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(01/11/12 4:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Just outside the chamber of the Indiana House of Representatives Tuesday night, the noise was deafening. People were chanting, yelling and screaming against the controversial right-to-work legislation that has been the cause of a democratic walkout in the House last week and yesterday. Whistles pierced the eardrums of everyone present. Union workers in helmets and jackets decorated with union membership decals held signs that proclaimed slogans such as “We oppose punitive legislation” and “Hoosiers want life lines, not bread lines.”“This legislation does absolutely nothing to create jobs. It’s nothing but an effort to destroy labor unions,” said Oather Duncan, a member of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers.Inside the chamber of the House, however, it was nearly impossible to hear them. Only a low murmur echoed from the chamber beyond. The dull roar of hundreds of protesters chanting “No right to work!” and “Mitch is a liar!” was hard to make out from inside as Gov. Mitch Daniels took to the podium to deliver his annual, and final, State of the State address.“As it’s my last such chance to express my appreciation for the public service you each perform, and to Hoosiers for hiring me twice so I could try to perform my own, I’ll start with a heartfelt thank you,” Daniels said.The governor set up his final year in office by talking extensively about what he had accomplished during his term.“Tonight, while other states elsewhere twist in financial agony, Indiana has an honestly balanced budget, a strong protective reserve in our state savings account (and) the first AAA credit rating in state history,” he said. “Our credit is better — imagine this — than that of the federal government.”Daniels also talked about his goals for the year, following the same path as his legislative goals set out in December.He talked about eliminating “credit creep,” which Daniels said keeps college students from graduating on time because of programs that require more than 120 credit hours. He talked about increasing the amount of conservation lands in the state, including creating a protected Wabash Corridor that would make most of the river a protected wetlands.He only briefly mentioned the issue that was causing the rumble of protests outside the chamber.“In survey after survey after survey, by margins of 2-to-1 or more, Hoosiers support the principle known as right to work. After a year of studying the proposal, I agree,” Daniels said. “The idea that no worker should be forced to pay union dues as a condition of keeping a job is simple and just.”Daniels ended by acknowledging the struggles in the General Assembly over the issue but expressed hope that lawmakers would come to a compromise for the benefit of the state.“That is the state we have dreamed of. A state that magnetizes people of talent and the risk-taking capital that seeks to employ them,” Daniels said. “We are not fully that state, but we are so much closer to it. ... We are certainly, irrefutably different.”Duncan and the other protesters outside didn’t seem to care. They continued to shout “Mitch is a liar!” and to blow piercingly-loud whistles throughout the whole speech, and they continued into the night, missing the speech entirely.“We’d stay here longer if they’d let us. We’ll be here until the job is done,“ Duncan said. “I recorded (the speech), so I can laugh at it later.”
(11/03/11 3:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Her fingers flew across the keyboard with machine gun-like chatter as she typed another email and sent it to one of many allies. Professor Stepanka Korytova, a visiting scholar-in-residence at IU’s Center for the Study of Global Change, combats human trafficking.“It’s a crime that doesn’t have enough coverage,” Korytova said. “If there’s any coverage, it’s sex trafficking and it’s usually about some really violent cases.”Human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction” and other techniques to gain control of a person and exploit them, according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. “But I think it’s more than that,” Korytova said.Korytova said she is passionate about the study of immigration and the migration of undocumented workers. She started a multi-disciplinary faculty study group, The Many Faces of Trafficking, which has met at least twice. Associate Professor Lynn Duggan, who has a Ph.D. in economics and studies class, race and gender in the workplace, is one of Korytova’s recruits for the study group.“She is a versatile person,” Duggan said. “She’s very interesting and well-organized. Being from Eastern Europe she is even more knowledgeable because there’s a lot of human trafficking there.”Korytova is from the former Czechoslovakia and lived through the Soviet Union takeover. She then moved to England and then the United States. She has also taught in all three countries.Korytova is the 2011 recipient of the Association for Women in Slavic Studies Zirin Prize, awarded “in the hopes of encouraging and supporting her study of sex trafficking in Central and Eastern Europe, and recognizing her past scholarly accomplishments,” according to a College of Arts and Sciences press release.“I think they all sort of appreciated that I’m academically active,” Korytova said.She has written a chapter in a book titled “To Reap a Bountiful Harvest: Czech Emigration Beyond the Mississippi River, 1850-1900”. Her chapter is about Slavic emigrants and another book about Slovaks’ ties to the Homeland. Korytova will travel to Washington, D.C., to pick up the award for her book on Nov. 19.“I’m very happy about it,” Korytova said. “It’s not only a personal award, but it’s also a tribute award for letting me teach this course.”Aside from getting published and starting a study group, Korytova is much more active as a leader.“I’ve formed a closer relationship with her, as a professor, this semester than any other professor,” said Justin Kingsolver, president of the Indiana University Student Association. “She is passionate, interested in her students and engaging.”Kingsolver is a student in Korytova’s international studies course.“She has caused me to see beyond (the United States’) boundaries,” Kingsolver said. “I’m a very American-centric person, but now I’m more globally minded.”Korytova has been invited to teach another class during the spring 2012 at the IU campus. Korytova said she will teach here as long as faculty members continue to invite her to do so. However, she said she wants to start a research center at IU that would focus on compiling statistics and reports about human trafficking in all of its forms. One of her ideas is for the center to take a look at trafficking in the Midwest.The center would involve several IU departments as well as undergraduates and graduates to establish internships and raise awareness in Bloomington.“It’d be a great thing to do,” Duggan said. “I think Indiana needs that center and Bloomington would be the obvious place.”Korytova has brought different leaders together to combat human trafficking. These individuals include Rachel Irby, the executive director of the nonprofit Unchained Movement, as well as Peggy Welch, District 60’s representative in the Indiana House of Representatives. Korytova and her students will assist Welch in writing a new human trafficking law for Indiana, which will appear before a committee and in hearings sometime early next year.
(10/21/11 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>From one person, a desk and a telephone to 8,600 living graduates, 1,290 current students and 70 full-time faculty members on eight campuses, the IU School of Social Work has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1911.Now, 100 years after its creation, the School of Social Work is the oldest of its kind continuously affiliated with a university in the United States. Many others founded in the early 1900s were begun as training programs associated with nonprofit agencies, said Katharine Byers, Bloomington bachelors of social work program director.“I think the sustainability of the school shows just how much there are still people who are willing to make $30,000 a year in order for other people to live the best life they can, to put others first,” said Stacy Chattin, a senior and social work major focusing on child welfare services.The school will sponsor a series of centennial events Saturday through Monday in conjunction with its theme of “Celebrating 100 Years of Giving Hope and Changing Lives.”Celebrations began in early 2011 with various programs across the eight IU campuses. This month’s events begin with an alumni tour of the Bloomington campus and culminate in a conference called “Continuing Education: The Past, Present, and Future of Social Work” and a gala dinner in downtown Indianapolis. The dinner will be led by keynote speaker James Morris, a former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.Chattin said she plans to drive to Indianapolis on Monday for the day’s festivities.”It’ll be fun because I’ll be surrounded with people (who are) all passionate about what we do,” she said.According to a press release, the School of Social Work was founded in 1911 by Edna Henry, well-known social worker and founder of the Associated Charities of Anderson, Ind., and Ulysses Grant Weatherly, an IU sociology professor. The two embarked on a venture to merge the Department of Economics and Social Sciences with the newly established Department of Social Service, an affiliate of the City Dispensary of the School of Medicine in Indianapolis.Weatherly aimed to develop the area he called “applied sociology,” a result of the growing field of social work at that time. A program was created in which students were instructed in sociological methods and theories in Bloomington and could then gain practical experience at the department in Indianapolis. The aftermath of the 1913 flood in Indianapolis and of World War II 30 years later kept the need for professional social workers alive and growing throughout the decades, according to a press release about the School of Social Work’s history.As the curriculum evolved, the school’s label changed. The training course for social work model continued until 1936, when the program was limited to graduate study. In 1945, the graduate program branched out separately into the Division of Social Service, later the School of Social Service.On the Bloomington campus that year, the undergraduate social work program was reestablished in the College of Arts and Sciences. However, as a small program the department continued, until the 1970s, to send about 20 students each year to Indianapolis to complete their final practicum, the release said. As the school grew in prominence, its mission became more focused. With a clearer definition of its values and objectives, the School of Social Service was renamed the School of Social Work in 1977.The school now has a budget of more than $7 million — compared to $800 when it was founded 100 years ago — and offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees, as well as minors and certificates on all IU campuses. The master of social work is still not offered on the Bloomington campus — the two degrees available are the bachelor of social work degree and the social welfare advocacy minor. The Bloomington campus houses just less than half of the total 300 social work undergraduates at IU, 47 of which will graduate this spring.In May 2004, the program graduated its first class, made up of 30 students, on the Bloomington campus. In the 2005-06 academic year, the School of Social Work marked a milestone as enrollment topped 1,000 students for the first time. Jason Carnes, a 2005 graduate, stayed in Bloomington after graduation and became immersed in social work in the political arena. This is his fifth week as the Monroe County Commissioners’ Administrator.“The county government is there to help people make sure that everything they need, from infrastructure to services, is in place,” Carnes said. “Working on the government level, you’re creating programs, ordinances and laws on a global level. And having that social work reference, that frame of mind, helps you to see things from the person’s perspective.” Chattin, Carnes and alumna Lauren Hall from the Bloomington campus talked about the sense of belonging due to a close-knit community in the school. They said social work professors — deeply experienced, well-trained and knowledgeable — were vital in their understanding of and preparation for the real world. “My Introduction to Social Work (class) with Carlene Quinn (encouraged) me to go into social work,” said Hall, who earned her bachelors of social work in 2010. “I had been a Fine Arts major because I wanted to become an art therapist. And then I took a social work class, and they got me.” Hall works as an independent living coach with local, nonprofit organization Stepping Stones, which was founded by fellow social work alumna Sheri Benham.“It’s such a small program, and you end up getting to know everyone in it,” Hall said. “You end up feeling like this little family, like social work comrades.” Byers said she agrees with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ prediction that the need for social workers will continue to grow. She believes that the aging of baby boomers, especially in the next 10 years, and a heightened interest in child welfare will call for increased need in health care services. Allowances must also be made as people become more comfortable in seeking help for mental and addiction problems, Byers said. “Our graduates have started new agencies to meet emergent needs. They speak out on important social justice issues,” Byers said in an email. “In our small and indirect way, we are making a difference in the quality of life for many people. I think that tradition will continue into the future.”
(10/07/11 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s in the name: Buffy. That’s all anyone in the sports industry really needs to know.It’s the name that helps college students answer the questions their parents are asking: What are you going to do with your degree?Buffy Filippell will help answer that question. She was the first female agent for global sports company IMG, a recruiter who has placed 40,000 people into jobs and, luckily for Hoosier students, an IU graduate.And she’s offering a program that IU and 17 other colleges have access to for free, along with hundreds of front offices in the sports industry. It’s called Teamworkonline.com. It’s like a match-making site for candidate and front office jobs in the sports industry.It started in her undergraduate days in Bloomington.Filippell has come a long way since a 15-minute tennis match in 1974, when she was the only player on the IU women’s tennis team to play in the national collegiate championships.She had never played a tournament and her opponent was the tournament’s No. 13 seed.“I mean, honest to God, it had to be the fastest match ever,” Filippell said. “She probably beat me before we walked on the court because, of course, she asked me what were my tournament results, and ... I said this is the first one I’ve ever played in my life.”After graduation, Filippell got a job with Wilson Sporting Goods, eventually distributing tennis rackets to players such as Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert and John McEnroe.Through dealing with the sport’s top athletes, she met the sport’s top program of tennis talent: IMG Academies. They hired her as an agent. She then joined a search firm as a recruiter, starting in tennis due to her already prominent connections, before eventually starting her own search firm. Then came the recommendation from NBA Commissioner David Stern for Filippell to fill a marketing job for the Minnesota Timberwolves.In 1999, Filippell realized she could recruit and fill positions in the sports industry online.“You knew that the world was going to become matching people through a digital space, so instead of waiting for someone else to do it, I thought I would lead the charge,” Filippell said.Tens of thousands of placements later, Filippell said there’s nobody in the sports business who has connected as many candidates to employers as she has with her company TeamWork Consulting.“In reality, the company is what it does, in that it networks people together,” Filippell said. “It takes teamwork to do things together, and everybody’s working together to help people find candidates.”Susan Simmons, IU’s Coordinator of Career Placement for Kinesiology, said the program is also different in that it caters to a single industry: sports.“If a student were to go to a large, major job board like Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com, they’re going to find thousands of positions,” Simmons said, “But only a small fraction of those would only be truly related to what they wanted to do, whereas here all the positions posted are in the sport industry, and the student who is truly interested in that area, then they’re really looking at a job board that is unique to their career path.”Simmons said approximately 200 sports marketing and management majors and another 250 sport communication majors utilize Teamworkonline.com.The website helps place job candidates with front offices and also gives tips on how to set a candidate apart from the rest when the digital platform makes all applications look similar.Buffy said a candidate can help set themselves apart by starting with a cover letter.“That’s where the creativity comes in, and a lot of times people use the same cover letter time and time again,” Buffy said. “Well, if the employer keeps reading the same thing, they’ll think you’re as boring as the first time they read it.”Buffy also helps students “see the numbers” in sports jobs.“I try to look at other places where people aren’t looking and provide an idea to take a look at these jobs,” Buffy said. “Say here’s a job with not a lot of candidates and it pays $100,000 and this one that pays $50,000 but there are a lot of candidates. I find those jobs. There’s this mistaken identity that there aren’t jobs available. There are.”
(09/07/11 1:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Man, it feels good to be back in America.A week ago I headed to Bologna, Italy, to begin a year-long study abroad program through IU at the University of Bologna. The program is one of the best Italian language programs in the country. For students who are accepted, fluency in the language is all but guaranteed upon returning to the States.For me, however, the year turned into a week after health problems forced me back home.Usually a week in another country is not enough to learn what life is like for its citizens, but students in the IU program get a crash course in Italy and its institutions from the moment they arrive on the ground.In the program’s first days, students are expected to buy a cell phone, find an apartment, learn the city’s transportation system and prepare themselves for classes at the University of Bologna.I learned a lot from this experience.I learned that, in Italy, if you want to work out at a gym, you must first get a doctor’s approval. I learned that at some restaurants, you have to pay to use silverware. I learned that, as college students, we are lucky we live in America.If you check online today, you will see that Italy’s unemployment rate is about 8.5 percent. Comparatively, that is better than America’s.But that is why in economics, it is always important to dig beneath the surface. While Italy’s statistics may say one thing, the sentiment on the ground says another.Talking with Italians who are fresh out of college, you will quickly learn that the prospects for work are much worse there than they are here in the United States.It is a quality vs. quantity thing.Sure, there are jobs in Italy, but jobs are not the same as careers. Careers are hard to come by.Graduates with engineering degrees find jobs as servicemen making house calls to fix kitchen appliances. Scientists spend most of their working lives in school because there is no market for them in Europe, where there is little scientific innovation.Most students settle for a job in a local store and do that for the rest of their lives. Here, if you go to a record shop, a fast food restaurant or a retail store, you will most likely find a college or high school kid working behind the counter. In Italy, you are most likely to find a middle-aged man.If they are not working a menial job behind a counter, recent college graduates are either contemplating going to school to get another useless degree or sitting around their apartments, relying on welfare.In Italy, the welfare is stronger and much more enabling than it is here in the United States. If you worked at one point and were laid off, or for whatever reason are no longer employed, it is possible to get a good portion of your previous salary from the state for years.I met one man who had spent the last four months in Bologna, trying to find a job. He had a degree in biology and some engineering experience, and he knew four languages. In the United States, he would be an asset. In Italy, he is a bartender and airport worker.As a matter of fact, just before I left for my trip, I saw an NBC Nightly News Report about how Boeing Company, an aviation leader and the world’s second-largest military contractor, has thousands of jobs available in South Carolina but difficulty finding enough qualified applicants. Boeing cannot find enough people with adequate math and engineering skills.While the situation here in the United States may have many of us seniors and recent graduates worried, be glad you are not a college student overseas.— nperrino@indiana.edu
(09/02/11 2:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU graduate student Carl Urness has been in New York City for only a week and a half, but he is already getting a taste of what life is like in the public policy realm — and loving every minute of it. “I am still at work now, and it’s 6:30,” Urness said. “But it’s OK, because I am doing what I love.”He is working at the Center for Economic Opportunity in New York City representing the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs’ VISTA Fellows Program that launched last week.The Fellows Program, a suborganization of AmeriCorps, provides SPEA graduate students with the opportunity to work full time with anti-poverty organizations and agencies in Indiana and throughout the United States while obtaining their master’s degree. SPEA is working in partnership with the Indiana office of the U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service, the government agency that administers AmeriCorps VISTA, a national service program designed specifically to fight poverty.“It is a very innovative type of experience that combines education and community service,” said Tarah A. Maners, state program specialist with Indiana CNCS. “This fits directly into our strategic priorities — services to veterans and military families, increasing high school graduation rates and grade level achievement, increasing economic opportunity and improving the environment disaster preparedness and response.”Urness is one of seven SPEA graduate students participating in the program this year. Although they will be doing total volunteer work, as VISTA participants, the students will receive a modest living allowance, health care and other benefits.At the end of their one-year commitment, the participants will also receive either a $5,550 education award or a $1,500 cash stipend. The education award can be used for tuition, book fees or loans. They also earn credit toward their degrees, including the experiential requirement for the SPEA master’s programs, Maner said. “This is an opportunity for our students to think about what they’re learning and see how it applies, or doesn’t apply, in the real world,” SPEA Assistant Dean Doug Goldstein said. Goldstein said the school hopes the program will benefit not only the students that participate, but the entire SPEA community through the knowledge the fellows will bring back to Bloomington. The seven fellows participating this year have been placed at sites with some of the most innovative organizations working to relieve poverty across the country, SPEA VISTA Fellows Program Coordinator Megan Siehl said.Siehl joined SPEA last spring to recruit participants and organize placement sites for this year’s fellows, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Center for Economic Opportunity, where Urness is working. Staci Orr, an environmental sciences graduate student and fellow working with the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis, said after her first week in the program, she already knows this experience will benefit her future. “My co-workers are amazing and really supportive,” she said. “I hope to gain program-planning skills fundraising for the Indiana AIDS fund and to develop a greater responsibility for something bigger than myself.”
(08/24/11 2:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Summer and the true off-season for IU women’s basketball are approaching their final hours as the team prepares for a new year. The past few months provided the Hoosiers time to rest and recover before the hard work of a new season begins. The dormant summer season didn’t keep the team from making headlines, however. Here are some summer highlights, followed by IU Coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s thoughts on them:May 19 – The team announced they will face Virginia in Big Ten/ACC Challenge. “What another great opportunity to showcase the talent of the Big Ten Conference. We are very excited to be a part of this challenge again.“We will face a tough Virginia squad who played well at home last season, but hopefully we can repeat what we did last year on the road in our challenge game.”May 31 – The team announced their participation in the Caribbean Classic Dec. 20 through 21.“We are thrilled to be going to Cancun to play some unbelievable competition in Pittsburgh and Colorado State. Our young ladies play over the course of two semesters, and it is really neat to extend an opportunity for them to play in great weather at a beautiful resort during winter break.“We are excited, thrilled and humbled by this opportunity that our administration is allowing us to partake in.”June 1 – Former IU forward Whitney Thomas is hired as an assistant coach.“The family atmosphere is very important to the growth of our program and building that foundation, and bringing Whitney back in a full capacity as an assistant coach is a tremendous get. We are excited that Whitney will be a part of this program moving forward, and I think the Hoosier Nation is going to see that we are committed to keeping our Hoosiers home in every capacity that we can.“So we are thrilled that Whitney will continue to be a part of our Hoosier family.”June 27 – Former six-year Tulsa coach and Auburn University player Charlene Thomas-Swinson is hired as an assistant coach.“We’re excited to have someone of Charlene Thomas-Swinson’s caliber. She played and coached the game at the highest level, coached in the SEC, coached in the Big East and Conference USA.“And now, having her in the Big Ten is a slam dunk. We’d like to welcome her family to Bloomington, and she is a perfect addition to our women’s basketball family.”July 14 – The team announced they will face Oklahoma State in Big 12/Big Ten Women’s Basketball Challenge.“This is another great opportunity for our program to compete at the highest level. It gives our team, as well as everyone in the conference, a chance to showcase the talent the Big Ten has on a national stage.”July 26 – Legette-Jack signed a two-year contract extension through 2015.“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be the head women’s basketball coach at Indiana University for five years now, and I’m excited to be able to continue that journey leading this program.“Hoosier Nation has embraced my family, and I can’t wait to keep building this program with student athletes that represent Indiana with great character, who are excellent academically and bring excitement to the basketball court to create a winning tradition.”Aug. 3 – Wittenberg University graduate Jimmy Colloton, who served as a four-year student assistant coach, is hired as a graduate assistant.“I am thrilled that Jimmy has joined our Hoosier family. After meeting him the first day, he just seemed like a great fit for our staff. He is hungry to learn and is very humble and willing to do whatever he can to help us get better.“His last coach, whom I have great respect for, thinks he is one of the hardest workers he has encountered. We welcome Jimmy to Bloomington with open arms.”
(08/11/11 10:06pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The spooning wall, a low limestone wall near the law school, was a favorite meeting spot for lovers.But as Hoagy Carmichael sat there, he realized just how alone he was. In 1927, at 28, he had returned to his college campus and his hometown of Bloomington. All his friends were graduated and gone. The girl he loved was gone too. And the campus lacked the vibrancy it seemed to have during his college days.But then, as legend has it, he decided to stop feeling sorry for himself and started with a tune. A melody popped into the songwriter’s head, and it was so compelling that he ran to his favorite hang out, the Book Nook. It was closed, but he pounded on the door anyway, and the owner let him in.Inside, he rushed to the piano to compose what would later, once its tempo was slowed down to a ballad, become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century.“Sometimes I wonder why I spend the lonely nights dreaming of a song.”The song was “Stardust.” Its melody became wildly popular, making Carmichael famous and rich.***A photo hanging in the Book Nook, now known as The Gables, depicts Carmichael at the piano with a circle of friends around him. Students regarded the battered upright piano in the corner as Carmichael’s piano. He even charmed the workers of the Book Nook into allowing him to stay after hours to play as they washed dishes. Carmichael was known as a charismatic and humorous performer.“It was the Kilroy’s of its time,” David Johnson, WFIU jazz host, said. “A Kilroy’s without booze.”The energy of the prohibition era created a counter-culture where Carmichael could follow his creative impulses and become an unpredicted success.And people, especially on college campuses in the 1920s, thought hot jazz was exciting, Johnson said.Hoagy loved to attempt to play the trumpet all around campus.“Hoagy, shut up!” people would yell.But he didn’t listen.***After graduating from law school in 1926, Carmichael had to find a real job, so he accepted a job as a lawyer in Florida and hated it. He did the bare minimum everyday, just to get by and not be fired.But as legend goes, Carmichael was sitting at his desk in the law office one day when through the open window he could hear the notes of a familiar song coming from a nearby record store. But the song seemed more than familiar. He realized it was not just a song he knew, but a song he had written. The song was “Washboard Blues,” and he was listed as the composer.“That’s it,” he thought. “I’m a songwriter. I don’t have to be a lawyer. I quit.”He returned home to Bloomington and was in the right place at the right time.Gennett Records was in nearby Richmond, Ind., making Bloomington a stop on the jazz circuit along the way to Chicago. Big names of jazz, such as Louis Armstrong, stopped by and Carmichael met them.His career as a jazz singer/songwriter and later, an actor, took off, and the rest was legend.***Some visitors walk quietly to the back of Rose Hill Cemetary.They leave pennies and Crown Royal bottles. Bob Dylan even made a pilgrimage there to pay his respects to the man who was a singer/songwriter before the label became popular.Some even make a wish on the pennies they leave.It’s a tribute to the man from Bloomington who made a name for himself.“Howard Hoagland Carmichael 1899 – 1981.”
(07/28/11 12:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU will receive $250,000 of a $1 million grant given to the state of Indiana to help improve its college completion rate, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Tuesday.Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the non-profit group Complete College America, the grant will provide assistance to IU regional campuses and Ivy Tech Community College in graduating more students.“The single biggest challenge, and therefore opportunity, in terms of the jobs future of this state is to address our shortfall in post-secondary education,” Daniels said during the announcement.Thirty-three states applied for the grant, but only 10 were selected by the advisory committee. Out of those 10, Indiana was one of three states that was selected unanimously.“It really is a recognition and validation of the path Indiana is on in tackling this very important issue of having more students graduate from college and raising the educational level of the workforce in the state of Indiana,” Stan Jones, president of Complete College America, said.He said one of the untold stories of the recession is while people are not buying things like new houses and cars, they are buying education. The country is seeing record enrollment, including Indiana colleges.“It means that people have chosen in this difficult economic time to place their bet on higher education,” Jones said. “They have chosen to take time from their families and their jobs and what little money they have to place a bet on higher education as their way to steer through this economic uncertainty.”But despite this record enrollment, the graduation rate remains low.Within four-year programs, only one-third of students actually complete college in four years, according to the state’s commission of higher education. Even after six years, only half of the students in the program graduate. Across Indiana and the country, only 25 percent of students complete two-year programs in three years. Many students never graduate at all.“They walk away with some college and a lot of debt,” Jones said.The proposal will focus on restructuring and remediation in order to graduate more students and graduate them more quickly. Approximately $500,000 of the grant will go to Ivy Tech and $250,000 will go to IU’s regional campuses. The leftover $250,000 will remain at the state level to support the proposal.“We don’t have all the specifics yet, but this is going to help kids put together an academic plan and get the support they need so that they can actually graduate,” IU spokesman Mark Land said.For IU, the money means better support for the University’s Blueprint for Student Attainment at the regional campuses, a plan that was approved last June by the Board of Trustees. The program will help provide course mapping software, intensive student advising and other strategies to help encourage students to complete college.Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith said the grant will help make a positive change in the state and at all IU campuses.“The attainment of a college degree is becoming more and more important to states to help revitalize sagging economies and take advantage of the new technologies that require workers with greater technical skills,” Goldsmith said. “Anything that helps increase the number of college grads is a good thing.”
(05/24/11 12:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A few hours ago my friend, fellow recent graduate Sara Sidery and I drove to get ice cream at the Chocolate Moose. It was sunny out and there was a light breeze, a perfect day for ice cream. As we ordered our hot fudge sundaes with brownies, nuts and sprinkles, we noticed the sky start to darken ominously. It was around 5:30 p.m. We were driving in Sara’s jeep back to my apartment when she turned to me and asked, “Have you ever been in a tornado before?”Just as I said no, we turned onto Indiana Avenue and saw the gentle breezes become violent winds. Branches began to fall. On the corner of Kirkwood and Indiana Avenues, the tables outside of Noodles and Company were blown into the streets. We spotted one of them in front of Sample Gates. People who were strolling casually down the sidewalks suddenly began running in a panic. Were we in the midst of the Apocalypse? The Rapture didn’t happen as planned on May 21, maybe this was it. It was getting closer to 6 p.m.Sara and I held hands and said Hail Marys. We checked the weather report on Sara’s phone and it said 77 degrees, severe thunderstorms. Sara and I sped in her Jeep through the empty streets, dodging falling tree branches. When we got back to my apartment, we had a glass of water to calm our nerves. A few more gusts of wind rattled my windows. The power went out. Sara and I decided to drive around and see the damage the storm caused.***There was an uprooted tree on the corner of Seventh and Dunn Streets that claimed a streetlight and the hood of a red Dodge Neon in its wake.Bloomington resident Nick Mortara stood on his front porch as the rain continued. He sipped a cup of coffee from a striped mug and observed as sirens blared in the distance and onlookers whipped out their cell phone cameras to take pictures. He and a co-worker, Austin Mason, recounted seeing the falling tree that now took up Mortara’s entire front yard. The two were hanging out and watching the movie “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” “I remember the wind getting sucked out of my house,” Mortara said. Mason ran out to the porch. “The wind looked solid,” he said, as the tree in front of the Chabad House, across the street, toppled over. He said it was around 5:45 p.m. when that happened. The flickering streetlight destroyed by the tree shut off.***Sara and I left Nick on his porch and continued to drive around. On the radio, newscasters tried to make sense of the 20-minute destruction that had spread from 10th Street to Russell Road, on the outskirts of town. A song played, “You’re the One That I Want” from “Grease” featuring the lyric: “The power is multiplyin’ / It’s electrifyin’!”There was another fallen tree directly in front of Grant Street Inn. A police officer directed traffic away from a blocked road on Ninth and Washington Streets. Sirens were distant. We veered down Fourth Street, seeing ripped tents and overturned tables throughout the various ethnic restaurants. At Siam House, a Thai food restaurant on the corner of Fourth and Dunn Streets, a tree collapsed the back roof. The restaurant behind it, Thai A Roy D. Kitchen, had its patio and benches demolished by a tree. The whole scene was blocked off by caution tape. Bloomington Fire Department Deputy Chief Terry Williams pulled up in a marked SUV to survey the scene. In the past hour there were at least 50 calls made to him concerning damages, he said. At Thai A Roy D. Kitchen, the employees were still inside. Several of them huddled together, trying to describe how the tree destroyed the patio. The power had already been out, and thankfully, no customers were dining at the time. “Flash, then boom, then the tree snapped,” said one employee, making a slow wave motion with her hand to demonstrate how the tree fell. The restaurant opened February 2010, said employee Bask Tingsabhat. He tried to reach the landlord, who may or may not be out of town. No damage costs have been estimated yet. Tingsabhat looked out at the benches through a crack in the patio door, as if afraid to step out into the heavy rain. “I just never thought this tree would fall,” he said. “It was so sturdy.”
(05/19/11 12:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Erick and Omar Gama moved from Mexico to Indianapolis when they were 11. They didn’t know the language, they didn’t have documentation and they were often made fun of at school because of their lack of English skills.The two brothers aren’t sure how they passed that year of fifth grade when they look back at their transcripts and see only D’s and F’s. But by the eighth grade, they were moved out of the English as a second language program and were accepted into the Magnet program, which is for advanced students in Indianapolis Public Schools.As it came time to graduate from Arsenal Tech High School, they worried about applying for college like most seniors. However, they were concerned that their illegal status would hold them back.They applied to the University of Indianapolis and Erick was offered a full ride, but he had to turn it down because he’d never been assigned a social security number. When they applied to IU, they were also accepted.“Once we got accepted, we were like, ‘Oh my god we made it, we’re in college,’” Erick said. The Gamas were nervous when attending IU’s orientation because they knew the University would ask for their visas or passports, but when they said they didn’t have either, it wasn’t a problem. They even qualified for in-state tuition because IU’s requirements say that in order to be an Indiana resident, one must reside in the state for at least 12 months. The Gamas will be juniors in the fall, and in their minds, they have been Hoosiers since they were 11. But now the law tells them differently.Gov. Mitch Daniels signed HB 1402 into law May 10 which states that undocumented students will be required to pay out-of-state tuition. For the Gamas, that means a tuition increase of about $18,000 each.Since they are undocumented, they can’t fill out the FAFSA, and they don’t qualify for scholarships, except for a few private ones. Growing up, both brothers were offered the 21st Century Scholars Program, but without documentation they couldn’t accept it. They also don’t qualify for loans or the Pell Grant. When their bursar bill arrives, they each have to pay out of pocket.As far as they’re concerned, they’re Indiana residents.BECOMING A LEGAL CITIZENErick has read that it’s easy to become a legal citizen, and he’s had people ask him, “Why don’t you just apply for the documents?” But it’s not that easy.The brothers talked to an immigration lawyer about a year ago, and he said that they don’t qualify for legal status based on how their parents arrived in the U.S. They were told that their best bet is to wait for immigration reform.Before coming to Indiana, their parents tried to apply for a visa, but they were denied at least five times.“People say it’s easier to stay illegal, and I’m like ‘No, it would be easier to be legal.’ But there’s not a way to do it,” Erick said. Omar said he hears people say “Go to the back of the line,” but that wait can be years. He said he’d rather do what they’re doing now than wait because Indiana is already his home.He also hates hearing people say their tax dollars are paying for illegal immigrants. The Gamas parents pay property taxes on two houses and they pay sales taxes like everyone else, they said.There are four ways to qualify for legal status, and many immigrants don’t fall into one of those categories, Maria López, a law professor at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, said.The popular forms of immigration are family-based, meaning an immigrant is sponsored by a family member that is already a citizen, and employment-based, but that usually only applies to highly-skilled workers, for which many immigrants don’t qualify. Some people also qualify for refugee immigration, but that’s for people living in political, racial or religious hardship. An economic hardship doesn’t qualify, Lopez said.There is also a lottery visa, which usually applies to countries that don’t have a lot of immigrants.For most children of illegal immigrants, it’s very difficult to get legal status, Lopez said, because they don’t fall under any of the four categories. She said she worries that people are trying to make life here so difficult that the children of illegal immigrants will leave.“If you think you’ll make their lives bad that they’ll go back,” she said, “then you should see the conditions in their own country.”She said the best thing for children to do is get educated because life in the U.S. is all they know.“If you put obstacles on their education,” she said, “what can they do?”A NATIONAL DISCREPANCYWhile Indiana passed legislation saying undocumented students must pay out-of-state tuition, Maryland recently passed a law that said undocumented students can now pay in-state tuition.By doing so, Maryland joined 11 other states that allow in-state tuition.This discrepancy among states to pass immigration legislation is mostly because of frustration caused by the federal government’s failed attempts to pass legislation on the subject, Marshall Fitz, director of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress, said.What the country is seeing, Fitz said, is an increased activity in statehouses to pass legislation not only about tuition, but about the rights of illegal immigrants in general. However, Fitz said, immigration is not an issue that can be resolved at the local level.“I think states making decisions does nothing but add fuel to the fire,” Fitz said. “I think people know that we’re not going to have 50 different state immigration laws.”In order to pass immigration reform, Congress needs bipartisanship, Fitz said, and it’s a time when bipartisanship has become increasingly scarce.“I think there are a lot of politicians who think it’s easier to ignore the issue,” Fitz said. Fitz also said he worries that politicians are scared to support immigration reform because moderates in a moderate state can no longer feel safe that they’ll be re-elected. Even Sen. Richard Lugar has declined to be a part of the bill, and he’s known to support immigration reform.“Even a guy who has a 70 percent approval rating is clearly spooked by the viciousness of attacks that were sent at the moderates in the 2010 cycle,” Fitz said.Until then, the Gamas plan to continue to support the DREAM Act, which would qualify the children of illegal immigrants for conditional nonimmigrant status if they graduate from a U.S. high school, are accepted into college or earn their GED.THEIR FIRST NIGHT IN JAILAs Gov. Daniels drew closer to signing HB 1402, the Gama brothers became more desperate. They had been e-mailing and calling his office for weeks trying to set up an appointment with him to tell their stories of how, without in-state tuition, they wouldn’t have an education at all. But they received no response.So they went to the statehouse May 9, the day before Daniels was to sign the legislation, and sat outside his office with three other students in their graduation gowns. “They said, ‘Well he’s not going to be here because his agenda’s full and you don’t have an appointment.’ So we said we could wait, that’s fine,” Erick said.After being warned several times, the group was arrested. Going into the protest, the Gamas knew arrest was a possibility. They discussed it with their families and decided they had nothing to lose. They wrote profiles to send to the media and created YouTube videos so people could know their story if they were arrested.It took a stop at Wendy’s for an officer to order some nuggets and about 24 hours at the processing center before the group even reached the jail. Once there, they went on a hunger strike, which they said wasn’t hard to do.They were served some tacos with cold tortillas, a little bit of lettuce, packets of sauce and rice “that tasted like water and beans,” Erick said. “It wasn’t hard to put them down.”The group didn’t find out that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had a hold on them for possible deportation until a deputy briefly mentioned it.They will return to court June 14 for Class A trespassing and Class B disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. They could be sentenced from zero to 365 days for the Class A charge and up to 180 days for the Class B charge. However, they said they’re more concerned about whether they will be able to return to school than about their punishment.IU spokesperson Larry MacIntyre said the University must comply with the new legislation, and the University is doing a review of how that will be done. The state law will go into effect July 1.With the tuition increase, Erick said they’ll have to be part-time students, maybe only taking two classes at a time. However, they said they have every intention of graduating. Indiana is their home and it’s where they want to live after graduation.“We’re going to continue no matter what,” Erick said. “It’ll probably take forever to graduate, but we’re going to graduate.”
(05/02/11 6:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It took eight men to haul the fish.On Friday morning, IU Physical Plant workers installed all five fish sculptures back into the Showalter Fountain, and the fish should be spouting water by late this week.The bronze monsters weigh nearly 800 pounds each and were removed this winter for cleaning and repairs.It’s always been Sherry Rouse’s goal to have the fountain finished for graduating seniors to enjoy. The curator of campus art was worried that recent rain would delay the installation, but Friday was clear and sunny. The slate around the fountain is also being replaced and re-grouted.One fish, poached this summer, needed to be recast in bronze and replaced, and the rest of the fish received a makeover. Venus Bronze Works in Detroit refinished the patina finish on all of the sculptures.“The bottom line is the fish took a hit this year,” Rouse said. She estimated that repairs on the fountain cost nearly $50,000.As the crew of men in blue jeans and ball caps installed the fish, they added wires that may become part of an enhanced security system in an effort to prevent further vandalism.Rouse said the wires could potentially be used to alert campus police about attempted thefts or people rocking the fish. During the Nearly Naked Mile this October, runners in the Homecoming week celebration swarmed the fountain and rocked one of the fish back and forth until it broke off its stand.IU Police Department Chief Keith Cash would not comment on details of the new wiring.“When it comes to matters of security measures, we do not discuss these as this would jeopardize the effectiveness of the measures we are taking,” Cash said in an email.Security is a concern for the fountain, which has seen both the fish and Venus targeted.Robert Laurent sculpted Venus and her dolphin-like guardians. Grace Showalter funded the project as a gift to her late husband. It was dedicated in October 1961.Students didn’t wait until long after the dedication to start the fun that has marked Venus’ time on campus. Just a few days after the ceremony, the fish spurted green foam.Students have swum nude with her, tossed coins at her and covered her in soap, Jell-O and dye. In 1972, Venus saw 15 carp swimming around her until Physical Plant workers caught them.Venus has worn bras of all sizes and colors and had her nails painted. At Christmas one year, she wore a duct tape bikini with fur trim and a Christmas hat. The attention isn’t all vandalism, though. As ordered by Rouse, she gets a wax once a year to keep her patina polished.There is a longstanding rumor that Mrs. Showalter didn’t like the size of Venus’ bosom and requested a breast reduction for the classical figure. IU Assistant Archivist Carrie Schwier, who oversaw an exhibit on the fountain last spring, said part of the fountain’s distinct look is its modern style.It’s not anatomically correct, and the shape of Venus’ stomach and breasts looks unnatural. Schwier said Showalter was likely involved later in the construction of the fountain and dealt more with financial than creative matters.The fish have been called dolphins and tuna. In 1987, after IU won the NCAA championship, all five were removed. When the last fish was finally discovered the next week, it sat in front of an apartment entrance dressed in an IU shirt with its lips painted red.Rouse said she understands that the fountain’s central location makes it a target for students.“I don’t really mind people interacting with the fountain,” Rouse said. “They’re going to get in the water. What I don’t like is the vandalism.”
(04/29/11 4:45pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Physical plant workers install one of the Showalter fish Friday morning. All five fish have been restored and are back swimming around Venus in the Showalter Fountain.Venus Bronze Works Inc. restored and repaired the fish after one was broken during the Nearly Naked Mile last fall. Another was stolen last summer and never found. Curator of Campus Art Sherry Rouse oversaw the plant’s installation of the four refinished fish and one replacement fish. Rouse said she hopes to have the basin filled with water and the fish spouting by next weekend so graduating students can take their picture next to the fully renovated fountain.-CJ Lotz
(04/21/11 9:14pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In our state capitol, Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Republican majorities in both houses of the legislature have taken up education reform for Indiana’s schools. As I have sat by and watched, there are certain things I like and certain things I do not. For starters, to deny that education across our country has been falling would be naïve. Last December, the United States ranked 14 of the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries surveyed in their ‘Program for International Student Assessment.’ The OECD is an organization of states of the most industrialized economies in the world. In my own view, to remedy the problem, we need a massive overhaul of how we recruit the best teachers. I am particularly fond of Singapore’s and Britain’s models — attracting the best talent into the classrooms. From what I have gathered from natives of both countries, teaching is among the most respected and coveted professions of college graduates. Competition for these jobs is intense, and each applicant goes through a rigorous review process. These two countries also seem to have something completely different than we do — teaching is something students are incentivized to pursue. To attract the best talent, their teachers are paid above the average annual salary of a worker in the respective country. However, here in Indiana for example, teacher’s salaries are set by an archaic system based upon degrees completed and years served. The million dollar question is why on earth high-performing students would want to pursue a career in education when they can earn a lot more in the private sector. I happen to be one of those who had a dream once upon a time to go into education, and someday I may very well do that. But for now, until there is an incentive to provide a decent wage to survive on after a potential teacher graduates, the current system will continue to distance much of the exceptional talent from this noble profession. This article is in no way intended to cast doubt on the millions of great educators across our country who make their living at teaching. There are countless educators who do it for more than the dollar. But the market aspect remains clear: You have to pay teachers much better if you want to attract the talent. With that said, for the number of great educators in the system, there are a large number that probably need to find a more suitable career. That is why I applaud our state legislature for discussing an end to the archaic system of paying teachers based upon number of degrees and years served. There is absolutely zero empirical data to show the relationship between student performance in the classroom and these old metrics of measuring a teacher’s salary.I think it is also finally time for a candid discussion about abolishing the tenure system in our state. In my experience, this system only seems to promote complacency and a lack of initiative to do better. My rationale is the best job protection for educators is continued student performance. Instead of casting blame at the current education system and those in it, we should cast doubt toward the halls of our legislatures for bad policy. For too long our politicians have ignored improving the recruitment and retention policies of our educators. Politics aside, both parties are to blame for the problem. The unfunded mandate of No Child Left Behind was a product of now-deceased Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy signed into law under then-President George Bush. I think it is about time for our leaders to come together, put away the partisan bickering and yes, ignore the calls of both the teachers unions and the school-choice advocates. It is about time to come up with some common-sense solutions that will make America’s primary education the beacon for the world once again. — cjcaudil@indiana.edu
(04/12/11 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ranked 23 in U.S. News and World Report’s latest ranking of the best law schools in the country, IU’s Maurer School of Law has a history of providing students with respected degrees. But the benefits of attending the school last long after graduation. The Academy of Law Alumni Fellows was established in 1985 to honor distinguished alumni who have proven their merit in their professional and personal endeavors. The members of the academy range from songwriters to judges.On April 1, five new members were inducted into the distinguished society. K. Edwin Applegate, L.L.B. ’48A World War II veteran, K. Edwin Applegate has been an active member in his community for more than 65 years. He served as one of the founding partners of Applegate, McDonald and Associates from 1949 through 2011. From 1967 to 1970, Applegate served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. He served on the board of directors for several organizations throughout Monroe County as well as the president of the IU Varsity Club. Stephen L. Ferguson, J.D. ’66Stephen L. Ferguson graduated Order of the Coif from the law school in 1966 and has since been employed in a wide variety of professional paths. During his career, he served in the Indiana House of Representatives, established a law practice in Bloomington and played a vital role in the local medical community, particularly in the development of Cook Medical. He has been involved in the restoration of the French Lick Resort and downtown Bloomington. Ferguson also served on the IU Board of Trustees for 12 years, four of which he served as president.R. Neil Irwin, J.D. ’71R. Neil Irwin, a 1971 Order of the Coif graduate of the law school, credits his induction into the academy to the “nature of my international law firm and community involvement.” A veteran of the U.S. Army, he was born in Indiana before relocating to Phoenix, where he resides, serving as the senior partner of Bryan Cave LLP. He also serves on the Board of Visitors for the law school. “I’ve been on the board for a while, but I never thought I’d be one,” Irwin said. “It’s something you hope for but don’t expect.”Rapheal M. Prevot Jr., J.D. ’84 (posthumous)A 1984 Maurer School of Law graduate, Rapheal M. Prevot Jr. dedicated his life to volunteer work and advocacy. For more than 15 years, he worked as the labor relations counsel for the National Football League, prior to which he worked as a private practice attorney.He began serving on the Maurer School’s Alumni Board in 1993 and moved on to become president of the Board of Visitors in 1997 — the youngest president in board history. He passed away in 2008.Martha S. West, J.D. ’74Martha S. West graduated from the law school in 1974. During her time there, she organized the Women’s Caucus and designed the curriculum for a course on women and law. Following graduation, she practiced law in Indianapolis for three years and then represented Indiana Chrysler workers from 1979 to 1982. She joined the faculty of the law school at the University of California-Davis, and in 1998, she founded the Family Protection Clinic, which supports battered women and children. At the award ceremony, West noted how much the law school has changed.“I enjoyed recounting the excitement of being one of few women law students in the early 1970s and how the women law students organized the law students’ women’s caucus at a time when we had no women professors, and women were only about 10 percent of the class,” West said.
(04/12/11 12:21am)
Inside investigates what's possible at IU and what's just crazy.
(04/07/11 2:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Andrew Morrow of Sigma Chi Cycling said he believes everyone in the world would benefit from having a twin.“As a twin, you have someone to be competitive in sports with in the backyard,” Morrow said.For Andrew and his twin, Nate, competition has been a way of life. While the two competed together as three-sport athletes in high school, both have found different sports at IU that have kept them on the fast track to success.Andrew, who will be competing in his third Little 500 this year, has become one of the fastest riders in the men’s race. The junior placed ninth in this year’s Individual Time Trials and helped Sigma Chi qualify in third place. Nate, a redshirt sophomore on the cross country and track teams, is a part of IU coach Ron Helmer’s team that placed seventh in this year’s NCAA cross country national championships, its best finish in 33 years.While both of the Morrow boys said they are each other’s biggest fans, their competitive nature has been shared throughout their lives.But who wins?“I like to think I do, but if you ask him that question, he’s going to say he does because that’s our competitive spirit,” Nate said. “You look at him and he’s a little bigger than me, but you look at me and I’m a little quicker than him, so it goes back and forth.”For Andrew, the answer was easy.“We can run together in a race, but Nate would always beat me to the line in the end,” Andrew said. “If I could take a little bit of acceleration from him, I could definitely use it.”While countless hours were spent in the back yard competing in various sports, Nate said he will never forget one instance when Andrew was practicing hitting a baseball by using a swing-away baseball on a string attached to a pole. He ended up with a lump on his head.“Somehow, his bat hit the pole, and it ricocheted the bat straight back into his forehead,” Nate said. “My mom sees this and is freaking out like, ‘We got to get you to the hospital,’ but (Andrew), who must have been stunned, was even laughing about it.”Andrew, who claims that his bat did not hit the pole, said he could literally see the horn-like bump on his forehead that kept him out of football practice the next day because his helmet would not fit over it.“I was embarrassed to tell my football coach that I was playing baseball during football season,” Andrew said. “He would have ripped me a new you-know-what.”Although their athletic careers have gone in different directions since high school, Nate said the two are happy competing.“For me, it worked out to be on the track and cross country team, which I love and wouldn’t change anything about it,” Nate said. “For Drew, it worked out to be riding for our fraternity and competing in a great event that has a lot of notoriety around the country.”Andrew said the transition from running cross country in high school to competing in Little 500 was an easy one, but cited that one of the differences between running long distances and cycling is the amount of leg explosion and power that is needed.“With cycling, you have to have big thighs,” Drew said. “You got to have powerful muscles to get started on the bike and to get a lot of explosion. In running, you don’t need those muscles to accelerate as much.”Although Andrew’s focus is on leading Sigma Chi to a Little 500 title, he said he still enjoys going out and running with his brother.“He will go out for an hour run, and I will go with him for a half hour or so,” Andrew said. “I don’t see myself pursuing cycling after I graduate, but I love running, so I’ll definitely get back into the running scene.” Naturally, being a twin may create a rivalry between siblings, but the Morrow boys admit they have nothing but respect for each other’s abilities.“Drew is my role model, to be honest,” Nate said. “I look up to him because he is the hardest working kid that I’ve ever seen. There are kids that might have more talent on the bike than him, but I guarantee that he will be one of the hardest workers out there. That’s what gets him his success, and he deserves it.”Andrew reflected that Nate’s grit is what has led him to become a collegiate athlete.“He’s tough as nails,” Andrew said. “I’ve always admired that about him.”Looking down the road, Andrew said he hopes that after college the two will continue to take on competitive challenges together.While Andrew and Nate do not want to get too caught up with their legacies, both hope they will be remembered for their hard work and competitiveness. “If we put our hard work in, it will allow us to maybe set some records or win some titles — that’s a lasting legacy,” Andrew said. “Then we can come back in 30 years, which we undoubtedly will, and look up to the scoreboard and see our names. That would be pretty cool.”
(04/05/11 2:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jeremiah Rivers’ chances of playing professionally next year just got even better. The IU senior guard was invited Monday to the Portsmouth Invitational Pre-Draft camp in Virginia, a tournament for the nation’s top seniors from Wednesday through Saturday. Rivers is one of 64 players in the event. He will compete on one of eight teams in front of approximately 200 scouts from the NBA, NBA D-League and teams from overseas.In addition to Rivers, the Portsmouth Invitational — one of the United States’ oldest amateur basketball tournaments — will also feature a multitude of other Big Ten upperclassmen. That list includes Ohio State’s Jon Diebler, Michigan State’s Durrell Summers, Penn State’s Talor Battle, Minnesota’s Blake Hoffarber and Illinois’ Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale. Rivers, arguably IU’s top defender, averaged 3.8 points and 3.0 rebounds for the Hoosiers last season. He played his final two seasons in Bloomington after transferring from Georgetown in 2008.Since IU’s season ended in a loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament, Rivers has been training for the professional ranks in Boston each weekend. His father, Doc Rivers, is the head coach of the Boston Celtics. After Rivers’ Senior Night speech March 3, IU coach Tom Crean said the lone senior’s work ethic is what will separate him at the next level.“I don’t know if there has been a day that he hasn’t come in during the season,” Crean said. “I can’t remember a day where I did not see him in this building. That’s put him in the class of great workers that I have been with.” Rivers, who said he has other aspirations in fashion and music, made it clear before Senior Night what his plans were after graduation.“I’m just going to continue playing basketball,” Rivers told the Indiana Daily Student. “That’s what I do. If you love what you do, you’re not going to give up on it.”
(03/31/11 4:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It has been nearly three weeks since the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis hit Japan. These three intertwined disasters have been hard to sort out from an explosion of media coverage. IU students and Bloomington citizens gathered together Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union to try to make sense of what has happened, why it has happened and what’s being done now to help.Japanese music played before the presentation, and Hutton Honors College Dean Matthew Auer opened the event with a moment of silence for those afflicted by the crisis. “Japan is resilient, even in the face of the violence of the sea and the earth,” Auer said. “The citizens of Japan know their geographical challenges, and they will come back stronger than ever from them.” Geological sciences professor Gary Pavlis explained that the earthquake radiated seismic waves for nearly three minutes, and the earthquake’s epicenter is meaningless because of its size.Pavlis discredited foreign criticism about Japan’s preparedness for potential natural disasters. “There’s no country on earth, hands down, that was better equipped for an earthquake — no question,” Pavlis said.Physics professor Chuck Horowitz broke down exactly what happened at the Fukushima power plant. One major question Horowitz answered is why the nuclear crisis is taking so long to control. “It’s extraordinarily hard to work in a radioactive environment,” Horowitz said. “The workers can’t work if the radiation is too high; they have to be sent home. They have to wear protective gear, and their time on the job is limited. Workers always need to be replaced when they reach their limit of radiation exposure.”Journalism professor Joe Coleman reported in Japan for 11 years for the Associated Press. He attempted to explain why the nuclear crisis, which has killed no one yet, has overridden the devastation of both the earthquake and the tsunami, which have killed thousands, in terms of media coverage. He cited the unusualness of the nuclear crisis as a major draw for reporters in the United States. He also discussed unfortunate tendency of the media coverage to air on the side of sensationalism.“The potential dangers of the nuclear crisis in Japan have made us fearful,” Coleman said. “They’re not happening yet, but they have potential to happen, and the media often acts as a mirror of what readers are thinking and feeling.”Gregory Kasza, a professor in the Department of Political Science and East Asian Languages and Cultures, addressed the Japanese public’s distrust of its government, which Kasza said was already happening before the March 11 disasters. Kasza said the Japanese people won’t believe anything their government tells them about nuclear power in the future. “I can see no way that the Japanese government is going to dodge this bullet,” Kasza said.Senior Niki Iwasaki, whose family is from Tokyo, will graduate in May and return to Japan in two months. She said she is not afraid to go back.“As I’m Japanese, I’m glad to,” Iwasaki said. “I’m proud of my heritage, and my concern and my family’s concern is for those in Eastern Japan. I’ll be happy to go back and contribute to the growth of the area.”Iwasaki said she appreciated the event’s unique attempt to educate. “It’s not just talking about donations,” Iwasaki said. “It’s about teaching people about the real problems over there.”The event also included a short performance by four Jacobs School of Music students and a speech by Jacobs student Mikela Asano.“What you see in the news, it’s just numbers, but they are all human beings just like you,” Asano said. “There are babies still waiting for milk, some of them without their mothers. The people in Tohoku are incredibly patient. In this situation, gratitude is so important. Thank you to all of you who are willing to help Japan.”
(02/22/11 5:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The group of about 50 moved in closer to huddle together and listen as the rain fell harder.“We care about our teachers in the state of Indiana and in the nation and are not standing idly by,” Bryce Smedley, president of Communications Workers of America Local 4730, told those around him.People cheered and clapped, and a few even stomped their feet on the rain-covered pavement in approval.The group of students, staff and community members gathered in the rain Monday to stand in solidarity with Wisconsin and Indiana teachers against proposed state legislation concerning the future of unions.The Right to Work bills proposed in Indiana would make it a misdemeanor to require employees to be in a labor organization and pay dues to it.“The right to organize is an American right,” Smedley said.“That’s right,” a crowd member responded.Minutes before, the group had been spread out on the cement stage in Dunn Meadow beneath an array of umbrellas, including solid red, solid blue and IU red and white. Several protesters stood facing Indiana Avenue holding signs. Two cars and an IU bus passed by them and honked in support, causing the group to cheer.Education student and senior Tamara Dworetz stood in the crowd and held a blank sign folded in half over her head to block the rain. “It’s a blank slate,” she said, laughing about the sign. But Dworetz said unions are important to teachers because they are a way to push things forward and be connected to what’s going on.Under an umbrella next to her stood graduate student Jacob Hardesty, who said he had both union and non-union teaching jobs before coming to IU as a student. He said unions gave teachers more time to prepare to be a teacher instead of worrying about pay and sick days.“It’s intimidating having to negotiate your pay with a boss who is old enough to be your parent,” Hardesty said.Young people may have bad impressions of unions, and teaching is an example of a profession where people in their 20s and 30s aren’t joining unions, said Amber Frost, a Bloomington resident and co-chairwoman of Young Democratic Socialists. She added that young teachers can benefit from unions.“But they only function with participation,” Frost said.After Smedley’s speech, several politicians, including Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, voiced their support for the power unions give to the middle class.“Never underestimate your individual or collective rights,” Kruzan said. Unions are a way to have collective bargaining and people coming together, Smedley added.Frost said the number of people who attended the protest despite the rain shows there is a movement behind unions especially for young people. And Smedley said he was amazed by the number of people who attended. It proved people are passionate about education and can have an impact on local and national education issues, Smedley said. He added that students and members of CWA Local 4730 organized the protest together.“Let today be a prime example of unions as a positive thing, standing for working families.”
