MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014
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INDIANA DAILY STUDENT | IDSNEWS.COM
SAMANTHA STARR | IDS
WIUX, IU’s student radio station, has been housed at 815 E. Eighth St. for more than 40 years.
WIUX studio among houses to be moved BY ALEXIS DAILY aledaily@indiana.edu
Street and Indiana Avenue, the current location of the Fiji house. This left the fraternity without a house. But Atlas would’ve liked some say in the process. “There’s all of these little deals being made, and it would’ve been nice to be considered,” Atlas said. Nine years ago, Atlas and two other students created the student garden, inspired by an IU course called Religion, Ecology and the Self. After a year and a half of work, their proposal to plant a garden on the vacant lot on Eighth Street and Fess Avenue was approved on one condition; if a revenue-generating entity wanted their space, they’d be kicked out. Now they’re unsure how long they have left to garden together in this space. Since its start, the garden has been a site for school tours and speakers and has provided food to local homeless shelters. From 5 to 7 p.m. every Sunday and Wednesday
Student radio members lament the loss of a house full of memories. The house on 815 E. Eighth St. doesn’t look like much — its paint is chipping, the basement is rather moldy — but for 41 years it has been a learning lab and a home to staff members of WIUX, IU’s student radio station. “That run-down but charming house on Eighth Street is kind of a welcoming monument, which is why we still call it The Mansion,” WIUX Financial Manager and IU senior Lucas Wozniak said. “It’s been a safe haven, a canvas, a hangout, a venue, a greenroom, an origin of romance and untold other things to umpteen people, not simply a house with a studio in it.” Because of construction on the new Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house, the station will be relocated to the 700 block of the same street, on an IU-owned vacant lot. As WIUX staff members prepare for relocation, the history of the 815 house isn’t far from their thoughts. WIUX has a rich history of students falling in love in the 815 studio, Sarah Thompson, a junior majoring in business marketing and the incoming station manager for WIU, said. According to the WIUX Facebook page, radio duo Jon and Noonie Fugler were students at IU in the 1970s, both of them working at WIUX . Jon’s sports show was before Noonie’s news show, and he knew she was nearing the studio when he heard her trip on the uneven step each week. The two have been married for more than 35 years and worked at K-LIFE FM until 2011. “I view WIUX as the quintessential example of what it means to build something unique and interesting with a group of people who are always excited about it and often about each other, and that’s a difficult environment to find,” Wozniak said. “It’s been an unforgettable few years, and I can’t wait for more.” Wozniak said he got his start at WIUX when a friend on the news team asked him to be a guest commentator on a story about the effect of Julian Assange’s case on how individuals perceive international privacy laws. He said A.D. Quig, the producer at the time, told him he had a voice for radio and she wanted him to contribute in the future. “She went on to give me a lot of encouragement and guidance in the following year and a half and help me develop my work in political commentary, which is still the subject of my weekly broadcasts both as a talk show host and segment contributor to our news hour,” he said. Thompson said one of her favorite memories at 815 was the special events committee and music committee’s joint end-of-the-year party. Not only did they celebrate all of the hard work, but also the graduation of Special Events Director Jen Samson and Thompson’s Co-Music Director Tori Miner. She said the WIUX staff took a study break during dead week to eat chips and salsa in the living room, watch movie documentaries and smash open a piñata while the speakers were tuned into the 99.1 WIUX
SEE SPROUTS, PAGE 7
SEE WIUX, PAGE 7
SAMANTHA STARR | IDS
Founder Daniel Atlas and gardener Taylor Beck spread hay Wednesday evening around the SPROUTS community garden.
IU construction plans uproot local garden Fess Ave.
Collins LLC
Ninth St.
Eighth St.
Woodlawn Ave.
Mathers Museum
Indiana Ave.
A white and orange sign read “Road Closed,” blocking entry to the 800 block of Eighth street. A mouse darted out of a pile of mulch by the garden’s wooden gate, almost running into Daniel Atlas. He got to the garden a little early for the workday Sunday. Atlas created the Students Producing Organics Under The Sun garden nine years ago and has been a faithful attendee ever since. Sadly, Atlas said, volunteer attendance at SPROUTS student garden has been low since the news came out that SPROUTS will be kicked out of their space on the corner of Eighth Street and Fess Avenue. In June the IU Board of Trustees approved the construction of the new Phi Gamma Delta house in the University Courts neighborhood. This will result in the relocation of four or five houses on East Eighth Street and the demolition of one or two. One house will be relocated to the lot where SPROUTS is located. Soon after the campus bell tower chimed 5 p.m., Atlas was joined by SPROUTS Senior Vice President Lauren Martin. “We’re cutting mint today, right?” Martin said, bringing buckets of dirt into the garden. Martin started coming to SPROUTS because it was a space she could hang out with people and learn. Amid the partying environment of college, it’s been a haven for her. “This gave me an outlet for meeting other people without having to be in a partying kind of space,” she said. “The fraternity life is much more centered around drinking and partying.” No members of SPROUTS received any formal notification that the garden would be affected by the Phi Gamma Delta, commonly referred to as Fiji, house construction. Atlas said he knew the University had plans to expand the Maurer School of Law to the space on Third
Park Ave.
BY SARAH ZINN sjzinn@indiana.edu
GRAPHIC BY CONNOR RILEY | IDS
The map above shows the relocation plans of houses on Eighth Street. Purple houses mark current locations, and green houses mark the proposed new positions. Houses marked with a red X are recomended for demolition.
IU couple celebrates marriage despite stay on ruling Alex Anderson, a junior criminal justice major at IU, and IU graduate Ashli Lovell were united in marriage June 25 following a federal ruling that Indiana’s gay marriage ban was unconstitutional. Two days later, when a couple would typically be on a honeymoon, a stay on the ruling placed the status of their marriage in limbo. In an interview, the two discussed what it was like growing up gay, having faith and also what they can do for future generations. Anderson, as a child, had always known she was gay. “I dated guys along the way, but I was never really able to be myself in high school,” she said. “I hated school for that reason.” Anderson also came from a conservative Christian family, which she
feared would not look kindly upon her for being gay. “That’s been the hardest part of this whole thing,” she said. For Lovell, it was different. “I didn’t really know I was gay, but I knew something was up,” Lovell said. “I was more into girls than I was into guys, and I didn’t think it was normal.” Coming from a Christian family, Lovell prayed she wouldn’t be gay, but it just wasn’t something she could run from. After meeting Anderson, she finally came to terms with who she was, Lovell said. Both of the women lived in Bedford, Ind., and attended the same high school, but they didn’t meet for the first time until family friends brought them together between five
and six years ago. Nearly three years later, the two had begun dating. From their relationship, a new challenge arose: telling their families. Anderson and Lovell were both raised in conservative Christian families and coming out to their parents was no easy task. “I think that’s been the hardest part of all this,” Anderson said. “They’re struggling with what’s right and what’s wrong.” Coming out with Lovell as her partner worsened Anderson’s scenario. “It leaves hard feelings toward Ashli because she was the person I came out with, when in fact I knew I was gay many years before meeting her,” Anderson said. Lovell’s parents were a bit more understanding.
“They were all right with it, but not overjoyed,” she said. It wasn’t just their parents they were worried about. They became concerned with how their community would react as well. They said Bedford as a community was conservative in its ideals, and they feared the general population would not approve. “Some people stopped talking with us,” Lovell said. “That’s part of the reason we’re in Bloomington. It’s pretty progressive when compared to Bedford.” Despite religion being the reason Anderson’s parents have yet to accept the couple’s homosexuality, the two have kept their faith. “Since coming out, I’ve read a lot SEE COUPLE, PAGE 7
SAMANTHA STARR | IDS
Alex Anderson and Ashli Lovell pose for a photo to celebrate their marriage.