Aug. 22, 2012 | The Reflector

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THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

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VOL.

91

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reflector.uindy.edu

AUGUST 22, 2012

Lilly Endowment grants funds for civic institute

Grant will help start-up and renovation costs for institute

The University of Indianapolis Institute for Civic Leadership and Mayoral Archives recently received a $2 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. This grant is the largest lump sum the institute has received.With this grant, the institute has raised $3.8 million of the estimated $7.5 million necessary to begin work. According to lillyendowment.org, “As desired by its founders, Lilly Endowment concentrates its philanthropic efforts in community development in its home territory of Indianapolis and Indiana.” The endowment has funded the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning at UIndy, as well as other educational projects throughout the state. “The Lilly Endowment is the most influential, prominent and visible granting agency,” said Interim Director of the Institute for Civic Leadership and Mayoral Archives and Associate Professor of History and Political Science Edward Frantz. “And if you have the backing of the most prominent granting agency in your backyard, it’s a sign of validation and support.” According to a UIndy news release, the institute will be a hub for research, teaching and public conversation, with resources for students, scholars, city planners and community leaders to explore the issues facing today’s urban centers. The institute will have two components: the mayoral archives and the symposium. The mayoral archives

will chronicle Indianapolis history over the careers of four mayors, whose mayoral papers will be catalogued in a renovated area of Krannert Memorial Library. The funds from the grant will greatly help to start these renovations. “A lot of gifts come with restrictions,” said Vice President for University Advancement James Smith. “So we are particularly grateful that they [Lilly Endowment Inc.] have given us a lot of latitude for getting the program launched.” According to Frantz, the institute will move forward with staffing, programming and processing the mayoral documents. Frantz also mentioned that a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work will go into organizing the papers to make them viewable. “We’re in the process of sitting down and envisioning which steps to take and when, so that the institute and the programming that goes with it is what we dreamed about, what the endowment hopes,” Frantz said. “And most importantly, [to make sure] the mayors’ expectations are fulfilled.” While the institute is being envisioned and planned, UIndy will be working to piggy-back off the support from the prominent Lilly Endowment grant to gain more support for the institute. Smith said that the endowment’s support can lend to the institute, especially with regard to fundraising opportunities. “The Lilly Endowment doesn’t invest in something that isn’t fully vetted,” Smith said. “Support from the endowment shows other investors that [the institute] is something to look at.”

The six-year limit on subsidized loans could be a problem for some students starting in the 2013-2014 academic year. UIndy currently has a borrowing limit of 186 credit hours, and the U.S. government currently has a limit of $23,000 of subsidized borrowing for four years. “That’s the downside to this, [Congress] is limiting student borrowing to no more than 150 percent of the student’s program [roughly 6 years],”Osborne said. Osborne said, however, that most UIndy students should not have to worry about the limit.

“Most [UIndy] undergraduate students do graduate in four or five years, so they should have enough [aid], especially if they are careful,” Osborne said. Osborne added that paying on unsubsidized loans that are accruing interest while the student is in school is a good idea. Handy stressed that students should not borrow more than is necessary. “Students should be aware of what their expenses actually are and not borrow more than they really need to,” Handy said. “It may not seem like a lot now, but over a long period of time those balances add up.”

By Leeann Doerflein DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Photo by Kelbi Ervin

Newly-constructed Roberts Hall includes kitchens on every floor, mailboxes for residents, a fitness center and a solar water heater.

Roberts Hall ready for students By Kaley Belakovich EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The newest University of Indianapolis residence hall, Roberts Hall, is open and soon will house 170 upperclassmen in both single and double rooms. Roberts Hall features semi-private bathrooms, like Central and East Halls, where one bathroom connects two rooms. Each floor has its own laundry room, kitchen, common area and color scheme. Roberts Hall also has its own fitness center, which contains cardio workout equipment such as treadmills and elliptical machines. It also is the first residence hall to have its own mailboxes for residents. Students living in other residence halls pick up their mail in Schwitzer Student Center. “[With] the mailboxes in Schwitzer,

there’s no more space. So when we were building this [Roberts Hall] we had to put those mailboxes in,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli. “The hope is that eventually all the buildings will go to that, years down the road. ” Another unique feature about Roberts Hall is its solar water heating system—the first installed on campus— which uses newer technology than other similar systems, according to Director of the Physical Plant Ken Piepenbrink. “A lot of hot water systems, solar water systems, actually run the water through a panel where the water is heated, and it’s pretty inefficient. And you have to have a lot of panels to get a lot of heat for the amount of storage you needs—especially for a dorm where you have a lot of showers...They also operate where you have to have direct sunlight to

work, to heat the water,” Piepenbrink said. “The system that this company developed has an old vacuum tube—in other words, it’s a tube that has metal sensors that run through it, and basically they gather the heat into this metal and actually can get the heat whether it’s a cloudy day or not.” Piepenbrink said the heat then is transferred to the water, which heats more quickly with this new technology than it would with older technology. Although he believes that this solar water heating system will be a success, there is a backup plan. Roberts Hall has a natural gas water boiler in case the solar heating system fails to meet expectations. According to Piepenbrink, if this system is successful in Roberts Hall, the university will consider replacing old water heating systems with solar heating systems. A dedication ceremony for Roberts Hall is scheduled for Sept. 27.

Congress extends interest rate, sets limits on student loans By Leeann Doerflein DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

WELCOME WEEK 2012

In late June, the United States Congress voted to pass a one-year extension of the current subsidized Stafford Loan interest rate of 3.4 percent. However, Congress also placed a six-year limit on students’ ability to take out subsidized student loans. The Stafford Loan subsidized interest rate was lowered from 6.8 percent in 2007 when Congress enacted a gradual rate

reduction in response to the slumping economy. The rate dropped to 3.4 percent but had been set to rise back to 6.8 percent last July, according to Director of Financial Aid Linda Handy. “The government [probably] felt like doubling the rate would be adding insult to injury. So there was a big push to legislate a one year reprieve,” Handy said. The rate extension gives student borrowers a break in light of the high unemployment rate among young workers.

8/22 2:30 p.m.

Opening Session Esch Hall

8/23 7:00 p.m.

Courageous Movie Night Schwitzer - McCleary Chapel

8/23 8:30 p.m.

Hypnotist Dan Lornitis Ransburg Auditorium

8/24 9:00 p.m.

Comedy Night

Schwitzer - UIndy Hall

8/24 11:00 p.m.

Ice Cream Trucks Parking Lot #14

8/26 11:00 a.m.

Worship Services Smith Mall

8/26 9:00 p.m.

Outdoor Movie Smith Mall

WELCOME WEEK SPECIAL!

ENTERTAINMENT & OPINION 2

“It’s hard to say x-dollars is the effect, but it is for sure that without it [the extension], everyone would have paid more,” Handy said. According to money.cnn.com, the $6 billion required to pay for the rate extension will come from changing the way that companies fund pensions. The rate extension took effect in July, but the accompanying six-year limit on borrowing will take effect exclusively for new borrowers starting with the 20132014 academic year, according to Assistant Director of Financial Aid Sandra Osborne.

Drought affects campus By Anna Wieseman MANAGING EDITOR

With temperatures reaching 100 degrees and above, Indiana felt the effects of a nationwide drought, which caused crop failure and led Indianapolis and Marion County to institute a water ban. This ban prohibited watering lawns and filling swimming pools, restricted companies and farmers from using irrigation systems to water plants, and more. Under the ban, educational institutions were only allowed to water athletic fields that would be needed in the fall. This part of the ban hit the University of Indianapolis hard. “We had to restrict that [watering] down to three days a week only: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” said Director of the Physical Plant Ken Piepenbrink. “It [watering] had to be after 9 o’clock in the evening, so that we cut back on evaporation.” An exemption allowed groundskeepers to hand-water plants, which happened on a three day per week rotation. Although other projects kept physical plant personnel busy, the ban slowed normal projects. “We haven’t been able to replace [plants] like we usually do during the summers— bushes, shrubs, things like that,” Piepenbrink said. “Roberts Hall, for instance... we’re not going to do any landscaping there until more in[to] the fall. We normally

FEATURE & SPORTS 3

Photo by James Figy

Groundskeepers were forced to hand-water plants, such as these shrubs, due to the instituted water ban. would have wanted to go ahead and put that in.” Senior theatre education major Caitlyn Spires worked as a summer resident assistant and saw first hand the effects of the watering ban on campus. “Part of campus looked really green because of the sprinklers. But wherever there wasn’t a sprinkler the grass was brown. It [the difference] was basically night and day,” Spires said. This summer’s record temperatures did not affect the way the Physical Plant worked, according to Piepenbrink. “It’s one of those things where it was hot but wasn’t humid hot. Humidity is the one that kills you, the one that drains you,” Piepenbrink said. “Plus our people,

Reviews

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especially our grounds guys, are coming in early, at 5 o’clock in the morning, to do their work.” Recent rainfall has helped revitalize the landscape around UIndy. “We’ve been lucky. It’s greened up a lot in the last couple of weeks, because we’ve gotten some rain, which shows that we had pretty good turf before, that it’s been able to bounce back,” Piepenbrink said. Spires also saw the effect in the way the campus looked before and after the rain. “Between the construction with Roberts and all the dry dust, you could see the dirt in the air. The south side of campus was a mess,” Spires said. “When it finally rained, everything looked healthier and cleaner.”

Athlete heads to London

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