Opinion’s picks for this year’s
LITTLE 500 concert Page 7
IDS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014
INDIANA DAILY STUDENT | IDSNEWS.COM
Strategic Plan to attempt far-reaching changes BY KATHRINE SCHULZE schulzek@indiana.edu
Students, faculty and staff might want to pay attention to the draft of IU’s new Strategic Plan. Big changes are on the way, and Provost Lauren Robel is inviting public feedback. The product of a semester’s worth of work on the part of 11 committees, the IU-Bloomington Campus Strategic Plan outlines a plan to expand IU’s global presence, update financial aid and realigns interdisciplinary education. And those are only a few aspects of the six broad initiatives Robel’s attempting to address. Before the Strategic Plan is finalized, however, Robel wants
public feedback on the draft released Wednesday. The draft’s release came two weeks in advance of a town hall meeting for public comment, and with an online response form. Meanwhile, it’s time for members of the IU community who want their voice heard to familiarize themselves with the 21-page draft that might affect almost every experience at the University for the next five years. THE FOUNDATION The Strategic Plan built on what the plan calls “five successful and ambitious initiatives that challenged us to recreate Indiana’s pre-eminent university for the 21st Century.” These five documents are “New Academic Directions,” “New
Directions in Teaching and Learning,” “Indiana University International Strategic Plan,” “Report on the Old Crescent” and “Empowering People: Indiana University’s Strategic Plan for Technology.” All five plans have been released in the past six years. These initiatives target specific areas in IU’s broad reach and served as a jumping-off point for the Strategic Plan. “Sometimes people talk about a strategic plan and they say, ‘If you were to start from scratch, what would you do?’ Well, we’re not starting from scratch,” Robel said during the Bloomington Professional Meeting Wednesday. “We’re starting from almost two
full centuries of history,” she said. The 21-page plan is broken down into six main points: undergraduate life, graduate education, research, faculty development, globalization and internationalization and collaborative program initiatives. GRAND CHALLENGES Undergraduate life is by far the largest portion of the plan, and it covers everything from financial needs to the arts to expanding opportunities for international students. The plan explicitly mentions the establishment of Hutton Honors College as a “central hub” for interdisciplinary education; the SEE PLAN, PAGE 6
Offer feedback READ THE CAMPUS STRATEGIC PLAN A downloadable PDF of the Campus Strategic Plan draft can be found online at plan.indiana.edu. SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS TO THE PROVOST Submit your comments online at plan.indiana.edu or write to provost@indiana.edu. TOWN HALL MEETING IU Auditorium 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. March 4 All members of the IU-Bloomington community are invited to attend.
Area man jumps to death at hospital FROM IDS REPORTS
A Bloomington man committed suicide at the IU-Bloomington Hospital Wednesday night. Christopher Owens, 31, was found lying face down in the snow on the north side of the parking garage, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Steve Kellams said. It is apparent he jumped from the top of the parking garage based on evidence from the scene, Kellams said. Owens died from blunt force trauma, County Coroner Nicole Meyer said. Owens was staying at a local halfway house. “He had some conditions which would lead us to believe it was a suicide,” Kellams said. Suicides from falls account for less than 3 percent of suicides in the U.S. from 2005 to 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010 suicide was the 11thleading cause of death in Indiana, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. From 2006 to 2010 suicide rates in the United States have remained fairly stable, but have increased slightly each year since 2007. In Indiana men die by suicide more often than women, according to ISDH. From 2006 to 2010 suicide was the second leading cause of death in people ages 15 to 34, third leading cause in people ages 10 to 14 and fourth leading cause in people ages 35 to 54.
IDS FILE PHOTO
Forward Noah Vonleh takes the ball away from Chicago State during the season-opener on Nov. 2, 2013, at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers won 100-72.
Needing a win Hoosiers look to change their fortune against Northwestern BY ANDY WITTRY awittry@indiana.edu
The Hoosiers will travel to Evanston, Ill., Saturday with hopes of earning a payback victory against a Northwestern team that forced the first domino to fall for IU in its string of recent struggles. Four days after the Hoosiers knocked off No. 3 Wisconsin at home, the lowly 8-10 Wildcats took all of the wind out of IU’s sails with
a 54-47 victory at Assembly Hall. Since defeating the Badgers, IU has lost six of its last eight games, fallen off the NCAA Tournament radar, had a player arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and had its home temporarily jeopardized by a piece of metal plating. Starting at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, the Hoosiers have an opportunity to make amends and climb up the Big Ten standings. Northwestern, which is on a
— Dennis Barbosa
IU MEN’S BASKETBALL (14-11) at Northwestern (12-15) 8:15 p.m., Saturday, Evanston, Ill. four-game losing streak, is ninth in the conference, one place ahead of IU. The Jan. 18 meeting between the teams was a defensive struggle, with 101 total points scored on a combined 34-of-111 shooting SEE BASKETBALL, PAGE6
Soft rock performers to play at Buskirk-Chumley Theater BY HANNAH ALANI halani@indiana.edu
The soft tones of critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Josh Ritter will fill the Buskirk-Chumley Theater this Saturday night. Ritter will play an all-acoustic set and will be accompanied by up-and-coming artist Gregory Alan Isakov. The two have been touring their latest albums, Ritter’s “The Beast in its Tracks” and Isakov’s “The Weatherman.” Ritter’s eighth studio album debuted at No. 8 on the “Top Rock Albums” chart earlier this year. Isakov, a Colorado native, said he enjoys touring with Ritter, and is especially looking forward to Saturday’s acoustic set. “With Josh, there’s a great mix of music that we do,” Isakov said. “We both have a pretty different
take on music. It’ll be a pretty cool evening.” Isakov began working on his album “The Weatherman” in Europe, but mostly recorded it in Colorado, where he currently lives. According to Isakov’s website, the album reflects his travels and affinity for nature. “I love getting a chance to connect with people,” Isakov said. “We spend a lot of time recording records and writing them mostly in solitude. When we play live, the songs have a different life.” Isakov said he enjoys the songwriting process and performance collaboration with Ritter. “Everything starts out on guitar and piano in my kitchen and then we arrange around the band,” Isakov said. “When you strip all that away, it becomes something with honest kinds of feelings.” Unlike many modern art-
ists who market their music via singles and downloads, Isakov said he thinks of his work in terms of a whole. “Some records are better than others,” Isakov said. “I try to make complete pieces of work. I guess I’m kind of old school like that.” Isakov and Ritter are quite popular among the college-aged crowd, he said, and Saturday’s show is expected to receive a largely young adult audience. “I live in a college town too, back in Boulder,” Isakov said. “I don’t really think about it, whether they are college students or not. I hope that people connect with the music.” Follow reporter Hannah Alani on Twitter @hannahalani.
COURTESY PHOTO
Josh Ritter, chart-topping soft rock artist, is coming to the Buskirk-Chumley Saturday.