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SPEA accepts Koch funding
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Graduate students respond to $210,000 grant extension By Eman Mozaffar emozaffa@indiana.edu | @emanmozaffar
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Shannon Love, left, and Rachel Mikol perfom a duet during the “Cosi fan Tutte” rehearsal Monday at the Musical Arts Center. Written by Mozart, the Italian opera tells a story of fidelity between two couples.
Timeless adventure By Maia Rabenold mrabenol@indiana.edu | @maialyra
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he title of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 18th century opera, one of the last he ever wrote, loosely translates to “women are fickle.” For this reason, “Cosi fan tutte” can be seen as misogynistic, stage director Michael Shell said. Second year doctoral student Mathilda Edge, who plays Fiordiligi in IU Opera’s production of “Cosi fan tutte,” which opens Friday, said she prefers the alternate title “La scuola degli amanti,” or “The School for Lovers.” “The men are fickle, too, and they’re learning what love is, too,”
Edge said. “It’s interesting that in the title it’s the women that are fickle because the women are the ones that fall, but if you think about it, the men probably fell too.” In the opera, the men are convinced by their older friend to trick their fiancees, sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, into being unfaithful. They tell the sisters they are going to war, but they come back disguised as foreign men and try to seduce the girls. What neither of the men nor their friend expect is for each girl to fall for the man to whom she’s not engaged. “Through disguising themselves, the men find out that they are different people than they
COSI FAN TUTTE Tickets $10-$16 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 and 13 Musical Arts Center thought they were,” Shell said. “The women in a way also disguise themselves because they do something that they initially thought that they would never do, which is to explore another possibility, another person. Ultimately, they learn that the relationship that they were previously in was not the one that was going to be fulfilling.” For 1790, this opera about engaged couples cheating on each SEE OPERA, PAGE 6
The School of Public and Environmental Affairs’ reputation is in danger, said graduate student Ben Weise. The Charles Koch Foundation has supplied a $210,000 grant extension to Doug Noonan, a professor at the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis branch of SPEA. The grant was provided to further Noonan’s Political Economy and Environmental Research Initiative, which has been in progress since 2014. Koch Industries, Inc., a multibillion dollar corporation, is led by Charles and David Koch. Although their company has stakes in several industries, including oil, finance, farming and energy, the Koch brothers are known for contributing billions of dollars to support their conservative political interests. The family also funneled funding into groups and initiatives that find evidence to support climate change denial. Although Weise trusts the peer-review process and does not doubt Noonan’s abilities and integrity, he said he fears the money’s ties to the Koch brothers may tarnish and discredit Noonan’s research. “It’s the leadership’s job to step in and say this isn’t right,” Weise said. “We are fighting for the ethics of the situation — I have requested for our school to return the unspent money and make the gifts and grants process more transparent.” Weise, along with fellow graduate students Brett Wiley and Andy Braden, began an online petition for the administration to address these concerns. The document, which has currently garnered nearly 200 supporters from SPEA alumni, students and other concerned parties, aims to bring change and reform to the research funding process. “If SPEA needs more money, though, then we should be getting it from Gov. Pence and the state of SEE KOCH, PAGE 6
FOOTBALL | RECRUITING
Kevin Wilson not concerned with rank of new recruits Somebody told IU Coach Kevin Wilson this was his worst class since 2012. But Wilson doesn’t see this as a problem. “Well, shoot, that was pretty good,” he said. “IU will take that a lot.” The 2012 class had three AllAmericans in Tevin Coleman, Jason Spriggs and Dan Feeney. It brought Nate Sudfeld, Nick Mangieri and many of the players who took IU to its first bowl game in eight years. That class may not have been rated highly, but it included many of the biggest names in recent IU history. “Look where ’12 started, look where they finished,” Wilson said. So it isn’t all about ratings in Wilson’s eyes. He often talks about how IU is working toward recruiting longer and more athletic bodies. He said the 2016 class is another good body class. The goal with this idea is not to recruit players whom scouting services deem the best, but to find people that have the frame to grow into better players. That 2012 class wasn’t so highly rated, but it produced. Wilson said it comes down to the weight room, nutrition, academic support,
coaching and the student doing the job. “Recruiting is one phase of the deal,” he said. “The next deal is development.” 247sports ranked this class 11th in the Big Ten and 55th nationally. The 2016 class was the result of a year in which Wilson didn’t have his contract extended until January. He said players sometimes wondered who would be their coaches if they committed to IU. IU Director of Athletics Fred Glass called some recruits to ensure commitment to Wilson while the contract was still unfinished. This class was more offense oriented with 14-of-21 commits expected to play on offense. Wilson said it is a result of focusing on defense the past few years and needing to regain numbers on offense for the future. Wilson is now entering his sixth season as IU’s head football coach. One result of his tenure is learning what he wants and needs. He said he noticed a few years ago IU was recruiting receivers who were too small. Now, he realizes he wants long, athletic bodies, like Ak-
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IU Coach Kevin Wilson speaks at a press conference Dec. 6, 2015, at Memorial Stadium regarding the Pinstripe Bowl.
ron, Ohio, athlete Jonah Morris. He said the team used to trot out defensive backs standing as short as 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9. Now, each member of the 2016 defensive back class is listed at 6-foot or taller. Largo, Florida, defensive back Brandon Drayton is 6-foot-2. While it may be easy to say that
the class suffered from the delay in Wilson’s contract renewal, he said he signed athletes he felt could work here. He wasn’t trying to sign recruits to fill his last two scholarships. “These kids we added at the end were not stretches,” he said. “I’m telling you, I’m holding two right now and we walked away from
some.” As National Signing Day ends, Wilson’s upbeat and jovial demeanor for his class can only last so long. He said now it is time to worry about the 2017 class. “If we don’t get those juniors on campus by March, it’s like you’re out of the game,” Wilson said.
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National signing day, page 9 The men’s and women’s soccer teams also had their national signing days Wednesday.
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