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Bloomington Herald-Times

January 6, 2011

Kappa Alpha Psi honors its founding at IU in ceremony
By Mike Leonard
January 6, 2011, last update: 1/6 @ 12:26 am

Ten chimes to open the ceremony and 10 chimes to close it.

The young men who founded Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at Indiana University surely could not have imagined how revered they would become when they got together on Jan. 5, 1911, to form what would become one of the nation's leading predominantly black fraternities.

On Wednesday, about 200 Kappa dignitaries from around the country paid tribute to their 10 founding members in a ceremony in the new IU Cinema facility in the IU Auditorium building. It marked the beginning of several centennial-year activities for the fraternity that will peak with the organization's annual convention in Indianapolis in July.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie, Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Hanson and Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan all delivered remarks, with McRobbie describing the historically black fraternity's founding as "one of many remarkable achievements of Indiana University" and "a great point of pride for the university."

Hanson noted that for many years, Kappa alumni have made pilgrimages to Bloomington and even collected water from the Jordan River that flows through campus.

Kruzan was the only speaker to address the most remarkable aspect of the fraternity's founding -- that it occurred on an almost exclusively white campus in a state where the Ku Klux Klan would later claim the Statehouse. Kruzan went on to note that even at the time of Kappa Alpha Psi's 50th anniversary, in 1961, racial segregation was still commonly practiced and fraternity members needed to "watch each other's backs" in addition to pursuing the higher goals and aspirations of their organization.

Fraternity speakers for the most part limited their remarks to praise for Kappa Alpha Psi and its visionary founders: Elder Watson Diggs, John Milton Lee, Byron K. Armstrong, Guy Levis Grant, Ezra D. Alexander, Henry T. Asher, Marcus P. Blakemore, Paul W. Caine, Edward G. Irvin and George W. Edmonds.

Kappa Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Richard Lee Snow gave brief biographies of each man.

Kappa alumnus Edwin C. Marshall, vice president for the office of diversity equity and multicultural affairs at IU, gave poetic remarks recalling the founding of the fraternity on a cold January day on the banks of the Jordan River.

In the only deviation from the formal and highly respectful decorum of the day, the audience hooted and shouted with the introduction of Grand Polemarch Dwayne M. Murray. "Today's a wonderful day to be a Kappa," the smiling national president said.

The fraternity's website has a short video presentation commemorating the founding of the organization at IU as well as an extensive timeline of Kappa Alpha Psi's history.

Suspect arrested in killing of IU graduate Sneiderman in Georgia
Neuman had worked at same company as Sneiderman's wife
By Mike Leonard
January 6, 2011

Police in Dunwoody, Ga., have arrested a suspect in the killing of Indiana University graduate Russell "Rusty" Sneiderman.

Hemy Zvi Neuman, 48, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with murdering Sneiderman on Nov. 18. Neuman was arraigned Wednesday afternoon and is being held without bond in the DeKalb County Jail. He requested a public defender at his initial hearing.

Sneiderman, 36, had just dropped his 2-year-old son off at his preschool on the morning of Nov. 18 when a bearded man wearing dark clothing and a stocking cap walked up and opened fire, shooting the victim four times with a handgun at point-blank range. The assailant then escaped in a gray or silver late-model Dodge minivan with no license plates.

Police described the killing as a "cold and calculated murder" at the time.

Law enforcement officials told reporters in the Atlanta suburb this week that the arrest of Neuman was the result of an "old-fashioned investigation" and not any particular tip.

Sneiderman was a 1996 graduate of the Kelley School of Business at IU, a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, the Honors College and the Business Honors program. His wife, Andrea (Greenberg) Sneiderman, is a 1998 Kelley graduate. The couple had two children, Sophia and Ian.

Rabbi Sue Silberberg, executive director of the IU Hillel center, said the couple met through Hillel, a campus Jewish social and cultural center. She said she knew Rusty well. "He was an absolutely great guy," she said in November. "He was the kind of person who'd do nice things for people and cared about his community and the world around him."

Sneiderman completed an MBA at Harvard and worked for several accounting and financial services firms. He reportedly was laid off from JP Morgan Chase & Co. during staff cuts caused by the recession in 2008 and was working as the chief operating officer of a children's day care group at the time of his death.

He also served on the boards of several charitable and nonprofit organizations including the Autism Society of America -- Greater Georgia.

Police cited the ongoing investigation in declining to provide details about why they arrested Neuman, a native Israeli who graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984. The Atlanta Journal & Constitution reported that the suspect was the supervisor of Sneiderman's wife, Andrea, at GE. Both worked at GE Energy and were charged with overseeing the specifications and performance standards for products including nuclear reactors, turbines and solar panels, the newspaper reported.