Thursday, April 9, 2020

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Thursday, April 9, 2020

‘We were taking on that pain together’ page 4

Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com

Grieving spring

MEN'S BASKTBALL

IU lands 2021 four-star recruit By Matt Cohen

mdc1@iu.edu | @Matt_Cohen_

Bloomington grapples with a surreal new normal By Christine Fernando ctfernan@iu.edu

On the cusp of spring break, IU’s students had filled their calendars with flights, weddings and trips to faraway beaches. But as emails flooded in, events were postponed indefinitely or canceled one by one. Classes moved online. Sports seasons ended, and Little 500 was canceled for the first time in its history. Graduation plans were abandoned, and students rushed to move out and return home to their parents. Some, so far away from home, were left stranded. Days bled together. Time plodded on. A deer loitered on the street in front of the IU Arboretum on a street once choked with cars. After a long winter, pink flowers blossomed from the trees surrounding the limestone buildings, but most of the doors were locked. Tuesday, March 10 Indiana Cases: 10 // Deaths: 2 U.S. Cases: 936 // Deaths: 31

A group of women leaned over the bar at the nearly empty Video Saloon. California had just announced its classes would move online, but here in Middle America, they were still in session. IU’s spring break was just days away. “And a Corona for you too?” the bartender asked, unamused.

“Yes please,” one of them giggled. A woman behind her dropped the lime topping her Corona bottle, letting it plop to the floor. Her friend took her own lime and stationed it atop the girl’s bottle. As the group sauntered to their booth in the dim light, one woman held her bottle in the air. “A Corona to stop the coronavirus!” she said. Everyone laughed. Wednesday, March 11 Indiana Cases: 11 // Deaths: 2 U.S. Cases: 1,205 // Deaths: 37

A student lathered her hands with soap at the sink of a Ballantine Hall bathroom, two days before IU shuttered its doors. She rinsed, squirted another dollop of soap from the dispenser, then began lathering once again. Satisfied, she looked at both her hands and turned to the student at the neighboring sink. “Coronavirus,” she said, holding her clean hands in the air like a surgeon. “Can’t be too careful.” Thursday, March 12 Indiana Cases: 12 // Deaths: 2 U.S. Cases: 1,598 // Deaths: 41 A shopper's cart clattered with non-perishable food cans. She glanced at the shelf – one lone, lavender bottle of Mr. Clean, whose eyes said, “Pick me, and I will protect your family.” Perhaps, another day, Mr. Clean. Toilet paper first. The toilet paper section was

empty — but here came Walmart employee Aaron Cook and a pallet of 2-ply. A woman grabbed two packages and said, "Just in case." A couple turned the aisle. "We'll get some just in case." They grabbed the rolls right off the pallet. Friday, March 13 Indiana Cases: 15 // Deaths: 4 U.S. Cases: 2,163 // Deaths: 49

People still cut each other off in traffic, even in a pandemic. College Mall was empty. A few elderly folks and students in masks wandered around, looking wary. No one made small talk. The faceless H&M mannequins stared on. The Bath and Body Works ran out of hand sanitizers. “But we still have soap,” the clerk said. “People keep forgetting that.” By 1 a.m., it was quiet. Ubers didn’t pull up to the Kirkwood Avenue bars to pick up women tottering on high heels. There was no line at Taco Bell. Only two people sat in Z&C, laughing. One of the lights on the Sample Gates was out. An IU student went to the student health center with flu-like symptoms. A nurse sent a test for the coronavirus to a private lab. The student went into isolation at home. Sunday, March 15 Indiana Cases: 26 // Deaths: 6 U.S. Cases: 3,501 // Deaths: 62

ALEX DERYN | IDS

Kirkwood Avenue appears empty March 29 near the Graduate Hotel. Gov. Eric Holcomb issued a stay-at-home order March 23 asking Hoosiers to stay inside.

As she waited to get off of the plane, Marissa Arnold turned off airplane mode and checked her phone. She got the news through a screenshot of an email from the university president. Two extra weeks away from IU was enough, she had thought. Now it was official: classes were moving online. She’d never been one to show her emotions — or at least not the sad ones — but she could feel the tears coming. There’d be no dancing in “Cinderella,” which was months in the works already. No more goofing with friends before ballet class. She’d have to get used to dancing alone in her apartment, via Zoom. Marissa was homeschooled in high school, so this was supposed to be her first time walking across a stage at graduation. Now, maybe not that either. “Thanks for all the memories,” a fellow senior ballet student texted in their group chat. Marissa had been in California for an audition. It was Friday. Marissa didn’t know it yet, but she had SEE SPRING, PAGE 3

Monroe County Jail releases at least 70 inmates, seeks to prevent COVID-19 spread By Joey Bowling jobowl@iu.edu | @joeybowling8

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the Monroe County Jail, the county began releasing some nonviolent inmates who are still going through the court system or whose sentences will end soon. Monroe County prosecutor Erika Oliphant said she looks at the alleged crime committed, how much time is left in a sentence and the inmate’s health. It’s unclear how many people have been released relating to COVID-19 because there is a constant change in inmates. Some are in jail indefinitely, for a few days or until their trial begins. However, Oliphant estimates the amount of inmates has gone from 250-280 inmates down to 160-180. “We're facing this pandemic,” Oliphant said. “We want to try to keep the jail numbers as low as possible.” Oliphant said Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff is the only person with the final say on which inmates can be released. Oliphant and other lawyers can suggest people for early release. Monroe County Jail Commander Sam Crowe said he’s been preparing for the coronavirus for weeks. The jail has implemented an intake

form, asking inmates if they have any symptoms and if so, which. Beforethe coronavirus was declared a pandemic, staff sanitized the jail between shifts, but now it’s more frequent. Staff wipes down frequently touched areas such as door handles, railings and phone receivers. The jail also has two isolation blocks where inmates who can’t get out on bond or be released immediately can shelter, Crowe said. Typically, inmates only get access to soap if they can pay for it. Now, the jail is giving every inmate a bar of soap for free. However, Oliphant said she wanted to stress that people can still go to jail. She said she’s concerned about an increase in domestic violence and burglaries, and people might think there won’t be consequences. “Violence and taking advantage of your neighbors during this time is still not going to be tolerated,” she said. “Jail is still an option.” Inmates can still have visitation time remotely, Crowe said. Anyone who has access to a smartphone or personal computer can pay 15 cents per minute to talk to inmates. Inmates have 60 minutes of free talk time. Crowe said most of the activities inmates no longer have access to are considered “privileges,” such as

ALEX DERYN | IDS

The Zietlow Justice Center is located at 301 N. College Avenue. Monroe County Jail began releasing inmates around March 17 to avoid a COVID-19 outbreak within the jail.

classes taught by community organizations and having visitors come to the facility. However, they still get recreation time. Crowe said he thinks the jail is actually one of the safest places to be right now because of how closed off it is. Vauhxx Booker, local activist and Bloomington Human Rights commissioner, said he’s been connected through his work to people who are part of the legal system or who have been through it. He said he’s glad the jail is releasing inmates because it could easily become a hotspot.

“We have to be concerned just as much about the health of folks who are incarcerated,” Booker said. Not all jail inmates are people who’ve been convicted of crimes, Booker said. A large population of them are pretrial inmates, who are waiting for their trials to prove them innocent or guilty. About two people are serving their sentences, and some are people who have violated their parole. “We have this mindset of if someone is in jail, they’ve done something to be deserving of jail,” Booker said.

Logan Duncomb — a class of 2021, 6-foot-9-inch tall and fourstar rated center according to 24/7 Sports — announced his commitment to IU men’s basketball Tuesday on Twitter. “Very excited to announce my commitment to Indiana basketball,” Duncomb wrote in a tweet. “Thank you to all of my coaches and teammates who have been part of this journey, especially my coaches and brothers at Moeller. I’d also like to thank all of the coaches and staff who took the time to work with me through the recruiting process. GO Hoosiers!” Duncomb is from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is IU’s second commitment in the class of 2021. Although the other member of that group, Khristian Lander, has said he plans to reclassify to arrive at IU for the 2020-21 season should he be able to meet the necessary high school class requirements. The Ohio native chose IU over other Big Ten programs including Wisconsin, Ohio State and Xavier University. Duncomb is projected to be the future of IU’s big men with current redshirt-junior forward Joey Brunk set to graduate after next season and current freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis unlikely to stay with IU after his sophomore year, if he returns for his sophomore year at all. The tallest player in IU’s 2020 recruiting class is Jordan Geronimo, a 6-foot-6-inch tall small forward. IU didn’t have much depth or size at the forward position until Duncomb committed. With so much recruiting effort in the short term being put into guards, Duncomb is the beginning of recruiting for the long term, when IU needs to replace the forwards on its current roster.

IUSG Inspire campaign petitions for tuition refunds By Luzane Draughon luzdraug@iu.edu | @luzdraughon

IU Student Government presidential candidate Rachel Aranyi and vice presidential candidate Ruhan Syed launched a petition Thursday calling for the IU Board of Trustees to give all students a 25% tuition and mandatory fee refund. Aranyi, a sophomore, said the petition is part of the Inspire campaign’s COVID-19 response platform and is also part of their platform’s push for more affordable and accessible education. Provost Lauren Robel announced Friday IU is not planning to refund any part of tuition or mandatory fees. IUSG speaker of congress and Inspire campaign manager Andrew Ireland said this announcement was not unexpected. Many students will not be receiving the federal stimulus because they were claimed as dependents, Ireland said. “There is a disconnect between where the university is at and students' realities,” Ireland said. Aranyi said she thinks a partial refund of tuition and fees is a reasonable request given students do not have access to in-person classes and resources such as printing, the Student Recreational Sports Center and other resources for the remainder of the semester. The petition had more than 7,700 signatures as of Monday evening. Aranyi said the goal is to collect 10,000 signatures. Aranyi said if elected, her administration plans to use its power to send the petition to the Board of Trustees. She said she also wants to meet with them face-to-face to bring them a student’s perspective. If her campaign is not elected, she SEE IUSG, PAGE 3


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