Daily IU news update
April 10, 2007
Analysis: IU building should not be named after a racist
Indiana Daily Student, April 10 -- I bet you've passed it a few hundred times, maybe more. It is a sign, small and simple. White words wrap around a dull maroon rectangle with the declaration: Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center. This sign, which stands outside of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building, represents the man, and the man represents the institution. So who is the man? One thing Judge Ora Leonard Wildermuth advocated would have made George Wallace proud. For Wildermuth, it was segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever. He put it in his own words on Nov. 19, 1945, in a letter to IU comptroller Ward G. Biddle. Wildermuth, then-president of the IU board of trustees, wrote, "I am and shall always remain absolutely and utterly opposed to social intermingling of the colored race with the white. I belong to the white race and shall remain loyal to it. It always has been the dominant and leading race." Full story.
'You're the guy that handled the Bob Knight firing, right?'; Christopher Simpson, IU's spokesman under Myles Brand, talks about controversial firing of famous coach in new book
Bloomington Herald-Times, April 10 -- Christopher Simpson has dealt with adverse publicity for several decades as a newspaper reporter, university administrator and marketing consultant. But nothing compares with managing the public-relations firestorm that erupted when Indiana University fired Bob Knight in September 2000. "It's very common for me to get a call, and one of the first things they say is, 'You're the guy that handled the Bob Knight firing, right?'" he said. Simpson, IU's chief media spokesman for the Knight firing, tells about the experience in a new book, "Weathering the Storm: Protecting Your Brand in the Worst of Times." He left IU in July 2001 and is CEO of SimpsonScarborough, a Washington, D.C., communications and marketing consulting firm. "When you say 'Bob Knight,' that still gets a very visceral reaction from people," he said Monday. Full story.
Ivy Tech to revisit hiring decision; Board will discuss new president in public to comply with law
Indianapolis Star, April 10 -- Ivy Tech's board will again take up its decision to hire an Anderson businessman as president after the state's public access counselor determined the board acted illegally, the board said Monday. Vice Chairman Jesse Brand said Ivy Tech Community College disagrees with Karen Davis' ruling but will discuss the issue publicly as a board. "We respect her position, so we're going to, both at her and our counsel's advice, have a discussion on the agenda," Brand said. "As far as I know, there are no limits of what course that discussion might take." Full story.
State Ivy Tech is on hot seat
Richmond Palladium-Item, April 10 -- There might be several things that the Ivy Tech Community College board can find worthy of imitating from Indiana University, but the how-to of conducting the public's business publicly is probably not one of them. Full story.
Don't hold IUSB hostage
South Bend Tribune, April 10 -- The Indiana University Board of Trustees is nothing if not deliberate. And we suppose that's a good thing -- even if it has meant that student housing at the Indiana University South Bend campus has been a very long time in coming. Trustee approval of the IUSB plan came last year. Now the trustees have OK'd a specific design. And funding has been figured out. There is only one more requirement to meet: gaining the approval of state budget director Charles Schalliol. Full story.
IU Hopes to Start Work this Year on Technology Center
WISH-TV 8, April 9 -- Indiana University officials have approved plans for a $64 million technology center that would include a partially underground section to protect supercomputers from tornadoes and other extreme weather. School trustees approved design plans Friday for the 172,000-square-foot Cyber Infrastructure Facility, putting construction on fast track for the next two years. Full story.
Sales Factory lands big Midwestern university as client
Bizjournals, April 9 -- The Sales Factory, an ad agency that has been growing its business rapidly by selling services to university fundraising departments, has landed a large higher education client. The Greensboro agency said that Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., has hired the company to market renewal programs to its alumni. Full story.
IU raises room-and-board fees
Associated Press, April 9 -- Room-and-board fees at Indiana University's Bloomington campus will rise by 5 percent for the next school year. The school's Board of Trustees approved the increased charges Friday during a meeting at IU's South Bend campus. Full story.
Open house planned for Wednesday
Bloomington Herald-Times, April 10 -- Indiana University will celebrate the opening of a new cultural center Wednesday for American Indians, Alaska natives and native Hawaiians. The First Nations Educational and Cultural Center, located on the sixth floor of Eigenmann Hall, will provide support and information for American Indian students, staff, faculty and community residents and promote education about native peoples. An open house at the center, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, will include Native American food and remarks by students and administrators. The event is open to the public. Full story.
Fashion is communication, lecturer says; Joanne Eicher talks about importance of, fascination with clothing around world
Bloomington Herald-Times, April 10 -- A person's identity can be established without speaking a word, Joanne Eicher said Monday in a fashion lecture. So academics who think fashion and dress are superficial and not worthy of study are missing the significance, she said. Eicher has researched and written about both for decades. She teamed up with National Geographic in 2000 for two books on the subject of dress. "If you don't think clothes are important, then try going to work without them," Eicher said. The world renowned scholar shared examples of fashion and what it means to people from around the world in her "My Life with the F-word" talk on the Indiana University campus. Full story.
IU voices in the news:
Kids' Head Injury Is Often Repeated: Study
The Ledger (HealthDay), April 10 -- Kids who suffer a head injury are twice as likely to experience a second one within a year compared to kids who injure other parts of their body, a team of Canadian researchers reports. Dr. Douglas B. McKeag, director of the IU Center for Sports Medicine in Indianapolis and chairman of the department of family medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, says that education, rather than activity restriction, is the key to preventing a repeat injury. Full story.
Life sciences in brief
Indianapolis Star, April 10 -- Good doctor-patient communication makes a difference not only in patient satisfaction but in outcomes for ailments such as chronic headaches, high blood pressure, low blood sugar in diabetics and even emotional problems, according to Indiana University researchers. Full story.
Dress code? Some students beg to differ
Indianapolis Star, April 10 -- Indianapolis Public Schools plans to adopt a dress code that requires solid-colored shirts with collars and black, tan or navy slacks. Paulette Dilworth, an education professor at Indiana University, said that when students "participate in the formation of the rules, they learn more," and, "To me that speaks about what schools should be about: helping people to understand what that process is all about." Full story.
Latino children's weight pattern mimics anglo peers
Latino Perspectives, April 9 -- Hispanic children join their Anglo peers in gaining weight during the summer, and losing it during the school year, according to a study by Indiana University and Ohio State University researchers. The study found that 5- and 6-year-olds gained more weight over the summer than during the school year, casting doubt on the assumption that kids are more active during summer vacation, and crediting the recent push to improve the quality of school lunches and snack options. Full story.
Libertarians seek to increase party visibility
Toledo Free Press, April 9 -- At a meeting of the Libertarian Party of Ohio in late April, Eric Schansberg, a professor of economics at Indiana University Southeast, will discuss the relationship between Christianity and libertarianism. Full story.
Falling jobless rate might not be good news
Indianapolis Business Journal, April 9 -- Joblessness is ebbing in Indiana, but the reason might be driven more by people dropping out of the labor force than by workers soaking up new jobs. The state's unemployment rate stayed stubbornly above 5 percent for four years. In the past few months, though, the rate mostly has stayed below 5 percent, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show. Full story.
Super Faster
Science Friday (NPR), April 9 -- The Burmese python can survive on just a few meals a year, according to Robert Pope, a researcher at Indiana University South Bend. Pope and his colleague Jean-Hervé Lignot, from Louis Pasteur University in France, discovered a new cell in the snake's digestive system that may help it live on so little. They presented the research at the Society for Experimental Biology's Annual Meeting in Glasgow in the U.K. Full story.
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