Thursday, February 22, 2024

A guide to Monroe County's contested May primaries

Educators speak out against Senate Bill 202

The

bill would tighten oversight of tenure in Indiana’s public universities

By Christina Avery averycm@iu.edu

University faculty are speaking out in opposition to Senate Bill 202, a controversial bill that would heighten legislative overview of Indiana’s public universities to increase “intellectual diversity” and change tenure criteria.

Authored by Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, the bill would change the way university boards of trustees are elected by removing appointment power from alumni councils, instead giving it to House and Senate Republican majority leaders.

The bill passed through the Senate earlier this month and had its first House reading Feb. 12. It saw hours of critical testimony at the statehouse from educators across the state.

Indiana isn’t the first to introduce this kind of legislation. A similar bill was passed in Florida in 2022, and others have been introduced in states such as Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana. Re-

publican lawmakers have expressed grievances with course content such as teaching about race, and expressed concern that tenure allows faculty members to be less productive, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Recent events and blatant antisemitism have placed a spotlight on the hyper-politicalization and monolithic thinking of American higher education institutions, and many are warning that universities have lost their way,” Deery said in a press release.

Currently, IU’s board of trustees consists of eight members — three of whom are elected by the alumni association, five of whom are appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb and one who is a student representative. The bill would cut down the number of trustees elected by the alumni council from three to just one, leaving the other two up to legislators.

Indiana head coach

Mike Woodson quiets retirement idea

By Daniel Flick danflick@iu.edu | @ByDanielFlick

Amidst a challenging season, Indiana men’s basketball head coach Mike Woodson is committed to being a part of the solution moving forward.

Woodson, who turns 66 on March 24, is in Year 3 of a six-year contract signed March of 2021 — and he intends on being in Bloomington for years to come.

“I'm almost 66 but I feel good and still move around, and I think I still think well in terms of the game, and I still think I can teach the game,” Woodson said in a Zoom press conference Feb. 22.

Woodson will be turning 69 years old when his contract expires in March of 2027 and he’s unsure if he’ll want to coach beyond then.

“There are coaches that are coaching into their 70s,” Woodson said. “I don't know if that's something I'll do. But at this point, I'll take it a day at a time, a year at a time. I'm not going anywhere any time soon, guys, I'm just not.” The Indianapolis native has led the Hoosiers to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons, going 21-14 in 2021-2022 and 23-12 in 2022-2023.

Indiana missed the tournament in each of the previous five years before Woodson took over.

A star player on Bob Knight’s Indiana squads from 1976-1980, Woodson played in the NBA from 1980-1991 before transitioning into coaching in 1996. He was twice an NBA head coach, first from 2004-2010 with the Atlanta Hawks and again

from 2012-2014 with the New York Knicks.

Woodson compiled a record of 44-26 during his first two years, but the Hoosiers have battled inconsistency this season. Indiana is 14-11 overall and 6-8 in Big Ten play with six games remaining. The Hoosiers haven’t beaten a ranked foe and are just 4-3 inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall against conference opponents.

Woodson, who now earns over $4 million annually after receiving a raise from $3 million last spring, has been given his first extensive taste of disappointment — yet he remains focused on satisfying the goal he set upon returning to Bloomington: restoring Indiana’s national relevancy. “I came back to try to put this team in the best position possible, and I'm going to continue to do that,” Woodson said. “I'm going to continue to build this team and put it in the best position possible and see where it leads us.”

Whitten

By Marissa Meador marnmead@iu.edu | @marissa_meador

In a letter sent to U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana obtained by the IDS through a public records request, IU President Pamela Whitten explained IU’s safety procedures and antisemitism prevention measures in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. The letter, sent Dec. 1, was a response to a Nov. 15 letter Banks sent to Whitten warning IU could lose federal funding if it condoned or tolerated antisemitism on campus.

Increased security for Jewish students

In the letter, Whitten wrote that immediately following the Oct. 7 attack, the IU Police Department increased police patrols, added new security cameras on campus and established a greater presence around “key campus areas,” including Jewish sororities and fraternities, IU Hillel and Chabad IU.

In addition to daily contact with local, state and national law enforcement, IU is in regular contact with the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the safety of the

responds to Jim Banks’ letter

Jewish community across North America, according to the letter. Whitten also wrote the university has regular communication with the Israel on Campus Coalition’s national field director to increase support for Jewish students and implement successful practices from other institutions.

The ICC is a national pro-Israel organization that describes its mission as instilling pride in Israel and empowering college students to stand up for the country. Founded in 2002, the group aims to ensure a positive U.S.-Israel relationship by improving the campus climate toward Israel to “shape the next generation of American leaders,” according to its website.

A joint investigation by ProPublica and Forward in 2018 found the ICC had created and funded fake Facebook pages to target a Palestinian-American poet that was performing at college campuses in 2016.

The same investigation includes statements by Jacob Baime, CEO of the ICC, recorded on video by an undercover Al Jazeera reporter in 2016.

In the video, Baime said

ICC officials “coordinate” or “communicate” with Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, which the ProPublica and Forward investigation describes as “the hub of the Israeli government’s overt and covert efforts against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in the U.S. and around the world.”

Chief Operating Officer Ian Hersh added in the video that “in terms of information sharing,” the ministry was added to ICC’s “Operations and Intelligence Brief,” which includes information on targeted pro-

Palestinian students and faculty, according to the Nation. Baime described in the video how their system analyzes social media posts from anti-Israel activists on college campuses and alerts their partners if it “rises to a certain level.” Throughout the video, Baime outlines tactics the organization uses to intimidate activists, such as conducting opposition research and creating anonymous websites to target individuals.

'Samia Halaby Uncanceled' highlights artist's work

By Marissa Meador marnmead@iu.edu | @marissa_meador

A week after Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s exhibition was supposed to open at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, members of the Bloomington community flocked in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater to see the sold-out show, “Samia Halaby Uncanceled.”

Aided by the Bloomington chapter of the American Association of University Professors, IU professor Elizabeth Housworth organized the event, which includes a

series of videos documenting Halaby’s art and life. IU canceled Halaby’s abstract art exhibition Dec. 20, citing security concerns and Halaby’s pro-Palestinian social media posts. In an address to the Bloomington Faculty Council, Provost Rahul Shrivastav explained Halaby’s art, if allowed to open as planned in February, would be a “potential lightning rod” in a charged campus climate influenced by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Though the show had been planned for three

years, IU did not respond to Halaby’s repeated emails to the administration after she was informed of the cancelation nor provide examples of specific threats. The decision has been condemned by many IU faculty members and students, including Eskenazi School staff. It has made waves internationally, gathering condemnation from groups like the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art Museum Watch and PEN America.

Housworth began the

event by thanking the AAUP for sponsoring it and reading a message from Halaby’s grandniece, Madison Gordon. In the message Housworth read, Gordon encouraged the crowd to find joy and wonder in Halaby’s art. “Ceasefire now. Free Palestine,” Gordon wrote at the end of her message. The first video played was a home video Gordon filmed of Halaby explaining her kinetic art made using a Commodore Amiga 1000, a computer released in 1985.

SEE HALABY PAGE 4

SEE BANKS, PAGE 4

COURTESY PHOTO Indiana University President Pamela Whitten (left) and U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana are pictured. Banks sent a letter to Whitten on Nov. 15, 2023, warning IU could lose federal funding if it tolerated antisemitism on campus.

MICHAEL CLAYCAMP | IDS Indiana head coach Mike Woodson is pictured on Feb. 18, 2024, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers took a 76-72 loss to the Wildcats.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“The thinking behind that is these are state institutions,” Deery said. “The general assembly sends hundreds of millions of dollars to them, and they wanted to have some input on the leadership of those institutions.”

The bill would also require boards’ diversity committees to consider “intellectual diversity” along with cultural diversity in faculty complaints and employment policies. Committees would be required to make recommendations to promote and maintain recruitment and retention of “underrepresented” students — such as students who hold conservative beliefs — rather than “minority students,” which is specified in current Indiana law.

Additionally, the legislation would change tenure policies. Boards of trustees would have to prohibit faculty members from being granted tenure or a promotion if they deem the faculty member unlikely to foster free inquiry and expression or unlikely to offer students learning material from a variety of standpoints.

The specific policies would be left up to each individual institution, but the bill mandates that boards would need to conduct reviews of tenured faculty every five years based on the criteria they establish and whether or not the faculty “adequately performed academic duties and obligations.” Post-tenure reviews are periodic peer evaluations of faculty performance that assess a faculty member’s performance and accomplishments.

IU-Bloomington’s campus has over 1,000 tenured faculty, according to a fiscal analysis by the Legislative Services Agency, which would mean IU would need to conduct more than 200 reviews each year to keep up if the bill became law.

Deery said the bill is a response to concerns about the perception and experience of higher education among conservative students. He cited a 2023 Gallup poll, which found the percentage of Republicans with confidence in higher education declined from 56% in 2019 to 19% in 2023. He also referenced a 2022 Gallup survey which found only 46% of conservative Indiana students believed they could openly express their opinions, compared to 79% of liberal students.

Even if these numbers are only perceptions of a campus climate, Deery said, they still matter.

“There’s a number of people that I’ve talked to, and you can find it in survey data as well, that just don’t feel like higher education is the place for them because of a reputation of being rather monolithic in thinking, and sometimes, frankly, rather hostile to some traditional and conservative views,” Deery said.

The legislation has proven controversial, with many representatives from universities across Indiana testifying the bill would inhibit academic freedom. However, Deery argued the bill would be nothing new — in Indiana, promotions to tenure move through faculty committees before being reviewed by the provost of a university, who makes recommendations which are voted on by boards of trustees.

Post-tenure reviews take place at 67% of public universities, according to the American Association of University Professors. At Indiana State University, for instance, tenured faculty are reviewed every three years. At IU- Bloomington, professors on the tenure track receive a review

after their first five years that determines whether they receive tenure.

If Senate Bill 202 were to become law, Deery said, he envisions professors being asked to provide examples of the ways they meet boards’ criteria, including how they are good mentors to students and how they foster diversity in thinking. It’s meant to encourage professors to continue rigorous work even if they receive tenure.

“You might have a professor that, once they got tenure, they stopped working, they stopped researching, maybe they sort of viewed the classroom more as an opportunity to just cultivate their own kind of personal group of political activists, and there are some problems there,” Deery said.

The bill mandates institutions to adopt policies establishing disciplinary action for professors who are found to not meet the bill’s criteria; these actions could include termination, demotion, salary reductions or other actions as determined by the university.

“In extreme circumstances, they might potentially be asked to leave the university, although I would envision those as being very rare circumstances,” Deery said. “Because first of all, most professors are excellent and that’s not an issue, and with a tenure review, those that aren’t would likely review and change that.”

President Whitten, professors oppose legislation

Senate Bill 202 seeks to increase protections for faculty in Indiana against being fired or denied tenure for the content of their research, for criticizing administrators or for outside, non-class-related political activities. These factors could not be considered by boards in determining whether a faculty member has adequately met their academic obligations. The bill also does not mandate the teaching of any particular content or require faculty to expose students to every kind of thought or idea, Deery said.

But faculty and administrators say they fear the bill’s potential impact on academic freedom and the reputation of Indiana’s Research 1 universities, which include IUBloomington, Purdue University-West Lafayette and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“We are deeply concerned about language regarding faculty tenure that would put academic freedom at risk, weaken the intellectual rigor essential to preparing students with critical thinking skills, and damage our ability to compete for the world-class faculty who are at the core of what makes IU an extraordinary research institution,” IU President Pamela Whitten said in a statement. “We all share the common goal to maximize the university’s capacity to make scientific breakthroughs, attract talented students and faculty, drive economic development, and create better outcomes for all Hoosiers.”

The IU Board of Trustees does not have an official spokesperson, but chair Quinn Buckner referred to President Whitten’s statement on behalf of the board.

Deery responded to Whitten’s comments in a statement, saying that representatives from IU were consulted and asked to provide feedback on the bill before it was presented.

Robert Eno, a retired IU professor and member of the IU chapter of the American Association for University Professors, said the legislation could damage the status of Indiana’s research universities which would have

an enormous impact on the state’s culture.

He acknowledged that students whose viewpoints don’t fit the status quo of the majority of the student body may feel constrained from speaking out. However, he said, universities should be able to examine the prevalence of these problems themselves rather than having legislators who are far removed from university faculty intervene.

“Not only is it a counterproductive way to go about it, but it’s going to wind up having this unintended consequence of deeply harming the educational profile of our universities,” Eno said.

The IU-Bloomington and Purdue-West Lafayette AAUP chapters released a joint statement criticizing the bill, in which they said the security imparted by tenure is the fundamental protection of academic freedom. They urged legislators to take a different approach in addressing their concerns, advocating for a path that would strengthen rather than threaten Indiana’s universities.

Senate Bill 202 states boards of trustees’ appointment power would be given to general assembly Republican leaders, “with advice” from Democrat minority leaders. Hussein Banai, an associate professor of international studies in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, said he ultimately thinks it’s meant to superimpose a conservative orthodoxy in universities.

“This is not a bipartisan group of legislators that’s come together and said, ‘Llet’s solve a problem,’ right?” Banai said. “It’s a very partisan group of reactionaries inside the supermajority statehouse.”

If passed, the bill could deter professors and researchers from coming to Indiana universities, he said, because research would be politicized. This would affect not only universities and students but the state’s economic and educational outlook as well. Banai said the bill misunderstands the work and intention of he and his colleagues, who are much more concerned with teaching students how to think, not what to think.

“The question of intellectual diversities itself is a bit of a way of framing people into a kind of binary dialogue — do you have enough of this view, or do you have enough of that view?” Banai said. “And it’s a trap, because the enterprise of higher education is much more than telling students what to think. I mean, I don't do that. I don't know anyone who does that. It's about teaching students how to learn, how to think critically, what questions to ask.”

Obtaining tenure is already a stressful, challenging process for professors, who are met with high expectations and the threat of losing job security if they aren’t awarded tenure. Banai said he worries professors would be held from or lose tenure if the legislature-appointed trustee members simply disagree ideologically with a professor’s research or other work.

While many faculty members may hold progressive views, he said, there is vast disagreement in terms of the actual application of those views and the work they carry out, and a professor’s scholarly work doesn’t always reflect their personal political beliefs.

He said the bill does the very thing it seeks to eliminate. “It would suit the ideological interests of those political partisans who would like to see universities turn into not houses of learning or intellect, but houses of indoctrination for conservative political ideas,” Banai said.

Applications for IUSG Spring 2024 election due Feb.

By Miranda Miller mm163@iu.edu | @mirandamil10

The Spring 2024 IU Student Government General Election is scheduled for March 7-8. This campus-wide election allows enrolled students to exercise their right to vote for the student body president, vice president, and congressional representatives. Regardless of their academic background or experience, any enrolled student has the right to run for elected positions. For a student to run in the upcoming election, they must file a declaration of candidacy. Applications are now open on IUSG’s website, and the deadline is 11:59 p.m., Monday, Feb. 26.

The presidential ticket declaration requires information about the president and the vice president candidates, along with a petition with at least 454 student signatures, which represents 1% of the student body supporting the candidacy. The declaration also requires the candidates’ names, email addresses, class standing and anticipated graduation dates. Candidates must also hold at least a 2.5 GPA.

There are 31 available academic district seats or residential district vacancies in Congress. Students looking to run for a seat in Congress must also file a declaration of candidacy, however, they only need to provide their

name, email, class standing and the district they are running for. These districts include, but are not limited to: The candidate must be a constituent of the district they are running for. To assist candidates through the election process, an election guide will be published, according to IUSG’s website. The guide will provide important information on candidacy filing, campaign guidelines, and other essential details.

All questions and concerns about the election can be sent to iusgelco@ indiana.edu. Complaints regarding the election can be filed through the IUSG Election Complaint Form.

CORRECTIONS

Bill would require school board approval for sex ed material

education, so teachers don’t currently have a lot of direction on what to teach on this topic,” Bryne said in the statement. “As a former school board member, I think putting the elected local school board in the driver’s seat on this issue makes sense.”

David Lohrmann, IU professor emeritus of applied health sciences, said, having the school board or governing authority vote on the approved materials and information each year is unusual.

“It’s like, you know, having to approve textbooks every year when they only do it every five years.” Lohrmann said.

“Because you’ve established trust, never had to deal with whether it’s a male and female teacher teaching it,” Lohrmann said. “But, you know, that would not be difficult to post on the website.”

Different schools, he said, also approach instruction differently with some schools having a regular classroom teacher teach human sexuality, like in elementary schools. Others have the health education teacher teach the subject if it’s a separate course, like in a middle school. Sometimes schools may bring in someone from a community agency to provide all or part of the instruction.

year, according to the bill.

Schools or employees would also be prohibited from using learning material not approved by the school’s governing authority. The bill applies to public schools, charter schools and state accredited private schools.

The bill was written by Sen. Gary Byrne (R-47), Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-27) and Sen. Chris Garten (R-45). Rep. Jake Teshka (R-7), Rep. Michelle Davis (R-58), Rep. Julie McGuire (R-93) and Rep. Joanna King (R-49) are sponsoring the bill.

Sen. Byrne said in a statement over email that SB 128 is a simple bill respecting local control and parental rights. The bill, he said, requires local school boards to approve materials used in sexual education classes and increases transparency on what is being taught in these classes so parents can decide if they want their kids to be taught sexual education.

“Indiana doesn’t have state standards for sexual

Lohrmann taught sex education in Michigan as a high school teacher in the 1970s and was later involved in creating sex education guidelines in Michigan in the late 1980s. He said Michigan requires an advisory committee to review, approve and make recommendations to school boards on instructional materials on sexuality education, then the school board must approve it.

“So that’s similar to what this statute’s requiring, but in Michigan they only had to approve it when there was a change.” Lohrmann said.

Lohrmann believes another matter is that people know who the teachers are, as the bill would require the schools governing authority to approve each grade level, course or class human sexuality is taught and whether it is taught by a male or female instructor.

Lohrmann said his school started their “Growing Up” program in the fifth grade and had sexuality education for students in sixth through eighth grade. He said during the sixth grade there would be quite a few parents at an evening event to meet teachers and ask questions, a few parents in the seventh grade, while in the eighth grade, no parents would attend.

Copyrights on instructional materials, Lohrmann said, also come to mind. If the school uses a textbook, he said, is it enough to list the name of the textbook or scan the book and put it on the website.

“If it’s videos, do you just have the titles of the videos or do you have to somehow post the videos?” Lohrmann said, “And what about copyrights? You’re now putting it on the internet.”

Lohrmann said the bill could have a positive impact on Indiana schools. When he was a teacher in Michigan, the state legislature wanted to revise the approval process and give parents more authority. The governor at the time, he said, involved experts instead and insisted that instruction needed to be scientifically accurate. But the law was also somewhat strengthened to require parental representation on review boards; which both school districts he worked in had. “But what happened, my understanding talking to folks in Michigan was actually, when parent involvement increased there was more comprehensive sex education was approved.” Lohrmann.

According to a 2017 study from the National Library of

Medicine, more than 93% of parents place a high importance on sex education in middle and high school. More than 89% of parents that identified as Republican or Democrat, according to the study, support a wide range of topics in sex education including puberty, healthy relationships, abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases and birth control in high school. In middle school, 78% or more of parents identified as Republican or Democrat support the inclusion of these topics.

The contract Lohrmann said he had with parents was that the school would provide students with the information while the parents were responsible for family beliefs, values and behavior-

JVP Indiana member calls for vote of no confidence against IU admin

By Haley Ryan @haley__ryan | @haryan@iu.edu

A member of Jewish Voice for Peace Indiana’s coordinating committee called for a vote of no confidence against IU President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav in response to alleged repression of Pro-Palestinian voices during “Windows on Palestinian Life: Meeting Palestinians” on Feb. 4.

The event was held in the Unitarian Universalist Chruch of Bloomington. Dan Segal, the coordinating committee member, also called for a censure of the university from the American Association of University Professors.

In December, IU suspended political science professor Abdulkader Sinno from teaching until the fall 2024 semester for violating university policy when incorrectly filling out a room reservation for the Palestinian Solidarity Committee.

That same month, IU canceled Palestinian abstract painter Samia Halaby’s exhibit and Instagram posts, where she frequently advocates for Palestinian freedom and a cease-fire in the IsraelHamas war, due to security and safety concerns.

Jewish Voice for Peace Indiana said in a statement that members of the IU administration responsible for these actions must be held accountable through faculty and other governance bodies at IU.

Bryce Greene, co-founder of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee at IU, said the organization supports Segal’s calls for a vote of no confidence and censure. The PSC, he said, has very little confidence in IU’s ability to protect free speech and students’ safety, or embody and promote social justice.

During the event on Feb. 4, speakers discussed what people in the U.S. can do regarding the Israel-Hamas war, what Palestinians want Americans to know and historical context related to the Israel-Hamas war.

The event featured several speakers including Segal, an professor emeritus

at Pitzer College; David McDonald, an IU professor of folklore and ethnomusicology; and Greene and Aidan Khamis, leaders of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee at IU. Greene discussed students’ role in Palestinian justice.

“We help shape the minds of the people that are going to be shaping the future,” Greene said.

Beverly Stoeltje, chair of Citizens for a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel, said she was inspired to help put on the event to inform the greater Bloomington community.

“It seemed to me that we really needed to have an educational event to bring about more humanization of Palestinians in this terrible, terrible moment,” Stoeltje said.

The CJPPI co-sponsored the event with the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition and the Unitarian Universalist Church.

The event was recorded and posted online for those who couldn’t attend, and Stoeltje hopes there will be further events like “Windows on Palestinian Life.”

“Other people can organize it in their churches in their organizations that they

belong to,” Stoeltje said. “We should take a lead from the students.”

Faiza Maidi, a Bloomington resident, said she was inspired to speak spontaneously at the event because as a Muslim, she believes it is people’s duty to speak up for the oppressed. Maidi said the biggest driving factor for her speech was watching Palestinian parents and children dying due to the war.

“I feel like it is all of our responsibility to speak up about it in any safe place that we can,” Maidi said.

Hemayatullah Shahrani, an IU alumus and Bloomington resident, said he was motivated to attend the event because it is painful to see the violence of the war and not be able to do anything about it.

“It really helps to be able to know there are other people out there who know what’s going on, and you can kind of hear them say the things that you’re feeling and it kind of soothes things to what little extent that it can,” Shahrani said.

Despite the attendees’ various backgrounds, Shahrani said they were all brought together by the principles of justice, compassion, freedom and peace. Getting

to interact with people like that, he said, is wonderful.

“The more people who have knowledge about what’s going on, I think then there’s a possibility of trying to make change or bring about positive change,” Shahrani said. “And that’s what I hope will happen is an increase in grassroots understanding and knowledge and hopefully, action.”

When asked for comment over Segal’s calls for a vote of no confidence and censure of the university, IU Executive Director of Media Relations Mark Bode, referred to Provost Rahul Shrivastav’s Jan. 16 address at a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting and the university’s previous statements.

At the meeting, Shrivastav affirmed IU’s commitment to Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community members. He said that Halaby’s exhibition could be a “potential lightning rod” that could become a controversial event and threaten the safety of the IU community. Shrivastav said he could not comment on specific personnel matters, but decisions are made independent from outside pressure. The transcript and minutes from the meeting can be accessed online.

al expectations.

“But the reality is, parents will come up and say, ‘Oh, we’re so glad you’re doing this because we don’t know where to start, we’re not comfortable,’” Lohrmann said. “Most parents don’t have the talk with their kids and, you know, they’re just glad that somebody’s doing it, but they realize that kids need instruction on human sexuality.”

According to a statement from Markay Winston, Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction at the Monroe County Community School Corporation, the district follows Indiana code when instructing human sexuality. This requires the school to send a letter home to parents 21 days in

advance, before any instruction on human sexuality begins, allowing the parents to accept or decline the instruction. If the parent does not respond after 21 days, according to the statement, a second letter is sent home, and the parent has 10 days to respond. If there is no response after the two attempts, the teacher can give the instruction to students.

If SB 128 passes, Winston said in a statement, the district will immediately comply and ensure all approved and required material will be posted on their website. The bill was referred to the Indiana House of Representatives on Feb. 6 and was referred to the House Committee on Education on Feb. 19.

IUPD, BPD unaware of fentanyl-laced cocaine rumored in X post

By Emma Uber emmauber@iu.edu | @EmmaUber7

Local authorities are unable to verify a Bloomington Uber driver’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that gained traction after a passenger allegedly said fentanyllaced cocaine circulating Bloomington had caused at least one IU fraternity member to overdose. Neither IU Police Department nor Bloomington Police Department know of any recent incidents of cocaine laced with fentanyl. The X account, BTown Uber, posted Feb. 11 that one of his passengers told him a recent fraternity member’s overdose led other chapters to test the cocaine they bought from the same source — with all the cocaine testing positive for fentanyl. As of Feb. 16, around 213,000 people had viewed the post. Nearly 40 other X accounts reshared the post, including Barstool IU, an account with more than 61,000 followers. However, when the Indiana Daily Student reached out to IUPD and BPD, neither agency could confirm the X post.

IUPD Public Information Officer Hannah Skibba said IUPD had not been made aware of any of the drug use or testing that was mentioned in the post. Skibba said IUPD responded to a call Feb. 9, two days before the X post, reporting an unconscious male IU student in the front yard of the Chi Phi house located at 720 E. Third Street. In addition to IUPD, the Bloomington Fire Department and EMS also responded to the call and determined the student had experienced a seizure, Skibba said. The student was then taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Skibba said she was not sure if this incident was the same as the one referenced in the X post but said no drug issues were reported over the weekend.

BPD Capt. Ryan Pedigo said he checked with the Special Investigations Unit but no one could confirm any reports of cocaine laced with fentanyl. Pedigo also said BPD has not made any arrests for possessing or selling fentanyl-laced cocaine.

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“We built up this massive national political campaign to crush them,” Baime said in the video.

As universities across the country face pressure for how they’re handling an increase in antisemitism on campus, there is a growing call for colleges to support Palestinian students as well. At IU, the suspension of tenured professor Abdulkader Sinno, who served as faculty advisor for the Palestine Solidarity Committee, and the cancelation of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s exhibition — decisions made within five days of each other — have drawn speculation about how IU is handling academic freedom in a charged political environment. Students have also expressed that they feel IU is not supporting Arab, Muslim or Palestinian students.

the university conducted a review in summer 2023. This change allows students to select their religion from a dropdown menu rather than having to describe their religion in the incident description text box.

The board also called for a campaign to encourage more bias incident reporting, which launched during the fall semester. Finally, the board recommended the implementation of antisemitism awareness and prevention programming. According to the letter, this includes a contract with the Anti-Defamation League established Nov. 13 to provide training and professional development to IU campuses through the spring semester. The letter also references a partnership with the Academic Engagement Network to host virtual workshops on antisemitism and Jewish identity, with one having occurred Dec. 7 and the other scheduled for April 2024.

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l Behavioral/Mental

At the same time, IU is currently being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for allegedly failing to address antisemitism. The complaint was one of at least 21 reports filed by Zachary Marschall, editor-in-chief of the conservative media organization Campus Reform.

RelatedIU faculty and students condemn ‘new McCarthyism’ in free speech rally The rally comes after several controversies on campus.

Responses to Banks’

questions

In the second half of Whitten’s letter to Banks, Whitten responded directly to each of the questions Banks included in his initial letter. She wrote there had been 17 unique incidents of antisemitism reported to the IU Bias Incident Response System from Oct. 7 to Nov. 30 and noted that the IU Antisemitism Advisory Board’s most recent meeting, as of writing the letter, was Nov. 27. At the meeting, the board implemented changes to the bias reporting system after

» HALABY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

In response to another board recommendation, the university updated a section of its website to “reaffirm IU’s values in standing against antisemitism and Islamophobia, while clearly documenting definitions of antisemitism.”

In the letter, Whitten wrote that she and other administrators have met with the advisory board several times since Oct. 7, as well as members of IU’s Jewish community.

Finally, in response to a question from Banks that probed whether IU received reports of illegal activity after Palestine Solidarity Committee protests on Oct. 9 and 28, Whitten wrote there were no such reports. According to the letter, there was a bias report that Whitten describes as recounting “that groups conversed with each other after events concluded on October 9.”

Mark Bode, executive director of media relations at IU, said the university has no further comment on the letter.

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As she explained her process, glittering lines wrapped around the screen, becoming amorphous shapes that stretched across the screen like watercolors on paper. As the shapes moved, they began to form pairs of women. Calling herself impatient, Halaby clicked through the commands, cycling the painting through its phases. More glittering shapes of women appeared, layering the screen until it was a crowd of women — all shouting, Halaby narrated, until the “Big Mama” appeared in a white dress.

Halaby joked with her grandniece in the video as she showed her the art, laughing as the camera tilts between the computer screen and Halaby herself.

The next video was a short documentary created by Bill Winters, who said he was fascinated by Halaby and the art she made through the Commodore Amiga. In a filmed introduction, Winters said the Amiga was the first home computer to provide multimedia capabilities, a mind-blowing piece of technology at the time. Calling himself a firm believer in free speech, Winters said he wished the exhibition at IU would be reinstated.

“I truly hope that the university comes to their senses,” he said in the video.

In the documentary, Halaby again describes her kinetic artwork. She said logic is part of her creative process, narrating how her commands instruct the colors to rise until they hit an upper bound before cascading down again. She calls it a yo-yo, a reference to the effect the command generates across the screen.

terranean Sea to the Jordan River,” a colorful collection of painted canvas and paper strips that is supposed to be a map of the land. Another painting celebrates the American Midwest. “Big Oak, Homage to the Shawnee,” is another project of stitched canvas strips inspired by oak trees Halaby saw when driving one day in Indiana. She decided to dedicate the painting to the Shawnee that had occupied the land before European colonization.

In between discussions of her art in the art discussion video, Halaby spoke about her life. She showed photos of herself as a young girl and told a story about how Israeli soldiers once looted her town, taking her family’s books, paintings and valuables while the rest of their belongings ended up in a Tel Aviv flea market. She also showed photos of her when she attended IU, joking that it took some time to “free” herself from academia and drawing laughs from the crowd at the theater.

While the event was mainly informative, there was an undercurrent of protest.

Representatives from the Green Feather Movement, who launched their homage to IU students who protested McCarthyism in 1953 last week at Showalter Fountain, handed out flyers and feathers at the door while a table for the AAUP urged people to join the organization to fight back against bills “targeting” higher education across the country — a reference to Indiana’s Senate Bill 202 and similar legislation. According to a representative from the AAUP, graduate students with academic appointments can also join the AAUP. During intermission, some audience members shared their dissatisfaction with the IU administration.

Mon. - Thu.:

For membership in the Indiana Daily Student Health Directory, please contact ads@idsnews.com Your deadline for next week’s Health Directory is 5 p.m. Monday

In the next video, Halaby describes some of her abstract paintings in an art discussion at the Guggenheim Museum.

There is “Jerusalem, My Home,” which depicts the Dome of the Rock — the oldest Islamic monument still standing — as an orange ball specked with periwinkle and set against a blue sky. Then there is “Palestine, from the Medi-

Carl Pearson, associate director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East, held a cloth sign that read “Whitten Must Resign.”

When the event began again after intermission, Faisal Saleh, founder and executive director of the Palestine Museum US, spoke in person to introduce the “life” portion of the event.

Thomas Jackson, MD Jacob Grow, MD

BY THEO HAWKINS

ILLUSTRATION

A guide to Indiana’s statewide May primaries for Monroe County voters

By Christina Avery and Andrew Miller news@idsnews.com

State Offices

There will be three hotly contested primaries in Indiana held May 7, between each party’s candidates for Indiana’s Governor, Attorney General and Senator.

Governor Indiana’s gubernatorial office is being fought for in a fierce Republican contest and Democratic and Libertarian primaries. It is the most expensive gubernatorial primary in Indiana’s history.

The two Democratic contenders who made it to the primary ballot are Jennifer McCormick and Tamie Dixon-Tatum.

A former Republican Indiana state superintendent of public instruction turned Democrat, McCormick’s campaign has focused on ending what she deems divisive policy and politics in state government.

Tamie Dixon-Tatum, a juvenile treatment court case manager and director

of human relations for the city of Anderson, is also running for the seat as a Democrat. She has held a variety of jobs in the legal field and co-hosts a radio program about successful businesses in Anderson.

Six Republicans — Mike Braun, Brad Chambers, Suzanne Crouch, Eric Doden, Curtis Hill and Jaime Reitenour — are vying for their party’s nomination for the head of the state’s executive branch.

Braun, who currently serves as one of Indiana’s two senators in Washington D.C., is the current frontrunner for the governorship, according to his campaign’s internal polling. Former U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed Braun for governor in November 2023.

Indiana’s former Secretary for Commerce, Brad Chambers, has focused his messaging on being a political outsider who has not run for office before. He has introduced various plans for his potential term, including for education, law enforcement and “Combatting

China.”

Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s current Lieutenant Governor, plans to get rid of Indiana’s state income tax if elected. She formerly served as a state representative and state auditor. Crouch has been endorsed by several former and current house representatives for Indiana, including Greg Pence, Larry Bucshon and Dan Burton.

Eric Doden, the former president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, is campaigning on a plan to develop Indiana small towns and create jobs in the state. He founded Domo Development Company, a residential and commercial development group, in 2012 and has served as its principal for the last 12 years.

Curtis Hill, a former Elkhart County prosecutor, served as Indiana’s Attorney General from 2017-2021. His campaign site promotes a plan of “putting Indiana first.” In 2018, several women accused Hill of groping them at a bar. Hill denied these allegations and

sought re-election to his position in 2020. He was defeated in the primary by now-Attorney General Todd Rokita.

Jaime Reitenour, a candidate with no prior political experience, said in an interview with Fox59 that she was “called by God to run for Governor.” On her website, Reitenour promotes fiscal responsibility, economic growth and promoting family values as priorities.

Donald Rainwater, the only Libertarian running for the governorship, wants to reduce or eliminate income, gas, property, utility and vehicle excise taxes. He received 11.4% of the vote in Indiana’s 2020 gubernatorial election.

Continue reading on idsnews.com

Who is Mike Braun, the frontrunner for governor?

By Andrew Miller ami3@iu.edu | @andrew_mmiller

A guide to Monroe County’s contested May primaries

By Mia Hilkowitz mhkilowi@iu.edu | @MiaHilkowitz

There will be four contested major party primary races in Monroe County this year, including positions on the County Board of Commissioners and County Council.

County Council At-Large Representative candidates

This November, there will be three at-large county council seats up for grabs. The Monroe County Council is responsible for adopting the county’s annual budget and fixing tax rates to raise funds to meet budget requirements. The council also authorizes the county’s expenditures and approves job descriptions and salaries for all Monroe County offices.

Four democrats — Cheryl Munson, David Henry, Matt Caldie and Trent Deckard — filed their declarations of candidacy for the roles.

The council is comprised of seven members, with four representatives from specific districts and three at-large members. Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms. Currently, Deckard, Munson and Geoff McKim serve as the council’s at-large representatives. McKim is not seeking re-election.

Deckard, an incumbent, has served on the council since 2019 and is currently the council’s president. Deckard previously served as the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party from 2013-2015, and as Chief of Staff for the Indiana House Democratic Caucus from 2015 to 2017.

If re-elected, Munson would serve her fourth term on the council. She was the council’s president for two years. Munson retired from her position as a research scientist for the IU anthropology department in 2021 and served on the Indian Creek Township Board of Trustees for 16 years.

David Henry has served as the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party since January 2021, and his term expires in January 2025.

Henry is also an adjunct professor at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He has served in various county positions including as president of the Monroe County Election Board and the public health emergency and bioterrorism coordinator for the Monroe County Health Department.

Matt Caldie currently serves on the Bloomington Environmental Commission.

Caldie is also a customer service representative for IU Parking Operations, according to his campaign website.

Caldie ran for the District 5 seat on the Bloomington City Council last winter, but dropped out in February 2023 to support Shruti Rana, who was elected to the position in November 2023.

cil’s Personnel Administration Committee chair. Iversen is also a member of the council’s Justice Fiscal Advisory Committee, an advisory committee responsible for making budget recommendations about community justice in Monroe County. The council established this committee after the county commissioners suspended meetings for the Community Justice Response Committee in April 2023.

County Commissioner District 3 race

The county will see two contested major party primary races this May for the County Board of Commissioners District 3 seat. District 3 includes Benton Township, Clear Creek Township, Polk Township, Salt Creek Township, Washington Township and parts of Perry Township.

Both Republican and Democratic candidates filed declarations of candidacy for this seat. Democrats Penny Githens, Jody Madeira and Steve Volan, as well as Republicans Joe VanDeventer and Paul White Sr., filed declarations of candidacy.

Githens currently holds the Monroe County Board of Commissioners District 3 seat. The Monroe County Democratic Party selected her to fill a vacancy on the board in 2019, and she was elected in 2020. Githens also worked in various project management, faculty and research roles at IU, Vanderbilt University and Yale University. She ran for the District 62 seat in the Indiana House of Representatives in 2022 but lost to Republican challenger Dave Hall.

Volan, a former member of the Bloomington City Council, also filed a declaration of candidacy for the primary. Volan held the District 6 seat on the council from 2004 to 2023, during which time he served as the council’s president, vice president and parliamentarian. He ran unsuccessfully for an at-large seat on the council in 2023.

Democrat Jody Maderia, an IU law professor, is also running for the District 3 seat. Maderia joined the IU Law School faculty in 2007, and currently teaches courses about law and its connection to medicine, reproduction and childhood, and torts law. She is also the co-director of the Maurer School of Law Center for Law, Society and Culture.

Two republicans, Joe VanDeventer and Paul White Sr., also filed paperwork to appear on the primary ballot.

VanDeventer is the director of street operations for the city of Bloomington.

ment before publication.

Braun’s background Braun grew up in the burgundy-red southern Indiana city of Jasper. He married his high school sweetheart and had four kids. After studying economics at Wabash College and receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School, he moved back to Jasper to sell kitchen cabinets and ultimately worked in truck body manufacturing with his father.

As the 1980’s farm crisis hit the business hard, he helped transition Meyer Body Company toward selling other truck accessories and eventually formed Meyer Distributing. This bore incredibly successful fruit — his 15-person company grew to hundreds, operating in 98 locations today. In 2018, Braun’s assets were valued between $35-96 million. He briefly served in the Indiana Statehouse representing Jasper between 2015-17. Before his eventual tenure as a U.S. Senator representing Indiana

starting in 2019, Braun was characterized in an IndyStar profile as a “man of the woods” who was tight in his personal spending. He would roam the forests of Dubois County hunting rabbits, doves and quail. He foraged for honeycombcapped morel mushrooms in springtime.

The 2018 midterms and a national realignment Braun decided to run in the 2018 senatorial election to represent Indiana in D.C. In his advertisements and debate appearances, he wore business casual attire, in contrast to his opponents in suits and ties at the debate stage. He beat out two representatives — the 6th Congressional District’s Luke Messer and nowIndiana Attorney General Todd Rokita — to win the Republican nomination. Despite his frugal nature, he spent millions out of his own pocket in In the U.S. Senate election, he ran against thenincumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly. Donnelly was a centrist — he was pro-gun, he was willing to work with Trump, but he held liberal positions on issues like labor protections and healthcare.

The bipartisan coalition of voters who elected

Donnelly in 2012 would appear strange given the modern political climate. There were still stark differences between corners of American life, but these times were comparably less polarized than Democratic cities and Republican small towns and rural areas today.

In 2012, Donnelly won heaps of rural and ancestrally Democratic counties around the state, leading to a 5.6%-margin victory.

Donnelly lost Braun’s home county of Dubois, but kept it narrow, receiving 44.6% of the vote. Dubois was one of these historically Democratic counties — Braun himself voted in Democratic primaries before his political career, to participate in the blueskewed local politics of the area.

Then came Trump, and the political environment that ensued.

Trump shook traditional Republican positions to their core in his 2016 campaign and term as president. Suddenly, the party accepted protectionism in trade, isolationism in geopolitics and turned their backs on Republican leaders of the past — presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former president George W. Bush and many others in

the old guard.

Braun followed suit with this new conservatism in 2018. As a businessman, he vocally supported free trade policies, and as candidate in the Republican Senate primary, he disavowed tariffs in Trump’s trade war with China due to potential retaliation causing economic damage from China. He later came out in support of Trump’s protectionist policies in August 2018.

Both Trump and Braun faced poor odds in their runs. Polling aggregator

FiveThirtyEight gave Trump a 28.6% chance of winning the presidency in 2016. They gave Braun a 28.2% chance for the Senate seat in 2018.

Both won anyway.

Braun won by 5.9% in the midterm. Donnelly kept some of his support in rural areas, but much of it eroded away from underneath him as the national political environment shifted.

Continue reading on idsnews.com

Former Bloomington mayoral candidate Joe Davis also expressed he plans to run for an at-large seat on the council. However, Davis plans to run as an independent, so he will not appear on the primary ballot in May. The deadline for Davis to file as an independent candidate is July 15.

County Commissioner District 2 race

Two Democrats — Julie Thomas and Peter Iversen — filed declarations of candidacy for the District 2 seat on the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. District 2 represents Bloomington Township, which includes part of the city of Bloomington. Some of the Monroe County Board of Commissioner’s responsibilities include auditing and authorizing claims against the county, maintaining county properties and supervising maintenance of county roads and bridges. The Board of Commissioners can also appoint members to fill positions on various county boards, committees and commissions.

Thomas, an incumbent, has served on the Board of Commissioners since 2012. She is currently the board’s president. Before joining the Board of Commissioners, she served on the Monroe County council for four years.

Iversen has served on the Monroe County Council since 2019, where he was the coun-

White is a bus driver for Area 10 Agency on Aging. He holds an associate degree from Trinity Bible College and graduated from the Billings Vocational Technical Institute and North American Van Lines Truck Driving School, according to his LinkedIn. He also ran for Monroe County recorder in 2022 but lost to Democrat Amy Swain.

Uncontested races

Several candidates who filed declarations of candidacy do not currently have any challengers. Monroe Circuit Court judge incumbents Christine Talley Haseman, Catherine Stafford and Darcie Fawcett filed for re-election this month.

Incumbent Trohn EnightRandolph filed for re-election for Monroe County Surveyor. Jeff Hall, who worked as the county’s Chief Deputy Coroner, will run for Monroe County Coroner. Former Monroe County Auditor Catherine Smith filed paperwork to run for county treasurer. The Monroe County Democratic Party selected Smith to fill the vacant county treasurer position in January after former treasurer Jessica McClellan resigned. However, Smith will still run for election for this upcoming term.

When Smith resigned from her position as county auditor, the Monroe County Democratic Party selected Brianne Gregory to fill the vacant auditor position. Gregory also filed a declaration of candidacy for this position. Like Smith, she must run for election to continue holding her appointed position after 2024.

MATT BEGALA | IDS

Sen. Mike Braun points to the crowd after winning the senate race Nov. 6, 2022, in the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. Braun filed his run for Indiana’s governorship Feb. 2, 2024.

By Elizabeth Bowling elibowli@iu.edu

On June 25, 2004, one of the most iconic romance movies debuted in theaters. Based on a book by Nicholas Sparks, “The Notebook” has become a symbol of romantic passion with the image of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams kissing in the rain being recognizable around the world.

“The Notebook” played 7 p.m. Feb. 14 in the BuskirkChumley Theater. The film tells the story of Allie, played by McAdams, a young socialite who falls in love with Noah, played by Gosling, a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks.

After a summer of passion, they are torn apart by Allie’s parents and societal expectations, but their paths ultimately reconverge nearly

a decade later. A generation of college students who grew up with the movie have now returned to see it back on the big screen twenty years after its theatrical release ended. Can

“The Notebook” stand the test of time? Bloomington residents argue it can.

Karina Villa, an IU sophomore who attended the movie with her boyfriend Jae Park, said the story was universal.

“I think that everybody has seen it,” she said. “It’s just a universal love story that I think everybody responds really positively to.”

Box office attendant Alayna Mooy agreed. Mooy has seen “The Notebook” seven times but still loves watching it. Mooy said the film was so intriguing because of its refusal to shy away from the hard

parts of love and because it represents the realities of growing older, something Mooy said was rarely shown in romance movies.

“I think it’s realistic because when you live with someone for both of your lives, it’s not gonna be pretty at the end,” Mooy said. “Their love was happy, but it was still a sad ending.”

However, Bloomington locals and couple Isaiah Farmer and Madeleine Lapoiente took the opposite view. To them, the movie represented the joys of being young.

“I think the beginning scenes, like the first thirty minutes or so with all the flashbacks, reminds us of us,” Lapoiente said. “Just being young and being in love, with the kind of energy between Allie and Noah.”

Lapoiente and

Farmer both grew up in Bloomington and met in high school, but they didn’t start dating until exactly a month ago in January when they reconnected on a whim. Farmer said the BuskirkChumley was a key part of

their pasts in Bloomington. He remembered local theater acts performing at the venue when he was younger but liked that it was now showing movies. Both he and Lapoiente are big movie fans, especially of

Canterbury Mission

719 E. Seventh St. 812-822-1335 IUCanterbury.org

facebook.com/ECMatIU Instagram & Twitter: @ECMatIU

Sunday: 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. Mon., Wed., Thu.: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sunday:

We

@kadampameditationcenterbloomington

Weekly Meditation Classes:

Mon., Wed., Fri.: 12:15 - 12:45 p.m.

Tuesday: 6:30 - 8 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

All classes In-person, Sunday and Tuesday also offer live-stream.

Retreats two Saturdays per month: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

See website for specifics.

Amidst school pressures, financial struggles and tense relationship dynamics, we need to focus our attention in a beneficial way through meditation.

KMC Bloomington’s meditation classes give practical, ancient advice so you can learn to connect daily life experiences with wisdom perspectives and maintain mental peace.

Tuesday: 12 p.m. - 8 p.m. Fri., Sat.: By Appointment

Canterbury: Assertively open & affirming; unapologetically Christian, we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ by promoting justice, equality, peace, love and striving to be the change God wants to see in our world.

Ed Bird - Chaplain/Priest

Gaden KhachoeShing

Monastery

2150 E. Dolan Rd. 812-334-3456 ganden.org

facebook.com/ganden.org

Dedicated to preserving the Buddha’s teachings as transmitted through the Gelukpa lineage of Tibet, for the benefit of all beings. The lineage was founded by the great Master Je Tsonghkapa in the 15th century in Tibet.

First Church of Christ, Scientist

2425 E. Third St. 812-332-0536 csmonitor.com bloomingtonchristianscience.com

Sunday: 10 a.m.

Wednesday: 7 p.m.

A free public reading room in the east wing of our church

“The Notebook.”

“There’s seeing (‘The Notebook’) at your house and then there’s seeing it at the Buskirk-Chumley,” he said. “You don’t watch ‘The Notebook’ with someone you don’t love.”

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus and the power of prayer. Unity honors the universal truths in all religions and respects each individual’s right to choose a spiritual path. Our God is Love, Our Race is Human, Our Faith is Oneness.

Sunday: 10:30 a.m.

4001 S. Rogers St. 812-333-2484 unityofbloomington.org facebook@UnityofBloomington

Doris Brinegar - Administrator

Phyllis Wickliff - Music Director

Bloomington Friends Meeting 3820 E. Moores Pike 812-336-4581 bloomingtonfriendsmeeting.org

Facebook: Bloomington Friends Meeting

Sunday (in person and by Zoom) : 9:45 a.m., Hymn singing

10:30 a.m., Meeting for Worship 10:45 a.m., Sunday School (Children join in worship from 10:30-10:45) 11:30 a.m., Light Refreshments and Fellowship 12:45 p.m., Often there is a second hour activity (see website)

Wednesday (Via Zoom) : 9 a.m., Midweek Meeting for worship 9:30 a.m., Fellowship

We practice traditional Quaker worship, gathering in silence with occasional Spirit-led vocal ministry by fellow worshipers. We are an inclusive community with a rich variety of beliefs and no prescribed creed. We are actively involved in peace action, social justice causes, and environmental concerns.

Peter Burkholder - Clerk burkhold@indiana.edu

Jubilee 219 E. Fourth St. 812-332-6396 jubileebloomington.org facebook.com/jubileebloomington Instagram: @jubileebloomington

Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Classic Worship 11:45 a.m., Contemporary Worship

Wednesday: 7:30 p.m., College & Young Adult Dinner

Jubilee is a Christ-centered community open and affirming to all. We gather on Wednesdays at First United Methodist (219 E. 4th St.) for free food, honest discussion, worship, and hanging out. Small groups, service projects, events (bonfires, game nights, book clubs, etc.), outreach retreats, and leadership opportunities all play a significant role in our rhythm of doing life together.

Markus Dickinson - jubilee@fumcb.org

Bahá'í Association of IU 424 S. College Mall Rd. 812-331-1863

bloomingtoninbahais.org

facebook.com/Baháí-Community-ofBloomington-Indiana-146343332130574

Instagram: @bloomingtonbahai

Sunday: 10:40 a.m., Regular Services, Devotional Meetings. Please call or contact through our website for other meetings/activities

The Bahá'í Association of IU works to share the Teachings and Principles of the Founder, Bahá'u'lláh, that promote the "Oneness of Mankind" and the Peace and Harmony of the Planet through advancing the "security, prosperity, wealth and tranquility of all peoples."

Karen Pollock Dan Enslow

Rose House LuMin & St. Thomas Lutheran Church

3800 E. Third St. 812-332-5252 Stlconline.org lcmiu.net

Instagram: @hoosierlumin facebook.com/LCMIU facebook.com/StThomasBloomington

Sunday: 8:30 a.m. & 11 a.m. @ St. Thomas Lutheran Church 3800 E. Third St.

Tuesday: 6:30 p.m. Dinner & Devotions @ Rose House LuMin 314 S. Rose Ave.

Rose House LuMin and St. Thomas Lutheran Church invite you to experience life together with us. We are an inclusive Christian community who values the faith, gifts, and ministry of all God’s people. We seek justice, serve our neighbors, and love boldly.

Rev. Adrianne Meier

Rev. Lecia Beck

Rev. Amanda Ghaffarian - Campus Pastor

Lutheran

By Chloe Fulk cdfulk@iu.edu

COLUMN: ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ flirts with the macabre in style

We’re so back.

That’s what I thought to myself as I gawked at the vibrant display of neon lighting, over-the-top ‘80s iconography and teenage rage projected in front of me. In retrospect, I should’ve anticipated how up-myalley “Lisa Frankenstein” was going to be; after all, it was written by Diablo Cody, the same woman who blessed the world with “Jennifer’s Body” in 2009.

Set in 1989, this romantic horror comedy follows Lisa Swallows, a misunderstood outcast who’s recovering from witnessing her mother’s brutal murder by an axe-wielding serial killer. She spends her days at a decrepit cemetery hidden in the woods, caring for the graves of people who didn’t have family.

When lightning strikes the grave of a young Victorian-era bachelor

Lisa is especially drawn to, his corpse is reanimated, and they form an unlikely friendship. As they go to increasingly violent measures to replace his missing body parts, their body count rises and their love for each other grows.

First and foremost, it’s time to give actress Kathryn Newton her flowers. Her comedic timing and ability to hold the deliciously outrageous plot together is seamless. Newton’s magnetic presence centers the film, giving it a muchneeded emotional focal point. Despite the film’s fantastical tone, she brings complexity and empathy to Lisa.

Cole Sprouse is surprisingly good opposite Newton. His performance as the Creature is akin to that of a mime: it’s almost entirely physical, yet he manages to convey a plethora of emotions through his actions and facial expressions. Sprouse

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

205 E. Kirkwood Ave. 812-332-4459 fccbloomington.org

Sunday: 10 a.m.

We are an inclusive community of people who are diverse in thought and unified in spirit. We are an LGBTQIA+ welcoming and affirming congregation known for our excellent music and commitment to justice. Our worship services will not only lift your spirit, but also engage your mind. You are welcome!

Pastor Kyrmen Rea - Senior Pastor Pastor Sarah Lynne GershonStudent Associate Pastor Jan Harrington - Director of Music

Emmanuel Church

1503 W. That Rd. 812-824-2768

Emmanuelbloom.com

Instagram & Facebook: @EmmanuelBloomington

Sunday: 9:15 a.m., Fellowship

Sunday: 10 a.m., Worship

Groups: Various times

Emmanuel is a multigenerational church of all types of people. Whether you are questioning faith or have followed Jesus for years, we exist to help fuel a passion for following Jesus as we gather together, grow in community, and go make disciples.

John Winders - Lead Pastor

Second Baptist Church

321 N Rogers St 812-327-1467 sbcbloomington.org facebook.com/2ndbaptistbloomington youtube.com/@secondbaptist churchbloomington

Sunday Service: 10 a.m., In house and on Facebook/YouTube

Sunday School: 8:45 - 9:45 a.m.

Bible Study: Available In House and on Zoom

Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.,

Thursdays, Noon

Please come and worship with us. We are in training for reigning with Christ! Need a ride? Call our Church bus at 812-3271467 before 8 a.m. on Sunday

Rev. Dr. Bruce R. Rose - Pastor Tallie Schroeder - Secretary

Evangel Presbytery

Trinity Reformed Church 2401 S. Endwright Rd. 812-825-2684 trinityreformed.org

facebook.com/trinitychurchbloom

Email: lucas@trinityreformed.org

Sunday: 9 a.m. & 11 a.m., Services

Bible Study: 7 p.m. at the IMU

We are a Protestant Reformed church on the west side of Bloomington with lively worship on Sunday mornings and regular lunches for students after church. We love the Bible, and we aim to love like Jesus. Please get in touch if you’d like a ride!

Jody Killingsworth - Senior Pastor Lucas Weeks - College Pastor

bolder and darker as she builds confidence and her relationship with the Creature progresses.

clearly had a lot of fun with the Creature’s persistent grunting and murderous instincts.

Horror icon Carla Gugino also devours every scene she’s in as Lisa’s wicked stepmother. She nails the mannerisms of a suburban housewife ready to crack. “Lisa Frankenstein” is aggressively ‘80s, but it walks

Lifeway Baptist Church 7821 W. State Road 46 812-876-6072 lifewaybaptistchurch.org facebook.com/lifewayellettsville

Sunday: 9 a.m., Bible Study Classes 10 a.m., Morning Service 5 p.m., Evening Service *Free transportation provided. Please call if you need a ride to church.

Barnabas College Ministry: Meeting for Bible study throughout the month. Contact Rosh Dhanawade at bluhenrosh@gmail.com for more information.

Steven VonBokern - Senior Pastor Rosh Dhanawade - IU Coordinator 302-561-0108 bluhenrosh@gmail.com

Presbyterian Church (USA)

United Presbyterian Church 1701 E. Second St. 812-332-1850 upcbloomington.org

Sunday worship service: 10 a.m.

Tuesday Bible Study: 6 p.m., in-person and via Zoom

A diverse and inclusive people of God determined and committed to reflect an authentic presentation of the church universal. We cherish the authority of Scripture and the elemental Presbyterian confession that that God alone is Lord of the conscience.”

Cheryl Montgomery - Reverend

Benjamin Watkins, PhD - Music Director Allen Pease - Event Coordinator & Secretary

Redeemer Community Church

111 S. Kimble Dr. 812-269-8975

redeemerbloomington.org

facebook.com/RedeemerBtown

Instagram & Twitter: @RedeemerBtown

Sunday: 9 a.m., 11 a.m.

Redeemer is a gospel-centered community on mission. Our vision is to see the gospel of Jesus Christ transform everything: our lives, our church, our city, and our world. We want to be instruments of gospel change in Bloomington and beyond.

Chris Jones - Lead Pastor

Bloomington Young Single Adult Branch 2411 E. Second St.

To Contact: Send message from website maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/ wards/237973

Sunday: 12:30 p.m.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has four congregations in Bloomington—Three family wards and our young single adult branch for college students. This info is for the YSA Branch.

Weekday religious classes at 333 S Highland Ave, Bloomington IN 47401, next to campus.

More info at churchofjesuschrist.org.

the line between parody and authenticity in clever ways thanks to director Zelda Williams’s keen eye for style. The interior sets feel lived in. Lisa’s bedroom reflects her angst, but it also shows off her unique personality (her Bauhaus poster means so much to me). Lisa’s outfits coincide with her changing disposition; they become

The soundtrack represents the era without being overbearing. In a montage where Lisa broods through her high school’s halls, the music supervisor opted to use the Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation” instead of “Where Is My Mind?,” the objectively easier choice. The song fits with the sequence’s melodramatic tone, but it also works as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Lisa’s increasingly violent tendencies. There are some overtly playful inclusions too; namely Jojo’s cover of “Can’t Find This Feeling Anymore” and “On the Wings of Love” by Jeffrey Osborne, which is used in an especially shocking slo-mo scene in the film’s climax. The film is chock-full of references to iconic ‘80s films. From “Heathers” to “Weird Science,” it’s clear that Williams and

Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington 2120 N. Fee Ln. 812-332-3695 uubloomington.org facebook.com/uubloomington

Sunday: 10:15 a.m.

With open hearts and minds, we celebrate diverse beliefs and engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We are passionate about social justice and lifelong learning. We are an LGBTQA+ Welcoming Congregation. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, we welcome you!

Rev. Constance Grant - Lead Minister Anabel Watson - Connections Coordinator

Unity of Bloomington 4001 S. Rogers St. 812-333-2484 unityofbloomington.org

facebook@UnityofBloomington

Sunday: 10:30 a.m.

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus and the power of prayer. Unity honors the universal truths in all religions and respects each individual’s right to choose a spiritual path. Our God is Love, Our Race is Human, Our Faith is Oneness.

Doris Brinegar - Administrator Phyllis Wickliff - Music Director

Mennonite Fellowship of Bloomington 2420 E. Third St. 812-646-2441 bloomingtonmenno.org facebook.com/Mennonite-Fellowship-ofBloomington-131518650277524

Sunday: 5 p.m.

A welcoming, inclusive congregation providing a place of healing and hope as we journey together in the Spirit of Christ. Gathering for worship Sundays 5 p.m. in the Roger Williams room, First United Church. As people of God's peace, we seek to embody the Kingdom of God.

John Sauder - mfbjohn@gmail.com

First United Church 2420 E. Third St. 812-332-4439 firstuc.org

facebook.com/firstuc

Sunday: 10:30 a.m., Worship

Monday: 10 a.m. via Zoom, Bible Study

We are an Open, Welcoming, and Affirming community of love and acceptance dedicated to welcoming the diversity of God’s beloved. We exist to empower, challenge, and encourage one another to live out Jesus’ ways (compassion, truth, and justice) authentically as human beings in community to create a better world.

Rev. Jessica Petersen-MutaiSenior Minister

Cody embraced the film’s predecessors with open arms. With its sardonically playful dialogue and unwavering commitment to the very concept it’s trying to pull off, “Lisa Frankenstein” feels like it could’ve been released in that era. The stakes feel somewhat low because there’s no overarching antagonistic force, but it’s still easy to emotionally invest in these characters — yes, even the Creature. Even though the film could’ve benefited from some classic B-movie blood-spatter (the onscreen violence is minimal due to the PG-13 rating), its edginess is supplemented by the carefully constructed tone. It’s campy, it’s kooky, but most importantly, it’s fun!

I hate to throw this coveted title around because it’s difficult to gauge how a film will be perceived as time progresses, but “Lisa Frankenstein” feels destined to become a cult classic.

Christ Community Church

503 S. High St. 812-332-0502 cccbloomington.org facebook.com/christcommunitybtown

Instagram: @christcommunitybtown

Sunday: 9:15 a.m., Educational Hour 10:30 a.m., Worship Service

We are a diverse community of Christ-followers, including many IU students, faculty and staff. Together we are committed to sharing the redeeming grace and transforming truth of Jesus Christ in this college town.

Bob Whitaker - Senior Pastor

Adam deWeber - Worship Pastor Dan Waugh - Adult Ministry Pastor

Christian Student Fellowship

1968 N. David Baker 812-332-8972 csfindiana.org

Instagram & Facebook: @csfindiana

Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Office

Thursday: 8 p.m., Worship Service

Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) is a ministry built on Jesus Christ. We exist to help students pursue authentic faith and build intentional communities while in college. Come check out our campus house and/or any of our other various ministry opportunities.

Ben Geiger - Lead campus minister

Joe Durnil - Associate campus minister Stephanie Michael - Associate campus minister Hailee Fox - Office manager

Church of Christ 825 W. Second St. 812-332-0501 facebook.com/w2coc

Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Bible Study 10:30 a.m. & 5 p.m., Worship

Wednesday: 7 p.m., Bible Study

We use no book, but the Bible. We have no creed but His Word within its sacred pages. God is love and as such we wish to share this joy with you. The comprehensive teaching of God's Word can change you forever.

John Myers - Preacher

City Church For All Nations

1200 N. Russell Rd. 812-336-5958 citychurchbloomington.org facebook.com/citychurchbtown

Instagram: @citychurchbtown

Sunday Service: 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. Always check website for possible changes to service times.

City Church is a non-denominational multicultural, multigenerational church on Bloomington's east side. The Loft, our college ministry meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

MOVIE STILLS DATABASE

Actress Kathryn Newton (left) stars as Lisa Swallows alongside actor Cole Sprouse (right) as The Creature in “Lisa Frankenstein.” The movie was directed by Zelda Williams.

COLUMN: ‘Madame Web’ is unintentionally the funniest movie of the year

By Chloe Fulk cdfulk@iu.edu

In 1855, Walt Whitman’s gargantuan poem “Song of Myself” was published, and the world was blessed with one of his most influential verses: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.).”

The verse is a beautiful sentiment about humanity’s complexity and the contradictions we exhibit simply by existing. It’s also what flooded my mind as I laid in bed after watching – no, experiencing – the cinematic anomaly that is “Madame Web.”

“Madame Web” is a film containing multitudes. It’s somehow both the worst and best movie I’ve ever seen: The plot is incoherent, but I understood every detail. The protagonist, Cassie (Dakota Johnson), is unusually mean and frequently abandons the three young women she’s supposed to protect. It’s a film filled with bizarre choices and Pepsi product placement. But it’s exactly what it needed to be.

The film opens with — you guessed it — a closeup of a spiderweb in

By Grace Romine gmromine@iu.edu

“Euphoria” actress, model and LGBTQ+ rights activist Hunter Schafer will be presenting the next installment of the “Speaking of Excellence” lecture series 7 p.m. Feb. 29 in the IU Auditorium. The event is hosted in a collaboration between the IU Union Board and the IU LGBTQ+ Culture Center.

The “Speaking of Excellence” lecture series began in April 2023 and features keynote speeches by LGBTQ+ personalities recognized around the world. The lecture series has a mission to increase acceptance, understanding

the Amazon Rainforest. In this flashback sequence, we’re introduced to spider researcher Constance Webb, Cassie’s very pregnant mom (the spider research grind never stops), and her partner, Ezekiel. When they find an unidentified spider that possesses rare healing properties, Ezekiel betrays Constance, shoots her and steals the spider for himself. An Indigenous tribe tries to save Constance by giving her the spider’s venom, but she dies shortly after giving birth

and to address bias and discrimination. Grammynominated recording artist, “Star Trek” actor and social justice activist George Takei was the 2023 “Speaking of Excellence” keynote speaker. In ninth grade, Schafer was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and had began transitioning treatment during high school. When she began her junior year at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School, Schafer was living in the all-girls dormitory and was using she/her pronouns. After the passing of a North Carolina house bill requiring individuals use restrooms which aligned with their sex

to Cassie.

Fast forward 30 years to 2003. Cassie now works as a paramedic in New York City. After she almost dies on the job, she begins to experience clairvoyant visions. She initially dismisses them as déjà vu, but when one of her visions shows three young women being murdered by Ezekiel, she intervenes and helps them escape. On the run from Ezekiel and the cops (due to an unfortunate kidnapping misunderstanding), Cassie

assigned at birth, Schafer became a plaintiff in an American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit in 2016. The bill was repealed in 2017.

After graduating high school, Schafer moved to New York to pursue a career in modeling. Schafer has played roles in the HBO series “Euphoria” and “Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” She has modeled for luxury designers “Vera Wang,” “Miu Miu” and “Versace.” In 2017, she was nominated for Teen Vogue’s “21 Under 21” list.

Tickets are free for IU students, $15 for staff and faculty and $25 for the public. Tickets can be reserved or purchased on the IU Auditorium website.

must learn to understand and harness her abilities.

It feels important to establish that Cassie, the titular Madame Web, has no physical powers or extraordinary abilities. She can see into the future sometimes, but when it comes to inflicting actual damage, she’s as useless as the distractingly fake wig on Sydney Sweeney’s head. In fact, nobody in this movie has superpowers except for Ezekiel, who (maybe?) has super strength. Even his

powers aren’t defined.

“Madame Web” is a superhero movie with no superheroes. In Cassie and Ezekiel’s visions, we see the three young women in costume, taking on Ezekiel with spider-esque powers. But do we see how they earn these abilities? Nope! That’d be silly!

The plot feels like a tease — it’s all set-up and no payoff. It’s as if the first act was stretched from 30 minutes to two hours.

Because of this, the pacing moves at an exponentially sluggish rate.

On the other hand, the dialogue is so unnatural, forced and downright absurd that it’s almost fascinating to listen to. Dakota Johnson’s performance echos her unbothered and unfiltered press tour run, as she delivers her lines with minimal effort and maximum annoyance. Johnson’s bangs have more charisma than she does, but can you blame her? If I had to deliver lines like “us strays have to stick together,” I’d put my brain on autopilot too.

But at least Johnson says her lines. Ezekiel’s dialogue is delivered almost entirely through automated dialogue replacement, a process

in which actors re-record dialogue in a controlled environment during the post-production phase. It’s a bizarre fix for what I’m assuming was an unfortunate production issue. Anytime his back is turned away from the camera, it sounds like he’s speaking through a voiceover. Sometimes, when his face is in frame, the dialogue doesn’t line up with his mouth movements. Once you notice, it’s hard to ignore, but then again, why would you want to ignore one of “Madame Web’s” many eccentricities?

To top it all off, the editing is Wacky with a capital W. Not only is the 180-degree rule constantly broken, but there are so. many. artificial zooms. Too many zooms to count. It’s jarring. It’s beautiful. It’s “Madame Web.” “Madame Web” has very few (if any) redeemable qualities, but it did give me one of the most fun theater experiences I’ve ever had, and for that I’m grateful. Calling “Madame Web” so-bad-it’s-good is an understatement. It can barely be considered a movie at all, but that’s what makes it special.

MOVIE STILLS DATABASE

A promo shot of Hunter Schafer from season two of “Euphoria” is seen. Hunter Schafer will be presenting the next installment of the “Speaking of Excellence” lecture series 7 p.m. Feb. 29, 2024, in the IU Auditorium.

We, the undersigned faculty and staff of the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University, oppose the university administration’s cancellation of the long-planned exhibition “Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” at the Eskenazi Museum of Art.

Undertaking the first retrospective in the U.S. of this renowned American artist of Palestinian origin — whose work belongs to such preeminent art collections as the Guggenheim Museum, the British Museum and the National Gallery of Art, and is to be included in the 2024 Venice Biennale – demonstrates the extent to which our museum and its curatorial staff are engaged in the international art world; it would have showcased IU’s relevance therein and enriched our community in turn.

Instead, the administration’s abrupt cancellation of the exhibition compromises IU’s reputation as a haven of creative expression, academic freedom and human rights. An exhibition that could have secured the Eskenazi Museum’s identity as a leading cultural institution has, in its cancellation, generated negative publicity for IU in The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Democracy Now!, ARTNews and Artforum, and prompted condemnations by PEN America, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art Museum Watch, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the American Association of University Professors, the Middle East Studies Association of North America, and other groups.

At the Eskenazi School, we have already experienced collateral damage from this cancellation. Three internationally acclaimed artists — Theresa Ganz, Nina Sarnelle and Selwa Sweidan —who had committed nearly one year ago to participate in our endowed visiting artist series this spring have withdrawn.

“To speak and share my work as a Jewish woman while a Palestinian woman is being silenced would be to give cover to those who like to imply that anything Palestinian is automatically antisemitic. This mentality

is nothing less than nihilistic ethno-nationalism,” Ganz explained.

A previous participant in the series informed us that in the wake of the cancellation, she plans never to return to IU. We can only anticipate further challenges recruiting faculty, students, and visitors disinclined to participate in an academic environment with such tight administrative control over creative activity and research.

According to Mark Bode, a university spokesperson, the administration canceled the exhibition owing to “concerns about guaranteeing the integrity of the exhibit for its duration,” however no specific, credible threats have been publicly identified. The fact that the exhibition was comprised entirely of abstract paintings, drawings and digital artworks suggests that the source of the administration’s concerns lies not in the work itself, but in Halaby’s long, public history of activism for the Palestinian people — activism that she was already known for when the exhibition was planned. This leads us to believe that the administration’s decision was a function of current political pressures to suppress Palestinian voices.

The university administration is entrusted with upholding and protecting the open discourse that is the foundation of IU and all credible institutions of higher learning. We believe that the administration’s cancellation of Halaby’s exhibition undermines the university’s stated mission to uphold academic freedom, to protect constitutional rights to free speech and to affirm our commitment to all members of our community. We live and work in the conviction that confronting painful histories and inconvenient truths, and expressing conflicting and sometimes unpopular opinions, is vital to a healthy and open-minded society. It must be the cornerstone of our institution.

In the Eskenazi School, our research and creative activity speak to our faith in the artist’s responsibility to fathom the human experience, offer new perspectives, foster empathy and respect, and contribute to the greater good, refusing to sidestep challenging or controversial

issues in the process. Our far-ranging work includes the creation of a memorial and refuge in Marion, Indiana, at the site of the state’s last known lynching, photographic documentation of the abandoned sites of Japanese-American internment camps, video installations honoring the stories of Ukrainian refugees in Estonia, ceramic surface decoration incorporating and interrogating racially-charged imagery, sustainable and affordable housing initiatives in towns from Indiana to Mexico, participation in global coalitions to promote ethical sourcing of materials and humane treatment of workers in the fashion and jewelry industries, and countless other critical and sometimes uncomfortable undertakings.

As a unit whose origins date to 1895, the Eskenazi School celebrates and shares our university’s historical commitment to academic freedom, global awareness, diversity and the arts. When Samia Halaby earned her MFA in our painting department in the 1960s, it was already considered one of the nation’s leading programs. Halaby contributed to this prestige as a faculty member in the 1970s when she freely exhibited her paintings in what is now the Grunwald Gallery. Fifty-four years later, the Eskenazi School family is heartbroken that we are not able to welcome our alumna and former faculty member back home as a rightful Hoosier and to celebrate her as a world-class artist.

We remain unconvinced of the rationale behind the show’s cancellation. If there are indeed legitimate threats, we propose that IU postpone or shorten the exhibition to ensure that adequate safety measures can be put in place. It would be reasonable to start by consulting with our Big Ten peer, Michigan State University, which has been considering the same issues and is proceeding with the exhibition of Halaby’s work later this year. We would look forward to welcoming Halaby back to the community to which she already belongs as an alumna and former faculty, and in so doing, confirming that IU is a place where all forms of creative expression can thrive.

Rowland Ricketts, area head of fibers

Heather Akou, program director of fashion design

Sara Yourist, visiting assistant professor of architecture

Tim Kennedy, senior lecturer of painting

Sarah Wilkinson, graduate services coordinator

Hassnaa Mohammed, assistant professor of interior design

Megan Young, area head of digital art

Ellen Campbell, graphic designer and web manager

Ryan Farley, program coordinator for the Grunwald Gallery

Minjeong Kim, program director of merchandising

Angela Caldwell, visiting assistant professor of metalsmithing and jewelery design

Justin Bailey, program director of Creative Core

Deborah Christiansen, executive director of academics

Osamu James Nakagawa, Ruth

N. Halls distinguished professor of photography

Malcolm Mobutu Smith, director of graduate studies in Bloomington

Gabriel Mo, academic lab specialist

Caleb Weintraub, area head of painting

Torrey Gleason, visiting assistant professor of graphic design

Linda Tien, director of the Grunwald Gallery

Ed Bernstein, professor emeritus of art Ahmed Ozsever, assistant professor of Creative Core

Hannah Osborn, administrative specialist

Nicole Jacquard, area head of metalsmithing and jewlery design

Betsy Stirratt, director of the Grunwald Gallery

Bryan Orthel, program director of interior design

Su A Chae, visiting assistant professor of painting and fashion design

Chase Gamblin, lecturer of ceramics

Johanna Winters, visiting assistant professor

Tracy Templeton, area head of printmaking

Jooyoung Shin, assistant professor of fashion design

Karen Atkins, director of academic support services

Tianrui Ma, director of diversity, inclusion, and access

Grae Loveless, office coordinator

Olivia Kalish, event services coordinator

Elizabeth Elich, visiting assistant professor

Tonja Torgerson, lecturer of printmaking

Ran Huang, assistant professor of merchandising

Kennon Smith, associate professor of interior design

Sharron Cherry, academic advisor

Daniel Martinez, assistant professor of architecture

Yaël Ksander, director of communications and marketing

Kelly Wilson, program director of architecture

David Ondrik, area head of photography

Teresa Larrabee, visiting assistant professor of ceramics

Jennifer Riley, associate professor of architecture

Lucas Brown, visiting associate professor of architecture

Mary Embry, senior lecturer of merchandising

Andrea Stanislav, area head of sculpture

Martha MacLeish, program director of studio art

Dan Woerner, adjunct faculty in sculpture

Kelly Richardson, director and

curator of the Sage Collection

Chris Cvitkovich, visiting assistant professor of graphic design

Ana Meza, Columbus

Instructional Shops manager

Dorian Bybee, lecturer of interior design

Jiangmei Wu, associate professor of interior design

Chris Reinhart, visiting professor of architecture

Ben Pines, Master of Fine Arts alumnus

Eve Mansdorf, associate professor of painting

Jeff Wolin, former area head of photography

Melanie Pennington, lecturer of sculpture

Bonnie Sklarski, professor emerita of fine arts

Silvia Acosta, McRobbie

Bicentennial professor of modern architecture

Elke Pessl, academic advisor

Lulu Loquidis Martinez, cofounder of Landscape, Art, & Architecture Office

Barry Gealt, professor emeritus of fine arts

Kim Dutkosky, lecturer of interior design

Jessica Quirk, visiting lecturer of fashion design

Hiroko Hanamura, visiting assistant professor of interior design

Atefah Farajolahzadeh, visiting assistant professor of photography

Suzanne Halvorson, adjunct professor of fibers

Dominick Rivers, visiting assistant professor

Tim Mather, area head of ceramics

Nell Weatherwax, academic advisor

Carissa Carman, senior lecturer of fibers

Alexander Landerman, area head of graphic design

Erin Stafford (she/her)

is a senior studying journalism with a minor in English.

As a self-proclaimed pop culture enthusiast, I spend a lot of time listening to music, reading, watching TV and consuming all the information I can about my favorite celebrities. And, in my consumption of media, I’ve come to idolize more than a few famous people. If an artist makes good music, is charismatic and offers some sort of relatability in their work, I’m hooked.

Almost every single artist I’ve ever loved, however, has done something unethical or immoral at some point in their careers.

Despite the simple fact that celebrities do bad things sometimes, a great number of fanbases condemn any criticism against their beloved artists. Taylor Swift fans, Kanye West fans and Nicki Minaj fans, to name a few, all represent large fanbases which refuse to hold their favorite artists accountable and bully anyone who does. But celebrities are in a position of immeasurable power, so why do fans take it so personally when they are criticized?

When a celebrity's character is attacked, it can also feel like a threat to the fans who adore them. The use of the celebrity to construct one's self-identity is rooted in online fandom culture, where people build connections based on what they consume. A report from the

National Library of Medicine says “people lacking a clear sense of self become absorbed with celebrities to attain a more complete identity.” It’s this weird parasocial dynamic that leads fans to defend celebrities as if they are extensions of themselves. The refusal to criticize a celebrity, however, is incredibly harmful.

Idolizing a celebrity to the point where they can do no wrong takes away their humanity and perpetuates a power structure that tells rich and famous people it’s okay if they do questionable things. But no one person is entirely good nor entirely bad. By holding celebrities

accountable, fans can encourage the artists they love to own up to their actions and make a conscious effort to do better.

Amidst waves of social activism last decade, comedy fans, for example, criticized a number of famous comedians whose older jokes made fun of marginalized groups. After facing backlash from audiences, multiple comedians made efforts to apologize for their offensive jokes and take accountability. While criticism can end in positive change, not all fans are willing to critique their favorite celebrities.

Diehard Taylor Swift fans

— or Swifties, as they’re colloquially called — are especially notorious for refusing to critique their beloved idol. As a Swiftie myself, I’ve observed a good number of fellow fans race to Swift’s defense when she is called out yet again for her massive carbon footprint. In 2022, sustainability marketing firm Yard reported Swift as the number one celebrity carbon dioxide polluter with the use of her private jet. The agency said Swift had amassed 1,184.8 times more than the average person's annual carbon emissions at the time the report was published. Yard also said her shortest flight

in 2022 was a 36 minute ride from Missouri to Nashville. Now, I love Swift and do believe her frequent use of a private jet is in some ways an effort to ensure she is secure, safe and keeping up with her time commitments as a celebrity, but choosing to fly for 36 minutes rather than travel by car across states is absolutely ridiculous when it’s so much more environmentally conscious to drive. Rather than admit Swift should take accountability for her pollution, a lot of Swifties attempt to distract audiences from her emissions by noting other celebrities who do the same thing. Sure, most rich celebrities

are also going to take needless trips on their private jets, but all this rhetoric does is prove that we should criticize all the celebrities who contribute to pollution, including Swift.

It’s also important to note how Swifties race to defend the global pop star in the name of feminism. It’s true that for years, critics have thrown waves of misogynistic vitriol against Swift in their judgments of her dating life, anger surrounding her presence at Kansas City Chiefs football games and questioning of her overall success. But to say that all criticism against her is inherently sexist does a disservice to feminism itself. If, as Swift said to Maxim in 2015, “feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace because it's just basically another word for equality,” then shouldn’t we hold her accountable for her actions just as we do any other public figure in a position of power?

At the end of the day, the celebrities we love and adore are not perfect. If fans treat them like they are untouchable, all it does is facilitate a culture in which the rich, famous and privileged can do questionable things and get away with it. Fostering open criticism of celebrities can encourage real social change and aid in shattering the power structures we all live in.

Indiana is victorious at home-opener game

By Matt

of RBIs and moved to a team-high .500 average on the season.

While Cerny’s bat was potent, his glove was equally as impressive at shortstop. In the top of the sixth, with RedHawk runners on the corners, Cerny slid to his left into the dirt and managed to make the inning-ending out at second.

A few innings prior, in the bottom of the third, Cerny’s emotion was heavy. In one at bat, Cerny sprayed two offerings just wide of the foul poles in left and right field. After striking out to end the frame, Cerny smacked his bat in the grass and shook his head as he walked toward the dugout.

Still, Mercer welcomes that fiery nature.

“He’s a super competitive player, super competitive kid,” Mercer said. “He’s done a good job of channeling it toward the game — not beating himself up, not using his emotions as a distraction, but using them to propel him and to stay locked in and stay focused.”

Sophomore standout Devin Taylor exhibited some of that passion, as well. After hauling from first base to third on a single from Cerny in the bottom of the fifth, Taylor triumphantly punched his fists into the dirt. Taylor finished the night 3-of-4 with a walk and flashed the leather on a miraculous diving grab on the first at-bat of the contest.

“What a lift for us to have one of the best hitters in the country who also has become

a darn fine defender,” Mercer said. Indiana excelled at the plate, collecting 13 hits and batting .467 with runners in scoring position, but it was relatively rocky on the mound. The Hoosiers deployed eight separate arms against the RedHawks, with senior righty Jack Moffitt’s two innings of work leading the group.

Freshman Seth Benes got the start and surrendered a solo shot to Miami junior Zach MacDonald in the top of the first, and his outing was concluded after fanning two RedHawks to end the frame. Indiana sophomore Cooper Katskee pitched a clean second, but he got taken deep by former Hoosier and current Miami redshirt sophomore Evan Appelwick to lead off the third.

Pyne’s homer gave Indiana a 4-2 advantage going into the fourth, but the RedHawks tacked on 2 runs in the fifth to knot the score. Indiana again responded, and redshirt freshman Joey Brenczewski knocked a tworun double in the bottom of the frame to help put the Hoosiers ahead 7-4.

Miami’s only further damage came in the seventh inning. With redshirt sophomore southpaw Brandon Keyster on the mound for Indiana, RedHawk junior David Novak launched a mammoth two-run homer to left field.

Redshirt sophomore lefty Grant Holderfield picked up

COOPER SHANNON | IDS

Junior infielder Josh Pyne throws the ball to first base against Miami Unversity of Ohio on Feb. 20, 2024, at Bart Kaufman Field in Bloomington. Pyne went 2-4

the win for the Hoosiers after tossing a shutout third inning in relief of Katskee, and Mercer was pleased with the staff’s effort overall. “We did a good job in totality tonight,” Mercer said. “You want to make somebody earn it. We want to attack with multiple pitches and get a bunch of different guys in there and kind of grow up a

little bit.”

While Indiana held a tight 8-6 lead in the seventh, it added some crucial insurance at the plate in the bottom of the eighth. The Hoosiers smacked four doubles in the inning, with Pyne and Cerny totaling three RBIs in the frame. Graduate reliever Drew Buhr and redshirt freshman

righty Jacob Vogel combined to close out the ninth, retiring the RedHawks in order and securing Indiana’s first home victory of the season. At 3-1 now, the Hoosiers travel to Waco, Texas, Feb. 23-25 for a three-game set against Baylor University, beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m. All three games will be televised on ESPN+.

BLISS

HARRY BLISS

BADGER the BADGERS

How Mgbako overcame a slow start, lived up to hype

By Daniel Flick danflick@iu.edu | @ByDanielFlick

Indiana men’s basketball head coach Mike Woodson sat at a black table inside Madison-Square Garden, donning a white dress shirt, zebra tie and glasses, shaking his head and tossing his hands into the air.

It’s Nov. 20, and Woodson’s Hoosiers are minutes removed from a 7466 win over the University of Louisville – during which Indiana’s 5-star freshman forward, Mackenzie Mgbako, scored only 4 points in nine minutes of action.

Woodson’s upset — but not about Mgbako’s performance. Instead, his frustration stems from the burdensome expectations placed on the 19-year-old’s shoulders.

“All you guys expect him to be a great player right now because he’s got that 5-star tag on him,” Woodson said. “I think that’s bullshit. The bottom line is that he’s still young, he’s trying to learn the college game.”

Mgbako flew back to Bloomington with 6 total points scored over the Hoosiers’ two games in New York. He’d been held to 4 points or fewer in four of Indiana’s first five contests and was 1-of-13 from 3-point range — far from the heights many expected from a consensus top-10 recruit.

Suddenly, it all changed.

The Gladstone, New Jersey, native scored in double figures in each of the next eight games, making at least one triple in all but one appearance. He nailed a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to help cement Indiana’s first road victory at Michigan on Dec. 5. He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Jan. 2.

Mgbako’s arrow was firmly pointing up — but he hit a brief rut, notching just 6 and 5 points against Nebraska and Ohio State, respectively, upon returning to Big Ten play. He responded strongly, scoring at least 11 points in each of the following seven games. For the first time in his college career, the 6-foot8, 217-pound Mgbako led the Hoosiers in scoring, notching

By Matt Press mtpress@iu.edu | @MattPress23

No team in the Big Ten has terrorized Indiana men’s basketball in the 21st century quite like Wisconsin.

Since a January win in the 1999-2000 season, the Hoosiers and Badgers have met 42 times between regular and postseason play. In that span, Indiana holds an abysmal 9-33 record, including a whopping 20 straight losses at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

In the heyday of Indiana basketball under legendary head coach Bob Knight, Indiana dominated the matchup. From 1972-1998, Knight’s squads went 45-4 against Wisconsin, a mark that renders Indiana’s recent misfortunes almost inconceivable.

Some of that stems from coaching instability.

Since 2015, Greg Gard has served as Wisconsin’s head coach — in that same time, Indiana has employed three separate head coaches. Still, neither Tom Crean, Archie Miller nor Mike Woodson could quite alleviate the burden of the Badgers.

This January, Woodson took his team to Madison with a chance to knock off the No. 11 hosts and break the curse. But after a Flagrant 2 ejection to sophomore guard CJ Gunn and dysfunctional play from Indiana, Wisconsin coasted to a 91-79 victory that could have been far worse if not for 28 points from Hoosier sophomore forward Malik Reneau. Stars have come and gone for both sides. Indiana boasts a laundry list of exemplary talent over the last 20 or so years, with Christian Watford, Cody

19 points against Minnesota on Jan. 12.

After his resurgence in the victory over the Golden Gophers, Mgbako starred in the following three games — all against ranked foes in Purdue, Wisconsin and Illinois — as he averaged just shy of 15 points per game.

“He’s been great,” Woodson said Jan. 25, voicing a much different tone than two months prior. “I have no complaints. He’s a freshman that came in with high accolades, but AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) and high school basketball is not the same as college basketball in the Big Ten. It’s just not. So, there’s a learning curve for all these young players when they come to the next level.”

After a narrow escape over Army on Nov. 12, Woodson said Mgbako needed to play harder to earn more minutes. Defensively, Mgbako was behind the 8-ball. Woodson wanted better communication and more energy to get him up to speed.

For Mgbako, Woodson’s defensive philosophy — known as the ‘nail-slot-rim’ — was a culture shock from what he played at Roselle Catholic High School, as the near-side digs Woodson preaches requires more activity and attentiveness. Mgbako attributed the schematic change to his slow defensive start but quickly grew under Woodson’s guidance.

Known as a gifted scorer, Mgbako started turning the corner defensively in Big Ten play. He said after the Hoosiers’ 70-62 loss at Illinois on Jan. 27 that he was considerably more comfortable on defense and had grown as a communicator.

Mgbako added the biggest difference in his skill set from the season opener to his 20th game was knowing where he needed to be defensively, as Indiana’s scrambling defense was a lot to absorb — but he’d grasped it, all the while continuing to fill up the scoring column.

“He’s definitely grown into the player he’s supposed to be,” Indiana sophomore center Kel’el Ware said Feb.

Zeller, Victor Oladipo, Yogi Ferrell and most recently Trayce Jackson-Davis headlining some of the Hoosiers’ most notable names. For Wisconsin, Frank Kaminsky, Ethan Happ, Nigel Hayes and Brad Davison have been among the best the Badgers had to offer over the same time range. Indiana fans hold a particular disdain for Davison, whose peskiness and penchant for dirty fouls was a thorn in Indiana’s — and the rest of the Big Ten’s — side throughout his fiveyear career from 2017-2022.

At home, Indiana has at least marginally overcome its woes against Wisconsin. Behind 18 points from Jackson-Davis and 16 from Jalen Hood-Schifino in January 2023, the Hoosiers topped the Badgers in a defensive slugfest, an apt characterization of plenty of the team’s clashes. In February 2019, a driving layup from guard Romeo Langford in the final second of a doubleovertime thriller clinched the Hoosiers’ 75-73 victory over the Badgers at Assembly Hall.

Yet, for the few euphoric triumphs, Indiana has suffered at least a handful of demoralizing defeats.

Take, for example, Indiana’s first conference game on the road in the 2021-22 campaign — its first under Woodson. The Hoosiers got everything they wanted in the first 20 minutes, sprinting to a 4225 advantage at the break and holding a lead as large as 22 points in the first half.

Then, the collapse ensued.

Indiana’s offense became a shell of what it had been in the first period, and Wisconsin began knocking down shots.

2. “He had a rough start at the beginning of the season, but now he’s starting to get comfortable, shooting the ball well and just getting more used to it now.”

As Mgbako perused the court inside the State Farm Center at Illinois, fans in the student section — known as the ‘Orange Krush’ — asked a question: “What did you want?”

It was a dig at Mgbako’s Oct. 22 arrest — two misdemeanors for criminal

trespess and resisting law enforcement — which occurred outside of a Bloomington Taco Bell. The case was resolved, but the jokes persisted. Mgbako responded by posting his first career doubledouble, logging 12 points and 12 rebounds against the Fighting Illini. Perhaps nothing showed his maturity better. For weeks, the arrest seemed a fitting microcosm of Mgbako’s season — head-

scratching, underwhelming, disappointing. The Preseason Big Ten Freshman of the Year, averaging only 5 points per game through his first five games in college with an arrest attached to his resume. Instead of allowing his early struggles to compound, Mgbako flipped the script. He’s one of four Hoosiers averaging double-digit points, leads the team in 3-point makes and is a mainstay in the starting

lineup. Now, Woodson, wearing a black jacket with ‘Indiana’ in white letters across his heart and a black-and-white Indiana ballcap donned atop his head, can reflect on Mgbako’s ascent with pride.

“He had his struggles, but he’s continued to work and we’re trying to push him to play at a high level,” Woodson said. “I’m pretty pleased with his progress and where he is today. He’s just got to keep working.”

have been stunning individual Wisconsin performances, like when Jordan Taylor dropped 39 in Assembly Hall en route

Aided by an 11-0 Badger run to cap the contest and a scoring drought from the Hoosiers in the final three minutes, Wisconsin escaped with a rousing victory, and Indiana was left in despair. There

MICHAEL

Freshman

Mgbako dunks the ball Jan. 6, 2024, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Indiana defeated Ohio State 71-65.

Indiana succeeds 4-1 in Troy Invitational

second tournament of the season Feb. 16–18 at the Troy Invitational in Troy, Alabama. Team 51 went 4-1, defeating Florida A&M University and Troy University twice while falling to Gardner-Webb University.

Junior pitcher and utility player Brianna Copeland opened the Hoosiers’ matchup with Florida A&M on Feb. 16 by hitting a tworun home run to go up 2-0. The Hoosiers stayed dominant throughout the game, led by senior pitcher Macy Montgomery’s dominant pitching performance throwing for a career-high 10 strikeouts.

Five different Hoosiers recorded an RBI in the win, defeating the Rattlers 8-0 in six innings.

Later in the day, the Hoosiers took on Troy. Indiana scored six of its eight runs in the third inning.

Freshman utility player Alex Cooper had the first stolen base of her career, stealing home in the third inning. In that same inning, junior infielder Sarah Stone hit an RBI single and freshman infielder Tristian Thompson hit an RBI double to make the score 7-0 in the third.

Copeland took to the pitcher’s circle, striking out six batters and allowing only four hits in five innings of

work. The Hoosiers defeated the Trojans 8-1. The Hoosiers had another doubleheader Feb. 17, opening the day against Gardner-Webb. Even though Indiana struck first with an RBI from junior outfielder Taylor Minnick in the bottom of the first, GardnerWebb followed and used two three-run innings in the second and fourth to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Indiana tried to fight back in the fourth inning by scoring three runs to make it 6-4, but Gardner-Webb shut it down with another run in the top of the seventh inning to close the game. Sophomore pitcher Sophie Kleiman notched seven strikeouts for the Hoosiers.

Ultimately, the Hoosiers fell 7-4 to give themselves their second season loss. Part two of the doubleheader was against Troy for the second time of the weekend. The Trojans took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Stone got the Hoosiers on the board with an RBI single in the top of the third to tie the game.

It was all about defense on display for the next three innings as Kleiman and Copeland split the pitching duties. Copeland closed out in the circle, allowing zero hits and throwing 17 strikes out of 21 pitches.

But it was Minnick who came up clutch late in the game with an RBI single to right field to score the game-

winning run as senior shortstop Brooke Benson crossed home plate to give the Hoosiers a 2-1 win over the Trojans.

The final game for the Hoosiers in Troy took place Feb. 18 against Florida A&M once again. The Rattlers were still looking for their first win of the season, but the Hoosiers came out on fire.

Minnick and Stone each recorded an RBI to give the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After that, the Hoosiers didn’t stop. Sophomore outfielder Cassidy Kettleman added to the lead with an RBI double in the top of the second inning. In the top of the third, Benson hit an RBI double to give the Hoosiers a 6-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth inning, sophomore infielder Chloe Geijer extended the lead further with a home run to give the Hoosiers an 8-0 advantage. Geijer’s homerun was one of the four runs the Hoosiers put on the board in the fourth inning.

To close out the game, Cooper made her collegiate debut in the circle by not allowing a hit to seal the 12-0 run-rule win for the Hoosiers.

Copeland was a crucial part of the Hoosier’s success over the weekend, going 3-0 and throwing 14 strikeouts while only allowing seven hits in 11 1/3 innings of work and holding opposing batters to a .175 batting average.

Copeland was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week according to a release Feb. 19. Finishing the tournament 4-1 now with an over-

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

all record of 8-2, Indiana dropped out of the D1 Softball Top 25 rankings this week. Team 51 is set to head west Feb. 23- 25 at the Hill-

enbrand Invitational in Tucson, Arizona. The Hoosiers will face No. 17 University of Arizona, Drake University, Central Michigan University and Marshall University.

COLUMN: Seemingly uninspired Indiana drops crucial game at Illinois

By Ryan Canfield rcanfie@iu.edu | @_ryancanfield

With 5:47 left to go in the first half against Illinois, an irate head coach Teri Moren called a timeout after No. 14 Indiana women’s basketball allowed the Fighting Illini to their, at the time, largest lead of the game. The score at the timeout was 32-24 in favor of the Fighting Illini.

The Hoosiers looked to ignite a spark that would put them back in the game.

That spark never kindled. The Hoosiers dropped the President’s Day matinee 8666. “Give Illinois a ton of credit for coming out and punching us right in the mouth from the beginning,” Moren said postgame.

“We are very very very disappointed.”

The turning point of the game was the second quarter. From the beginning of the quarter, the two offenses went in different directions: the Illini outscored the Hoosiers by 15.

Moren described the second quarter as “awful.”

From the final three quarters, the Hoosiers shot 18-38 to Illinois 23-46. That margin is terribly uneven,

but the Hoosiers missed too many opportunities and let the Illini have their way on offense. The struggles for Indiana on defense arose from simply being unable to guard the Illini backcourt.

“They are hard, their guard play is so great when they attack, they are quick,” Moren said. “They keep you constantly moving, which is hard to guard.”

The featured guard performance for Illinois was senior guard Makira Cook, finishing with 22 points on 40% shooting from the field.

Along with an angry Moren, a teary-eyed graduate forward Mackenzie Holmes expressed her displeasure with the performance.

“I don’t take losing very well, only have a few games left in the regular season so we got to figure it out. That’s all there is to it,” Holmes said. “We got to figure out how to come from behind. I got to be better at protecting the rim.”

Holmes was the leading scorer with 24 points.

This was not the note Indiana wanted to enter their biggest home game of the season on. With No. 4 Iowa and one of the hottest names in sports, senior

guard Caitlin Clark coming into Bloomington on Thursday, Moren stated that the Hoosiers will put their best foot forward against the Hawkeyes.

“We have three games left in the Big Ten season,” Moren said. “We got to figure somethings out, but I can tell you this, we are going to be much better on Thursday.”

If the Hoosiers can’t match up well with the Illinois guards, it could be a long night against Iowa.

The Hawkeyes’ offense will get everything they want and then some if Indiana doesn’t have a cohesive defensive performance.

Clark being a force on her own will draw a ton of attention but it’s about limiting the other Hawkeyes.

Iowa matches the physicality and speed that Illinois posed for Indiana. That’s not even mentioning the scoring. Iowa will feature a lot of off-ball movement with starting senior guards Molly Davis, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. The three combined for 40 points, in addition to Clark’s 30 in the first matchup on Jan. 13.

Indiana’s second meeting with No. 4 Iowa is set for 8 p.m, Feb. 22 with the game streaming on Peacock.

Mezcla cycling team returns to the men’s Little 500

By Joseph Ringer jnringer@iu.edu

Just as quickly as some Little 500 teams form, they can disappear — never to race again.

“Couch” was formed in 2008 and last rode in 2009; “Posers” rode only three times from 1987-1989; “Team Funk” had its first and only dance in 1991 and “Vitalita!” in 2006 also came and left the field.

The Mezcla men’s cycling team only raced for four years, from 1996 to 1998, and their fourth and final race in 2001. Just like the aforementioned teams, the Mezcla men’s team quickly formed, raced and disappeared.

The Mezcla — a Spanish word meaning “mix” — team was formed in 1996 from the La Casa Latino Cultural Center, an organization providing support for Latine students at Indiana University.

The team aims to represent a mixture of ethnicities and promote inclusion in the Little 500 bicycle race.

When Sebastian BreñaOchoa, the captain and founding member of the new 2024 Mezcla team, was first informed about the original Mezcla Little 500 team, he told the Indiana Daily Student, “nobody had any idea about it.”

Breña-Ochoa, a freshman at Indiana University, is a Latino student involved with IU’s La Casa Center. La Casa director Lillian Casillas suggested he should start a new team.

According to Mezcla cyclist and IU junior Angel Hernández, the idea of forming a new team originated in September 2023, and they found enough riders to form a team just one month later.

“At the beginning, I thought ‘this might go somewhere, it might not,’” Breña-Ochoa said. “But I sent a message out to the Latin organizations, and now we have six guys on the team.”

From there, the riders found a coach, bikes to train and race on, and many of the members attended spring rookie week — the two-week period where aspiring Little

500 cyclists learn to ride the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium and become qualified to practice and race.

Competitive cycling posed a tough learning curve for the riders, who aimed to understand the physical and timely demands of the sport and the focus needed for bike handling.

“I have a newfound respect for cycling — it’s really hard,” Mezcla rookie cyclist and IU sophomore Abdullah Abdulwahab said.

But to Abdulwahab, it’s worth it.

“Training for this means a lot more than training for something individual, because I feel like the goal is far beyond me,” he said.

For many of the Mezcla members, the only goal for the new team is to qualify for the Little 500, which would promote the team’s growth and diversity within the race.

“Representing La Casa brings me a lot of happiness,” Breña-Ochoa said. “You don’t see a crazy amount of representation in the Little 500, so it’s a great opportunity to represent La Casa and all the people who

are associated.” All Mezcla members are training hard and hoping to become fast enough to place among the top 33 teams at qualifications, which is the field limit for the Little 500.

The Indiana University Student Foundation’s 2024 Qualifications sign-ups indicate there will be 39 teams fighting for the top 33 positions. To qualify, Mezcla will need to beat six other teams.

“Hopefully by qualifying, we’ll get people from La Casa to come out to the race,” Breña-Ochoa said. “I think when they see the environment of the race, how big of an event it is at IU, it will motivate some people to talk to us next year.”

Breña-Ochoa also mentioned that Mezcla would like to form a new women’s team. The Mezcla women’s team has a much more recent presence in the Little 500 compared to the men’s team.

The women’s team raced 11 times in the Little 500: first in 1997 — one year after the men’s team was established — 2004-2006 and 2008-2014.

“We want this to be able to carry on into next year, and part of that is having a women’s team,” BreñaOchoa said. Mezcla coach Michael Sears, an IU Jacobs School of Music graduate and Gray Goat cycling team alumni, reflected on the progress of the men’s team so far.

“I’ve had a subset of goals throughout the year, but most of them have been met,” Sears said. “My goals now are to build sustainable financial input, relationships with sponsors, recruitment and uniforms.”

Not having a network to rely on created difficulties in restarting the Mezcla team, Sears said.

“Older teams have a pedigree and roster of people they can reach out to for funding, experience or advice,” he said. “So having a team that hasn’t existed since 2005, you have to rebuild all of those things.”

Funding was a large part of establishing the team — Sears noted it cost about $4,000 to purchase essential equipment and pay race registration fees for eight

people. The team initiated a funding campaign through GoFundMe and generated about $2,500 toward the total team costs. The remaining $1,500 was generated from team sponsors.

largest goal for the team, however, is “building a passion.”

“You can always discipline yourself to work out, but what is really going to sustain you is ‘the why,’” Sears said. “I’m constantly asking riders what they want to get out of this and what they want to learn.”

Despite the financial and physical challenges Mezcla has faced in rebuilding its team, it has brought them closer together. With each training session during rookie week, every workout on the rollers and each team gathering, the team grows in its connection and progresses forward to its goal of qualifying.

“The Mezcla team has a deep dichotomy of love and a bond that has honestly been so cool to represent,” Sears said. “I’m excited to represent at events throughout Spring Series and the race and then hopefully years to come.”

LITTLE 500

FILE PHOTO | IDS

Sophomore Brianna Copeland winds up and delivers a pitch against the University of Tennessee on May 20, 2023, at the NCAA Tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee. Indiana finished 4-1 at the Troy Invitational.

OLIVIA BIANCO | IDS

Sophomore guard Lexus Bargesser looks to pass the ball against Illinois on Feb. 19, 2024, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. Indiana fell 86-66 to Illinois.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Indiana ends losing streak in 3-match weekend

By Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer matfuent@iu.edu | @mfr0617

Indiana women’s tennis entered Feb. 15 disappointed. Hard fought games over the past three weeks resulted in five consecutive losses.

But in the eyes of head coach Ramiro Azcui, his team was nearing that fateful victory.

“We’re so close,” Azcui said Feb. 17. “It’s not like we’re not being competitive ... I just want them to keep their heads up and keep going at it.”

Over the course of three matches in three days, Indiana displayed the competitiveness Azcui referenced with tight losses against the University of Memphis and the University of Colorado. It wasn’t until the final match of the weekend that the Hoosiers tasted the success they craved, annihilating Ball State University to finally return to the win column.

The first test for Indiana began Feb. 15 against a Memphis squad touting a 5-3 record. With the aid of entirely new doubles partnerships, Indiana was able to break its recent trend of starting slow by winning its first doubles point since its match against Chicago State University on Jan. 21. Redshirt junior Lara Schneider and sophomore Nicole Teodosescu won a tight match 7-6 (7-4) while freshmen Sarah L’allier and Li Hsin Lin secured a narrow 7-5 victory.

The close nature of the doubles matches was a sign of things to come. However, contrary to how the doubles matches played out, Memphis squeaked out the results.

Schneider fought valiantly against Memphis senior Camila Soares but came up short 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Graduate students Saby Nihalani and Lene Mari Hovda had similar results, losing 6-4, 7-5 and 6-1, 6-3, respectively. Freshman Magda Swierczynska fell in three sets, granting Memphis its fourth point after a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 defeat.

As has been the case for much of the season, freshman Elisabeth Dunac was Indiana’s lone bright spot in the singles matches. After winning the first set 7-5 over junior Emily Meyer, Dunac dropped the second 6-3. With all to play for in the decisive final set, the Hoosier secured the only singles win for Indiana with a 6-4 set win.

Indiana’s Feb. 17 doubleheader in the Adidas Classic began with Colorado, a team riding a five-game winning streak. Momentum was on the Hoosiers’ side, however, as they attained the doubles point after Azcui chose to stick with the successful pairings from the Memphis matchup.

“We’re very happy with the last combinations that we’re trying,” Azcui said after the Colorado match. “We were struggling getting the doubles point, and winning the last two against two good schools definitely gave us the right combination.”

Schneider and Teodosescu — newly appointed as No. 1 doubles — won 7-6 (7-3) and L’allier and Lin finished off a 7-5 victory shortly after, granting Indiana its second consecutive doubles point.

Competitive matches continued into the late morning with both teams hoping to secure the victory. Colorado senior Aya El Sayed and junior Mila Stanojevic were quick to begin, securing victories at nearly identical times. El Sayed defeated Schneider 6-2, 6-4, and Stanojevic followed with a 6-3, 6-3 sweep over Nihalani.

A 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) defeat for L’allier left the Hoosiers in a deep hole, down 3-1. That hole was ultimately too big to escape as Hovda suffered a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 loss at the hands of Colorado graduate student Alexandra Abyasova.

The match of the morning, however, was found on the No. 4 singles court. Indiana’s Dunac faced off against

junior Betina Tokac in a fiery contest that ultimately went unfinished.

Tokac drew first blood after dominating the first set 6-0, and she seemed to be on her way to another painless set victory after taking a 4-1 advantage in the second set. Dunac, visually frustrated, sat down and received a pep talk from Azcui.

“I just reminded her, ‘This is what you’ve been practicing [for], we need you,’” Azcui said. “We did not talk about X’s and O’s. We talked about the motion, the positives, the energy and using the crowd, and all of a sudden, she turned it around.”

After the break, Dunac stormed back with a 7-6 (86) second set victory, but with all to play for in the crucial third set, the match was declared unfinished as Colorado had won their fourth point.

Despite the anti-climactic ending, the match was filled with fireworks. The crowd Azcui encouraged Dunac to utilize was raucous, celebrating every Hoosier point with overthe-top cheers and hollers. By the end of the match, the bleachers were filled with spectators, including members of the Indiana men’s tennis team.

The cheers weren’t simply encouragement for Dunac but also as a response to the scenes playing out on the court. Throughout the match, Dunac expressed her irritation with Tokac’s decisions on balls that were close to being out. The issue became so extreme that a line judge was brought in, but even still, it persisted. The Buffalo was eventually issued a point penalty in the decisive second set tiebreaker after her out call was overturned by the line judge, giving Dunac two critical points on the one play.

Following the loss to Colorado, Indiana prepared to face Ball State. In nine matches dating back to 2006 against the Cardinals, the Hoosiers had yet to lose.

Graduate student Lene

after winning a point against the University of Colorado on Feb. 17, 2024, at the IU

That didn’t change Saturday. Indiana quickly gained the 1-0 advantage after Schneider and Teodosescu made quick work of their opponent 6-1 while L’allier and Lin capped off an impressive three win weekend with a 6-4 victory.

The timeliness of the doubles continued into the singles as many of the matches finished within an hour. Teodosescu was the first Hoosier to claim victory after jumping out to an early 4-1 lead before her opponent

in Bloomington. Indiana went 1-2 over the weekend.

retired due to injury. Dunac jumped out to a quick 6-0 first set thrubbing and led 3-0 in the second before her opponent was also forced to retire with an injury.

The clinching match for Indiana fell to Lin, who overpowered her opponent 6-1, 6-0 and brought the Hoosiers their first victory since Jan. 21. Looking ahead, Azcui and his squad hope to build off the momentum and achieve a victory over Cornell University with the Big

Ten regular season slate on the horizon. “This next match against Cornell is big for us because we really want to carry that momentum going into Iowa, our first home Big Ten match,” Azcui said after the Ball State match. “Overall, I’m pretty happy … They’re competing and bringing that energy, and that’s all I can ask for.”

The match against Cornell will take place at 11 a.m. Feb. 25 at the IU Tennis Center in Bloomington.

The Arbutus yearbook will help you remember the moments and people that defined your IU experience. Order a yearbook today, thank yourself tomorrow

JAMES RUSH | IDS

Mari Hovda pumps her fist

Tennis Center

OUR CORN IS

BETTER

No. 14 Indiana to host Caitlin Clark, No. 4 Iowa

By

jamesdm@iu.edu | @DaltonMJames

Moren explained how her team was “bullied all afternoon” and failed to respond after Illinois “punched them in the mouth.”

While Moren aired her frustrations, Holmes intently assessed the box score on a sheet of paper. The loss marked Indiana’s third defeat by 20 or more points this season — just a season removed from losing four games by a total of 12 points.

After focusing on the piece of paper for over two minutes while

Moren expressed her frustrations with her squad’s performance, it was Holmes’ turn to speak. “I don’t take losing very well,” a teary-eyed Holmes said. “Only have a few games left in the regular season, so we got to figure it out. That’s all there is to it.”

Losing isn’t something Holmes and the Hoosiers have done much of since she arrived in Bloomington in 2019. Throughout her five seasons in the cream and crimson, Indiana has a winning percentage of 79.9%.

But the 140 games that Holmes has played in during her Indiana career is behind her now. It’s what lies ahead. Three more regularseason games and the Big Ten Tournament are on the horizon, before it becomes win-or-go-home in the NCAA Tournament.

So, how does Indiana recover from a blowout loss to a Fighting Illini team that is 44th in the NET? Flush it, according to Moren.

The present is all that can be controlled — a matchup with Caitlin Clark and No. 4 Iowa on Feb. 22.

Just like the Hoosiers are coming off a 20-point loss to the Fighting Illini, they were routed by the Hawkeyes in the squads first meeting of the season Jan. 13 by 27 points.

How, though, can Indiana compete with Iowa — a team that dismantled them already?

To win, they must contain Clark’s supporting cast. While it’s much easier said than done, the Hoosiers must hold Molly Davis, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin in check, unlike they did in Iowa City when they allowed the trio to combine

for 40 points. Limiting turnovers and outrebounding Iowa is another priority — two things Indiana failed to do just over a month ago. The Hoosiers committed 15 turnovers in that Jan. 13 matchup and were outrebounded by nine. But most of all, they must avoid the dreaded middle quarter collapse.

The Hoosiers have been obliterated in either the second or third quarter in each of their four losses this season. Although they almost mounted a comeback against Ohio State on Feb. 4 and pulled within 9 points late in the fourth quarter against Illinois before losing, they deteriorated in the latter stages against Stanford University on Nov. 12 and Iowa.

Why?

“I don’t know why our

second quarter, sometimes we come out and we’re flat,” Moren said. “I have no idea.”

With the NCAA women’s college basketball all-time scoring leader in Caitlin Clark on the opposing side Thursday, Indiana cannot afford another middle quarter rut. When Clark and Iowa begin to fire on all cylinders, its nearly impossible to contain. Clark averages 32.8 points per game, now chasing the NCAA college basketball all-time leading scorer Pete Maravich’s record of 3,667 points.

Senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil will likely once again face the challenge of guarding Clark as she typically guards the opposing team’s best perimeter player. In the two squad’s matchup in January, Clark nailed six 3-pointers on her

way to scoring 30 points. With the West Des Moines, Iowa, native draining shots from around the perimeter, one could assume it would be tough on the psyche of whoever is guarding her.

However, Moore-McNeil simply said “No sir” when prompted with the question inside the Carver-Hawkeye Arena press room Jan. 13

For the Hoosiers to pick up what would be their most impressive victory of the season, they’ll have to remain resilient defensively, even if Clark hits shots left and right. With a victory, Indiana would likely vault back into the conversation to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. But with a loss, slim hopes of winning the Big Ten title would vanish and hosting the Big Dance are likely gone.

COLUMN: Why the Iowa game dictates Indiana’s postseason fate

By Ryan Canfield rcanfie@iu.edu | @_ryancanfield

On Feb. 19, Indiana women’s basketball fell to the Illinois Fighting Illini at the State Farm Center, 86-66.

The Illini finally put together a win after only coming close to toppling the Hoosiers the past couple of seasons — including a highly contested matchup Dec. 31 where Indiana won 77-71.

This is no secret to anyone that follows the Hoosiers closely— there have been some high highs and head scratching lows.

In a very top-heavy sport, the No. 14 Hoosiers (21-4, 12-3 Big Ten) are in the upper middle. With the advantages of having a top-16 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament — such as hosting the first two tournament games — the Hoosiers can easily get past their disappointing season finish a year ago, which ended with a round of 32 loss to the University of Miami Hurricanes.

But with little-to-no breathing room stemming from its four losses up to this point, Indiana’s prospective chances of hosting tournament games could be saved with a win against the No. 4 Hawkeyes.

To be fair, the Hoosiers have four wins against top-40 teams in the NCAA women’s basketball NET rankings — a neutralsite victory against the University of Tennessee (No. 38) on Nov. 23, road triumphs over Maryland (NET No. 31) on Jan. 31 and Nebraska (NET No. 30) on

Jan. 7 and a home track meet of a win against Michigan State (NET No. 21) on Feb. 8.

Now, three of Indiana’s four losses have come to opponents who currently rank in the top 10 of the NET: Stanford University (No. 2 in the NET) on Nov. 12, Iowa (No. 5 in the NET) on Jan. 13 and Ohio State (No. 8 in the NET) on Feb. 4.

While these losses are to teams of high standard, they aren’t necessarily quality losses, due to the horrific average defeat margin of 21.3 points in those three matchups.

Whether it was the size difference in Palo Alto, the scoring overload in Iowa City, the overflow of turnovers in Columbus, or the lack of defensive identity in Champaign, the few mistakes the Hoosiers have made are detrimental to their resume.

Last season, the Hoosiers had a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance and only three losses before the confirmation of the top four seed. Those losses, which came to Michigan State and Iowa in the regular season and Ohio State in the semi-finals of the Big Ten Tournament, averaged out to 3 points per defeat, a lot more telling of the strength of the 2022-23 Hoosiers.

The recipe for success for Indiana on Feb. 22: keep the Iowa guards in check on defense.

inefficiency in the first meeting. The issue for Indiana against Illinois was the Illini’s movement and speed in the front court. Iowa will feature a lot of the same with starting senior guards Molly Davis, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. The three totaled 40 points in the first matchup and combined be the Hoosiers’ defense on the Hawkeyes’ supporting cast. Davis, Martin and Marshall cannot tally eight total makes from beyond the arc, or the result from the first

with Clark’s 30 points to tally 13 more points than the Hoosiers’ game total. Expect Clark to go for 25-plus points, but the determining factor will matchup will replicate. With a loss, Indiana will be a victim to its expectations. Once again, the victim to the greatest women’s college basketball player of all time. A win Thursday can change not only the postseason fate of the 2023-24 Hoosiers, but the narrative that is currently

OLIVIA BIANCO

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not kind to the cream and crimson. The tide will change, the signature will be written on the receipt for this season and this game will be highlighted in the grand outlook of this season. This can and will be the Hoosiers best chance at re-igniting the fire that will guide the way to postseason success.

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