IDS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014
FRIDAY IS VALENTINE’S DAY. INSIDE HAS YOU COVERED, PAGE 7
NEED PLANS?
INDIANA DAILY STUDENT | IDSNEWS.COM
HJR 3 goes to Senate for vote BY MICHAEL AUSLEN mauslen@indiana.edu
IDS FILE PHOTO
Then-freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber hits the ball against the Michigan State Spartans during IU’s 3-2 win April 14, 2012, at Sembower Field.
Heavy hitter
Despite stardom, Schwarber focuses on return to College World Series BY ALDEN WOODS aldwoods@indiana.edu
It’s Feb. 6, eight days before the 2014 season starts, and Kyle Schwarber can’t miss. The 6-foot, 240-pound All-American sits low in his stance. He bends his knees and locks his eyes on the pitcher ahead of him. He exhales. His eyes narrow. And he waits. As each pitch approaches, the junior catcher coils his upper body, ready to unleash what has been called the most powerful swing in college baseball. When the lobbed pitches reach the plate, Schwarber
sets the chain in motion. First, a fluid movement, working from the ground up, then ending in the sharp ping that rings throughout the building. It is a steady cycle: pitch, swing, ping, back to the crouch. The season has yet to begin — instead of battling with an opposing pitcher at Bart Kaufman Field, Schwarber takes his swings under a protective cage inside John Mellencamp Pavilion. None of that matters to him. He is locked in. SEE SCHWARBER, PAGE 6
MORE BASEBALL COVERAGE ON PAGE 4 A statistical analysis of the Hoosiers’ 2013 season, an outlook on the 2014 season and a look at IU’s likely MLB draft prospects.
IDS FILE PHOTO
Then-sophomore Kyle Schwarber looks for a sign between pitches during IU's game against Illinois on April 5, 2013, at Bart Kaufman Field.
Law professor settles disputes at Olympics BY ALISON GRAHAM akgraham@indiana.edu
As the Olympic torch was lit and the opening ceremony commenced, Gary Roberts’ job was only just beginning. Roberts, Dean Emeritus of the McKinney School of Law at IUPUI, was one of the lawyers selected to solve disputes at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. “What they wanted to do was have the ability to solve disputes quickly,” Antony Page, vice dean of the law school, said. “It’s really useful to have a body that can make these decisions quickly.” The moment a legal problem arises during the games, he said, Roberts and eight other lawyers resolve it within a matter of hours. He and the other lawyers have already settled disputes for the International Olympic Committee, Roberts said. Two skiers, one Argentinian and one Austrian, appealed to the court, saying they had been unfairly ruled ineligible to compete. In both cases, the lawyers found their ineligibility legitimate, and the athletes weren’t allowed to compete. Roberts said he is free to attend
whichever events he wants as part of the “Olympic Family,” but he must always be available in case a problem arises that needs to be settled. When a report comes in, he works around the clock reading submissions, conducting hearings and meeting with other lawyers to reach a decision, he said. After that, he is free until the next case. The group of eight lawyers he’s part of is selected from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a judicial body founded in 1994 to resolve legal disputes in professional athletics. “As the president of the Sochi CAS contingent said to me, we are the IOC’s insurance policy, to make sure that disputes and controversies have a mechanism for quick and fair resolution,” Roberts said in an email. In most IOC cases, there are two kinds of disputes: eligibility, such as questions regarding citizenship or drug testing, and rules of an event, including complaints about equipment or another party’s behavior, Page said. A recent example of the latter arose when the Russian team disputed the results of a
COURTESY PHOTO
Dean Emeritus Gary Roberts (right) and his wife, Donna Carr in Sochi.
cross-country skiing event, Page said. They came in fourth place. They claim a Norwegian skied out of his own path and won the bronze medal unfairly. Depending on the decisions of Roberts and the other lawyers, this could change the medal results of the event. Page said Roberts’ work away from IU isn’t going unnoticed. “We’re all really proud that he was chosen to go and make these
GARY ROBERTS Dean Emeritus of the McKinney School of Law at IUPUI
decisions,” Page said. “It’s quite an honor and a recognition that he is one of the top sports lawyers in the world.” Follow reporter Alison Graham on Twitter @AlisonGraham218.
After its third committee hearing in two months, HJR 3 will make its way to the floor of the Indiana Senate. The Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee voted 8-4 along party lines Monday to approve the constitutional amendment, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman. “The question we are debating today is not about equality,” said Allison Slater of the National Organization for Marriage during testimony before the vote. “Children are born with a mother-shaped hole and a father-shaped hole in their hearts. Logic and biology dictate that a woman cannot be a father and a man cannot be a mother, no matter how much they love that child.” Slater and other proponents of HJR 3 urged legislators not only to support the amendment but to reinsert the controversial second sentence, which prohibited civil unions and was removed by the House of Representatives two weeks ago. If the sentence is reinserted by the Senate and the full version is supported by the House, citizens could vote on the constitutional amendment in November. If the sentence is not reinserted, the passage of HJR 3 could take another two years and further debate in the General Assembly. Opponents of HJR 3 argued, as they have in other hearings, that the constitutional amendment would be bad for business and give the state a national image of discrimination. “This proposal constitutes discrimination,” State Sen. Timothy Lanane, D-Anderson, said. “It is discrimination. I think proposals like HJR 3 speak more to the past than to the future.” These opponents, including IU and the Eli Lilly Foundation, were joined by the NCAA, which announced its opposition early in the debate. The college athletics organization has its headquarters in Indianapolis. In addition to economic and political arguments, proponents and opponents of HJR 3 have put forth dozens of speakers to tell their personal stories throughout this debate. Micah Clark, director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said he did not believe anything bad would happen if marriage were defined as being between a man and a woman in the state constitution. “Marriage is the special union of a man and a woman that has served Indiana well since our founding,” he said. Fort Wayne resident Jennifer Fisher told the story of her and her partner, a police officer, as part of anti-HJR 3 testimony. “The reality is that as we prepare to start a family in the state of Indiana, this legislation is scary,” she said of her and her partner. “She’ll have our children, and legally I will have no right to those children. If she is killed in the line of duty, someone could take away my family.” HJR 3 will be considered by the full Senate for debate, possibly this week, where the second sentence could be reinserted to the language. After that, the chamber will vote. Depending on decisions made in the Senate chamber this week, the 10-year saga of Indiana’s marriage amendment could be coming to a close. Follow reporter Michael Auslen on Twitter @MichaelAuslen.