Indiana University

Skip to:

  1. Search
  2. Breadcrumb Navigation
  3. Content
  4. Browse by Topic
  5. Services & Resources
  6. Additional Resources
  7. Multimedia News

Media Contacts

Jonathan Purvis
IUSF
jpurvis@indiana.edu
812-855-9152

George Vlahakis
OCM
gvlahaki@indiana.edu
812-855-0846

Last modified: Wednesday, July 10, 2002

More than $100,000 raised to establish 9-11 Scholarships at IU

Applications now being accepted for first recipients

Indiana University Student Foundation today (July 10) announced that more than $100,000 has been raised to establish three new scholarships that memorialize IU's victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The student organization now is accepting applications from IU students for the scholarships, which will be awarded at a memorial service on the first anniversary of the attacks.

In April, the Little 500 bicycle races -- part of the history of a half-century campus tradition depicted in the movie Breaking Away -- were dedicated to creating the new scholarships. Normally, net proceeds from race activities fund scholarships for working IU students.

In addition to the $49,616.42 raised by this year's Little 500 activities, Lawrence D. Glaubinger, who graduated from IU with distinction in 1949 and is a resident of New York, N.Y., made a matching gift to the scholarship fund. "I happened to be in New York City at time of the attack and felt that it was a very appropriate way to express my feelings," Glaubinger said. Other people from Indiana and the East Coast responded to news of the scholarships and donated another $7,000. All proceeds will endow the new scholarships.

"The amount raised for the 9-11 Scholarship Fund exceeded our expectations," said Jonathan Purvis, director of the IU Student Foundation. "The tremendous outpouring of support highlights the purpose of the Student Foundation and Little 500 by bringing our university community and friends together for meaningful work. A special thanks goes to our Little 500 volunteers, participants and spectators, Mr. Glaubinger and other generous contributors."

"I am very impressed by the caring and the generosity of the IU Student Foundation; our wonderful alumnus, Lawrence Glaubinger; and all those who contributed to these scholarships," added IU Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Stephens Brehm. "In awarding these scholarships, Indiana University expresses its deep sympathy to the families of the innocent victims who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. I know that all the recipients of these scholarships wil feel deeply honored to receive them."

Criteria for the new scholarships -- which will be awarded for the first time on Sept. 11 -- were established by three IU students who lost their fathers in the attacks on the World Trade Center. They are Joshua Goldflam, a May graduate from Melville, N.Y.; Rachel Jacobson, a junior from New York, N.Y.; and Jessica Moskal, a junior from Brecksville, Ohio. Jacobson and Moskal are expected to help select the recipients.

In addition to the three students, another student lost his brother and an alumna working in the World Trade Center also died in the attack. However, the exact number of members of the IU family directly affected by the events of that day remains uncertain.

Glaubinger has been a generous contributor to the university and has sat on the IU Foundation Board of Directors since 1990. He previously has funded eight scholarships for future entrepreneurs and a faculty chair in the Kelley School of Business.

Among the other donors to the 9-11 fund was Betty Behr, president of the S.W. Frankenthal Memorial Foundation in Atlanta, Ga., which donated $5,000 towards the scholarships. Her daughter, Sara, is a close friend of Jacobson, and her other daughter, Kara, begins her freshman year at IU this fall. She said she learned about the scholarships through news reports and decided they would be a more personal, positive way of responding to the tragedy.

"When 9-11 hit, obviously we were all horrified, just like the rest of the country. It became a question of what do we do. Then we found out about Rachel's dad and thought about what we could do to make a difference," Behr said, adding that her foundation, established by her father, has the dual purpose of contributing to causes that both heal and educate. Donating to the scholarship fund "just seemed like the perfect fit, because it recognized how we felt about 9-11 and the sadness that we felt for Rachel and her family," she said.

Another donor, Sandy Berger of New York, N.Y., is the mother of Leigh Aidner, who will begin her second year at IU this fall. Her family donated $1,000 through the Sol and Margaret Berger Foundation. "I just thought it was a wonderful thing to do, plus I thought that the university was so supportive of kids from this area after 9-11. I thought it was terrific," she said.

Others were moved to make smaller gifts after hearing about the scholarships through media accounts and other sources.

Since 1951, the IU Student Foundation has used the race and other student activities to raise money for 34 student scholarships awarded to working IU students annually. Funds which had been set aside in a "rainy day" fund are being used to support this year's working student scholarships.

The Little 500 has been the premier intramural collegiate cycling event in the nation for more than 50 years. It was created in 1950 by Howard S. Wilcox, then executive director of the IU Foundation, who was inspired by a bike race at an IU dormitory and by the Indianapolis 500. The men's race attracted international attention through the 1979 Academy Award-winning film Breaking Away, and more recently it has been featured in major publications such as Sports Illustrated and USA Today. Any full-time undergraduate student at IU Bloomington who is an amateur cyclist can ride in the Little 500. Most riders have never competed in any other cycling race.