Monday, July 24, 2017
IDS Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
Spicer to leave White House YULIN YU | IDS
Megan Bomgaars, a self-advocate, artist and entrepreneur with Down syndrome, performs a speech called "Don't Limit Me." "Don't limit me by thinking that I can’t learn in your classroom," Bomgarrs said.
Press secretary resigns as communications director is appointed By Emily Eckelbarger eaeckelb@umail.iu.edu | @emeckelbarger
Leaders without limits Best Buddies gathers for 28th annual leadership convention By Hannah Reed hanreed@indiana.edu | @hannahreed13
The energy level was high in the IU Auditorium on Friday as attendees to the 28th annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference screamed chants and waved glow sticks, and ushers and volunteers gave high fives to participants as they entered. Thousands gathered at IU for the conference this year, the theme of which was “Pass the Torch,” emphasizing the importance of preparing and empowering future leaders. Best Buddies International, a nonprofit with more than 2,300 chapters in nearly 50 countries, is dedicated to creating opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “Best Buddies is so great because it provides opportunities to so many different kids, adults and teens that might not have had the chance to make friendships with so many different people,” said Katie Nettee, a peer-buddy from Maryland. The organization was founded by Anthony K. Shriver in 1984 and provides eight flagship programs that affect more than 1.1 million individuals with and without disabilities worldwide, according to its website. SEE BUDDIES, PAGE 3
PHOTOS BY YULIN YU | IDS
Top Anthony K. Shriver, founder and chairman of Best Buddies, speaks at the Leadership Conference Opening Ceremonies on Friday evening at IU Auditorium. Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing friendships for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Middle The Best Buddies Friendship Walk begins in front of IU Auditorium Saturday evening. Thousands of volunteers and people with Down syndrome from all over the world walked together. Bottom High school students from all over the world are excited at the beginning of the Best Buddies Leadership Conference Opening Ceremonies. Best Buddies has more than 2,300 chapters in nearly 50 countries.
Sean Spicer resigned from his position as White House press secretary Friday. Spicer’s resignation comes in response to President Donald Trump’s appointment of New York financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. Spicer had been acting communications director since Trump took office. Spicer will be replaced by current deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Spicer will continue serving as press secretary through August, according to a statement from Trump. Spicer was named press secretary for the Trump administration last December. Spicer also served as communications director after Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller refused an offer for the position. Spicer served six months in the dual role before his resignation. Although six months is an unusually short term for a press secretary, the job typically has a much higher turnover rate than other executive positions, said Nicholas Browning, an assistant professor of public relations in the Media School. And it’s a grueling job, Browning said. “When there’s a failure of getting a clear message out, that secretary — being the face of what that message is — is necessarily going to be the one who faces the brunt of the criticism,” he said. “And not just from the press, but from the president.” Spicer’s duration as press secretary was marked by conflicting messages from the White House communications team and the president himself, who frequently used his Twitter account to deliver messages. William Ellis, the county chair for the Monroe County Republican Party, saw Trump’s use of Twitter as a good thing. “Sean Spicer was a traditional press secretary, and Trump was not a traditional president, and I think they butted heads on that,” he said. “Trump bypasses the traditional messaging. He uses social media to get it directly to the people.” The combativeness of the Spicer-era could increase with Scaramucci as communications SEE SPICER, PAGE 3
Arena will give wrestling, volleyball a home on campus By Austin Ghirardelli aghirard@imail.iu.edu | @a_ghirardelli
IU’s volleyball and wrestling teams will soon have a home on campus in the form of a new 3,000seat, $17 million arena. The new venue will be located on the northwest corner of 17th Street and Fee Lane, next to Cook Hall and near IU’s other athletics facilities. Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities Thomas Morrison said the idea of a new arena for the teams has been in the works for quite a while. “This has been part of the University’s master plan for a long time,” Morrison said. “We’ve been trying to relocate all the athletic programs on to the athletic district. Volleyball and wrestling have been competing in a building in the technology park. It is far away from the rest of the athletic complex.” Morrison said this was the last relocation needed in the athletic master plan. IU volleyball head coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said this move is something that she has also been looking forward to.
“Excited would be an understatement,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “This will be my 11th season here and it’s something we’ve talked about pretty much my entire career here. After seeing the kind of arenas in the Big Ten and the ones they are currently building, we thought it was not only wanted, but needed to keep us competitive in what’s considered best conference in the country for volleyball.” The new arena’s location was highly discussed when planning the move, Morrison said. Dunbar-Kruzan said she believes the change of scenery could help increase attendance at games. “Our location is not good,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “We are off-campus so we have great community support, which we are hoping to maintain in the new arena, but we lack student support because of the inconvenience of having to get to the games. I think if they can walk and know exactly where it is, they will come.” Morrison said students were the top priority when planning the move.
“The student-athletes are much closer to all their other services like athletic training, nutrition and academic services,” Morrison said. “It’s also closer to where the students live, making it easier to get to.” Dunbar-Kruzan said moving closer to IU’s other athletics facilities will make everything more convenient for the student-athletes. “There’s no better location for it,” Dunbar-Kruzan said. “They looked at a lot of places and of course I would have been supportive of them all because we are getting a new gym, but this is by far the best location I could have dreamed of. It’s right across from the Briscoe dorms and it’s right in the middle of the activity.” Morrison said the process of getting the venue built usually takes about a year to plan before getting approved and about another year to build. “It’s been through the design approval,” Morrison said. “We would hope to start construction this fall and we think it should take about twelve months. It’s not a very compliCOURTESY PHOTOS cated building to build so we expect Renderings show the exterior and interior of IU’s planned volleyball and wrestling arena, to be built adjacent to other IU Athletics facilities on campus. it to be done in the fall of 2018.”