Thursday, April 24, 2024

Childs-Templeton elementaries to merge in 2025-26

The MCCSC board also appointed an interim superintendent appointed at the board meeting

By Nadia Scharf njscharf@iu.edu | @nadiaascharf

The Monroe County Community School Corporation’s Board of Trustees passed a resolution merging Childs Elementary and Templeton Elementary starting in the 2025-26 school year and appointed a new interim superintendent, Markay Winston, at its meeting Tuesday.

“This is the important work of creating an environment that is going to benefit all children,” board member Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer said about the merger. “It’s not just going to be for those less advantaged to be helped by people with privilege. When we say we’re building a big tent, which is the project of public education because there are kids that are out in the cold and in the rain, it doesn’t mean that when we bring them in, we’re gonna shove your kid out.”

There’s no solid plan for what the elementary merger will look like yet. The resolution tasks next year’s superintendent with creating a plan based on discussion with the Monroe County Education Association, teachers, staff, family and community members. The plan must be presented before Dec. 31, 2024.

The elementary merger has been on the table since the board requested a report from current Superintendent Jeff Hauswald on a strategy to improve the balance of socioeconomic status in district elementary schools at their Nov. 14 board meeting. At their next meeting, on Dec. 12, 2023, the superintendent presented his original report, which suggested merging Childs and Templeton, as well as merging Fairview Elementary and University Elementary. The Fairview-University portion was later dropped.

The original plan proposed sending students to Childs Elementary for pre-K through second grade and to Templeton Elementary from third through sixth grade. Many parents raised concerns about transportation, timeline issues and lack of clarity. The community came out in opposition in following the meetings. The board held work sessions, where they heard community concerns and discussed what a plan could look like, in late

By Arnaav Anand arnanand@iu.edu

The Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition announced in a press release Saturday they would be joining universities across the state to unify in support of union recognition and higher wages for graduate workers.

IGWC Communications

Chair David Garner said the coalition is in contact with Graduate Rights and Our Wellbeing, a Purdue graduate worker labor organization, and graduate workers at IU Indianapolis. The organizations hope that a collective front would lead to further recognition and negotiation power for all the graduate worker unions.

The organization concluded a three-day strike April 19 to protest IU administration’s refusal to increase wages for graduate workers, drawing support from faculty, staff and undergraduate students.

Earlier this year, the IGWC delivered 1,300 signed union cards and a letter to IU President Pamela Whitten, urging a union election, negotiations and a living wage minimum Jan. 17. The IGWC said in a press release despite multiple follow-up attempts, there was no response. The IGWC said on its website many graduate workers make $22,600 for a 10-month contract. According to a document from the Office of the Vice Provost for Finance and Administration, the minimum stipend for a 10-month graduate worker appointment is $22,000. The IGWC said the living wage for a single person living in Bloomington, based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator, is $41,441.

The strike also followed a vote of no confidence April 16, where IU-Bloomington faculty overwhelmingly expressed no confidence in IU President Pamela Whitten,

February.

“This is Plan A,” Hauswald said. “Its resolution can be changed in December, you can alter the date, there’s a lot of things that you can do. As it says, the board has broad authority. It’s just simply trying to give some timelines.”

Merger discussions have been complicated by the prospect of redistricting, which the board also discussed and promised to vote

Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty. The IGWC, Graduate and Professional Student Government and 12 departmental student associations previously voted no confidence in Whitten’s administration, according to the IGWC.

After the faculty vote of no confidence, the IU Board of Trustees chose to reaffirm its support for Whitten and her administration.

“At our direction and with our support, President Pamela Whitten is leading at a time in higher education where the status quo is not an option,” the statement read. The full statement can be read here.

on at this meeting. While they didn’t vote, they did agree to request a contract from a company specializing in redistricting. The board also appointed Markay Winston, the deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction for MCCSC, as the interim superintendent for the 202425 school year. This filled the vacancy left by the board’s buyout of superintendent Jeff Hauswald’s contract in March. Hauswald will remain as superintendent until June 30. The board will start the search for a new superintendent after the November elections. If there are any new board members, they’ll wait to start the process until January, when the new members are seated.

“Thank you all for the trust and faith that you clearly have placed in me to serve our most valuable commu-

nity assets: our children,” Winston said. “I assume this role with my eyes wide open, very wide open, and with a very listening ear.” The board met in an executive session Monday. The executive session’s full agenda wasn’t available to the public, but this session is likely where Winston’s appointment was decided, as the partial agenda included “interviewing prospective employees”.

In response to its requests not being met, the IGWC said it is committed to mobilizing graduate workers across Indiana to demand union recognition and a liveable wage. The IGWC release states at Purdue University, graduate workers face similar financial hardships, with base stipends falling below the cost of living in West Lafayette. Purdue graduate workers in West Lafayette receive a base stipend of about $20,000 for their 10-month contracts, where the yearly cost of living is about $40,000.

According to the press release, graduate workers at IU Indianapolis also encounter inconsistent protections and financial uncertainties, and the split between campuses has led to varying stipends, discontinued funding and inadequate support for international workers, resulting in financial struggles and even medical debt for some. The graduate workers at IU Indianapolis lack a base stipend across campus and continue to pay the same student fee that the IGWC successfully removed for Bloomington in its Spring 2022

defined as the nonconsensual touching of private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, reported on Bloomington’s campus, with an additional two occurring off campus. These numbers are increases from previous years. In 2021, there were a combined 31 cases of rape and 21 cases of fondling on and off -campus. In 2020, there were 25 reports of rape and seven reports of fondling, although on-campus instruction paused mid-March that year due to the pandemic and did not resume until the fall. These numbers are most likely the minimum number of cases, as more than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report their assaults, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. This is due to fear, shame, uncertainty, guilt and

OLIVIA

Why faculty lost confidence in Whitten's administration

By Marissa Meador marnmead@iu.edu | @marissa_meador

At a historic IU Bloomington all-faculty meeting April 16, more than 800 faculty voted in separate motions that they had no confidence in IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav. Only a few hours later, the IU Board of Trustees expressed full support and confidence in Whitten in a statement. But the comments made in the meeting reveal a deep frustration from faculty in departments across the university.

Speakers came from a diverse set of departments, spanning the humanities, sciences, law, music, informatics, education and public health. While several urged lenience for Carrie Docherty, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, as some faculty believed she was merely carrying out directives from those above her, few spoke in defense of Whitten. Faculty ultimately voted no confidence in Docherty, though it was a smaller margin than the motions against Whitten and Shrivastav.

Multiple speakers alluded to budget cuts and an overall dissatisfaction with administrative decisions.

Maria Bucur, a history professor, read a statement on behalf of faculty who felt they were in too vulnerable of a position to speak publicly. The statement lamented a pattern of committees being created to provide faculty and staff input, only to have their recommendations ignored. It also criticized an overall lack of communication and transparency from the administration.

Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, a law professor on the Faculty Board of Review who helped write the opinion that IU had violated policy in suspending Abdulkader Sinno, said the administration does not listen to faculty opinions — a sentiment shared by multiple other speakers.

He also said that the administration’s attempt to provide a “confidential dos-

sier” on Sinno during the board’s review process was unlike any proceeding he’s seen in his life. The dossier contained bias incidents reported by students and alumni against Sinno, as well as emails and letters illustrating conflicts between Sinno and some faculty members and administrators since 2022, according to the FBR opinion document.

“I can tell you as a lawyer that that violates his due process rights, and I can just tell you as a human being –that offended me that they thought that somehow we would go along and use information when he was not given the information and a chance to respond,” he said. A few faculty voices provided potential explanations for faculty abstentions and “no” votes.

Richard Shiffrin, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, said during the meeting that the administration deserved a chance to learn from mistakes they may have made. He said administrators should be judged in the context of the challenges they face and mentioned Whitten’s status as the first female president. The comment was rebuked later in

the meeting by Stephanie Sanders, chair of the Department of Gender Studies, who called the statement sexist because it implied women should be graded on a curve.

Bob Eno, a retired professor from the Department of East Asian Languages and Culture, said he planned to abstain from the votes. While he believed the university had committed egregious violations of shared governance between faculty and administration, he said some of the statements included in the case for no confidence were unfair and even untrue.

In interviews with the IDS, other faculty present at the meeting expressed disappointment in Whitten’s statement and the quick affirmation and support the Board of Trustees expressed following the vote.

In a statement, Whitten emphasized the challenges faced by higher education and pledged to weigh faculty guidance when making decisions. Her full statement can be read here.

Provost Shrivastav also addressed the no confidence vote in a column on April 17. Shrivastav acknowledged many of the specific concerns of faculty, including a “culture of unwitting com-

IUPD police dog receives light therapy for arthritis

By Marty Blader mblader@iu.edu

IU athletic trainer Tim Garl claps his hands to his knees with excitement as his next patient appears in the room before jumping up on Garl. Indy, one of three police dogs working for the IU Police Department, began visiting Garl for low-level laser therapy treatments to help with his arthritis.

The labrador retriever has been with the IUPD for nearly five years. Indy and his handler Rob Botts are responsible for walking venues prior to large events to search for bombs and other explosive devices. Recently, Botts began to notice minor differences in Indy’s behavior.

“He worked fine because there’s that motivation to work, but the biggest thing that I was seeing was he wouldn’t get in the car,” Botts said. “So, he would get to the car, and you could tell that mentally he wanted to get in the car, but physically there was something stopping him from taking that leap.” Botts was introduced to Garl by his coworker, officer Ryan Skaggs. Skaggs thought about seeking treatment with Garl for his former K-9 at the IUPD, Zeus, when he was experiencing arthritis in his paw. They decided to retire Zeus before this treatment was necessary.

“Since (the treatments and shots), I have not seen a limp one time,” Botts said. “He’s very active, he wants to work. He would run forever if I’d let him. When he was sore, you could tell he didn’t really want to do any of that stuff.”

In his 43 years as an athletic trainer at IU, this is Garl’s first time working with a non-human patient. During the treatment, Garl kept one hand on Indy’s back while Botts fed him a continuous stream of treats to distract him from the process. The pair tried alternative options such as a ball, but treats were the only distraction that would get Indy to sit still. Indy’s veterinarian had already suggested low level laser therapy to accompany his monthly treatments of monoclonal antibody injections. According to Botts, these shots help the pain caused by the arthritis by reducing inflammation. The low level laser therapy triggers a process called photobiomodulation to decrease the inflammation in areas such as tissue. The process can decrease pain levels and speed up the healing process through increasing cellular metabolism.

Indy began with three treatments a week, and after a month he transitioned to two treatments a week. Assuming he does not experience any relapses in his improvement, Garl and Botts plan to continue decreasing the number of treatments each month.

Indy is one of two explosive detection dogs in the IUPD, so his health has a significant impact on the efficacy of the program.

“I trust him with my life, and I trust everyone’s life to him and his ability to do his job,” Botts said. “So, that’s why we try to keep him as healthy as possible.”

One good decision from the provost was mandating increased salaries for graduate workers, Hamburger said. But departments were left to find the money within their own budgets instead of receiving increased funding from higher ups, he said.

Hamburger, who has been at IU for 38 years, said the tensions between administration and faculty have created a dark cloud over campus.

“There are many times where faculty have been unhappy or disgruntled, but I have never seen this kind of pervasive unhappiness with the way this university is being administered,” he said.

petition” that makes those in the humanities feel like priorities are shifting to STEM fields, efforts to “combine operations” across schools, departments and campuses and decisions related to “geopolitical conflicts or campus procedures.”

“And so, to deepen confidence and shared understanding, to ensure a united path to a brighter future, we must do a better job of listening to each other and coming together collaboratively,” he wrote.

Michael Hamburger, a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, said Whitten’s statement didn’t show much engagement with the issues brought up by the vote.

“Definitely there have been sudden, unexpected and very destructive decisions made on the part of the central administration about budgeting, finance and priorities,” he said.

But Hamburger said the way it’s been handled — which he described as “haphazard” and with limited communication — makes it worse. This harms departments’ ability to make longterm plans and contributes to a climate of distrust, he said.

Shane Green, an anthropology professor at the meeting, said he thought Whitten’s statement was upsetting in light of no confidence votes from multiple sectors of campus.

“It seems a little disingenuous to pretend that we’re all just a big happy family,” he said.

He said the issue was more than just Whitten’s administration, pointing toward a deeper, structural change in the role of public education. While public education was designed to produce educated, informed citizens with knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplines, he said, they now appear to focus on producing a certain type of person with more specialized skills.

Declining appropriations from state legislatures and reduced enrollments while colleges provide an increasing number of amenities create a precarious financial environment, he said, which a raise in tuition rates have accompanied.

For example, Green referenced that his undergraduate tuition at UNC Chapel Hill in 1989 was around $500 per semester, or $1,265 in 2024 dollars. UNC Chapel Hill’s current in-state tuition is $7,020 per year.

The financial constraints on public education have accompanied a shift to a less faculty-centric univer-

sity, contributing to a belief among faculty that shared governance is in jeopardy. More recent theories of higher education, supported by organizations like the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, outline a university model where trustees take a more active role in reviewing and directing the work of administrators and faculty. “We’ve become employees,” Green said. “We’re supposed to shut up and do our jobs.”

In “Governance for a New Era,” a report released by ACTA in 2014, a group of trustees and administrators wrote that “trustees must regularly assess the cost/value proposition of academic and nonacademic programs in setting their goals” and encouraged a balanced approach to academic freedom, which the report said is being expanded by the American Association of University Professors, at the detriment of faculty “accountability and responsibility.” Green said the vote of no confidence represents the opinion of most faculty, even though only 948 of the 3,276 total voting eligible faculty attended the meeting.

“If there was a lot of opposition for it, why didn’t they show up?” he said. Jack Bielasiak, a political science professor who’s been at the university for fifty years, implied when he spoke at the meeting that many faculty didn’t show up for fear of retribution.

“Look around you. There is no junior faculty that I can spot among the 800 — because they are scared,” he said at the meeting.

It was a concern echoed by other speakers, who claimed they had heard from many faculty who also had no confidence in the administration but didn’t want to show up for the vote.

“And I fear for this university that I’ve devoted my life to,” Bielasiak said. “I fear that it will disintegrate to something that is invisible and incomprehensible.”

won the IU Student Government presidential election after the IUSG Supreme Court affirmed the disqualification of the UNITED campaign for violations related to election telecommunications rules.

UNITED won the popular vote with 49.26% of the vote, while FUSE came in

for a better campus experience.” The campaign encouraged students to join Thursday’s inauguration celebration and apply to the administrations cabinet positions. The UNITED campaign responded to the ruling in a statement to the IDS.

campaign appealed the decision of two complaints to the IUSG Supreme Court. The court determined that the original ruling of complaint 13 would be upheld, which is equivalent to 20 penalty points. 10 penalty points leads to a disqualification. FUSE president elect Cooper Tinsley and vice president elect Nicole Santiuste will be inaugurated as student body president and vice president at 7 p.m. Thursday in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union. The inauguration will take place 10 days after its original scheduled date.

“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who supported us throughout this campaign,” the FUSE campaign said in a statement to the IDS. “Your belief in FUSE and our goals has been incredibly inspiring and motivating. We also thank the Election Commission and the Supreme Court for their diligent work.”

“We look forward to stepping into our new roles and continuing our work in championing an inclusive and supportive campus environment. This accomplishment is not just ours. It's a testament to the power of our collective voice and the strength of our shared vision

“Once again it has been shown that student government isn’t for the students,” the statement read. “We are disappointed by the decision of the Court to actively contribute to the failure to stand by the fundamental principles of democratic institutions as they continue to disintegrate the integrity of our elections. 49.26% of casted votes and 1840 voters are being ignored. This is authoritarian.” UNITED wrote in their statement they were unfairly punished for their election violations, which include sending five GroupMe messages without an opt-out option and sending two campaign emails without BCCing recipients, according to the IUSG Supreme Court’s final decision. UNITED wrote previous campaigns sent GroupMe messages but were not disqualified. The Court acknowledged this in its decision but still determined that GroupMe messages constitute text messages and should also be subject to strict regulations to avoid over-campaigning.

“These past uncountedfor violations, however, play no role in the determination of this case,” the Court wrote. “Had any of these past offenses been presented before the Court, we assert

that, at the very least, this current makeup of justices would have reached a similar conclusion.” UNITED’s statement also claimed that the FUSE campaign’s victory resulted from undue influence from current and former IUSG members including former student body president Aaliyah Raji. In their statement, UNITED incorrectly claimed Raji and former student body president Ky Freeman appointed most of the justices of the IUSG Supreme Court. However, most justices took office during Freeman’s and former student body president Kyle Seibert’s presidencies. According to IUSG’s Constitution, Congress must also confirm all appointments to the court. Raji said she did not appoint any justices. She said previous student body presidents appointed justices, and she only signed bills from Congress that confirmed the appointments. The FUSE campaign responded to

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By Haley Ryan haryan@iu.edu | haley__ryan

Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual assault.

The Office for Sexual Violence Prevention and Victim Advocacy has been holding events around campus for Sexual Assault Awareness Month this April. Sexual Assault Awareness Month was first observed nationally in 2001, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website, but advocates have been organizing events, marches and observances related to sexual violence before that.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month is helping to bring awareness of sexual assault on campus and the scope of the issue, Molly Weiler, assistant director of sexual violence prevention at the office for sexual violence prevention and victim advocacy said. The month is focused on identifying tools that can be used to prevent violence and safety factors that help university wide structures build in violence prevention.

The office is hosting several events throughout April to raise awareness and support survivors of sexual violence.

On April 10, the office held “Let’s Talk About Healing” in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Courtyard.

Weiler said the event educated students on health equity, which includes fair access to education and income, employment and social support. Weiler said health equity is a big factor in preventing violence and healing after experiencing violence.

On April 13, the office hosted a Paint the Campus Teal event in Dunn Meadow with other student organizations. The event worked to spread supportive messages and information about sexual assault around campus.

During the event, students could write supportive messages and information about campus resources in chalk.

On Wednesday, the office hosted Cookies and Consent in the Global and International Studies Building. During the event, Weiler said the office gave out cookies and flyers about what consent looks and sounds like, along with a QR code for IU’s consent policy.

Denim Day, which is April 24, is a campaign to discuss how clothing is not consent. Students are asked to wear denim to support survivors and stand up against sexual assault. Weiler said the office will also be handing out information about what to do and not do, to support survivors.

“We try to pick a couple big projects and topics to do each year,” Weiler said. “And the way that we make those decisions are based on student feedback that we've gotten from previous years.”

Throughout the year, Weiler’s office does sexual violence prevention, which includes sexual health education and prevention methods. The office also does presentations and tables on topics like rape culture and intersectionality and has five full-time confidential advocates. These advocates, she said, don’t

release information without the survivor's permission, unlike employees, who are legally required to report information about sexual misconduct.

“They help with safety measures for survivors, which can include protective orders or changing housing, doing things like that, as well as academic support,” Weiler said. This support can include getting grade change requests, helping facilitate conversations with professors if a survivor needs to miss class, helping the survivor decide on if they want to report and then helping them through the process of reporting if they choose to do so. Weiler also works with respondents, the person who was alleged to have caused harm, after taking an alternative resolution. According to university policy, alternative resolutions can occur in appropriate cases, such as accepting responsibility, mediation, developing action plans, voluntary resolutions and appropriate sanctions or remedies. Weiler said she meets with them as part of an agreement and also does one-on-one training sessions with respondents.

Even though April is the month where the office can do more programming specifically about sexual assault, this is an issue that affects people daily, Lucy Downs, a licensed mental health counselor working in Counseling and Psychological Services’ Sexual Assault Crisis Services department, said.

“We're here year-round to support folks, and this is just an opportunity to heighten other people's awareness of how this impacts folks and provide more resources,” Downs said.

Being intentional about campus resources, she said, helps connect survivors and those who care about them to resources more easily. The sexual assault crisis services, Downs said, provides individual and group counseling for survivors of relationship violence. The office supports people who experience an acute incident of sexual violence on campus and provides services to anyone who identifies as a survivor.

“So, folks who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault prior to coming to the campus, sexual violence outside of campus, inner-partner violence, domestic violence, stalking, harassment, things of that nature,” Downs said, “It's really self-identified survivors, and they're able to access free ongoing counseling at CAPS through the SACS department.” The department doesn’t have session limits, Downs said, because there isn’t really a timeline in this area of work. Sexual Assault Awareness Month and SACS, she said, are important because a lot of people are uncomfortable talking about sexual violence. But survivors, she said, don’t have the privilege of not thinking about it. “That's the most important piece, is to take some of the burden off those individual

response to these outside constraints. But those constraints do not

force you to radically reduce the opportunity that our students have for professional development, at the exact same time as “career readiness” courses are being proposed as new requirements.

Homophobia is still prevalent online ADVAIT WRITES

Advait Save (he/they) is a freshman studying economics and sociology.

On one fine day, while navigating the cesspool of Instagram Reels, I stumbled upon a reel of a rather cute guy. Naturally, I commented “cute” on that post expressing my opinion about the reel. The comment section is something that I often avoid when interacting with social media but whenever I do use it, I rarely face any ridicule. What followed my comment was something surprising in an age where we champion diversity and inclusivity in public spaces. I faced homophobic replies that were not only directed toward me but also toward the user of the Instagram account that posted the reel. It was a bit hurtful, but I thought of this instant as an object of inquiry.

Multiple layers of interaction function in social media hate — right from a generalized hate word to a personal attack. In my specific example — anonymous users employed hate by labeling me “gay” as something that I should be ashamed of. The user read my initial comment and decided to give me a label that I do not completely conform to and use it against me as a weapon. Now, all of this was done under the garb of anonymity. I didn’t know the user who replied to my comment and neither did they know me.

Social media platforms lead to impersonal interactions. These impersonal interactions are fundamentally dehumanizing. Dehumanization happens in the way that an individual is driven to spread hate against what a human represents through their comment and not the human themself. The very extrapolation of the comment to represent a human is central to spreading hate. Now the prejudices and discriminatory beliefs that one may have can be employed to fight against this entity that is a representative of something that one despises. This is a fallacy in judgment as a human being is a complex entity. A failure to recognize this complexity is a failure to recognize a human.

One perceives a nonhuman on the other side of a social media interaction empowering them with the liberty to unleash hate. Hate on social media is a result of not acknowledging the human in an interaction which is embedded in the platform’s nature. It is difficult to suggest that a similar hateful behavior will be displayed in a physical one-on-one conversation. Generally, the physical nature of this interaction would ensure the recogni-

tion of both entities’ humanity leading to a possible civil conversation.

One way of humanizing our online interactions could be to simply stop and think about a human at the other end of the interaction chain. Before commenting on something with hate we must recognize that we do not know the person that we may end up hurting. We must understand that we have the power to stop a hateful dehumanizing cycle by not starting it in the first place. These are steps that we can take to build a safer social media environment at an individual level but hate speech remains an issue on the broader social level.

Online platforms present a public space that tends to mimic characteristics of public spaces like that of mob behavior. Online mob behavior is generally driven by intense emotion which can then be used to spread hate speech. People who engage in hate speech tend to have a history of radicalization which enables weaponization of existing prejudice against certain groups leading to their easy propagation. For instance, people who associate intense religious belief with the traditional family and see the LGBTQ+ community as a threat to that institution then may spread hate against the LGBTQ+ community.

Hate speech has real-life consequences. Exposure to hate speech may lead to higher levels of stress impacting the subject’s psychology. Hateful speech has been historically correlated to a rise in violence specifically targeting marginalized communities, leading to gruesome consequences like large-scale violence. Even today, online hate speech is linked to a global rise in violence. This rise in violence can either be through direct mobilization against a certain group or general tension that leads to violence.

Anti-LGBTQ+ crimes are on the rise. What I faced may not be an instance of hate crime or speech, but it was something intended to be hurtful. Hate speech starts with an intent to hurt. Radicalized groups make weaker sections of society their targets. We as people of these marginalized groups must demand better speech regulation from private social media platforms like Instagram to counter hate groups. Demanding better regulatory speech policies and recognizing the human in our online interactions can make social media a safer space — not just for us but for everyone.

Many faculty agreed to embrace and work with the new emphasis on preparing our students for specific career paths. This decision appears to fly in the face of that demonstrated willingness to work

with you on a new initiative. The IDS has been an important space for our journalism students to become professionalized and careerready upon graduation. It has done that successfully.

Moreover, it both sets a standard and provides an outlet for many other students who might pursue a career in media and/or journalism, whether from Kelley, O’Neill or the College. It is also a news outlet that has kept the rest of the university community informed and connected with the perspectives that our students bring to both “the college experience” as well larger institutional matters. We cannot imagine having as good a sense of where many of our students stand on matters like the graduate workers strike, DEI, sexual violence or free speech issues, to enumerate just a few themes in the past few years, without the IDS.

The editors and reporters at the IDS greatly value these opportunities and consider them a key component of their college experience. The walk-out scheduled for April 25 reflects that passion and commitment, as well as the deep disappointment in the lack of care that the higher administration has shown toward the IDS. To treat it like a failing business, cut off essential parts of the operation and present it as just a necessary change is to not care about the fate of training our students in a profession we have committed to nurture.

Why have a school of journalism if we can’t train the students in how to be journalists on the ground? Will taking a course at the Walter Career Center provide the adequate training? Or is the goal to eliminate the journalism major?

How can we believe your words about collaboration, confidence and building trust, when your actions show the opposite?

How are you demonstrating that students and their future are the center of our universe, a phrase often repeated and increasingly, it seems, devoid of actual meaning?

Signed, Maria Bucur, John V Hill Professor of Gender Studies and History Alex Lichtenstein, Professor of History and Chair of American Studies

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor, Department of History, Director of Graduate Studies, Affiliate Faculty, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies; Affiliate Faculty, Department of American Studies; Affiliate Faculty, Gender Studies Leah Shopkow, Professor and incoming Chair, Department of History

Things I wish I could tell my freshman year self THALIA

Thalia Alleman (she/her) is a junior studying journalism and public relations.

As my junior year is coming to an abrupt end, I am excited and hopeful for the next year and all the new things I will learn. When I look back to the person I was coming to college, I remember being so intimidated by change. I worried about making new friends, was daunted by new experiences and challenges — but nothing could have prepared me for the experience itself.

Though it’s embarrassing, I vividly remember cuddling up with my mom, crying and telling her all my worries the night before moving into my freshman year dorm. I felt like I wasn’t ready — like I was being forced to do something I wasn’t strong enough to handle. Her advice was nothing short of discouraging as she wiped my tears and said, “This is just something you have to do.” I wouldn’t admit it to her face, but I knew she would be right, like always. I can empathize with people who say their childhood was the greatest years of their life, but I feel like mine are ahead of me. Obviously, I didn’t always have such a positive and eager mindset towards college or my future. But after all that college has given me — freedom, independence and a newfound sense of self-worth — I wish I wasn’t so hard on myself. While I think back on the advice I

was given from others (that was completely unhelpful), I wanted to share some things I wish I could have told my freshman year self.

The anticipation is always worse than the real thing

Over these last few years, I’ve realized I have put myself through anxiety-inducing situations twice – first when I anticipate how terrible everything will be, and the second time when I’m experiencing the actual situation. I want to emphasize that I was the one giving myself anxiety over something that hadn’t even happened yet. It seems ridiculous, but we all do it — worry about the things we cannot control. I’m self-aware that I have a type A personality in desperate need to control all aspects of my life, but it is completely unrealistic. I know I will never be able to control everything in my life — but I can control myself and my emotions. As I continue to learn how to grapple with my anxiety, I try to remind myself not to feel anxious without a reason.

It’s OK to get a C

We’ve all heard the phrase “C's get degrees,” right? I’m not saying that getting straight C's is, well, good, or that you shouldn’t try your best to succeed. I do, however, believe that sometimes the grades you get aren’t your fault. I’ve had a professor or two over the years that graded my work as hard as they possibly could have. I then took

the same course again with a different professor and got an A. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, someone will always find a way to be overly critical of your work. Perhaps that’s life, perhaps that professor sucks. Either way, I’ve learned to not try to force myself to be perfect at the cost of my own happiness and peace of mind. You should prioritize your mental health In high school I developed an annoying habit of feeling like I need to get straight A's. Of course, that was when my GPA determined my future. Now that I’m in college and graduating in a year, I have yet to hear someone in the professional world say their college GPA determined their success. Again, grades matter and you should absolutely care about having a good relationship with your professors and TA’s – but if you decide to skip a day because you feel mentally exhausted and can’t handle the weight of societal pressures, DO THAT! I have justified too many unreasonable purchases or Starbucks refreshers by saying they will make me feel better, and I don’t regret any of them. In college, the number of responsibilities we have to juggle are too easily overlooked. I balance five classes, a parttime job, an internship, and a social life — all while I am expected to eat healthy and take care of my body. It’s hard. It’s OK1` that it feels difficult and unmanageable.

Don’t apologize for needing to take a day to take care of yourself and your mind.

Don’t let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch I know I’m not the only one who has experienced some friendships that were unhealthy and all-consuming. It was because of those bad experiences that I felt completely uninterested in making new friends, but I regret convincing myself I have all that I need in my relationships. While I am grateful and appreciative of my friendships, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for anything or anyone else. It’s easy to be complacent because it's comfortable, but we must be uncomfortable to grow. Instead of being regretful or uninviting to new people, I choose to learn from my mistakes and handle things differently while continuing to make room for new friends.

I genuinely thought at 17 I knew all there was to know, but I could not have been more wrong. I wish I could have told myself that everything would work out in the end exactly as it's supposed to. I’m at a place in my life I couldn’t have imagined if I tried, but I guess that’s the beauty of the experience. As my mom and I hugged goodbye before she drove home for the first time without me, she said “Everything is going to be OK.” Again, she was right, but I still wouldn’t admit that to her.

BRIANA PACE | IDS

The Ernie Pyle statue is photographed Aug. 30, 2023, outside Franklin Hall.

Scenes from the 2024 women’s Little 500

Kappa Alpha Theta won the 36th women’s Little 500

Kappa Alpha Theta sweeps 36th Little 500

By Parker Rodgers parkrodg@iu.edu

Thirty-three teams suited up in their respective uniforms for the 36th women’s Little 500. Kappa Alpha Theta sported white jerseys on a cool Friday afternoon hoping to bring home the Borg-Warner Trophy for its house, looking to further cement its name into the race’s history.

While it was close in the first half of the 100-lap race, Theta pushed in the second half and didn’t look back. It attained a 26-second lead at one point, winning its ninth Little 500.

What did Theta freshman rider Greta Heyl think was the key to her squad’s domination?

Culture.

“The main goal we had for the race was just to have fun,” Heyl said postrace. “I think we did that.”

In the opening handful of laps, Theta rarely led but kept up with the pack. On lap 18, Heyl was involved in a crash in turn one that gave the team ground to make up. Theta rejoined the pack in a few laps, and on lap 43, snagged the lead for a moment.

With Teter and Theta battling it out for the lead at the halfway mark, Theta senior rider Audrey La Valle veered to her right across sophomore Teter rider Seneca Simon. Simon fell to the cinder track face first

as her squad fell half a lap behind Theta.

After the wreck, Delta Gamma challenged Theta on lap 58, battling for the lead for about four laps until lap 62. Theta took advantage of Delta Gamma’s slowing, jumping to an 11-second lead on lap 66.

After Theta’s dramatic breakaway, the finish line was in sight. It knew to just keep pushing as anything could happen in such an unpredictable race. “Yes, we have this lead, and it’s great,” Cappella said. “You see it everywhere though, there’s crashes, it’s a dusty track. I said anything can happen, just put your head down and ride a safe race.”

Cappella hopped on the bike on lap 98, signifying Theta’s final exchange. During the final two laps, the rest of the riders and coaches all gathered in for one big group hug in its pit, with tears dripping down Heyl’s face, knowing all her hard work was about to pay off.

Cappella finished out the final two laps of the race en route to a dominating victory. After she rode the track one more time on her cooldown lap, she pulled up to her team’s pit to join in on another group hug, with tears running down many faces.

“Everybody dreams about the moment where they can throw their arms up and say “I did this,”” a

teary-eyed Cappella said. “It wouldn’t have been without the work of the three other people that rode.” Theta’s supporters quickly made their way from the stands behind its pit and onto the track right in front of the podium, cheering as their riders and coaches received their hardware.

Afterward, all four riders completed the traditional victory lap with Queen’s

“We Are the Champions” playing in the background. Theta’s victory marked the end of what some have dubbed “the La Valle curse.” La Valle stamped her family’s name into the history books as a winner in her last attempt at the race.

“It makes a good story right?” La Valle said. “It’s not about the result, but it’s definitely a good way to end it.”

La Valle wasn’t the only one trying to end the curse, as Heyl wanted to end the curse for her.

“My goal for her this race was to get her a win,” Heyl said. “She’s been such an amazing captain to all of us, and I wanted to make sure she had a win under her belt.”

The last time Theta stood at the top of the podium was in 2018. Despite the four

20,

wouldn’t be anywhere without the people in our house,”

“I think there were two generations of Theta’s that never experienced a Little 500 win, so to stop that drought, this is a legacy, and it’s because of our alumni.”

Theta riders leaving their legacy on the track April

Capella credited their sisters for supporting them. “We

Cappella said.

JACOB SPUDICH | IDS

Kappa Alpha Theta sophomore Bailey Cappella (left), senior Audrey La Valle (left-middle), sophomore Claire Tips (right-middle) and freshman Greta Heyl (right) celebrate on the stage after the conclusion of the women’s Little 500 Race on April 19, 2024, at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington. The team held a large lead throughout the majority of the race.

Black Key Bulls wins the 73rd men’s Little 500

By Joseph Ringer jnringer@iu.edu

After fans and riders filed out of Bill Armstrong Stadium, after Queens’ “We are the Champions” played and after trophies were hoisted on the podium while fans cheered, Black Key Bulls riders exited across the infield. They were alone, laughing, arm-in-arm with wreaths of flowers hanging around their necks, soaking in every moment of their day.

“It’s crazy. It’s perfect,” Black Key Bulls’ freshman rider Wiley Close said postrace. “It’s like a Cinderella story.”

Black Key Bulls’ 2024 season is a testament to reaffirmation. It failed to qualify for the race last year, leaving out possibilities and prompting “what ifs.”

But its presence this year was made clear. Its two Team Pursuit squads made the final round of Team Pursuits. It placed third at Qualifications and finished out the year by winning the 73rd running of the famed race.

Its dominance in the race, however, didn’t show until the last 30 laps. Within the chaos of exchanges on lap 44, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Gamma Delta snuck away from the field. The main chase pack, comprised of Sigma Phi Epsilon, CUTTERS, Chi Alpha, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Gamma Delta and Black Key Bulls, attempted to claw back. “Once we got to lap 120

and Sigma Alpha Epsilon had a 22-second gap, we were like, ‘Holy crap, we need to get them right now,’”

Black Key Bulls’ captain Jack Handlos said.

Black Key Bulls sat in the main pack all day, taking turns setting pace at the front but never attempting to break away. The team planned to make a move near lap 150, Handlos said. And at lap 180, 29 laps after catching SAE’s breakaway, Black Key Bulls charged ahead by themselves.

“It was terrifying,” Handlos said. “When you think that you have the possibility to win, you get the tingles, you get the adrenaline. Like, ‘Wow, this is in reach.’” BKB quickly opened the gap to nearly a half-lap and emptied their legs. “I thought, ‘I’m in so much pain,’” Handlos said. “But you have to push to that new level. It’s just something you have to do. It’s beating yourself mentally and saying, ‘Shut up, legs.’” After monster efforts by the riders, they began feeling fatigue. With six laps remaining, Wiley Close got on the bike for Black Key Bulls. Close cautiously mounted the bike. It had a stripped seat bolt, and the seat post slipped all the way down, forcing him to exchange after only two laps of riding. With the slow acceleration by Close and the bike’s faulty seat post, the chasing pack

began to narrow its gap. The pack included CUTTERS, Delta Tau Delta, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Chi Alpha and Phi Delta Theta. The effort was led by CUTTERS’ Judah Thompson.

“Judah was freaking fast,” Close said. “He kind of scared the shit out of us, I’m not going to lie.” With four laps to go, Will Wagner mounted his bike. He maintained speed throughout as Thompson and Delta Tau Delta’s Josh Herbst attempted to catch him in the final moments. With only a two-second gap between himself and the sprinters, Wagner crossed the line with his hands in the air. Black Key Bulls’ win and comeback to the race was solidified. McGuire Wolfe, Handlos and Close hugged as Wagner slowly rounded the outside of the track.

Indiana has best transfer class after

By Daniel Flick danflick@iu.edu | @bydanielflick

Indiana men’s basketball’s tumultuous 2023-24 season, which included no postseason berth for the first time in three years and the need to publicly confirm head coach Mike Woodson’s return, hasn’t affected the program’s recruiting efforts this spring.

For a moment, the Hoosiers had nothing but uncertainty — seven roster spots to fill and no high school or transfer commits. This moment was a month ago.

In the span of 23 days, Woodson and staff added four players, starting with 5-star high school recruit Bryson Tucker on March 28 and finishing with Stanford University transfer guard Kanaan Carlyle on April 20.

In between, the Hoosiers landed transfer commitments from Washington State University guard Myles Rice and University of Arizona center Oumar Ballo, filling four of the team’s seven available scholarships.

But Indiana isn’t bring-

ing in placeholders — it’s signing the best transfer portal class in the country, according to 247sports. Ballo is rated as this offseason’s best transfer, while Carlyle (No. 10) and Rice (No. 18) follow suit inside the top 20.

When factoring in Tucker, the Hoosiers rank No. 15 nationally and No. 2 in the Big Ten in overall player acquisitions, via On3. Indiana returns three full-time starters from this past season, including senior guard Trey Galloway, freshman forward Mackenzie Mgbako and sophomore forward Malik Reneau.

Additionally, senior guard Anthony Leal and freshman guard Gabe Cupps, who started 22 games after twice replacing the injured Xavier Johnson, announced their intention to come back to Bloomington.

Still, this is the same Hoosier core that went 19-14 and lost Kel’el Ware, who led the team with 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, to the NBA Draft.

After the season came crashing down against

Nebraska on March 15 in the Big Ten Tournament, Woodson said he and his assistants had lots of work to do this offseason to add talent and get better.

In just over a month’s time, he found a 7-foot center in Ballo to fill the void left by Ware, added one of the top unsigned high school seniors and remade the Hoosiers’ back court.

With Rice, who averaged 14.8 points and 3.8 assists per game as a redshirt freshman, and Carlyle, who scored 11.5 points and dished out 2.7 assists per contest in his true freshman season for the Cardinal, Indiana suddenly has a deep stable of guards capable of creating shots both for themselves and others.

The Hoosiers still have needs — one or two steady 3-point shooters and a backup for Ballo — but their roster has added considerable talent in the past month and still has room for more.

And at least according to 247sports’ points-based metric, nobody’s done the transfer portal better than Indiana.

Indiana captures first Big Ten Championship since 1998

By Will Foley wtfoley@iu.edu | @foles24

With a late April 21 surge and Michigan State’s collapse, Indiana women’s golf finally conquered the conference. The Hoosiers shot an 856, 8-under par April 19-21 to win the Big Ten Championship by one stroke, the program’s first conference title since 1998. “There were a lot of tears from pure joy and excitement... it was just surreal,” head coach Brian May said April 23. “It was something Kendall (Griffin) and I talked about as a vision, and it was great to see that come to fruition.” Indiana’s victory weekend came with a slew of historic accomplishments. The win marked Indiana’s eighth Big Ten Championship, third best in the conference. It was the Hoosiers’ third-lowest threeround score in program history and their first round under par since the 2018 Westbrook Invitational. Indiana started strong, slowly rising through the ranks. Its first-round score of 288, even-par placed the team in a tie for third after day one. The Hoosiers’ April 20 score of 285, 3-under par, put

them into solo second, but the championship appeared all but secured with Michigan State’s 11-stroke lead with one round remaining. Until the improbable happened. Indiana saved its best for last with a final-round 283, 5-under par and Michigan State’s 295, 7-over round slipped the Hoosiers past the Spartans to steal the title. “Eleven shots seems insurmountable, but when you break it down it’s just two shots per player,” May said. “We had them understand that we had to put ourselves in better position. Each one of our girls did it at a high level Sunday for us to come out on top.”

Fifth-year senior Caroline Craig paced the Hoosiers with a 209, 7-under par. Her efforts put her in a three-way tie in first place for Big Ten Co-Champion. She is the 11th Hoosier to claim the individual Big Ten champion status and the first since Danah Ford in 2004. Craig’s consistency earned her the crown. She shot 69, 3-under par twice before a final round of 71, 1-under — the first time she’d shot under par all three rounds of a tournament in her col-

legiate career. Her 14 birdies were second-most in the 84-player field.

Redshirt junior Caroline Smith joined Craig on the Big Ten All-Conference team with a 211, 5-under par performance. She topped her career-best score by four strokes and tied Craig with 14 birdies in the tournament.

Smith embodied the Hoosiers’ final-round push. Her bogey-free 67, 5-under par marked a career best. Her round is tied for the fifthlowest in program history and is the second-lowest single round by a Hoosier in Big Ten Championship history.

“[Craig and Smith] had key moments throughout the course of the year where they played really good golf, but we hadn’t been able to piece it together for three days,” May said. “They just put that all aside, went to work and had a really good, consistent week.”

Sophomore Chloe Johnson shot a 219, 3-over par through three rounds to finish tied for 23rd. She totaled eight birdies — four of which came in her 71, 1-under second round score.

Sophomore Faith Johnson carded a 220, 4-over par. Like Craig, her consistency played a key role throughout the weekend, leading the field with 42 pars.

COLUMN: An interview with Millaze: Alt-pop music and internet trolls

By Grace Romine gmromine@iu.edu

Millaze is from what she calls a “musical family.” She grew up sitting on the organ bench next to her mother. In 2014 she started releasing music online, which evolved into her full-time job. When the musician decided to start building her social media brand at the end of 2022, she wasn’t surprised when the trolls started crawling in.

Originally from Pittsburgh, the Bloomington local musician and producer creates what she calls alternative pop — a mix of solo piano, conversational lyrics and her interest in emo music to create a DIY punk spirit sound. Over the course of her career, Millaze said she has written hundreds of songs, close to one thousand even. “I relate to how people describe music as a felt

sensation in the body,” Millaze said. “That’s why I go after so many sounds.” Millaze said her dad had always wanted her to be more confident. After his death, Millaze decided she would try to boost her selfconfidence by posting her music on Instagram. She said she knew social media had untapped potential and was going to put her preconceived notions aside to give it a try.

She began telling stories about her songs on the internet. The lyrics were usually about the death of her father and battles of eating disorders. After about nine months, Millaze said she was ready to change her strategy. “It was driving me nuts because I was getting really behind writing and producing music,” Millaze said. “I was like, ‘This is going to be super uncomfortable, but I have to combine the two

or else I’m ever going to get back into the studio again.’”

She began posting reels onto Instagram showcasing her process of creating music, often made complete with missed notes and slipups. But Millaze said she embraced the imperfections; it was all a part of the process.

“There are only so many hours in a day,” Millaze said. “So, I had to just film me doing a take and turn that into a quick video to upload online. Sometimes the take wasn’t good, and I would just make a joke out of it or show that I missed notes, or that I just wrote the song, or that I don’t have the lyrics. I just started sharing all that.”

At the end of January, Millaze took her followers along the process of creating a demo day-by-day. By the end of the week, she applied a little makeup, put an LED light strip on the kitchen cabinet behind her and

filmed a video lip-synching to the song she had only written Monday. Millaze said once the video was uploaded, she was inundated with hate from internet trolls — users who comment something hurtful to provoke some sort of argument or reaction. “It was just insane,” Millaze said. “People couldn’t handle it — the fact that it didn’t sound perfect because it wasn’t finalized.”

The Instagram reel garnered more than 620,000 views and 1,200 comments. Other reels using the same song, “Override” posted by the musician amassed more than 1.5 and 2.2 million views. The video was even picked up by “cringe parody” accounts. Millaze wasn’t alone, artists from Jason Aldean to P!nk have spoken on their experiences receiving hate from internet trolls. She said she expected something like this to happen.

“On the internet people can be anonymous: They have finstas,” Millaze said. “They’re using it sometimes just to be mean. It has nothing to do with me. I could look, dress, sound, present as anything and some people are just going to find something to pick up, because that’s what the internet gives them unfortunately — the freedom to be nasty.” Millaze said she felt the trolling was demonstrative of bigger picture issues like gender expectations.

“Being a woman in music production is very rare,” Millaze said. “A lot of the trolls were also men not being able to handle a strong woman producing.”

A“Be the Change: Women

Making Music” survey showed 81% of women say navigating the music industry is harder for them

Church of Christ

than it is for men, with sexual harassment and misogyny as the leading challenges. Music composition, production and sound, like Millaze’s work, has long been a male dominated field. She said after the reel of her demo went viral, she received multiple direct messages from men asking to be her producer instead. Millaze said she switched the narrative and took control of how she responded to the internet trolls. While some days are more challenging than others, Millaze said the trolls have never discouraged her from making music. She even gained a few thousand new followers.

“It has felt really good,” Millaze said. “Despite the trolls I am still showing up and I exist despite the mean things they could possibly say to me about how I’m wrong. I know I’m not. It’s been the ultimate exercise in self-love.”

We use no book, but the Bible. We have no creed but His Word within its sacred pages. God is love and as such we wish to share this joy with you. The comprehensive teaching of God’s Word can change you forever.

University Lutheran Chuch and LCMS U Student Center

607 E. Seventh St 812-336-5387 indianalutheran.com facebook.com/ULutheranIU

Canterbury Mission

719 E. Seventh St. 812-822-1335 IUCanterbury.org

facebook.com/ECMatIU

Instagram & Twitter: @ECMatIU

Sunday: 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Mon., Wed., Thu.: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Tuesday: 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Fri., Sat.: By Appointment

Canterbury: Assertively open & affirming; unapologetically Christian, we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ by promoting justice, equality, peace, love and striving to be the change God wants to see in our world.

Ed Bird - Chaplain/Priest

Gaden KhachoeShing Monastery

2150 E. Dolan Rd.

812-334-3456

ganden.org

Tibet.

First Church of Christ, Scientist

2425 E. Third St. 812-332-0536 csmonitor.com

bloomingtonchristianscience.com

Sunday: 10 a.m.

Wednesday: 7 p.m.

A free public reading room in the east wing of our church is open weekdays from noon until 2 p.m. Here you may read the award-winning Christian Science Monitor and other church literature. An attendant is glad to answer questions.

Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Bible Study

10:30 a.m. & 5 p.m., Worship

Wednesday: 7 p.m., Bible Study

John Myers - Preacher

Bloomington Friends Meeting

3820 E. Moores Pike 812-336-4581

bloomingtonfriendsmeeting.org

Facebook: Bloomington Friends Meeting

Sunday (in person and by Zoom) : 9:45 a.m., Hymn singing

10:30 a.m., Meeting for Worship

10:45 a.m., Sunday School (Children join in worship from 10:30-10:45) 11:30 a.m., Light Refreshments and Fellowship

12:45 p.m., Often there is a second hour activity (see website)

Wednesday (Via Zoom) : 9 a.m., Midweek Meeting for worship 9:30 a.m., Fellowship

We practice traditional Quaker worship, gathering in silence with occasional Spirit-led vocal ministry by fellow worshipers. We are an inclusive community with a rich variety of beliefs and no prescribed creed. We are actively involved in peace action, social justice causes, and environmental concerns.

825 W. Second St. 812-332-0501

facebook.com/w2coc

Peter Burkholder - Clerk burkhold@indiana.edu Bahá'í Association of IU 424 S. College Mall Rd. 812-331-1863

Jubilee

219 E. Fourth St. 812-332-6396 jubileebloomington.org

facebook.com/jubileebloomington

Instagram: @jubileebloomington

Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Classic Worship 11:45 a.m., Contemporary Worship

Wednesday: 7:30 p.m., College & Young Adult Dinner

Jubilee is a Christ-centered community open and affirming to all. We gather on Wednesdays at First United Methodist (219 E. 4th St.) for free food, honest discussion, worship, and hanging out. Small groups, service projects, events (bonfires, game nights, book clubs, etc.), outreach retreats, and leadership opportunities all play a significant role in our rhythm of doing life together.

Markus Dickinson - jubilee@fumcb.org

bloomingtoninbahais.org

facebook.com/Baháí-Community-ofBloomington-Indiana-146343332130574

Instagram: @bloomingtonbahai

Sunday: 10:40 a.m., Regular Services, Devotional Meetings. Please call or contact through our website for other meetings/activities

The Bahá'í Association of IU works to share the Teachings and Principles of the Founder, Bahá'u'lláh, that promote the "Oneness of Mankind" and the Peace and Harmony of the Planet through advancing the "security, prosperity, wealth and tranquility of all peoples."

Karen Pollock Dan Enslow

Rev. Adrianne Meier

Rev. Lecia Beck

Rev. Amanda Ghaffarian - Campus Pastor

By Chloe Fulk cdfulk@iu.edu

COLUMN: Exploring life during wartime in A24’s ‘Civil War’

Does the “anti-war” film really exist? According to François Truffaut, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave, the answer is no. Onscreen violence is invariably exciting to the viewer when it is presented as narrative conflict. Steven Spielberg, director of “Saving Private Ryan,” believes otherwise: “Of course, every war movie, good or bad, is an anti-war movie.” So maybe the film’s depiction of war violence is inherently oppositional; it’ll unsettle the viewer no matter the intention behind it.

This is a debate “Civil War” director Alex Garland seems entirely uninterested in contributing to. Despite the blunt title and dystopian, near-future setting, Garland’s vision of a divided America focuses largely on the individual — in this case, a group of photojournalists with an

ethical obligation to capture the decline of American civilization through their lens.

Structured like an apocalyptic road movie, the film tracks Lee (Kirsten Dunst), a seasoned industry veteran, Joel (Wagner Moura), Lee’s partner and Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a young photographer whom Lee begrudgingly takes under her wing, as they travel to Washington D.C. to interview the president before he’s killed by the rebel Texas-California alliance (referred to in the film as the Western Forces). Along the way, they stop to photograph various small-scale conflicts including a sniper stand-off at a remote farmhouse and a militia’s charge against a group of loyalists. For the most part, the fighters react to the journalists’ presence with indifference. But, in the most unnerving scene — an important distinction for a film that rarely lets the

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

205 E. Kirkwood Ave. 812-332-4459 fccbloomington.org

Sunday: 10 a.m.

We are an inclusive community of people who are diverse in thought and unified in spirit. We are an LGBTQIA+ welcoming and affirming congregation known for our excellent music and commitment to justice. Our worship services will not only lift your spirit, but also engage your mind. You are welcome!

Pastor Kyrmen Rea - Senior Pastor Pastor Sarah Lynne GershonStudent Associate Pastor

Jan Harrington - Director of Music

Emmanuel Church

1503 W. That Rd. 812-824-2768

Emmanuelbloom.com Instagram & Facebook: @EmmanuelBloomington

Sunday: 9:15 a.m., Fellowship

Sunday: 10 a.m., Worship

Groups: Various times

Emmanuel is a multigenerational church of all types of people. Whether you are questioning faith or have followed Jesus for years, we exist to help fuel a passion for following Jesus as we gather together, grow in community, and go make disciples.

John Winders - Lead Pastor

viewer catch their breath — an assault rifle-toting insurgent (Jesse Plemons) questions them, asking “What kind of American, are you?” Sporting cheap red sunglasses and chilling apathy, Plemons’ executioner isn’t a big bad military man; he’s a seemingly normal guy who’s using the war to realize his own idea of a new America.

Garland’s emphasis on

Lifeway Baptist Church

7821 W. State Road 46 812-876-6072

lifewaybaptistchurch.org facebook.com/lifewayellettsville

Sunday: 9 a.m., Bible Study Classes 10 a.m., Morning Service 5 p.m., Evening Service *Free transportation provided. Please call if you need a ride to church.

Barnabas College Ministry: Meeting for Bible study throughout the month. Contact Rosh Dhanawade at bluhenrosh@gmail.com for more information.

Steven VonBokern - Senior Pastor Rosh Dhanawade - IU Coordinator 302-561-0108 bluhenrosh@gmail.com

United Presbyterian Church 1701 E. Second St. 812-332-1850 upcbloomington.org

Sunday worship service: 10 a.m.

Tuesday Bible Study: 6 p.m., in-person and via Zoom

A diverse and inclusive people of God determined and committed to reflect an authentic presentation of the church universal. We cherish the authority of Scripture and the elemental Presbyterian confession that that God alone is Lord of the conscience.”

Cheryl Montgomery - Reverend Benjamin Watkins, PhD - Music Director Allen Pease - Event Coordinator & Secretary

the individual is exemplified by his stubbornness to not reveal the origins or reasoning behind the war. The political framing of the conflict is neutral and, from the journalists’ perspective, unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Understanding the civilian’s response means understanding the war more intimately.

The nature of the conflict

is ambiguous, but the violence is not. Although Jessie is noticeably shaken at first, the journalists react to the brutal bloodshed with unflinching professionalism. These moments are horrifying because they’re presented so casually. In Garland’s America, the natural world’s sounds have been replaced by the echo of distant gunfire. When Lee, Joel and Jessie reach the White House, the cacophony of chaos becomes overwhelming. Gunfire hasn’t been this soul-piercing since Michael Mann’s “Heat” in 1995. With decaying buildings, overgrown greenery and lifeless bodies littered in the street, “Civil War” looks more like an early episode of “The Walking Dead” than a big budget war movie, but an eerie layer of familiarity remains. The nice New York City hotel that acts as a hub for journalists like Lee and Joel is fully functional

Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington

2120 N. Fee Ln. 812-332-3695 uubloomington.org

facebook.com/uubloomington

Sunday: 10:15 a.m.

With open hearts and minds, we celebrate diverse beliefs and engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We are passionate about social justice and lifelong learning. We are an LGBTQA+ Welcoming Congregation. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, we welcome you!

Rev. Constance Grant - Lead Minister

Anabel Watson - Connections Coordinator

Unity of Bloomington

4001 S. Rogers St. 812-333-2484 unityofbloomington.org facebook@UnityofBloomington

Sunday: 10:30 a.m.

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus and the power of prayer. Unity honors the universal truths in all religions and respects each individual’s right to choose a spiritual path. Our God is Love, Our Race is Human, Our Faith is Oneness.

Doris Brinegar - Administrator Phyllis Wickliff - Music Director

Mennonite Fellowship of Bloomington

2420 E. Third St. 812-646-2441 bloomingtonmenno.org

facebook.com/2ndbaptistbloomington

youtube.com/@secondbaptist churchbloomington Sunday Service: 10 a.m., In house and on Facebook/YouTube

Church bus at 812-3271467 before 8 a.m. on Sunday

Rev. Dr. Bruce R. Rose - Pastor

Tallie Schroeder - Secretary

Trinity Reformed Church

2401 S. Endwright Rd. 812-825-2684 trinityreformed.org facebook.com/trinitychurchbloom Email: lucas@trinityreformed.org

Sunday:

Redeemer is a gospel-centered community on mission. Our vision is to see the gospel of Jesus Christ transform everything: our lives, our church, our city, and our world. We want to be instruments of gospel change in Bloomington and beyond.

Chris Jones - Lead Pastor

Bloomington Young Single Adult Branch

2411 E. Second St.

To Contact: Send message from website maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/ wards/237973

Sunday: 12:30 p.m.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has four congregations in Bloomington—Three family wards and our young single adult branch for college students. This info is for the YSA Branch. Weekday religious classes at 333 S Highland Ave, Bloomington IN 47401, next to campus. More info at churchofjesuschrist.org.

facebook.com/Mennonite-Fellowship-ofBloomington-131518650277524

Sunday: 5 p.m.

A welcoming, inclusive congregation providing a place of healing and hope as we journey together in the Spirit of Christ. Gathering for worship Sundays 5 p.m. in the Roger Williams room, First United Church. As people of God's peace, we seek to embody the Kingdom of God.

John Sauder - mfbjohn@gmail.com

First United Church

2420

despite riots outside. Rebels wear Hawaiian shirts as they sneak up on a wounded soldier. A sniper sports a neon green buzz cut and painted nails. The inhabitants of a small town in the middle of nowhere ignore the war and go about their lives like nothing’s wrong. These traces of normality aren’t as provocative as they are helpful in pinpointing the ethos of Garland’s America.

“Civil War” is ultimately a film about coping with ethical, moral and personal responsibility. Lee and Jessie go to dangerous lengths to get the money shot, but we never actually see how their photos impact the public. Lee understands the weight of this burden, but Jessie becomes intoxicated by the chase. If violence is inherently exciting, then the camera is the ultimate weapon — a loaded gun with the ability to immortalize even the ugliest truths.

Christ Community Church

503 S. High St. 812-332-0502 cccbloomington.org

facebook.com/christcommunitybtown

Instagram: @christcommunitybtown

Sunday: 9:15 a.m., Educational Hour 10:30 a.m., Worship Service

We are a diverse community of Christ-followers, including many IU students, faculty and staff. Together we are committed to sharing the redeeming grace and transforming truth of Jesus Christ in this college town.

Bob Whitaker - Senior Pastor

Adam deWeber - Worship Pastor

Dan Waugh - Adult Ministry Pastor

Christian Student Fellowship

1968 N. David Baker

812-332-8972

csfindiana.org

Instagram & Facebook: @csfindiana

Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Office

Thursday: 8 p.m., Worship Service

Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) is a ministry built on Jesus Christ. We exist to help students pursue authentic faith and build intentional communities while in college. Come check out our campus house and/or any of our other various ministry opportunities.

Ben Geiger - Lead campus minister

Joe Durnil - Associate campus minister

Stephanie Michael - Associate campus minister

Hailee Fox - Office manager

Church of Christ

825 W. Second St.

812-332-0501

facebook.com/w2coc

Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Bible Study

10:30 a.m. & 5 p.m., Worship Wednesday: 7 p.m., Bible Study

We use no book, but the Bible. We have no creed but His Word within its sacred pages. God is love and as such we wish to share this joy with you. The comprehensive teaching of God's Word can change you forever.

City Church For All Nations

N. Russell Rd.

1200

812-336-5958

citychurchbloomington.org

facebook.com/citychurchbtown

Instagram: @citychurchbtown

Sunday Service: 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.

Always check website for possible changes to service times.

City Church is a non-denominational multicultural, multigenerational church on Bloomington's east side. The Loft, our college ministry meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

to create a better world.

Rev. Jessica Petersen-MutaiSenior Minister

Jody Killingsworth - Senior Pastor Lucas Weeks - College Pastor

Four Bloomington restaurants to try before the spring semester ends

By Marnie Sara mbsara@iu.edu

In Bloomington’s rich food scene, there’s a good chance you still haven’t tried every restaurant in the city yet. With the spring semester quickly coming to a close, I recommend trying these Bloomington restaurants before you leave for summer break.

Osteria Rago

After two and a half years of wanting to try this

Italian restaurant, I finally had dinner at Osteria Rago. My table ordered tomatoes vesta, eggplant rotolini, bruschetta pizza and Tuscan salmon pasta. My meal began with tomatoes vestas which is whipped lemon ricotta on homemade focaccia bread topped with balsamic glazed arugula. I recommend stopping by Osteria Rago, if you want a nice Italian meal to celebrate the end of the school year.

Bruster’s Real Ice Cream

With this ice cream parlor being relatively far from campus, it may fly under the radar for many IU students. However, Bruster’s is worth trying if you’ve never had it before, considering its popularity as a franchise in states east of the Mississippi River. If you stop by, I recommend pairing your favorite ice cream flavor with the shop’s famous green dino sugar cookie.

Inkwell Bakery and Café

If you’ve never been to Inkwell Bakery and Café, you need to find a reason to stop by. Whether you say goodbye to friends over their iced lattes or study for a final exam while trying a sandwich, you must visit Inkwell before the year ends. I believe Inkwell has the best coffee drinks, food menu and pastries in all of Bloomington and will miss it dearly over the summer. My go-to order is an iced

vanilla latte with the turkey club, but you can never go wrong with the carrot muffin or broken yolk sandwich.

Uptown Café

If you’ve never had brunch at Uptown Café, you should definitely squeeze it into your final weekends of the school year. Uptown Café has a wonderful brunch selection that is exclusively served 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the weekends. If you

are looking for a sweet breakfast, you can order crème brûlée French toast, Belgian waffles, cornmeal pancakes or coffee cake.

If you are craving a savory meal, you can order a smoked salmon eggs benedict, andouille omelet or avocado toast.

The school year is ending, but we can savor the tastes of Bloomington for a little while longer. Enjoy these yummy eats before it’s too late!