps through her sliding door. When there's lightning, she has to leave for fear of another strike. When she has to use the restroom, first she must call for backup.\nAs an attendant at one of six parking booths on campus, Howell has one of Bloomington's most boring and brutal jobs.\nShe has cried at least twice in her PortaKing booth across from the Indiana Memorial Union, but she always holds her ground with difficult customers.\n"I just try to smile and be positive and wear my sunglasses to avoid looking at them," said Howell, a Bloomington resident.\nIn her two years as a parking attendant, Howell has been cussed out by hundreds of people.\nSome students immediately resort to profane name-calling when they roll up to her booth. Others try any number of excuses to get out of paying for parking -- they don't have their wallet, class got canceled or they thought it was free.\nThe more creative guys offer to take her out. The more desperate ones drive right through the gate.\nAnd it's the students with the nicest cars who complain most about parking prices, said Howell, who brings in about $500 during her eight-hour shift.\nHowell works for one of two parking booths run by the IMU. Parking Operations manages the others.\nMartha Floyd, who has worked as an attendant at Atwater Garage as long as most students have been alive, has heard all the excuses.\nShe knows many of her customers and has developed relationships with students. She knows more people here than she does in her hometown of Bloomfield, Ind.\nBut she still gets cussed out.\n"We take a lot of crap from the customers," Floyd said. "I'd like to say something back, but I can't."\nShe's not the only employee who tolerates occasional rude customers. There isn't much turnover for parking booth attendants, said director of Parking Operations Doug Porter.\nMany attendants have grown accustomed to their cozy parking huts and enjoy their jobs.\nTo pass the time, Howell listens to NPR and is reading "The Book of Shadows" by James Reese. She keeps her booth clean and has decorated it with a Native American-themed calendar and a photo of her new baby, Zahavah. Her heater/air conditioner works most of the time, and she occasionally gets tips from alumni who play basketball at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.\nSince Floyd began work as a parking attendant in 1981, she has cut out quilt blocks, crocheted pot holders and read the newspaper every morning.\nA frequent customer Floyd often talks with said she planned to throw away some yarn, so Floyd offered to make her an afghan.\nThese days, that's how Floyd is passing the hours.
(03/31/03 4:54am)
His real name is Kairoo, but to graduate student Jessie Mallor he looks more like a Louie.\nHis light brown, fuzzy hair makes the playful puppy look like a teddy bear, Mallor said, as she pets the three-month-old shepherd mix.\n"He's like a mobster that goes home to his mom," she said.\nBut Kairoo doesn't have a home.\nLike the other dogs at the Bloomington Adopt-a-Pet site, Kairoo's days could be numbered if a suitable home isn't found.\nTraditionally, students have been part of the problem of abandoned pets in Bloomington. Every May, the euthanasia rate spikes as students leave animals behind, said Karla Kamstra, cofounder of Bloomington Pets Alive.\nNow, students can be part of the solution, she said, by volunteering to help find pets good homes.\nThe goal of Adopt-a-Pet, a non-profit partnership formed in December between Bloomington Pets Alive and the Monroe County Animal Shelter, was to reduce a county euthanasia rate that hovered around 70 percent.\nStudent volunteers have played an important role in the partnership, Kamstra said.\n"They will fulfill their need to be around animals but not contribute to the problem by relinquishing their animals at the end of the school year," she said.\nIndividual students have volunteered, and groups like the Asian Student Union and Korean American Student Association have organized volunteer efforts. \nThe ASU sends out weekly e-mails to its members encouraging volunteers to help find homes for abandoned animals.\nEvery adopted pet makes someone happy, Mallor said.\n"It's the easiest, most fun volunteer work you'll ever do."\nOn Sunday, the Adopt-a-Pet site at the corner of South Walnut and Winslow streets erupted in applause as Bloomington resident William Peckham took home Trip, a small black mix. He'll be a companion to Peckham's other dog, Maggie.\nJunior Leanna Choi and sophomore Grace Jeon arrived, in church clothes, to help. They planned to give the dogs baths.\nAnd sophomore Jessica Kinderman returned from a walk with Rocky, a 1-year-old Malamute/Retriever mix.\nBefore Kinderman came to IU, she lived on a farm with no shortage of dogs and cats. Since her landlord here won't allow pets, Kinderman volunteers to help find them homes.\nThree dogs found permanent homes Sunday and a few others found foster families, said Dr. Jo Liska, director of education for Bloomington Animal Care and Control.\nSince the program began in December, euthanasia rates have dropped from the 70 percent range to the 40 percent range, she said.\nAdopt-a-Pet is held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Marsh shopping center at the corner of South Walnut and Winslow. To volunteer, e-mail bpa@insitebb.com.
(03/27/03 5:41am)
Graduate student Gabriel Swift attends a four-credit-hour "The Book in the Renaissance" course Tuesdays and Thursdays, doing readings and participating in class discussions.\nBut the SLIS major doesn't have to complete assignments.\nHe doesn't have to take exams.\nAnd he doesn't have to pay thousands of dollars in credit hour fees.\nSince the course doesn't count toward his degree program but rather compliments his studies, Swift is auditing the class this semester.\nHe's one of only a handful of students at IU-Bloomington who take courses without credit.\nSome of them are official class audits, arranged with faculty permission through the registrar's office for a $25 per semester fee. In the fall, 44 students were enrolled at IU only as auditors, while 114 students were enrolled in some classes and audited others.\nOther audits, like Swift's, are informal, arranged with professors for a class session, a week or a semester.\nBut why would a student take a course for no credit?\nSome are interested in courses outside of their areas of study or have been out of school for a while and want to get a feel for what it's like. Others are older residents who want to continue to learn, but don't need credits. Still others audit to get a feel for a potential major or prepare for a particularly difficult course.\nThere are audit students in almost every school, but they're more common in law, foreign language and computer science classes.\nHistory adviser Jim Basore said most students working toward a degree want their credits to count. But if students want to learn the material on their own or for fun, faculty will usually allow an audit.\nWhen librarian Ann Bristow attended the University of Michigan, she used audits to choose her courses.\n"It was a way of interviewing faculty members to see if I liked them and to see if I wanted to take a course," said Bristow, director of the Main Library reference department. "Sometimes I spent more effort on classes I audited than the ones I took."\nIn one case, Bristow audited a graduate level course she wasn't eligible to enroll in. In another, she liked a creative writing instructor, but didn't want to submit her own work.\nAt IU, traditional undergraduate students rarely audit classes, and undergraduate sociology adviser MaryLou Kennedy Hosek doesn't recommend it.\nStudents often sit in classes and attend class with friends, but in her 10 years as an adviser, Hosek said she has been contacted about auditing once or twice.\n"For most of my students, I'm trying to get them graduated," she said.
(03/24/03 5:10am)
NEW YORK -- "Shock and awe" takes on a new significance on the big screens and news tickers of Times Square.\nThe bombs look bigger. The orange glow that lights up the skyline of Baghdad is brighter. And the words "war begins" are shockingly immediate, halting the bustle of people in the media capital of the world.\nWherever students headed for spring break last week, they stopped what they were doing to literally watch a war.\nIn Florida, they left beaches behind to watch bombs over Baghdad. In Las Vegas, they listened to TV analysts betting on whether Saddam is alive. And in New York, they found themselves entranced by war coverage instead of Broadway shows.\nFor those who stayed in Bloomington, the scene was much the same -- students stayed inside to watch hours of war coverage.\nIt is the first war of our adult lives and history's most vividly broadcast war. Wall-to-wall coverage from Baghdad and more than 600 "embedded" journalists have provided hellish footage of bombings, troop movements and injured soldiers on stretchers. The coverage is impossible to ignore.\nBut is the reality TV-like coverage too much?\nNot as long as embedded reporters are part of a larger mix of pro-American and up-close-and-personal coverage, said journalism professor Paul Voakes.\n"Nothing wrong with a little modern-day Ernie Pyle coverage," he said in an e-mail interview, "as long as it's not the only coverage a news medium presents."\nThe war on Iraq began on the same day as the NCAA tournament -- ironic, considering the similar ebb and flow presented in the broadcasts of the tournament and the war.\n"In many ways, war coverage is like sports coverage," Voakes said. "The viewers are spectators of a contest in which there will be ultimate victors and losers."\nSome reporters do play-by-play, others are embedded (eavesdrop on time-outs on each bench) and some do analysis from a distance, like an anchor desk in New York, Voakes said.\n"I just hope people keep in mind that human lives, whether civilian or combat, Iraqi, American or British, are considerably more valuable than points in a game," he said.\nWhile reporters enjoyed more access during Vietnam, both journalists and military officials agreed it was too much access. The current conflict is only the second war with live TV coverage, Voakes said. But it is the first war with the Web.\n"This is one of the most important events in American history -- this country's launching of a preemptive war," Voakes said, "and it's important that American citizens be able to view as much of it as they want to in order for citizens to determine whether the cause is worth the cost"
(03/13/03 5:24am)
Chances are you've heard the question sometime today.\nYou've probably repeated your answer ad nauseam.\nAnd while you were reading this, someone tapped your shoulder and asked, "What are you doing for spring break?"\nIt's the only question anyone will be answering in classes today.\nWhile my answer to that question is a closely-guarded secret I'll share only if you read this entire column, I've compiled answers to a couple of other questions you might have about spring break.\nIs it too late to plan spring break travel?\nNo, especially if you don't mind over paying and stopping in every city in the continental United States on the way to your destination.\nBut seriously, travel is still doable if you know what you're doing, said Erika Funston, IMU branch manager of STA Travel.\n"The good idea is to leave on Monday if you really want to go somewhere," Funston said. Even then, the cost could be outrageous.\nBut if you book today, you can get a pretty good deal on a trip to Las Vegas for the last weekend of spring break, Funston said.\nIf that's not good enough?\n"My agents and I are open and willing to help get you where you want to go," she said.\nHow can you keep your stuff from being stolen while you're gone?\nEveryone knows next week is spring break -- including potential thieves.\nThere are always a few cases of stolen property discovered when students return from spring break, but a few simple precautions can prevent them, IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said.\nMake sure you lock your residence and car, leave a light on inside and make a record of valuables and copies of important documents.\nIUPD has compiled a list of safety tips online at www.indiana.edu/~iupd/prev.htm.\nWhile many IUPD cadets will also be on spring break, full time officers will be on campus looking for suspicious activity.\n"We do everything humanly possible to keep all the property secured on campus," Minger said, "but the ultimate responsibility must lie with the residents."\nIs it too late to get a fake tan for spring break?\nOf course not. Especially if you head to Air Tan, 105 N. Dunn St. For $20 you can step into a shower room without the showers, strip down to your skivvies and have a stranger spray you head-to-toe with tan tonic. Their compressor was broken Wednesday, but technician Jonna Nelson promised it will be in working order today.\nSo what are Cory's plans for spring break?\nWell, after the spray-on tan? Take a guess. Yeah, journalism camp. If this column isn't proof enough that I need it, know this: Mentally, I left for spring break three days ago.
(03/10/03 5:34am)
If there's one war everyone on campus seems to support, it's the war on tuition hikes.\nAt the Sample Gates Friday, hundreds of students protested the new $1,000 freshman fee and potential hikes next year. In two hours, more than 200 students signed a petition criticizing recent hikes and calling on the state to provide more funding.\nUniversity officials continue to lobby the state legislature to restore last year's funding cuts and to reverse the trend of declining public support for higher education.\nAnd in the recent IU Student Association election, each ticket put tuition near the top of its priorities list.\nLately, lawmakers have also been getting into the tuition game.\nWeary of price hikes, some have proposed state and federal laws that would limit tuition increases.\nWhile many students have welcomed the proposals, college administrators are concerned the laws could infringe on the authority of trustees and hurt education quality in the long run.\nAt the state level, legislators are considering a cap on tuition in response to what they see as excessive fee hikes last year, including $1,000 freshman fees at IU, Purdue and Ball State.\nAt the federal level, U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon has proposed legislation that would require an explanation from colleges that raise tuition more than twice the rate of inflation, according to The Chronicle for Higher Education. If a school exceeds the limits, it could become ineligible for federal student-aid programs.\nSophomore Brian Myers, who participated in the Sample Gates protest, wants IU to "give a good reason" every time it raises tuition.\nThe proposed legislation would provide that accountability, Myers said.\nBut IU spokesman Bill Stephan said that, if introduced, the legislation would be an unnecessary level of regulation.\n"These issues are more appropriately dealt with at the state level," Stephan said.\nAs far as talk of a state cap on tuition hikes, the proposal is probably meant mostly to send a message, said Chancellor Emeritus Ken Gros Louis, who has seen similar bills come up in the state legislature over the past 30 years.\nWhile the proposals might look good to constituents, in practice they probably would overstep the legislature's bounds, he said.\nStill, administrators are taking the proposals as more than a message, reemphasizing University efforts to save money and the importance of higher education to the state, Stephan said.\nThose efforts could pay off in a tuition increase next year well under the rumored 20 percent range.\nIf current Indiana budget proposals are passed, IU's tuition increase could be held to 5 percent or less. That's because the governor's proposal and a House budget proposal call for restoration of IU's base budget that was cut last year, when tuition rose 9 percent.\nThere's still a lot of work to be done, Stephan said, as the budget now heads to the state Senate.\nBut for now, it seems we're winning the war on tuition hikes.
