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(01/29/08 3:40am)
While most IU students spend their Wednesday nights studying, hanging out with friends or catching up on their favorite TV shows, senior Sara Deckard passes the time a different way: as a line dance instructor at the Bloomington Adult Community Center.\nDeckard’s classes, Beginning and Intermediate Line Dance, are two of the classes offered this spring at the center. Run by Bloomington Parks and Recreation, the classes vary from ballroom dancing to poetry writing workshops. Deckard said they are a great way to meet people and stay in shape. \n“I danced for years and years,” Deckard said. “I knew a girl who taught here before and she graduated, so she asked me if I would be interested.”\nDeckard said the classes offer benefits for people of all ages, including college students.\n“It’s close to campus, it’s fun and it’s a good exercise,” said Deckard, who started teaching in the fall. “They’ve got a great facility, and it’s just nice to have once a week.”\nThe exercise element is a key reason for many participants to sign up, such as 19-year-old Ashley Morris, a participant in Beginning Line Dance. She and a few co-workers signed up for an opportunity to work out and learn a new talent.\n“Country line dancing’s kind of random, so we all wanted to do it,” Morris said. “It’s good exercise and a lot of good laughs. It’s nice to get everyone together. Someone showed us the brochure and we thought it was neat, so we signed up.”\nMichael Simmons, adult program specialist at the center, said classes at the center are for adults 18 and older, but the median age is between 35 and 45.\n“The classes are affordable so they are available to the whole community,” Simmons said. “They’re a great way to facilitate the sharing of information.”\nHe also said anyone seeking to learn more about Bloomington and make new friends should take advantage of the classes.\n“You take away not only skill, but also a sense of the Bloomington community,” Simmons said. \nHe said the classes are successful and often have waiting lists, but some classes still have space. Contact the cemter for more information or visit the Parks and Recreation Web site at www.bloomington.in.gov/parks.
(01/25/08 5:05am)
A study conducted by the IU Kelley School of Business shows that the Hoosier economy is greatly influenced by libraries throughout the state.\nLibraries supply countless jobs throughout Indiana communities, according to the study. For example, the Herman B Wells Library contributes $136 million dollars into the Indiana economy. But Indiana libraries contribute much more than just economical development throughout the state. \nTimothy Slaper, the Indiana Business Research Center director of economic analysis and co-author of the Kelley School report, said that besides the direct economic benefits of providing jobs and state revenue, libraries indirectly help local communities by helping money recirculate.\n“Libraries help people get what they need more quickly to advance themselves on the worker front,” Slaper said.\nMary Strow, head of the reference department in the Wells Library, said people know about many “obvious” positives that libraries provide, including providing resources for schoolwork, social gathering areas and careers. But she said there are more subtle benefits of libraries, and as she puts it, they are “the fabric of democratic societies.”\n“Librarians have known for years the benefits of libraries,” she said. \nLibrary staffs are specialists in many different areas, and this expertise, Strow said, is invaluable because of the wealth of information libraries have. \n“Library staff act as the bridge between students and information,” Strow said. \nStrow also stresses that all resources cannot be found on the Internet, and that some credible and historic texts must be sought out. \nPatricia Steele, interim Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries, said the Wells Library is striving to evolve to be relevant to the needs of its users in a new electronic life. For the Wells Library specifically, this means appealing to undergraduate, graduate and faculty members. \nAccording to the IU Bloomington Libraries 2006-07 annual report, “libraries were once defined by their walls,” meaning they were only as useful as the books they physically held. \nSteele questions, “How can we use technology to evolve?”\nA study conducted by the Benton Foundation in 1996 demonstrated the 18- to 24-year-old demographic was less likely to utilize library resources. But after listening to users and making changes in the ways they organize and operate, 18- to 24-year-olds are now the largest group to frequently take advantage of library resources.\nThe response to make necessary changes to break traditional library boundaries involved thinking about the library as a community in order to make it aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, as well as valuable.\n“Libraries must acquire, provide access and preserve,” Steele said.\nSteele said IU is fulfilling this responsibility with a contract with Google, and in a partnership with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which would make tens of millions of digital copies of resources available on the Internet. The committee includes all of the Big Ten schools, plus the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. \nThe committee encompasses 78,898,605 bound volumes alone, according to the Association of Research Libraries. \nThe benefits of the Wells Library are not confined to Bloomington; anyone in the state can borrow books from the library, Steele said. \nOne benefit that still remains within the physical walls of libraries, specifically the Wells Library, is the collaboration of students and libraries. Steele sees this as a partnership, and said the library must “understand students’ discipline in order to help them.”
(01/22/08 5:13am)
A 2007 study by CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive found that 87 percent of hiring managers and human resource professionals believe that employees age 29 and under “(exhibit) a sense of entitlement that older generations don’t.”\nThis includes expecting a higher salary, a more flexible work schedule, more benefits, more vacation time and company-provided technology.\nThe survey, conducted among 2,546 employers in the United States, quantifies some common complaints among employers regarding “born 1980-95,” a term used to describe people in their teens and 20s. But some students and faculty see these expectations as perfectly reasonable.\n“We put a lot into our education,” said senior Matt Wint, an informatics major, “so we expect to get some of it back.”\nThe price of attending a public university has risen an average of 4 percent a year since 1987 after adjusting for inflation, according to CollegeBoard.com.\nEconomic uncertainty also plays a role, says Patrick Donahue, director of the Career Development Center.\n“This generation has seen parents downsized, watched the Internet bubble burst and perhaps had family members lose stock funds in Worldcom or Enron, so wanting to build a sound financial base is to be expected,” Donahue said.\nMany recent college graduates believe they deserve a higher salary because they come into the workforce more prepared than their older counterparts, mostly because of a meteoric rise in the popularity of internship programs. A 2006 study by Vault, Inc. reported that 62 percent of college students planned to take an internship in 2007, compared with just 41 percent the year before. \n“It used to be that internships were of secondary importance to students, right behind finding a job as a beach lifeguard or bartending,” Donahue said. “Now, internships are not only strongly encouraged, but they are often required by academic departments.” \nSome companies appear to be making concessions to their “Generation Y” employees. According to the CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive survey, 15 percent of employers “changed or implemented new policies or programs to accommodate Generation Y workers.” Some of these changes included access to state-of-the-art technology, more flexible work schedules, and, to a lesser degree, increased salaries and bonuses.\nPut in historical context, young job seekers have reason to expect higher starting salaries than those who entered the workforce decades before them. The average household income has risen steadily in the United States as the economy has grown. It hovered around $15,000 in the first two decades of the 20th century, and reached $33,338 in 1967. It is currently at $43,318, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. \n“Each generation expects higher salaries and better benefits than the generation before them had, so that’s not unusual,” Donahue said.
(01/14/08 5:54am)
Starting Jan. 7, Bloomington Transit buses began offering longer hours for weekday nights as new schedules were introduced.\nRoutes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be affected by this change. The routes affected will run until 11:10 p.m., except for routes 2 South and 5, which will run until 10:40 p.m. Previously, most city buses stopped service by 9 p.m.\n“(The hour expansion) is to provide more flexibility and mobility options whether (our bus riders) go to school, work or go shopping,” said Lewis May, general manager for Bloomington Transit. “Now with the late-night bus service, you will be able to use the bus as (your) primary source.”\nMay estimated that about 9,000 people use Bloomington Transit on a typical weekday during the school year.\n“I have to ride the Bloomington Transit,” IU graduate student Sara Conrad said. “It’s always difficult to get on and off campus on a good time.”\nBloomington Transit also increased its bus fares starting Jan. 7, but the fare increase has nothing to do with the service expansion, May said. And the increase in bus fares will have no effect on the amount of IU student fees that are paid to Bloomington Transit, May said. The increase is due to the fact that the cost of living has gone up and the increase will help cover the new costs, he said.\nThe weeknight hour expansion was made possible through grants from the Federal Transit Administration and the Indiana Department of Transportation, May said.\nMay said hopefully Bloomington Transit will be able to acquire more grants in the future so it can expand the weekend night routes, too.\nSophomore Tara Thornburg, a frequent bus rider, said she hopes Bloomington Transit will have more buses running because the route she takes only comes every 30 minutes.\nFor now, May said he hopes the expansion of nighttime hours will be only the start of an improved bus system.\n“We are going to help the community — not just the workers, but students will be able to use these routes to get to and from the campus,” May said. “We think it is going to be a really good thing for the community.”
(01/11/08 5:35am)
Despite fears of recession on a national level, Indiana’s economy continues to add new jobs including 22,600 this year, according to an Indiana Economic Development Corporation press release. The number represents commitments from over 150 companies, including some located out-of-state and a number of international companies that have divisions in Indiana, to invest in creating new jobs in the state by 2012.\nThe report showed that state employment goals have been met and surpassed for a third year running. Since the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s creation by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005, nearly 500 companies have invested more than $14.57 billion in their Indiana operations, according to the press release.\nIndiana workers are also averaging higher salaries. The average wage will increase to $20.56/hour, compared to the current average of $18/hour.\nIndiana Economic Development Corporation spokesman Mitch Frazier said that Indiana’s current economic environment continues to play a large role in attracting businesses to invest in the state. \n“The great story here is we’re talking about incentives,” he said. “For most jobs committed last year, the total incentive dollar total went down 20 percent. What that’s telling us is we have a great environment here in Indiana and we don’t have to offer as many incentives.”\nThose incentives range from cash reimbursements for training new employees to tax credits, as well as various industry-specific grants including the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.\nInformation technology is the fastest growing sector of Indiana’s economy, and investing in those companies helps keep local graduates in those fields working within the state, Frazier said.\n“When companies that have ideas have sought all the money they can from people they know and ... there’s a gap, what we do is bridge that gap with funding,” he said. “It keeps the talents of our universities employed here in Indiana.”\nNathan J. Feltman, Indiana Secretary of Commerce and CEO of the board of directors for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, said despite the intensely competitive environment between states for attracting business, Indiana continues to do well.\n“We’re always battling another state, (but) we provide infrastructure assistance, we pay for some of the cost of training the employees,” Feltman said. “What set us apart and why we’re doing better is if you look at surrounding states in the Midwest, we have the lowest unemployment and the lowest taxes. We’re outpacing all states in the Midwest when it comes to new companies.”\nSome companies are opening branches in Indiana for other reasons as well. Medco, the nation’s largest mail-order pharmacy, has promised to create 1,306 jobs and will open its third distribution center in Whitestown, Ind., because of Indiana’s central location in the nation. \n“We did an exhaustive search across the country [because] we needed a central part to relocate to. We narrowed it to Louisville and Indiana and we needed excellent transportation access, a location near an airport, near a post office as well as access to UPS, FedEx, as well as quality of life considerations for our employees,” said Ann Smith, director of public affairs for Medco. \n“It was crucial to be near a very strong workforce to tap into, especially pharmacists, and there in Indianapolis we had Indiana University-Purdue University and Butler, so those were key components,” she said.
(01/08/08 5:45am)
IU psychology research associate Sherry Shu-Jung Hu was just beginning her graduate work in psychology at Brown University in 2000 when she became frustrated by of an unfruitful laboratory and the stresses of marriage and school.\nReady to quit her graduate work and move back to Taiwan, she went to the office of then-chairman of the psychology department J. Michael Walker. There, she met a man who would change the rest of her life.\nNow, seven years later, she and the rest of the team at the IU’s Walker Lab are coping with the recent death of Walker, a man they affectionately nicknamed “Michael the Don,” a reference to one of his favorite movies, “The Godfather.”\nWalker, an IU psychology professor, died Saturday night of natural causes. \nAfter her meeting with Walker, Hu became a regular in Walker’s lab, where she continued her work under his guidance.\n“He’s like my father in my heart,” Hu said.\nWhile she was still at Brown, Hu had a baby girl, to whom she gave the middle name “Michelle” in honor of Walker.\nHe inspired Hu so much that in 2004, when he was moving his laboratory to IU, she was one of five students that made the trip with him, she said.The Walker Lab is now used by 16 researchers who all found guidance under Walker, who was involved in many different areas in the psychology department as the Gill Chair and Director of the Neuroscience Program.\nRobert de Ruyter, Walker’s colleague on the Gill Board, will remember how Walker approached life each day.\n“He was irreverent,” Ruyter said. “He didn’t take all things too seriously. He had a nice, quirky way of looking at things, especially other people’s self-importance.”\nAssistant Psychology Professor Heather Bradshaw also met Walker at Brown and decided to make the move to IU with him.\nBradshaw said that, scientifically, Walker will be remembered for his innovation and willingness to experiment.\n“(Walker) tried not to do what everyone else was doing and be daring,” she said.\nBradshaw said researchers at IU will make sure Walker’s work is continued.\n“Many of us are committed to finishing things he started with us,” she said. “People want to not let die the research he spent his life doing.”\nHu said Walker was also one of the most generous people she had ever met. It is common for students to attend a scientific conference each year, she said, but Walker would encourage students to attend as many as they wanted, sometimes paying for them out of his own pocket.\nLast January, Hu was working on her dissertation for her doctorate at Brown University. Walker helped her along the way by making sure she was prepared for her presentation.\nHe accompanied her on the plane back to Brown where it all began. To Hu’s surprise, Walker held a banquet in her honor at a luxurious Italian restaurant that night, inviting her friends and colleagues.\n“He sees his students as people,” Hu said. “He sees our value as a person and cares about our lives.”\nBradshaw said she is still in disbelief about Walker’s sudden death.\n“I still haven’t even had a chance to breathe,” Bradshaw said. “I just assumed I was going to have a mentor for my scientific career. Now I don’t. It’s shattering.”
(12/28/07 5:28pm)
INDIANAPOLIS- U.S. Rep. Julia Carson died Saturday following a battle with lung cancer.\nCarson, D-Ind., died at home, said family spokesman Vanessa Summers. She was 69.\nCarson had been away from Washington since she was admitted to an Indianapolis hospital September 21 for about a week. Her office had said at that time that she had deep infection in her leg, near a spot where a vein was removed in January 1997 when she underwent double heart bypass surgery just weeks after she was first elected to Congress.\nCarson announced Nov. 26 that she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and that she would not run next year for a seventh term representing the city of Indianapolis.\nShe had said in a statement that she expected to return to Washington after recuperation, but a doctor then diagnosed her with lung cancer.\n"It had gone into remission years before, but it was back with a terminal vengeance," Carson said in the statement.\nFuneral arrangements were pending.\nCarson also had suffered in recent years from high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. She missed dozens of House votes in 2004 because of illness and spent the weekend before the 2004 election in the hospital for what she said was a flu shot reaction — but still won re-election by 10 percentage points.\nCarson, who grew up in poverty and attended an all-black Indianapolis high school, became the first black and first woman to represent Indianapolis in Congress when she won her first term in 1996.\nCarson was born to a single mother who worked as a housekeeper. She graduated in 1955 from Crispus Attucks High School, attending the segregated school at the same time as basketball star Oscar Robertson.\nShe began her political career in the 1960s, when then-U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs Jr. hired the United Auto Workers secretary to work in his office. It was Jacobs who encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana Legislature in 1972 — the first of her more than two dozen victories in local, legislative and congressional elections.\nShe ran for Congress in 1996 when Jacobs decided to retire after three decades in the House.
(11/29/07 3:31am)
In a world where “Desperate Housewives” has swept the airwaves, the IU Department of Theatre and Drama would like to add a little more dirty laundry to the basket. At 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Wells-Metz Theatre, “Jimmy Cory,” written by graduate student playwright Kevin Daly, will make its world debut.\nEast coast factory worker Jimmy Cory, played by junior Winston Fiore, tries his best to clean up the mess his father made years before. Along with with James ‘Flip’ Carrigan, portrayed by doctoral student Chris Hatch, Jimmy’s father scammed the town out of thousands of dollars, leaving Jimmy with all of the debt. Jimmy’s little brother Bobby, played by freshman Kelly Lusk, gets tangled in the web while getting himself into his own deadly mess. \n“There are a lot of surprise turns,” Lusk said. “An average Joe can’t catch a break. The play is definitely about human tragedy, when one tries so hard and doesn’t get the results you want.”\n“Jimmy Cory” is the thesis performance for Daly. He said he spent more than a year writing the play, and then spent more than six months rewriting it.\n“I’m just a student writer, I’ve got a great deal more to learn,” Daly said. “A lot of people other than just me put hard work into the production. This is definitely more than just a world premiere. This is the first production for some actors, first production for the stage manager. They deserve the credit, not me.”\nThe show has about an hour-and-a-half runtime, which is superb for any audience, but especially for a college audience with a short attention span. However, this show is quoted as being “raw and dirty,” meaning it’s intended for a mature audience. Some actors said there are also messages of “forgiveness, hope for a better life,” and “feeling what others feel.” However, Daly had other thoughts about it.\n“I want the audience to get a good story, like a campfire story,” Daly said. “Hopefully they pick up on what’s important. I can’t tell them what that is.”\n “Jimmy Cory” will run at 7:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and Dec. 4-8 in the Wells-Metz Theatre. There is a matinee performance at 2 p.m. Dec. 8. Tickets are $16 for adults and there is a student and senior discount for the Tuesday through Thursday and the matinee shows. Student rush tickets are available the day of the performance for $10 cash with a valid student ID. Tickets are available at the IU Auditorium Box Office or through Ticketmaster. Visit www.theatre.indiana.edu for more information.
(11/16/07 4:49am)
IU graduate student adviser Gretchen Clearwater will challenge incumbent Democrat Baron Hill for Indiana’s 9th District congressional seat, she announced Thursday.\n“I’m primarily running to end the war in Iraq,” Clearwater said in an interview. “It’s an immoral war, and it’s also impacting the 9th District.”\nClearwater, who ran against Hill for the congressional nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, said she filed her candidacy to run in September. She will have to defeat Hill in the May 6, 2008, Democratic primary to win the party’s nomination. \nEnding the war in Iraq, she said, is one of the biggest issues of her campaign. According to an issue statement released by Clearwater, she believes Congress needs to send a clear message to President Bush that the American people should decide whether or not the United States should go to war.\nKatie Moreau, a campaign spokeswoman for Hill, said Hill signed a bill Wednesday night, House Resolution 456, which provides funding mostly for withdrawing troops from Iraq. \n“(Hill) is sending a pretty loud and clear message that the direction (of the war) needs to change and our troops need to come home,” Moreau said. \nClearwater said protecting civil liberties and civil rights and ensuring affordable and quality education are also on her campaign to-do list.\nShe said she plans on taking what she learned from her last campaign and using it to get ahead.\n“It takes a lot to run a grassroots campaign,” she said. “We’re going to get more people then we did last time. We’re going to knock on twice as many doors.”\nClearwater, an IU alumna and current adviser for grad students in the IU Department of Biology, said she’s been in politics nearly all of her life. After working with the Communication Workers of America, she co-founded the Indiana Delegation to Israel and Palestine, a fact-finding mission to meet with leaders dedicated to the cause of peace.\nClearwater was alarmed by the 2000 election, she said, so afterwards she decided to co-found the Bloomington chapter of Common Bonds, an organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy through voter registration. She also co-founded the Committee for Preservation of Democracy, an organization that promoted voting rights and election reform. \n“I’ve learned a great deal since the last time I ran,” she said. “Many residents represent the same views as me, and the 9th District is a district worth representing.”\n-City & State editor Kasey Hawrysz contributed to this report.
(11/12/07 5:16am)
Inside the snug southside Wylie Street home, 53-year old Jeffery Powell stretches out on his long gray recliner in its prime spot facing the TV in the corner. After a long day of truck driving, Powell joins his wife, Donna, in their quaint living room to watch the evening news.\nPowell, a native of Bloomington, who served 20 years as a hospital corpsman for U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, retired 15 years ago, but still hopes he might be called to duty.\n“The greatest thing I’d like to do for Veterans Day is to go back on active duty,” Powell said. \nHowever, because Powell can’t return to the military, he plans to spend the holiday with his wife eating a free meal at the Golden Corral. The restaurant honors veterans and current military personnel by giving away a free meal today. \n“At times I think they need to put me in a glass case with a sign that says, ‘In times of war, break glass.’” \nIn 1991, Powell was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after 20 years of service.\n“After Desert Storm, if you were an E6 (staff sergeant) and you had your 20 years, you had to gohome,” he said. \nDonna Powell said her husband “lives for” the military, citing his affinity for talking and reading about the military. \nAfter 15 years of civilian life, Powell said he’s always wanted to return to service. At the age of 17, he had limited choices when he graduated from Bloomington High School, he said. \n“I could either put together Westinghouse refrigerators, RCA TVs or work in the stone quarry,” he said, muting the 6 p.m. Indy Channel news broadcast. While he was in the military, he traveled to 30 different countries and all over the US, he said.\n“There isn’t a place that I couldn’t find on the map,” he said. \nVarious souvenirs from his travels adorn the living room shelves, including a miniature Godzilla from Japan. \nNext to Godzilla, a fuzzy picture of Powell in a uniform standing with his young daughter sits in a gold frame. Even though his now grown-up daughter lives in Pennsylvania, Powell is often reminded of her when looking at a little stuffed rat sitting on the shelves. Originally purple, the rest of the small rat has turned a grayish color with age. \n“My daughter stuck it into my stuff and he’s traveled all over the world,” he smiled. \nApparently the small puff ball has traveled over the equator and survived the hazing that went along with it, earning the title of a true “shellback.”\nSitting down in his recliner after proudly displaying his souvenirs, Powell sits quietly for a minute. \n“I felt like I had a whole lot more control over my life in the military,” he said quietly. “Here, I’m just a mindless worker bee.” \nWhile he’s had 15 years to readjust as a civilian, the transition hasn’t been easy \nfor Powell. \nHe qualified for the GI Bill to pay for school; however, he said that he still couldn’t afford school with a wife and daughter to support. After working at a factory near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for several years, he returned to Bloomington. He divorced his first wife and bought his parents’ house from his father, who continues to battle cancer.\nDonna Powell, his second wife, said that not too many things in the house have changed. In the corner of the dining room, his mother’s china cabinet still displays the pink rose petal china underneath a layer of dust. \nHowever, a wedding photo now hangs just above Powell’s head as he sits in his recliner. The couple just celebrated their two-year anniversary.\nPowell stirs from his demure trance and recalls an old saying, which he swears is true, as it had been confirmed by several unrelated sources.\nThe saying goes that it takes someone from the Air Force no time to readjust to civilian life, someone from the Army five years and someone from the Navy 20 years, but that someone from the Marines never readjusts, he said. \n“I’m somewhere between 20 and never,” he said.
(11/02/07 7:27pm)
Bloomington mayoral candidates David Sabbagh and Mark Kruzan are both experienced mountain climbers – Sabbagh scaled Kilimanjaro in 2000, while Kruzan has successfully reached the summit of the largest mountain in Wales. In the same vein, both candidates’ campaign platforms for the upcoming Bloomington mayoral election are remarkably similar – expand the economy, decrease unemployment and improve social services – although the means by which they hope to address these issues is somewhat more divergent. \nFor Kruzan, the best – and most economically viable – way to maintain a culturally and intellectually enlightened city such as Bloomington is to nurture it from within, encouraging workforce development and helping local businesses, zoning to prevent urban sprawl and promoting the arts. Though he acknowledges the economic importance of keeping Bloomington up to speed with the rest of the country, he proposes to develop its workforce and overall economy by reviving downtown and, above all, by “keep(ing) Bloomington, Bloomington.” \nSabbagh, on the other hand, aims to improve the quality of life in Bloomington by bringing in outside actors, especially those involved in the information technology industry, and he focuses much less than his opponent on maintaining community character. Education, for him, is key to developing the marketable skills of Bloomington residents, and he proposes mitigating poverty through worker training programs. He cites chronic poverty as one of the most pressing issues needing to be addressed by this city. What’s more, he tends to emphasize the need to improve other social services in tandem. In fact, in one of this election year’s most striking ironies, this Republican’s consistent emphasis at times seems to be more in line with traditional Democratic values than those of his Democratic opponent. Go figure. \nBeyond poverty and unemployment, one of the foremost issues on the table in this election is the question of what role Bloomington should be playing in combatting global warming and ensuring that future generations will be able to enjoy the same clean water and stunning natural scenery that have come to characterize the city for us. While both candidates have proposed ways to do so, Kruzan has a stronger record as an environmentalist, having endorsed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and adopted smart-growth policies, and he seems to have more of a plan of action than his opponent, who has never really gone beyond stating that the problem exists and needs to be addressed. \nAnd on the touchy subject of town-gown relations, both agree on the importance of fostering a positive link between the \nUniversity and the community at large. “IU is our number-one asset,” Sabbagh said during a September debate, even though he is a Purdue graduate. We view this concession as a fine testament to this candidate’s ability to admit to his past mistakes. \nFinally, not to sound biased or anything, we at the Indiana Daily Student would like to remind our readers that Kruzan is both an IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs alum and a former IDS opinion columnist. \nObviously, he’s got a good head on his shoulders.
(09/02/07 10:55pm)
Last year, the Bloomington Faculty Council finally voted to institute Labor Day as a holiday in the 2008-2009 academic year. Alas, today our classes on the Bloomington campus continue to meet, while our satellite campuses (and Purdue) frolic, presumably in flower-filled fields flowing with rivers of Rolling Rock. \nOK, you’re probably wondering why we’re complaining at all, especially if the schedule is changing next year. Well, just because Labor Day will rightfully become a holiday in 2008 doesn’t eliminate the injustice of our laborious Labor Day at IU. Administration offices will be closed today, as well as those of various other support staff, but professors and grad students will still toil. We’re not trying to suggest that the act of coming into class counts as work for undergraduate students. Can’t we agree, though, that if President Michael McRobbie gets the day off, professors should as well? \nAlso, consider that IU’s Labor Day addition for 2008 only passed the Bloomington Faculty Council by a sliver-thin 23-22 vote. We still have to persuade hearts and minds that losing one day of class in the name of labor solidarity is in the best interests of all. Our calendar already has substantial holes as far as federal and state holidays go. While state employees get Columbus Day, Veterans Day and Labor Day off, IU’s faculty and graduate student instructors will still come to work, as will we students.\nIt’s not that we hate coming to class. If there’s one thing we love, it’s class! (OK, maybe there are other things we love more, but not many.) We’re just asking for a little equality, please. We understand the appeal of having an extra class on Monday to avoid a hole in the schedule, but why should convenience stand in the way of what’s right?\nSamuel Gompers, the famed labor organizer and founder of the American Federation of Labor, said of Labor Day: “All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man’s prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day... is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race or nation.”\nWe’re not nearly as deserving as steel mill workers without a union or seamstresses chained to desks, but as Gompers himself notes, Labor Day is a holiday for all people, a day of rest to memorialize all the days of toil. Doesn’t anyone see the irony in Labor Studies students having to come to class on Labor Day?\nSo, this fine Labor Day, we do not endorse the cutting of class. We wouldn’t encourage such civil disobedience in the case of a cause that has already been won. We just ask that you think about the importance of such a day where all people can gather, liberated for one small day, and talk smack about Purdue and our own administrators as they sit at home and bask in the fruits of our Labor Day.
(08/23/07 3:31am)
[ THE FACTS ] The North American Free Trade Agreement has lasted over a decade now, and its three members – Canada, Mexico, and the United States – began discussing the treaty in Quebec on Monday. Trade between them has jumped 10 percent every year since the treaty’s ratification. The countries have addressed criticisms of NAFTA, including unenforced labor laws and environmental destruction.
(05/14/07 6:07pm)
BLACKSBURG, Va. – The image most people have of Kevin Sterne is harrowing: a photo showing a tourniquet wrapped around his wounded leg as rescue workers rushed him out of Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall.\nBut on Saturday, there was a new image of the 22-year-old former Eagle Scout, jubilant and full of life as he limped across the stage at the university’s Cassell Coliseum using a crutch and displaying a grin to accept his degree in electrical engineering.\nThe crowd rose to its feet and cheered Sterne in one of the most poignant moments of the morning commencement ceremony at the College of Engineering.\nIt was one of several campus ceremonies in which individual colleges and departments handed out diplomas to students, including posthumous degrees to those killed in the April 16 attack at a dormitory and classroom building.\nThe College of Engineering was hit particularly hard, with 11 students and three professors killed in the shooting.\nEngineering Dean Richard Benson was overwhelmed, his voice breaking at times, as he spoke about the slain. \n“Forgive me,” Benson said quietly as he paused to collect himself while commemorating professor Kevin Granata, who was shot in a hallway as he tried to save students during the rampage in which 33 people were killed.\nThe widow of G.V. Loganathan accepted a teaching award in honor of her husband, a man Benson said students fondly regarded as the best professor they ever had, the kindest person they ever met and incredibly wise.\nAnother slain professor, Dr. Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, was remembered by the dean for his “profound courage” in blocking his classroom door so his students could escape out the windows. He was among those killed by student gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who took his own life.\nProfessors, students, their families and friends wept openly as those attending the political science department’s ceremony were asked to remain silent while a bell chimed for each of their nine slain students as their posthumous degrees were awarded.\nProfessor Edward Weisband said he has vivid memories of each of them in class, “attentive, bright, caring.”\nHe promised their families that their children’s empty seats “shall always remain in any class I teach.” \nAs the overflow crowd rose to honor several of the department’s six injured students who were able to attend, Weisband said, “We take inexpressible joy in your survival.”\nAt an English department ceremony, nearly all of the 135 graduating students and many faculty members stood when asked if they knew someone killed or injured in the shooting spree. The crowd of several hundred rose and applauded loudly as posthumous degrees were awarded to sophomore Ross Abdallah Alameddine and senior Ryan Clark who was one of two students killed in a dormitory before the gunman moved to the classroom building.\nEnglish professor Nikki Giovanni read “We are Virginia Tech,”a poem she penned hours after the rampage that infused a campus convocation with strength the day after the shootings. She was inspired, she said Saturday, by the desire to convey that “what we do is more important than what is done to us.”
(04/27/07 4:00am)
When Yoshito Kawahara was younger, he was forced to live in an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. \nMore than six decades later, Kawahara has made a name for himself as a role model for the Asian community, and for his efforts he will be receiving the second Distinguished Asian/Pacific American Alumni Award, recognizing him for his achievements in the professional world and in his community. \nKawahara, a professor and chair of the Department of Behavior Sciences at San Diego Mesa College and an IU ‘78 graduate school alumnus, will be recognized 7 p.m. Friday at the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center during an invitation-only dinner acknowledging him, graduating students and student leaders of Asian student clubs. It is being co-sponsored by the Asian Alumni Association, the Asian Culture Center and the Asian Student Union. \nKawahara said he is being recognized because of his membership in the Union of Pan-Asian Communities. This organization sets up agencies that create certificate programs so that workers in San Diego would not be stuck in dead end jobs. \n“We wanted to try to give (employees in the community) a hand up so they would have potential, give them a stepping stone for a better future,” Kawahara said. \nKawahara said he became a member of the Asian American Psychological Center in the late ‘70s and has served as a member since 1991. \n“It is the largest and first professional center for Asian Americans to study and understand people in the communities,” he said. \nEunice Donovan, President of the Asian Alumni Association, said granting the Distinguished Asian/Pacific American Alumni Award gives the Asian Alumni Association an opportunity to recognize the professional achievements of Asian/Pacific graduates. \nShe said this award recognizes graduates for their professional achievements and their contributions to the community. \n“It is exciting because we get to recognize current students, graduating seniors and one alumnus,” she said. \nDonovan said Kawahara was chosen to receive this award because of the challenges he overcame from being forced to live in an internment camp during the ‘40s. \nHe said this experience has shaped his values. \n“I think regardless of how many trials an individual has experienced, this culture is always ready to offer you a second chance to succeed,” Kawahara said. \nKawahara said if it was not for his hard work and dedication, he would have remained in “destitute surroundings” for the rest of his life. \n“In this country, you can always climb higher,” he said.
(04/10/07 4:00am)
After months of researching companies, mailing cover letters and resumes, and honing interviewing skills, the good news arrives: You’ve landed a summer internship. \nLocal career services experts say that’s a crucial first step in developing a relationship with a company. But they remind that the burden of turning the summer job into a great experience is still the student’s.\n“Getting the internship is not the end-all,” says Mark Brostoff, associate director of the Undergraduate Career Services Office at the Kelley School of Business. “You have the internship. Now you should be thinking: What does this company do, and how can I take an advantage of that?” \nCareer officials say setting mutual expectations early – and continuing to talk about them – is often the key to a successful summer. \nJustin Grossman, an assistant director of IU’s Career Development Center, recommends that students set goals with supervisors within the first week of an internship, letting them know what they hope to get out of the experience.“Disclose all intentions” to employers, he said. Let them know if you expect to take summer courses during the internship, want to tour the company’s factories and operations, or plan to take a week off midsummer (a big no-no, Grossman said).\nThe first week is also a good time to learn the power dynamics of the company, something Grossman said shouldn’t be taken lightly. The intern’s supervisor, for instance, might officially be the “boss” in the office, but the real decisions might be made by an assistant down the hall. \nUnderstanding who holds the power can help determine how interns should navigate corporate culture and form relationships, he said. \n“(Interns) need to sit back and observe for a while,” he said. “Sometimes the political structure is not the same as the actual hierarchy.” \nBrostoff said forming meaningful relationships with a variety of people and networking within the companies can help interns who want to turn their summer positions into full-time jobs after they graduate.\nHe recommends that students find a mentor or two beyond the immediate supervisor and says students should try to eat lunch with other employees in the company’s cafeteria or join a company sports team to meet people beyond their own departments. \nJohn McCoy, an IU alumnus and the finance director and treasurer of Eli Lilly and Co.’s Lilly Del Caribe division in Puerto Rico, says interns need to be aggressive in meeting people and should set up informational interviews to learn about the industry.\n“They should treat their internship like it’s a blank check,” said McCoy, who has recruited at IU and supervised about 15 interns over the past 10 to 12 years. “Not enough people, in my opinion, take advantage of the full opportunity.” \nMcCoy said that students shouldn’t expect that supervisors will set up such interviews and that interns often must take initiative. And interns should realize their supervisors are often preoccupied with their own work.\n“Sometimes projects and tasks are ill-defined,” McCoy said, recommending that interns improve the project beyond the initial assignment. “If (interns) just try to stick to that piece of paper they wont maximize their output.” \nStill, internships don’t always pan out as students expect. Grossman, from the Career Development Center, said it’s still crucial for students to try to salvage the experience to show that they can overcome difficult situations. \nBut senior Jessica Haemmerle said sometimes the internship just doesn’t work, no matter how hard you try to correct it. \nHaemmerle, a tourism-convention and event-management major, started a promotions internship with an Indianapolis radio station in January. Haemmerle thought she would learn valuable skills about how to organize large events.\nIt didn’t work out that way.\n“I wasn’t learning anything,” she said. “I would put together CD prize packs, rubber-band a T-shirt and CD together, clean out the prize closet.” \nShe talked with her supervisor but found there was little other work to be done.\n“There’s a point when you have to realize you’re just wasting your time,” she said.
(04/09/07 4:00am)
MONTPELIER, Ind. – Early in his career, the IU alumnus known locally as “the country doctor” regularly made house calls to treat ailing patients.\nToday, nearly a half-century later, his warmth toward patients continues unchanged, although much in the field of medicine has drastically changed. \nThe story of the “country doctor” – Dr. Richard Gene Ingram – began at age 5 when a small-town boy realized he knew how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.\n“We had a family doctor, and I admired him enormously,” Ingram said. “I can’t ever remember wanting to be anything else.” \nIngram attended college to pursue his chosen career. He graduated from the IU School of Medicine in 1957. \nThe year 1957 was especially important for Ingram. He not only graduated from medical school, but also got married. He will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife Carol on June 15. \nFollowing an internship with Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Ingram began his practice in Montpelier, Ind. He later earned the nickname “the country doctor” when he started making house calls to patients as far as 35 miles away, a practice that he continues today despite being 71 years old. \nIngram said that he has delivered more than 1,000 babies and has treated thousands of patients during the span of his career as a general practitioner. He continues to run his practice, although his daughter and son-in-law, both doctors, see most of the patients.\nOver the course of his career, Ingram has witnessed vast changes in the field of medicine but none greater than what he calls the addition of “third-party” insurance providers.\n“When I started, I was truly an independent,” Ingram said. But now doctors have to hassle with insurance companies including preferred provider organizations, health maintenance organizations and Medicare, he said. \nIngram also works once a week as a “semiretired” doctor at the Blackford Community Hospital in Hartford City, Ind. Coworkers said he can be intimidating at first, but actually has a warm and professional presence. He often sings Ray Charles’ hit song “Georgia on My Mind” to one co-worker named Georgia.\nAway from work, Ingram hunts big game, a hobby that started when he was 10 years old and shot a rabbit in his neighbor’s flower garden. Since that time, he has hunted bear and deer in the western United States, Canada and, on one occasion, South Africa. Several mounted animals and guns now adorn the walls of his living room. Also an avid fisherman, he travels to a lake near Jacksonville, Fla., every February to fish. \nFaith also plays an important role in Ingram’s life.\nDespite being “skeptical” of religion throughout his youth, Ingram became a devout Christian and started a church in his own living room after unsuccessfully finding a satisfactory church with “meat” in the sermons. \nBeginning as a weekly Bible study in his home 36 years ago, the group flourished into the congregation of the Grace Community Church. The church is located along the dead-end lane that leads to Ingram’s home. \nEven with all the positive achievements in Ingram’s life, he has also experienced some obstacles. \nDoctors diagnosed him with cancer twice – bladder cancer five years ago and rectal cancer in February 2006. He underwent radiation treatments and chemotherapy for both cancers and continues to recover from the rectal cancer.\n“They always say that doctors make the worst patients, but I think that I had it easier than most,” Ingram said. “I was more calm because I understood what was going on.” \nIn spite of his age, Ingram hopes to stay active with fishing and hunting trips. But above all, he hopes to continue to treat patients. \n“It’s an opportunity to be with people in times of great crisis,” Ingram said.
(04/04/07 4:00am)
SEATTLE – In the last weeks of her life, Rebecca Griego was taking drastic steps to avoid an ex-boyfriend whose violence and threats had left her visibly shaken.\nShe changed her cell-phone number. She moved. And early last month, Griego sought a restraining order, posting Jonathan Rowan’s picture around her office so co-workers could serve him with the papers if he showed up.\n“He has threatened to hurt me again,” Griego, 26, wrote in court papers on March 6, saying Rowan had warned her “to look over my shoulder because I would see him again.”\nOn Monday, colleagues identified Griego as the victim of an apparent murder-suicide in her University of Washington office. Officials said her assailant was an ex-boyfriend, in his 40s, who was the subject of a restraining order from the young university staffer.\n“She was left helpless and very frustrated because nobody would intervene until something happened,” said Jim DeLisle, Griego’s boss at the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies. “She did everything that a person in her situation could have done, other than leaving town.”\nUniversity Assistant Police Chief Ray Wittmier said officers who responded at about 9:30 a.m. Monday to a call of shots fired found the two people in an office on the fourth floor of Gould Hall, the university’s architecture building.\nWittmier said about six shots were fired, and a handgun was found in the room. There were no eyewitnesses, and no one else was harmed in the shooting, he said.\nLance Nguyen, 28, a student researcher who worked with Griego, said she had become increasingly worried about her former boyfriend in recent weeks. Griego, a University of Washington graduate, worked as the center’s administrator.\n“She freaked out,” Nguyen said. “She said this guy had threatened to harm her and her family.”\nCourt records show Griego was granted a temporary restraining order on March 6 after she said Rowan had threatened her, her sister and the two women’s dogs.\nIn applying for the order, she wrote that on Jan. 5, Rowan threw glass candlestick holders at her in a drunken rage, then tackled and punched her. The two were living together at the time.\n“I forgave him because he was drunk, but now I see that was wrong and he has threatened to hurt me again,” she wrote.\nWhen Griego wrote that in February, Rowan called her and threatened suicide “because he couldn’t see me. I never called him back.”\nThe order required Rowan to stay 500 feet from Griego, her residence, workplace and dog.\nWittmier said he didn’t believe campus police were aware of the restraining order against Rowan. He also said Rowan likely did not have permission to carry a handgun on campus.\nUniversity spokesman Bob Roseth said police files showed Griego had received phone threats against her life from the former boyfriend at least twice at work. But she apparently chose not to press charges against him, Roseth said.\n“In terms of police action, there wasn’t much the police could have done to prevent it,” Roseth said. “Whether there are other things she could have done is a matter of conjecture.”\nStudent Meghan Pinch, 27, was in a first-floor classroom when she heard several loud bangs. She said that she didn’t think they were gunshots at first until she was told to evacuate.\n“No one wanted to really think it was real,” Pinch said.
(03/07/07 5:00am)
Girl Talk is the most familiar music you've never heard of. This one-man electronic band, fronted by Pittsburgh's Greg Gillis, cohesively unifies hooks, riffs and choruses of everything from raunchy rap to rock 'n' roll to Richard Marx. In his third and most recent album, Night Ripper, he samples 167 artists. \nLegally, he and his record label, Illegal Art, have not encountered any problems. Perhaps all his potential lawsuit cases are too busy dancing to his albums.\nAs anyone who was at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater this past Saturday knows, his live performances are truly remarkable. A concert and dance party are formed into one. With his laptop as his instrument, Gillis' performances are a "collaborative effort" between him and the audience. Customarily, he begins to dance by himself, eventually getting the crowd to follow suit. He then brings audience members on stage and they begin doing their own moves alongside him. But at the Buskirk, it was only a matter of seconds before the entire stage was filled. Like his music, his fans constituted a random assortment all brought together. The 25-year-old Case Western graduate wasn't sure of the show's potential Saturday, but throughout his performance, he seemed surprisingly pleased with us Hoosiers.\nAfter many sweaty bodies were on stage and crowd-surfing, the theater security demanded that no audience member was to be on stage. \nBut this didn't stop the party. Gillis shifted to the right edge of the stage, still dancing and connecting to the audience members, whether by acquiring their clothing and accessories, crowd-surfing or posing for pictures. Following the shift, even if his microphone was lost somewhere along the way, he spoke to the reassure the audience. He also frequently asked the people in the crowd how they were doing, making sure everyone was having a good time.\nAfter the show, Gillis returned to his day job in Pittsburgh as a biomedical engineer. He arrived in Bloomington without much knowledge of our little bubble, but by the end of the night, it's as if he was one of us. \nI had the chance to interview Gillis over a medium cheese pizza at Greek's Pizzeria before the event began. We spoke of the nature of his performances, his exponentially growing popularity and Lloyd Banks, among other things.
(02/19/07 5:00am)
As the snow came down Saturday afternoon, a dozen people attended a juggling workshop at the WonderLab Museum of Heath, Science and Technology in Bloomington. The workshop was intended for participants to gain basic juggling skills and learn the physics of juggling.\n“Up in the Air: A Science of Juggling Workshop,” was taught by IU sophomore Isaac Simonelli. The event was part of WonderLab’s “Team Up” traveling exhibit highlighting the science in sports, said Staci Radford-Vincent, event coordinator and programs manager at WonderLab.\nSimonelli demonstrated his techniques by juggling such objects as bowling balls and clubs. Though Simonelli said he has received no formal training, he has been juggling for more than 10 years. He went to Europe right after graduating high school, juggling in street performances in several European countries and even attended the European Juggling Convention, he said.\nBerta Moore, a retired social worker from Bloomington, attended the workshop with her family. She said it was her first time juggling, and she was trying it because she wanted to get her mind working more quickly.\n“Challenging yourself to learn something new is good for you,” she said.\nLaughter filled the room as participants attempted to juggle the balls they made themselves during the workshop. The juggling balls were made by stuffing bird seed inside of balloons so that participants could take them home.\nJackie Duemler, freshman and volunteer at WonderLab, joined in the workshop. Though she is engaged to Simonelli, Duemler said she had never juggled before the workshop.\n“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” she said.\nRadford-Vincent said she had hoped the workshop would appeal to a slightly older demographic than WonderLab is used to seeing, but was happy that a number of children participated and had a good time. \nSimonelli agreed. He stressed that juggling is not just something that can make you physically stronger, but is something people can do together socially.\n“It’s a way to connect with people, and it’s something almost anyone can learn,” he said.
