Thursday, April 6, 2017
IDS Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Elbert to forgo last two seasons By Josh Eastern jeastern@indiana.edu | @JoshEastern
ROSE BYTHROW | IDS
Chef Pema Wangchen and Penpa get ready to start cooking dinner Wednesday night. Although Penpa and the rest of the cooks speak little to no English, they still love to cook their traditional Tibetan foods for college students and professors.
IU redshirt sophomore guard Tia Elbert has chosen to forgo her final two seasons of eligibility and graduate early, according to an IU Athletics press release. Elbert came off the bench in 31 games this season and averaged 6.8 minutes and 1.5 points per game. Elbert was a transfer from Marquette and was forced to sit out the 2015-16 season at IU due to NCAA transfer regulations. “This was a really difficult decision to make, as I am truly thankful for the opportunity to wear an Indiana uniform,” Elbert said in a release. “This is a choice I’m making based to complete my degree in the fall of 2017 and move back to my family in Minnesota sooner rather than later.” At Marquette, Elbert started 23 times as a freshman while playing in all 31 games in 2014-15. Elbert averaged 8.6 points and 3.0 assists and was named an all-Big East Freshman. It is unclear what comes next for Elbert in her basketball career. IU Coach Teri Moren thanked Elbert for her contributions to the school. “We respect her decision to forego the remainder of her eligibility, and we are looking forward to fulfilling our promise of helping her earn her degree from Indiana University’s Kelly (sic.) School of Business next fall,” Moren said in the release.
Taste of peace Community members reflect on power of food to fight xenophobia By Christine Fernando ctfernan@indiana.edu | @ctfernan
Surrounded by pictures of the Dalai Lama and paintings of Himalayan villages that decorate the walls of Anyetsang’s Little Tibet, the Tibetan restaurant’s owner Pema Wangchen stood behind a counter in the back. He dried forks, knives and spoons with a dishcloth as a plate of two half-moon Tibetan dumplings sat on the table beside him. “I eat one almost every day,” he said. The dumplings, called
momos, are also his favorite food to make. Wangchen’s uncle was born in Tibet, moved to India and then immigrated again to the United States. When he opened the restaurant here 20 years ago, he brought his momo-making techniques with him. Now, Wangchen carries on the same tradition. The process of making momos begins with mixing flour and water into dough. After setting that aside, he minces meat and vegetables for the filling. Last, he cuts pieces of dough into circles, scoops in the filling
and carefully pinches the folds together. “By sharing Tibetan food, I honor my country,” Wangchen said. “Food is life for us. It is powerful.” In response to crackdowns on undocumented immigrants, restrictions on entry from Muslim-majority countries and calls for stricter overall immigration policy under the Trump administration, proponents of immigration have rushed to tout its benefits. Those who support immigration often claim it benefits United States culture and the
economy. One such proponent of immigration is Merna Hecht, the founder of “Our Table of Memories” — a project that encourages immigrant children in high schools around the country to connect with their cultures by writing poetry about their traditional foods. Hecht said the U.S. boasts the inclusion of global cuisines that create a melting pot of flavors from all ends of the Earth. “It’s the combination of all these unique and different SEE BREAD, PAGE 6
Bill Garrett, first black IU basketball player, honored By Sarah Verschoor sverscho@indiana.edu | @SarahVerschoor
Bill Garrett was short for a center. It didn’t stop the 6’2’’ basketball player from setting new scoring and rebounding records while he played for IU’s varsity team from 1948 to 1951. Garrett was black, and 1950s racial attitudes didn’t deter him from breaking the unofficial gentleman’s agreement among coaches that barred black players from playing in the Big Ten. “It was somewhat of an adjustment as far as the team players were concerned that had to be made that made it a little rough at the start,” Garrett said in a 1970 interview documented by the Center for the Study of History and Memory on his time at IU. “The student body made it easy for me to be happy year in and year out as I went through from a freshman on through my senior year.” The Indiana Historical Bureau and IU will honor Garrett’s legacy and influence on the University with a state historical marker. The marker will be unveiled 11 a.m. Saturday with a reception in Alumni Hall that will feature speakers including Provost Lauren Robel; Tom Graham, who authored a book on Garrett; and Billy Garrett, Garrett’s son. The marker will permanently reside just off the corner of North Forrest Avenue and Seventh Street outside the School of Public Health building and the gym, formerly known as the Fieldhouse, where Garrett played basketball.
The Fieldhouse today is the Ora. L Wildermuth Intramural Center. Wildermuth was a judge from Gary, Indiana, who dedicated much of his life to IU. He served on the IU Board of Trustees for 27 years, was the president from 1938 to 1949 and worked to have the Fieldhouse built. He was also a segregationist. “I am and shall always remain absolutely and utterly opposed to social intermingling of the colored race with the white,” Wildermuth wrote in a letter in 1945 to fellow board member Ward Biddle. “I belong to the white race and shall remain loyal to it. It always has been the dominant and leading race.” Wildermuth’s tenure as board president overlapped with about two years when Garrett played basketball at IU. “The only way to assure the perpetuity of the white race is to keep it absolutely pure in so far (sic.) as the colored race is concerned,” Wildermuth wrote. Some have noticed the inconsistency of honoring IU’s first black basketball player in a place named for someone who was prosegregation. “It’s a painful irony,” said Rachel Graham Cody, author of “Getting Open,” a book about Garrett’s life. Graham Cody and her father, Tom Graham, wrote the book together. Graham and Bob Hammel, former sports editor of the Herald Times, started working with the Indiana Historical Bureau in 2015 to get the marker and decide
where it should be placed. “We chose the Wildermuth Center because that is where Bill Garrett played, and so it is the only appropriate place to put it,” Graham said. They were fully aware of Wildermuth’s name on the building and the incongruity it presented, Graham said. “But if that is a problem, then the issue is the name of a racist on the building not the placement of a marker commemorating a historic breakthrough for integration that occurred there,” Graham said. Junior Grant Prather said he didn’t know Wildermuth was prosegregation. Prather is the president of Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically black fraternity that Garrett was a member of at IU. “It goes to show how tough it was for men of color to be able to get that position of influence and also how still prominent these kind of systematic issues are today,” Prather said. There is still work to be done to make IU a campus that is more suitable for minority students, Prather said. Prather knows the power of a name. In 1911, when Kappa Alpha Psi was started at IU, it used to be called Kappa Alpha Nu but was renamed when people called athletes from the fraternity Kappa Alpha racial slur during competitions. This isn’t the first time the Wildermuth name has come into question. The IU Board of SEE GARRETT, PAGE 6
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COURTESY PHOTO
Bill Garrett stands with then IU basketball Coach Branch McCracken. Garrett was the first black player in the Big Ten.
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