minated professor Xiaofeng Wang on March 28, the same day that two of his homes were searched by the FBI, according to a document sent by the American Association of University Professors’ IU Bloomington chapter.
The document, IU Provost Rahul Shrivastav’s email informing Wang of his termination, said it was Shrivastav’s understanding that Wang had accepted a faculty position with a university in Singapore. Shrivastav said in the email that Wang would not be eligible to be hired again at IU.
The email also told Wang he needed to return all IU property to the IU Police Department as soon as possible. IUPD did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
The Indiana Daily Student reached out to IU to confirm the document’s veracity, to which a spokesperson responded that IU will not comment on the investigation.
“Indiana University was recently made aware of a federal investigation of an Indiana University faculty member,” an IU spokesperson told the IDS on March 31. “At the direction of the FBI, Indiana University will not make any public comments regarding this investigation. In accordance with Indiana University practices, Indiana University will also not make any public comments regarding the status of this individual.”
The FBI has not given further information on the nature of the searches of the two homes belonging to the professor and IU Libraries analyst Nianli Ma.
SEE WANG, PAGE 4
Sex crimes reported
By Mia Hilkowitz mhilkowi@iu.edu | @MiaHilkowitz
Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual assault.
The IU Police Department received two reports of rape, one report of sexual assault, one report of sexual battery and one report of fondling over the weekend, IUPD Public Information Officer Hannah Cornett said in an email to the Indiana Daily Student. Around 1:20 a.m. March 29 IUPD officers met with an individual who reported being fondled over their clothing by an unknown male outside Ashton Center. The victim had been assisting the male with directions, Cornett said.
IUPD encourages anyone with information regarding the incident to contact the department at 812-855-4111. According to Cornett, the suspect was described as a lightskinned Black male who is approximately 5-foot-10. He has black hair and was wearing a black hoodie and jeans.
IUPD also received three separate reports from the IU Title IX Office on March 31. In the first case, IUPD received a report of rape, domestic battery and intimidation, which the Title IX Office reported happened Jan. 31 at Willkie Quadrangle.
SEE CRIMES, PAGE 4
By Natalia Nelson and Chloe Oden nelsonnb@iu.edu | chloden@iu.edu
Aubrey Motherwell, class of 2020, was supposed to graduate on her birthday. She was excited — her family would be in town, and she would celebrate turning 22 the same day she walked across the stage in a cap and gown to accept her diploma.
Instead, Motherwell received her degree in the mail. Her internship in Utah for the summer of 2020 was canceled, and her term as the captain of her ultimate frisbee team was cut short.
She was devastated.
In the five years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, former students are still feeling the loss of opportunities and socialization skills from the pause on in-person activities. Students left campus for spring break March 16, 2020, just as they did earlier this month, thinking they had an extra week off. They never came back to school that semester.
Motherwell, who graduated with a degree in arts management with a core in music, had difficulties breaking into the industry after the pandemic began.
“All of the venues shut down,” Motherwell said. “I couldn’t even find a job that was remotely what I wanted to do.”
Cassidy McCammon graduated from IU in 2022 with two bachelor’s degrees in political science and management and hu-
man organization. She was a sophomore when the pandemic began. McCammon now works as the community engagement lead for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana.
When students were first encouraged to vacate IU’s campus, McCammon was in Washington completing an internship at the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It was really scary,” McCammon said. “I was a nervous wreck most of the time, especially because I didn’t quite — I was having all of this grieving over what would have been my internship experience.”
McCammon said that although her plans being “ripped away” caused her emotional distress, she was glad she went home to her family in Terre Haute, Indiana. Her internship was moved online due to the general uncertainty at the time.
When McCammon returned home, she began to look at her future plans with a different, dubious perspective. She had plans to work in a residence hall during summer 2020 that ultimately fell through.
“We realized, ‘Oh, okay, this is going to be around much longer than we thought,’” she said.
During this time, McCammon said, she learned more about herself and expanded her outlook.
“When there's nothing to study or work towards, and you have to choose that for yourself, that brings in a lot of freedom that I feel
later
like many adolescents don't have the opportunity to have because our first 20 or so years are so scripted for us,” McCammon said.
With the opportunity to write her own script, McCammon said, she became a different person than she would have otherwise. She said she is grateful for what she learned about herself in that time.
Even though the extra time taught her about “enjoying the process more than the result,” McCammon said the pandemic changed the social atmosphere.
After IU students returned to school in fall 2021, McCammon said there was a clear split between “the
people who cared about the restrictions and the people who didn’t.”
On Tinder, McCammon said, some people in the area would require other users on the app to post a negative COVID-19 test on their profile before they entertained the possibility of going on a date. Others, McCammon said, didn’t wear masks and packed the bars.
McCammon said now, among people her age, socializing takes more energy than it did before the pandemic.
The social distancing and apprehension surrounding hanging out with people, she said, made it easy to self isolate. McCammon said she saw this impact dorm
culture throughout the rest of her time at IU. Research from 2020 to 2023 found that the increase in isolation from COVID-19 quarantining was associated with increased anxiety and depression among youth, and that young children especially have seen impacts on their ability to read emotions and form social skills.
Kelly Richardson, director and curator of the Elizabeth Sage Historic Costume Collection at IU, said the pandemic did bring about a culture shift regarding being sick in public. Before, she said it was normal to be in public spaces when sick.
SEE COVID-19, PAGE 4
FBI searches IU professor's homes
By Andrew Miller ami3@iu.edu | @andrew_mmiller
The FBI searched homes in Bloomington and Carmel belonging to an IU professor and an IU Libraries analyst March 28. The agency declined to comment on the nature of the search.
An IU spokesperson did not say whether the professor, Xiaofeng Wang at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, was still employed at the university — and referred the Indiana Daily Student to the FBI for information. However, Wang does show up on IU’s scheduler for the Fall 2025 semester for graduate independent study.
“The FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at the home on Xavier Court in Bloomington Friday,” FBI spokesperson Chris Baven-
der said over a text message. “It was related to the FBI activity at the home in Carmel. We have no further comment at this time.”
Both homes are listed on Monroe County and Hamilton County property records as belonging to Wang and Nianli Ma. Ma is a lead systems analyst and programmer at IU Libraries, according to its website.
Neighbors told The Herald Times that agents at the scene were there for much of the day March 28. The Department of Homeland Security was present.
Wang’s profile on Luddy’s Department of Computer Science website is no longer available. However, an archived version of the webpage described him as an associate dean for research. According to the archived page, Wang had served on projects totaling nearly $23 million by 2022.
He joined the university in 2004. He’s also still listed as a director of IU’s center for Security and Privacy in In-
formatics, Computing, and Engineering on the organization’s webpage. According to the website, his research focuses on system security
IU dropout leads federally funded institute
Nate Cavanaugh now leads the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to court documents
By Jack Forrest jhforres@iu.edu | @byjackforrest
Nate Cavanaugh dropped out of IU in 2015. Now, he’s in charge of a federally funded institution meant to promote peace. And on top of that, he’s a staffer in billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative of President Donald Trump’s second administration that's slashed federal agencies and thousands of jobs.
Lawyers representing the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Congress-funded nonpartisan organization intended to prevent violence abroad, asked a U.S. district court judge March 28 to halt the transfer of its property to the General Services Administration. That judge, Beryl Howell, denied the motion April 1.
Documents show Cavanaugh was installed by top cabinet officials as president of USIP, as of March 25. According to reports, Cavanaugh is 28 years old. He was featured in Forbes’ 2021 “30 Under 30” for enterprise technology. Cavanaugh’s profile on that list states he founded the company Brainbase from his IU dormitory before dropping out. He wrote on LinkedIn he attended IU from 2014-15.
A 2017 Medium article from Cavanaugh describes Brainbase as an intellectual property and trademark licensing management tool. The 2021 Forbes profile claimed the company had raised $12 million. Now, the original Brainbase website has gone dark, and the company seems to have been bought out. A different site, usebrainbase.com, promotes artificial intelligence
workers for companies. According to his LinkedIn, Cavanaugh left Brainbase in November 2022, but he is also the co-founder of FlowFi, which connects businesses with financial experts, according to its website. But photos of what it claims are experts appear to be AI-generated images. These images have a “glossy” look characteristic of AI photos, and reverse image searches for several yielded no results online. One reverse image search
found one photo is an Adobe stock AI image. Cavanaugh joined DOGE at some point following Trump’s executive order establishing it in January. WIRED reported last month he’d taken a role interviewing U.S. General Service Administration employees and earning a salary of $120,500 per year. That’s just shy of what DOGE says is the average annual salary of workers at GSA, $128,000. The motion filed March 31 includes a photo that shows an undated resolution signed by U.S. Secretaries of Defense and State Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio removing the U.S. Institute for Peace’s acting president Kenneth Jackson and replacing him with Cavanaugh. Jackson himself is part of DOGE. Last month, he and other DOGE members were part of a standoff with
USIP staff outside the building, ultimately gaining entry with the help of police. Hegseth and Rubio are both on USIP’s board of directors. It also directed Cavanaugh to transfer all of the institute’s assets, including its building, to GSA. Cavanaugh wrote in a letter to the GSA administrator, also attached to the motion, that the building has an estimated fair market value of $500 million. Russell Vought, U.S. Office of Management and Budget director and Project 2025 co-author, approved the building transfer at no cost in a March 29 letter. The move comes amid DOGE firing nearly all of USIP’s staff in recent days. The institute promotes research, policy analysis and education on conflict resolution, according to the Federal Register.
An empty path is pictured April 8, 2020, outside the Frances Morgan Swain Student Building in Bloomington. Former IU students said
COURTESY PHOTO | THE BLOOMINGTONIAN
Agents search a Bloomington home belonging to an IU professor and IU Libraries analyst March 28, 2025, in Bloomington. The FBI declined to comment on the nature of the search.
By Natalia Nelson nelsonnb@iu.edu
Five men stood in front of colorfully painted beer pong tables March 28, their backs to the Showalter Fountain.
Ten large cheese pizzas from Pizza X stood in front of them.
Each competitor shared one goal — to eat two of the pizzas before a 30-minute timer was up.
The eating competition was sponsored by IU Student Television’s “Not Too Late” comedy show and hosted by senior Mark Lowney, who also competed for the prize.
Last October, Lowney hosted a similar event with the lofty aim of eating 25 Raising Cane’s chicken fingers in one sitting.
Lowney managed to stuff down 19 chicken fingers before they came back up, but the stunt garnered attention on X. IU sophomore John Carter Krell, the show’s writer and producer, said Pizza X reached out to Lowney via social media afterward and proposed the idea of a pizzarelated competition.
“We went through a bunch of different versions of what the challenge would be,” Krell said. “But eventually we settled on this traditional eating competition sort of thing with multiple contestants.”
Pizza X offered to give
‘I may never eat pizza again’
IUSTV the pizzas and prize.
“Boys, this is what you’re playing for,” Krell said through his megaphone at the start of the competition, showing a $50 Pizza X gift card to the crowd of around 40 people.
Krell said IUSTV made a public callout on Instagram asking for contestants. Five current and former IU students were up to the challenge.
“I saw that it was happening, and I thought, ‘man, wouldn’t that be fun?’” IU sophomore Xander Howard, one of the competitors, said. “Now I’m here, and it’s a lot of pizza, and I don’t have a lot of stomach.”
Howard said he heard about the chicken finger event IUSTV hosted last fall. On the day of the pizza competition, he didn’t have breakfast or lunch. The only thing he had eaten was four grapes, and he said he did push-ups and sit-ups to make himself hungrier.
“I’m just enjoying the fact I’m gonna get some free pizza,” competitor and IU junior Harley Babbitt said. “Get to hang out with some cool people, get to be on TV, and then, you know, I’ll go home, and it’ll be a cool memory.”
Babbitt said he was at the chicken finger event, and thought it was cool it brought so many people to-
gether. Around 80 people attended the event, and posts about it garnered hundreds of thousands of views on social media.
“I liked seeing Mark slowly slow down, and eventually the sort of disastrous conclusion that came,” Babbitt said.
Lowney switched up his strategy for the competition, dunking his pizza in water to help it go down easier. He said he didn’t eat at all the day before the competition but drank lots of water.
The tagline for the chicken finger event was “We’re changing the culture of IU.” The flyer IUSTV posted to their Instagram read “Changing the culture of IU. Again.”
Krell said that he thought the tagline felt natural to continue as the culture across “the entire nation and the world got a little crazier”.
“I think that what we all need is some friendly competition with some good pizza on a beautiful day,” Krell said. “If we can do that, then we can start a lot more.”
Krell shouted into the megaphone for the competitors to start eating shortly after 3 p.m., with the competitors lined up behind their respective boxes of pizza. Four minutes in, IU alumnus Connor Rose and Lowney had both already downed half of a pizza; Howard, Babbitt and sophomore Tyler
Phi Sigma Kappa placed on cease and desist March 28
By Benjamin LeGrand benlegra@iu.edu | @benlegrand11
Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual assault. Resources are available here.
The IU chapter of fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa was placed on cease and desist March 28 for “endangering others,” according to the Office of Student Life’s list of organizations on disciplinary status. All organization activities are suspended until further notice.
Phi Sigma Kappa was previously on disciplinary probation from Sept. 17, 2021, through June 17,
2022, for alcohol, endangering others, failure to comply with university and county COVID-19 directives and non-compliance with the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life policies.
The organization was under probation again from June 17, 2022, through Dec. 17, 2022, for failing to comply with the directions of university officials in the performance of their duties and not complying with OSFL policies. This probation was extended through June 1, 2023.
Phi Sigma Kappa is the first organization subject to discipline since IU’s Interfraternity Council and
Panhellenic Association announced the suspension of all Greek social events from March 5-24.
Five hazing incidents and one rape were reported by the Office of Student Conduct after the IFC and PHA’s announcement of the Greek life suspension, although the incidents took place before the suspension.
There are now 15 organizations on disciplinary status, cease and desist or suspension.
Beta Sigma Psi fraternity was previously placed under cease and desist Feb. 28, 2025, and Sigma Chi fraternity was given the designation Nov. 5, 2024.
Brose lagged slightly behind. Brose’s strategy was to stack the pizzas on top of each other and shove everything into his mouth as quickly as possible.
“I’ve heard that you need to eat as much as possible in the first 15 minutes,” Brose said. “And you have to keep drinking water because pizza is very salty.”
At the 15-minute mark, Brose still had one whole pizza and a slice and a half left. Lowney and Rose were neck-and-neck, with only five slices left each.
Rose graduated in De-
cember 2024 but said he has been friends with Lowney for a while and he joined for fun — and free pizza.
“I know I don’t want to start too fast, because I think if I, try to, like, burn through that first pizza, I’ll never make it through the second one,” Rose said. He said he liked Pizza X for being a simple pizza that didn’t try to do too much. For most of the competition, it was a game between him and Lowney, coming down to the last slice. But in the end, only one man could win, and it was not the eat-
ing competition veteran. Applause erupted from the crowd as Rose took the gift card.
“I may never eat pizza again,” Rose said. Viewers cheered as the uneaten pizza boxes were passed around the crowd. Krell said he didn’t know for sure if eating competitions would become a staple on every season of the show.
“But it’s something that we clearly enjoy doing and have a lot of fun doing,” he said. “So if it does really well, I can absolutely see us
Computer science dept condemn Wang’s firing
By Jack Forrest, Emerson Elledge, Marissa Meador and Andrew Miller
IU computer science faculty condemned professor Xiaofeng Wang’s termination and asked Provost Rahul Shrivastav to revoke the move in a letter sent to him Wednesday.
The university terminated Wang on March 28, the same day the FBI searched homes belonging to him and IU Libraries analyst Nianli Ma in Carmel and Bloomington. Neither the FBI nor IU have commented on the reason for the searches.
The letter echoed another open letter published April 1 from the American Association of University Professors’ IU Bloomington chapter, alleging the university violated its termination policy by not following due process. It asked Shrivastav to provide Wang the notice and hearing required by policy.
It also grants new insight on the job Wang had accepted in Singapore, according to his termination letter. Wednesday’s letter said Wang had properly notified Department Chair Yuzhen Ye that he would leave for a new position earlier in March.
The letter said that transition was halted after the university put him on “administrative leave.”
“Terminating Professor Wang’s appointment and suddenly removing his profiles from the IU website without any explanation has eroded faculty trust in IU’s administrative procedures and damaged the university’s reputation, especially as this news has already gained global attention,” the letter read.
Several IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering faculty members told the Indiana Daily Student on Tuesday
that the lack of communication is making them fearful — especially among Chinese and Chinese American researchers.
The Indiana Daily Student granted faculty anonymity due to fear of retribution from the university.
“Many of us are confused, saddened and frightened by the IU administration’s actions,” the letter read.
Computer science professor Amr Sabry, who chose to go on the record, said Tuesday that he wasn’t surprised about the termination.
“Anybody can be next,” he said.
The fear comes amid memories of the China Initiative, a program launched under the first Trump administration in 2018 designed to combat economic espionage — foreign-sponsored attempts to unlawfully obtain sensitive information or critical technologies and provide it to foreign countries.
In the four years between the program’s launch and its termination in 2022, at least a dozen scholars of Chinese descent were prosecuted, though none were officially charged with economic espionage and many were dismissed.
One chemical engineering professor, Feng Tao, was tenured at the University of Kansas when he was accused of obscuring ties to a Chinese university while doing federally funded research. Last July, a federal appeals court overturned Tao’s conviction for making a false statement, and he’s since sued the University of Kansas for not reinstating him.
While the China Initiative hasn’t been officially relaunched, the law firm Nixon Peabody has observed an increase in federal scrutiny of ties to China and has re-
ceived a “startling” amount of engagement from professors and universities who’ve been contacted by law enforcement.
One Luddy professor said faculty are all in shock. He described Wang as a “superstar from a research perspective.” According to csrankings.org, a website which ranks computer science institutions by publications, Wang had 92 computer security publications from 2003 through 2024. IU ranks eighth in the U.S. for computer security institutions during that time period. The faculty member with the next highest number of publications has 30. With Wang’s termination, the Luddy professor said IU will drop far down the list. “Many of use are confused, saddened and frightened by the IU administration’s actions.”
American Association of University Professors’ IU Bloomington chapter
An IU informatics graduate who took a 400-level cyber security class with Wang said he was a laid-back professor who cared about learning above all else, even when assigning projects that would make up the majority of the semester’s grade. In one project, Wang didn’t care if the result was cool or an innovative design — he just cared if students learned about it, the alum said in a Reddit message to the IDS.
“Wang has made significant contributions to Indiana University and the scientific community,” Wednesday’s letter read. “Treating a faculty colleague in this manner is undermining the university’s ability to attract and retain high-caliber faculty members.”
CHLOE LAVELLE
FILE PHOTO | IDS
The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity is pictured April 4, 2019. The organization was placed on cease and desist March 28 for “endangering others.”
526 N. Lincoln
223 N. Morton
Vaccination hesitancy in Indiana increases
By Safin Khatri safkhat@iu.edu
Nationwide vaccine hesitancy continues to concern healthcare officials. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in vaccine misinformation on social media.
In Indiana, the state Department of Health found vaccine rates for children 19 to 34 months peaked at more than 70% in 2020 but declined to 56.4% in 2023.
In Monroe County, fullseries vaccination rates peaked at 83% in 2019, falling to 69% in 2023. Despite the drop, the county still ranks in the top 10 for most vaccinated counties in Indiana, placing third highest in 2019 and ninth highest in 2023.
Additionally, for the measles vaccine, 85.3% of eligible infants received the MMR1 vaccine in 2023, down from 91% in 2019.
Libby Richards, professor of public health at Purdue University, said the decrease in vaccination rates can be attributed to COVID-19.
She said during the pandemic, visits to primary care providers and pediatricians decreased significantly, which is where most vaccinations are administered.
Richards also said that inaccurate information is spread online through misconceptions about vaccines, such as myths that vaccines have chemicals or will give you the actual virus. However, the most difficult misinformation to combat comes from people that are highly trusted.
“If somebody’s mom passed this information down and, like, you really believe your mom and she thinks she’s the best mom ever,” she said. “That’s going to be tricky to try to change somebody’s mind.”
Richards said vaccination drives and mobile clinics can by increase vaccination rates by making vaccines more easily accessible.
“I think reducing any type of barrier to vaccine is going to help increase rates,” she said. “So sometimes accessibility is a barrier, and so if we bring vaccines to where folks are, that is one way to increase it.”
However, Richards said
that increasing vaccination access alone can’t increase vaccination rates. She said a knowledge shift about vaccines is also needed. The rise in vaccine hesitancy comes amid a surge in measles cases across the U.S., with 483 confirmed cases as of March 27.
“Measles is definitely — I would say right now circulating around the world is — perhaps the most constagious virus you’ll ever see.”
John Christenson, Riley Hospital for Children associate medical director
In late February, a measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico killed one person, the first measles-related death in the U.S. in a decade. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95% of measles cases reported in 2025 were from individuals who are unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown.
John Christenson is the associate medical director of pediatric infection prevention at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. He said the measles outbreak in the U.S. Southwest is the largest ongoing outbreak, but multiple other states and a few provinces in Canada have reported cases as well.
Measles fall under indirect contact infections, which means it can be spread without direct contact, making it much more dangerous.
Unlike COVID-19 or influenza, which have a reproduction rate of one to two people, measles is significantly more contagious, where one person could potentially infect 12-15 people.
“Measles is definitely — I would say right now circulating around the world is — perhaps the most contagious virus that you’ll ever see,” he said.
Christenson said vaccinations are important for measles because humans are the only reservoir for the disease. This means measles can only be spread through
humans, and there are no animals or environmental hosts unlike other infectious diseases.
The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine is traditionally administered in two doses, with the first dose, MMR1, being given at 12-15 months old, and the second dose, MMR2, being given at 4-6 years old.
Lori Kelly, Monroe County Health Department health administrator, said in an email, Monroe County is working to increase vaccine access through mobile outreach clinics and increasing vaccine education.
The Indiana Department of Health and the Monroe County Health Department hosted a mobile MMR vaccine clinic from 1:30-5:30 p.m. March 31 at the southwest branch of the Monroe County Public Library.
In 2023, the CDC found 90.8% of Indiana kindergarteners were fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine, down from 94.4% in 2019.
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s Healthy People 2030
Indiana libraries could face service cuts and longer wait times
By Ella Curlin elcurlin@iu.edu
Indiana library programs, including Monroe County Public Libraries, could be disrupted by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month.
The executive order reduces the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency responsible for libraries and museums. MCPL Director Grier Carson said that could impact statewide e-book and interlibrary loan services.
The order called for seven governmental agencies, including the IMLS, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent” legally possible, including cutting services and personnel. For current grant recipients, the status of funding remains uncertain.
“The topic of conversation among public libraries right now is, what’s the impact going to be? Who’s going to feel it first? How much reduction are we going to see in access as a result of the lack of funding?” Carson said. “And we really don’t know yet.”
Founded in 1996, the IMLS is the largest federal funding source for libraries and museums in the United States. In 2024, the IMLS had a $295 million budget that made up about 0.005% of the overall federal budget. That funding supports libraries across Indiana and helps the Indiana State Library run programs including research databases, archives for historical documents, study materials, efforts to improve child literacy and accessible materials for the blind and visually impaired.
The Indiana State Library also relies on the IMLS to help fund its Digital Library, which gives patrons at member libraries access to the combined e-book and e-audiobook collections of over 200 public libraries.
Lisa Champelli, the collection development manager at MCPL, said reduced funding for that program could increase wait times for titles on Libby, the app that hosts the Indiana Digital Library’s catalogue. Carson said MCPL could also experience disruptions to its interlibrary loan system, a popular service allowing patrons to request books from other regional libraries.
The InfoExpress program, a service by the Indiana State Library that MCPL uses to share titles between Indiana libraries through two weekly book drop-offs, also relies partly on IMLS funding.
Carson said cuts to that service would have a “huge impact” on library patrons.
“If that were to be reduced significantly, then we would no longer be the interlibrary loan library that we’re proud of being,” Carson said.
Champelli said local libraries would have to pick up costs for reduced IMLS programs, forcing them to drop other services to save money.
“Anytime we’re having to make those kinds of budget choices, it means, what are we not going to purchase in order to invest in something else?” Champelli said.
On March 20, the MCPL published an open letter calling for patrons to call representatives or sign a petition opposing the executive order and supporting the IMLS’ funding of statewide library programs.
“Isn’t that what we want our government agencies to be doing? Isn’t that how public funding works, is to help improve our shared communities?” Champelli said.
“If we lose that, it’s a loss to the community as a whole.”
plan has a goal of 95% of kindergarteners vaccinated with the full MMR series, the target for herd immunity.
“When you look at the measles vaccine, children that have received at least two doses are 97% protected,” he said. “So, it’s a very effective vaccine.”
Christenson said some side-effects from vaccines such as the MMR include rashes, mild fever and soreness, but there is no evidence vaccines cause harmful developmental problems, a misconception that is commonly circulated. Christenson also emphasized that no caregiver wants to put their children in harm, but misinformation about vaccines creates hesitancy.
Indiana has around a 3% annual rate of personal vaccine exemptions for kindergarteners, which are non-medical vaccine exemptions. This allows unvaccinated children to circumvent vaccine mandates for public schools and universities, and Christenson advocates for the removal of non-medical vaccine exemptions.
Nationwide, non-medical vaccine exemptions are increasing, jumping from 1.4% in 2011 to 3.1% in 2023. One of the largest vaccine critics in the U.S. is Children’s Health Defense, founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Health and Human Services secretary. Children’s Health Defense claims vaccines can be linked to an increase in chronic diseases, such as autism, as well as claiming development delays are more likely in vaccinated people.
Richards said when government officials like Kennedy have mistrust toward vaccines, it increases public mistrust.
Recently, Kennedy announced the CDC is planning to launch additional studies on autism and measles, despite existing studies that vaccines are safe. Richards warns this will increase vaccine mistrust.
Christenson also said numerous studies have shown no correlation between autism and the MMR vaccine, and those funds to fund studies can be allocated to better public health causes.
Christenson said government policy directly impacts vaccination rates, and it is necessary for lawmakers to understand the importance of vaccines.
“We need to talk with our congressmen,” Christenson said, “we need to talk with our senators, we need to talk and send messages as individuals, all of us, to our different politicians and inform them about the importance of vaccinations and that they don’t cut back on programs that provide them.”
“Parents want the best for their children,” he said. “There’s no question that that’s always the case. Obviously, parents are maybe concerned about the safety of vaccines, you know, the sad part is that there’s a lot of misinformation out there and that misinformation comes from all kinds of different sources.” Christenson said vaccine mandates for attending public schools and universities significantly reduced the spread of infectious diseases in the U.S.
Faculty group claims IU violated policy
By Andrew Miller ami3@iu.edu | @andrew_mmiller
IU Bloomington’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors is alleging the university violated policy in terminating tenured professor Xiaofeng Wang.
The university terminated Wang on March 28. But the AAUP’s chapter said that all occurred without the proper process — required notice and a hearing before the Faculty Board of Review.
The FBI March 28 searched two homes belonging to Wang, a professor at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, and IU Libraries analyst Nianli Ma in Bloomington and Carmel. The agency has not provided comment about the nature of the search. Neither has IU. The university referred the Indiana Daily Student to the FBI twice before the IDS received the provost’s termination letter to Wang. An IU spokesperson later said the university is not making public comments at the direction of the FBI after the IDS sent the termination letter for verification.
Alex Tanford, professor emeritus and IUB’s AAUP chapter president, told the IDS on March 31 that the lack of communication from the university is worrying faculty.
“They’re not talking,” Tanford said. “And everybody, guilty or innocent, is entitled to a fair due process procedure for determining their responsibility. He was a tenured professor, and it’s frightening to all of us.”
The organization, in an open letter published March 31, claimed IU violated Wang’s due process by fail-
ing to comply with university policy. It said the policy for termination, ACA-52 section D, necessitated notice and a hearing with the Faculty Board of Review. It was the AAUP’s “understanding” that neither occurred. The organization, in its open letter, then requested Wang’s termination be revoked and he be provided notice and a hearing. The letter, addressed to Provost Rahul Shrivastav, asked the university to report it had taken those actions at the Bloomington Faculty Council’s April 8 meeting. According to ACA-52 section D, termination can only occur for the reason of:
• Incompetence
Serious personal or professional misconduct
• Extraordinary university financial exigency
“No academic appointee shall be dismissed unless reasonable efforts have been made in private conferences between the appointee and the appropriate administrative officers to resolve questions of fitness or of the specified financial exigency,” the policy reads. The policy says appointees should be notified in writing one year before the date of dismissal — those found responsible for serious personal misconduct can be terminated on shorter time frames, but not less than 10 days’ notice. IU did not respond to a request for comment regarding the AAUP’s letter before publication.
“AAUP is not standing up and claiming that he’s innocent of things, right?” Tanford said. “We’re saying we don’t know.”
FILE PHOTO | IDS
Then-junior Bryce Asher receives a COVID-19 vaccination April 12, 2021, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Monroe County measles vaccination rates in eligible infants fell from 91% in 2019 to 85.3% in 2023.
JIMMY RUSH | IDS
The Monroe Country Public Library is pictured March 30, 2025, at 303 E. Kirkwood Ave. in Bloomington.
An executive order was issued March 14, 2025, intended to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services along with six other agencies.
“There was just this culture of, like, you’ve got to go to work all the time,” Richardson said. “Even if you’re sick, and that’s dumb, because nobody wants your germs.”
She said that though she was able to return to her work with the collections by summer 2020, it was difficult to lose time to work on an exhibition that went on view in
“The FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at the home on Xavier Court in Bloomington Friday,” FBI spokesperson Chris Bavender said over a text message Saturday. “It was related to the FBI activity at the home in Carmel. We have no further comment at this time.”
The FBI searched their homes in Bloomington and
May 2021. Richardson was working with the Eskenazi Museum of Art to put together the pieces for the exhibition, which would display over 800 items donated by actress Glenn Close.
“Trying to get everything ready was really hard,” Richardson said. “We sort of lost out, because for a while, when we weren’t coming to work, we didn’t have access to those pieces.”
Carmel on March 28. The search took nearly all day in Bloomington according to neighbors who spoke with the IDS. Neighbors said they didn’t know Wang or Ma well — several said they didn’t see the couple much, especially not in recent weeks.
Wang, a Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering professor, and Ma had their pages scrubbed on IU’s websites as of March 31.
She also taught a class where students learned how to manage a collection, care for pieces and store them properly. Richardson said she usually brings objects to class every week but conducting class online made it more difficult. Without traditional opportunities to work — and learn — professors and students alike felt like they’d fallen behind.
Although McCammon
Neither could be reached by the IDS for comment.
Wang had been a director at IU’s center for Security and Privacy in Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. The center's co-director, L. Jean Camp, confirmed details first reported by the South China Morning Post that Wang is still in the United States, and that to her knowledge he has not been charged with anything.
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said she was able to work with professors to find internships, many of her friends didn’t get the same chance. They still feel the impact of those lost years on their professional life.
“We're now up against more recent graduates who haven't been impacted by those experiences,” she said.
As hiring and career development halted, so too did the world. McCammon said she and her peers at IU expe-
A search on the U.S. government’s Public Access To Court Electronic Records system yielded no recent results for either Wang or Ma. Searches for both in a database of federal prison inmates and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees also did not return results.
An archived version Wang’s page on the Luddy website described him as an associate dean for research. According to the archived
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Eating Disorder
rienced a significant amount of mental distress. Before being forced to press pause, McCammon described herself as someone always involved in many things — working multiple jobs and having two majors.
“COVID was really the first time where everything that I had lined up for myself really fell through and I was forced to really sit and be with my own thoughts,” McCammon said.
page, he had served on projects totaling nearly $23 million by 2022. He joined the university in 2004.
According to the SPICE website, Wang’s research focuses on system security and data privacy, specializing on security issues relating to mobile and cloud computing, and human genomic data.
Other colleagues have not responded to requests for comment as of publication.
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Cornett said the Title IX Office also reported a rape and sexual battery occurred Monday at an unspecified Greek life house. The IUPD crime log reflected two instances of sexual battery and a report of sexual assault with an object were reported. Cornett said IUPD does not have specific details on the case because it was reported by the Title IX Office but said it does not “necessarily mean there was more than one victim.” IUPD also received a Title IX Office report that an individual had been sexually assaulted March 27 at the Global and International Studies Building.
For all three cases, the individual involved did not report the incident to IUPD, and the cases have been referred to IU officials for review, Cornett said. As of April 3, IUPD has received reports of 32 rapes and 18 sexual batteries since August 2024.
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Stop trying to be the ‘It Girl,’ she doesn’t exist
Ainsley Foster (she/her)
is a junior studying Elementary Education.
It doesn’t take much time on the internet to meet her. On YouTube, she is the perfectly curated “It Girl” playlist. On TikTok, she has her own theme song, makeup and hair routine. On Instagram, her pictures are perfectly posed, her page stacked with vacation destinations and Pinterest-worthy vision boards.
But who is this elusive “it girl”? She wakes up at 5 a.m., dons her matching Aritzia workout set and goes to Pilates before doing her 30,000-step skincare routine and Gua sha. She never has a bad hair day, she always
smells like vanilla and she never feels anxious. She exists perfectly and effortlessly; she excels in life in every possible metric. In a sentence: she always has her life together.
I’m jealous just writing about it. But I digress from my usual diatribes and bear you good news today: “It Girl” doesn’t exist! A figment of our social media algorithms and greatest aspirations, “It Girl” is the culmination of every possible trait we seek to cultivate within ourselves and every materialistic desire we wish to obtain. As such, she is the epitome of the unrealistic standard.
It’s exhausting! It’s easy to scroll through
our socials, especially seeing all those spring break vacation photos, and think to ourselves how much better our lives would be if we had it all a little more together. We would be more fulfilled if our skin was a little clearer or our schedules were a little more organized, but the truth is, real beauty is in the mess! Learn how to embrace the imperfections and find joy in the journey because no one has it all together; we’re all just doing our best to make the most of life. True joy is found in authenticity and self-acceptance. Life isn’t about perfection — it’s about the moments that make us feel alive. The laughter shared with friends, the quiet mornings with a cup of cof-
fee and even the tears that remind us of our capacity to feel deeply.
So, stop waiting for everything to be perfect before you allow yourself to be happy. Your life is happening now, in all its chaotic, beautiful imperfection. Embrace it, live it and love it exactly as it is. You are enough just as you are, and that is more than enough.
From my own personal experience, social media can often feel like a never-ending race toward an impossible ideal. Many researchers seem to agree; according to one report from the National Library of Medicine, which found that social media “encourages social comparisons” as users are exposed to
JOAQUIN’S JOURNAL
an abundance of peer-shared images and content with which to compare. We don’t have to look hard at our own lives to confirm these results. Many of us, having grown up with the internet, know all too well the pressures of living in an age where digital personas have the tendency to overshadow reality.
So, here’s to finding beauty in the mess, the mistakes and the realness. Embrace the highs, the lows and everything in between because each experience is uniquely your own. Find your own beat and change it whenever you like. Try new things, fail at them and then try again or change your mind. Be whoever you want to be. Celebrate victories, big and
small. Unburden yourself from needless expectations and standards. Romanticize your life and everything in it. Let your authenticity, not my conformity, be what speaks loudest about you. So, when you meet “It Girl” online or in real life, know that she’s a person too, just doing her best. She has insecurities, struggles and off-days like everyone else. The image of effortless perfection is just that — an image. Extend grace to yourself and others instead of comparing yourself to an unattainable standard. We are all navigating life in our own way, and that is more than enough.
ainsfost@iu.edu
‘Severance’ isn’t a real procedure, but don’t we all lead double lives?
Joaquin Baerga (he/him) is a sophomore studying journalism.
Editor’s note: This column contains minor spoilers for Apple TV’s “Severance.”
Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller’s Apple TV show “Severance” introduces a fictional, surgical procedure of the same name that sounds ideal on paper. Wouldn’t it be lovely to clock into work, skip to the end of your shift and clock out?
It’s not so lovely when you have zero memory of what happens at your job, or when your work self is almost clueless about your life outside. The idea of a consciousness split between work and personal life is exaggerated in the show, however, there is some truth to the fact that we are different people when we occupy different social spaces. I must credit @etymologynerd on TikTok for shedding light on the “compartmentalization of identities” that is now discussed more informally in terms of the show. He explained how the words “innie” and “outie”
from the show are used generally to describe parts of people’s personalities they feel uncomfortable with overall, not just their behavior in and outside of work.
“Severance” lingo has now replaced clinical language such as Freud’s id, superego and ego. These sides of ourselves that we selectively embrace in different contexts can lead to doubts about what exactly defines us.
One question asked multiple times in the show is “who are you?” It’s the first line ever spoken when Helly (Britt Lower) wakes up disoriented on a conference room table inside an empty room.
The question acts as a constant motif, hinting at the show’s core message of discovering personhood.
There is not one thing that defines a person. You could look at memories, experiences and free will. All of these, or lack thereof, are things the characters wrestle with.
Mark Scout (Adam Scott) grows increasingly frustrated
with the mystery surrounding his job as a “macrodata refiner.” His coworker, Irving Bailiff (John Turturro), is robbed of love and a sense of self. These problems all stem from having their consciousness split in two. In our world, there are instances where we unconsciously act differently. Upon any first impression, we may hide some aspects of ourselves that seem like too much for those who haven’t warmed up to us.
We’re not the same person at home versus inside a lecture hall or at work. We don’t use the same vocabulary around our friends and family. A public Instagram post may feel very different from a “Close Friends” story available to a select group.
Even when we do simple things like code-switching, we can become different versions of ourselves. I’ve noticed how I act and even feel different when I’m speaking Spanish, my native language, versus English.
However, there is no need to pick a facet of yourself and decide it’s your main person-
ality. Mark’s journey in the show is more about reconciliation than domination over himself, or at least that’s how I prefer to think of it. Compartmentalizing our identity is a natural way for us to navigate society, and “Severance” questions how we can make sense of our many sides. However, the show doesn’t argue for “innie” or “outie” supremacy; rather, it suggests we learn to coexist with each version of
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ourselves.
Just as “innie” Mark has his own motives that differ from his “outie’s,” we present ourselves differently with a variety of motives in mind. We act differently at school or work to make a good impression and succeed. We feel freer around those we love.
The key is to recognize each person as a multitude, a mosaic, a medley of personalities. Think of people as glass prisms that reflect different “colors” of personality. The prism is not separated or severed; it maintains its wholeness.
By rejecting certain facets of ourselves, we risk difficulty in feeling whole. When we acknowledge and embrace all parts of our identity, this authenticity invites others to do the same and promotes healthier connections.
jbaerga@iu.edu
Our duty to dissent: standing against oppression and injustice
Savannah Ahmad (she/her) is a senior studying Human Biology with a minor in Political Science.
In the spring of 2024, I participated in the “illegal” pro-Palestinian protests, confident in the recently uncertain protection of the First Amendment. Given the horrifying reality of mass civilian casualties and the weaponization of humanitarian aid in Gaza alongside my university’s role in supporting the defense industry — namely through a $111 partnership with Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, which is involved in military technology development — and my own complicity in funding this university, I felt compelled to demonstrate.
My protests were not, and are not, in the name of Hamas, but rather in defense of humanity. Protecting humanity means advocating for Palestinians who are
being denied the most basic human rights. It means speaking out against the oppression they face, demanding justice and ensuring the world does not look away from their suffering. It means responding with urgency to protect and preserve our shared humanity. This very right that has protected my ability to speak out without fear of retribution is the same one that has now led to the detention of Mahmoud Khalil. This unprecedented and illegal act undermines the integrity of our fundamental democratic freedoms, threatening the very principles of justice our so-called “democracy” is supposed to uphold. This reprehensible, deplorable, not to mention illegal abduction of Khalil signals the beginning of an extremely dangerous new political climate, under which political dissent becomes a target.
Indiana University pro-
Palestinian demonstrations are now under investigation for the university’s alleged failure to “fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students.” In light of these accusations of antisemitism, it is more important than ever to exercise our First Amendment rights, emphasizing that condemning the actions of the Israeli government does not equate to antisemitism. Palestinians are being deliberately deprived of food, water and electricity, while civilians, health workers, and journalists are under direct attack. We are currently watching a genocide play out in front of us, supported by our own university and funded by our own government. As students we should be outraged that our university partners with an organization procuring military technology used in genocide. As Americans,
we should be infuriated by our government’s blatant support of war crimes. And as students at an American university, we should be emboldened to use our First Amendment rights to defend Palestinian rights. In a Truth Social post, Trump said, “This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”
It is not antisemitic nor anti-American to advocate for a world in which everyone’s rights are protected. It is not antisemitic nor anti-American to protest when these rights are being infringed upon. Therefore, it is not antisemitic nor anti-American to protest
MOVIE STILLS DATABASE
Britt Lower and Adam Scott act during filming of Season 2 of “Severance.” The show has received major critical acclaim since being released Jan. 17, 2025.
MIA HILKOWITZ | IDS Signage labeled “Liberated Zone” is shown at encampment location April 25, 2024, at Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. The detention of Mahmoud Khalil signaled the beginning of an extremely dangerous new political climate, under which political dissent becomes a target.
Jill Behrman disappeared 25 years ago
By Tyler Spence spencejt@iu.edu | @ tspencenews
On the morning of Wednesday, May 31, 2000, Marilyn Behrman saw her daughter Jill for the last time.
Jill rode her red and white Cannondale bike to work at the IU Student Recreational Sports Complex and planned on having dinner with her grandparents and her father Eric that afternoon. Jill never made it to work or dinner, and the disappearance captured Bloomington’s attention for years to come.
When she didn’t come back that evening, the family quickly spread flyers across town. Eric and Jill’s brother Bryan went driving down her usual routes, looking for any sign of her. The family called hospitals and then the local jail but with no luck.
By Friday, Jill’s photo was in the newspaper and the Behrman household phone was constantly ringing. The Bloomington Police Department formed search parties with community members.
“I never went out and searched,” Marilyn said. “I wanted to be home in case she showed up. I couldn’t let her come home to an empty house.”
Jill’s disappearance began to receive national attention. Soon, Eric and Marilyn spoke to reporters from across the Midwest and were featured on Good Morning America. America’s Most Wanted aired an episode about Jill’s case two years later.
Local investigators chased down every lead, only to come back emptyhanded.
“I remember one of the investigators say, ‘it would be so much easier if we had a crime scene,’” Marilyn said.
Three years later, Jill’s remains were found outside Martinsville, putting a tragic
Her memory lives on through a 5k color run
end to the search.
To this day, Marilyn is still surprised by the way Bloomington rallied around her family. Local organizations and church groups raised money to fund a reward for anyone who could offer information, while hundreds of residents gathered to grid search across town. It wasn’t long after her disappearance that her friends and co-workers at the SRSC wanted to organize an event to keep Jill’s story in the public eye. The annual competitive 5k “Run for the Endzone” was renamed in Jill’s honor and has been a campus staple ever since.
The run this year is 11 a.m. April 5. The route begins and ends at the SRSC and makes its way through IU’s campus. Registration
takes place through race day and is $35.
What started as a way to help bring Jill home, is now a celebration of her life — one that her recreational hobbies would feel right at home with.
Jill was an avid cyclist and had completed a crosscountry trek to Atlantic City after her high school graduation in 1999. Marilyn said she was obsessed with pushing herself to the limit and joining the pace setters at the front of the pack, colloquially known as the “burners.” Marilyn said it was this drive that often led Jill to ride alone. While her friends thought it would be a casual bike ride, to Jill, it was a training opportunity.
The JB5k has no clocks or timers to inspire competition, instead, it has become a celebration. The 5k is a color run, where participants are covered
in bright, colorful powder along the route, creating rainbow-like patterns on their clothes by the time they reach the finish line.
Runners warm up through a dance party before the race starts and rejoice in crossing the finishing line in the same fashion.
The commemorative 5k is a proper memorial in Marilyn’s eyes, choosing positivity and joy over tragedy.
Alongside the 5k, the family created the Jill Behrman Emerging Leader Scholarship, which is awarded to a student or students who are involved in recreational sports for at least a year and have shown leadership abilities.
“I didn’t want to spend a lot of time thinking and mulling about what happened,” Marilyn said. “Eventually the stories bring smiles instead of tears.”
Although most current IU undergrads weren’t even born in 2000, Jill’s story is remembered.
Students like Sophie Wellbaum relate to Jill. Wellbaum, like Jill, works at the SRSC and walks to work.
Wellbaum, a junior majoring in outdoor parks and recreation and hospitality and event management from Fishers, Indiana, met several of her best friends while running the 5k during her freshman year. She later joined the steering committee which oversees the 5k.
Jill’s story and others like it may strike fear about the endless “what ifs” while doing something as routine as walking or biking to work. For Wellbaum, it’s a reminder to advocate for campus safety, especially for first year students.
But instead of fear, Jill’s impact continues to be one of optimism and celebration.
“You can see how the run is meant to celebrate her life, and how they (Jill’s family) don’t necessarily want remembrance on how her life ended, but how her life was conducted when she was alive, which I think is amazing,” Wellbaum said.
Ayanna Culmer-Gilbert, a fifth-year doctoral candidate in chemistry from the Bahamas and member of the steering committee, stumbled into the 5k as a personal challenge, just to see if she could finish it.
Culmer-Gilbert said she believes the high energy and less competitive nature of the run helps bring more people in who wouldn’t usually think a 5k is for them. The event is so much fun, she said, that many attendees don’t know the story behind it.
“I think knowing that the university cares enough to have done something like this for a student, I think is comforting to everyone,” Culmer-Gilbert said.
Marilyn, now 73, is the undergraduate administrative services coordinator for the Media School at IU. She has a poster advertising the JB5k and signage supporting IU women’s basketball hung around her office space.
For Marilyn, and many other parents who have lost a child, time is measured in the before and after their child was lost. Marilyn’s world changed that Wednesday in May 2000, and the change brought with it life lessons that won’t be easily forgotten.
“It taught me what’s important,” Marilyn said. “It showed me what relationships to invest in.”
COURTESY PHOTOS
Top left: Jill Behrman is pictured in her dorm room in Teter Quadrangle. The night of her disappearance, Behrman rode her bike to work at the Student Recreational Sports Complex. Bottom left: Participants celebrate and dance April 2, 2022, after completing the JB5k on IU Bloomington’s campus. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Jill Behrman 5k. Right: Jill is pictured before her senior prom in the spring of 1999.
Behrman’s family created a scholarship for students involved in recreational sports in her honor.
Asianfest celebrates heritage
By Sydney Weber syaweber@iu.edu
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month might begin in May for the rest of the United States, but in Bloomington it starts in April.
According to IU’s Asian Culture Center website, this early activity is to “to allow the entire campus and community to take part in the activities before the semester ends.” The ACC did just that March 27, kicking off the festivities with Asianfest, a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islander culture.
The event began with a street festival on Kirkwood Avenue that featured food stands, activities, games and informational booths, followed by performances inside the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
Ethan Vu and Luu Nguyen, members of the Vietnamese Student Association at IU, came out to support a fellow member of the VSA who was performing in a fan dance later that evening.
“We’re just here to support them,” Nguyen, a senior, said. “And also, there’s a lot of other performances that are always usually cool. Last year, there was this guy with a sword. I forgot what his name (was), but he had a katana, and he’d do a lot of cool moves, and I really liked it.”
This was the first Asianfest for Vu, a freshman, who said the food booths and student organizations were fun and educational.
“I didn’t even know, like, those kinds of foods existed until like today, kind of thing,” Vu said, referring to the Mama Dukes Hawaiian Barbecue stand.
“There’s like a lot of like just like little things and everyone’s culture. It’s like really cool to see.”
IU juniors Linden Edwards and Yeeun Jo stopped by the booth where senior Aung Han tested participants’ chopstick skills. Edwards and Yeeun had 15 seconds to try to
By Arnaav Anand arnanand@iu.edu
Constellation Stage & Screen debuted its adaptation of Jordan Harrison’s “Maple and Vine” on March 27 to a sold-out audience at the Constellation Playhouse.
The original production by Harrison premiered in 2011 at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky, before moving Off-Broadway to Playwrights Horizons in New York later that year.
The story follows Katha and Ryu, a modern biracial couple who, after becoming disillusioned with their fast-paced urban lives, are drawn into a community that has recreated 1955 America in meticulous detail — on the corner of Maple Drive and Vine Street. As they immerse themselves in the rigid social structures and traditions of the past, they discover both the allure and the darker realities of nostalgia. The play explores themes of conformity, identity and the complexities of longing for a supposedly simpler time.
The Constellation play is directed by Ansley Valentine, head of the graduate directing program at IU, with Jacobs School of Music alumnus Jeremy Rafal playing the role of Ryu and Megan Massie as his wife, Katha.
Valentine said the play speaks to a lot of themes that are part of America’s current cultural landscape.
“This whole ‘Make America Great’ Again idea, people believe there was time when America was better,” he said. “The characters in this play attempt to go back to a version of the 1950s, and
move six M&Ms from one bowl to another. Yeeun won, earning a snack. By the end of the first hour of Asianfest, Han said about 50 people had attempted the chopstick challenge.
“Some people have done quite well, some people haven’t,” Han said. “But they enjoyed the snacks, though.” Han said Asianfest was an important event to interact with the community.
“Just getting to meet everyone is really nice and like showcasing a bit of, like, Asian culture to everyone is really fun too,” Han said.
Min Min Thant, copresident of the Myanmar Student Association at IU, was there to represent the organization and inform visitors about the political situation in Myanmar, a country in south Asia formerly known as Burma.
“I’m just showcasing our culture and raising awareness about what’s happening back in Burma, which is like a civil war, a coup, that needs a lot of attention,” Thant said. “But the media is not covering much right now.”
the question is: ‘Was it actually great?’”
The shift to the mid20th century included all the social norms prevalent at the time.
The play highlighted themes of rigid gender roles, the suppression of homosexuality and the systemic racism that shaped daily life, revealing the constraints of a society that prioritized conformity over individual freedom.
The Playhouse lobby featured a pair of easels that provided historical context on these topics, educating the audience on the realities of 1950s society.
“Hopefully, the audience walks away with the understanding that the present is the time we have.”
Ansley Valentine, director of “Maple and Vine”
Valentine said the cast and crew watched a lot of ’50s TV shows like “Leave It to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” to get a sense of the era.
“We also considered how people today actually imagine the 1950s,” he said. “That combination of research and modern assumptions about the past factors into the humor of the play, especially as the characters try to walk and talk like they’re from another time.”
Valentine said it was challenging to fit the production in Constellation’s small stage, with the play portraying 32 scenes set in nearly as many locations. He said without a stage that can physically transform, the crew had to get creative
Thant joined the Myanmar Student Association as a freshman, describing it as a home away from home. Thant said Myanmar Student Association partners with the Asian Culture Center.
“You know, they give us like funding, support, basically like a safe space for us to, like, communicate about what we go through, our experiences,” Thant said.
Parnasi Bandyopadhyay, a rider from Mezcla, the La Casa Latino Cultural Center’s women’s Little 500 team, also talked about community support. She said one of Mezcla’s main goals is to bring diversity to the core IU tradition that is the Little 500 bike race.
Fittingly, “mezcla” means “mixture” in Spanish. Even though she isn’t Latina, Bandyopadhyay said the team opened its arms to her.
“Regardless of where you come from, what your ethnicity, what your race is, what you look like, there’s always a home for you,” Bandyopadhyay said. “And I’m so happy I got to, to belong, like, find a familia.”
Boy in the Bubble celebrates 25 years of comedy
Boy in the Bubble alumni packed the 25th anniversary show
By Ursula Stickelmaier ustickel@iu.edu
At a booth near Mezcla’s, Micaela Deogracius, outreach librarian at IU’s Education Library, helped distribute bags containing materials to make koi kites, a Japanese tradition.
“We do a lot of crafts and stuff in the library,” Deogracius said. “But the koi are a symbol of strength and resilience in Japan. So, these are actually flown for Children’s Day, in hopes that children will grow up to be strong and resilient.”
Congress officially established May as Asian/ Pacific American Heritage Month in October 1992 by Public Law 102-450.
Asianfest was the opening festivity in Bloomington for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. More events, including musical performances, discussion sessions and short film showings, are scheduled on the ACC’s events calendar.
“And it’s so cool because it’s such a small city, but there’s so much diversity here,” Thant said. “And this (Asianfest) is something that I feel like supports it and builds it.”
in the presentation of the shifts in time periods.
Strategic overhead lighting cues and narration subtly guided the audience between different locations within the same stage, providing seamless transitions for more fluid storytelling.
After the intermission, the set of “Maple and Vine” transported audiences to a meticulously recreated 1950s American home, complete with mid-century modern furniture, vintage appliances, and periodaccurate décor. The living space featured warm wooden tones and a pastel color palette. Wardrobe and costumes further immersed the audience in the era, with men in sharp, tailored suits or casual cardigans, while women wore cinched-waist dresses.
Lorna Johnson, an audience member who had previously seen Constellation’s showing of “Misery” with her daughter, said she enjoyed the play.
“What stood out to me
was how things in the ‘50s weren’t so much easier,” Johnson said. “Just how things transpired and how people dealt with them.”
Mariam Campbell, an older audience member, said the play reminded her of her own childhood.
“I don’t remember much from those days, but it was very similar to how I grew up,” she said. “Everything was put together so well.”
Valentine said people today have a nostalgic longing for a time when they believe things were simpler or better, and the play explores the reality that life is complicated no matter the era.
“Hopefully, the audience walks away with the understanding that the present is the time we have,” he said. “And we should make the best of it rather than trying to retreat into an imagined past.”
“Maple and Vine” will run through April 13 at the Constellation Playhouse and tickets can be purchased from the Constellation website.
For one night, past and present members of Boy in the Bubble weren’t separated by years — they were bound by a shared love of comedy, and they celebrated that love together. The sketch comedy group celebrated its 25th anniversary March 29 in the Fine Arts Building, bringing many alumni of the group together to enjoy the show.
Though most of the performance only included current members in the sketches, it kicked off with a filmed sketch from Boy in the Bubble alumni currently living in Los Angeles. Among the alumni in this group was Aaron Waltke, a screenwriter and television producer popularly known for his involvement in “Trollhunters” and “Star Trek: Prodigy.” The self-referential bit centered around the former members of Boy in the Bubble on a Zoom call struggling to figure out what they wanted the sketch to be. It garnered a lot of laughs from the audience as the alumni joked about their current careers and what it was like to be in Boy in the Bubble.
Among the audience enjoying the show was Adam Kornya, an alumnus who joined the group during his time at IU in 2004. Looking back at his time performing at IU, Kornya said he was surprised to feel like nothing had really changed within the group.
“I think it’s interesting how similar it all seems,” Kornya said. “Obviously comedy is different, and the college experience is different, but there are still things that seem exactly the same as the way I experienced them.”
Part of the similarity is the community that members find within the group. Kornya said he felt like the strongest parts of his time in Boy in the Bubble weren’t just the fun performances, but the friendships formed during those shows.
“It’s like they’re strangers to me, but also I feel like I know them.”
Bloison Lawee, audience member
“I would say, like, it was a way to essentially audition who is going to be your best friend based on how funny they were,” Kornya said. “I mean, it makes me sound like a psychopath, but you know, we are all still getting together and going to each other’s weddings and stuff.”
That community found in Boy in the Bubble was obvious to non-alumni audience members as well. Bloison Lawee and Isabella Habig both came to the show March 29 in support of their friend IU junior Harley Babbitt, a performer in the group.
This was Lawee’s first Boy in the Bubble performance, and he was
impressed by the way the group’s lighthearted dynamic infected the audience and added to the overall appeal of the show.
“They just work together very well,” Lawee said. “They’re just a group of friends and you could definitely tell they enjoy doing sketch. It’s like they’re strangers to me, but also I feel like I know them.”
Habig also felt the camaraderie from her spot in the audience. The IU junior was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was for the sketch comedy group to come back from any difficulties they might have had during their set. Whether it was mixedup lines or technology not working correctly, the performers were able to think on their feet and not let anything hold up the show.
“I feel like a lot of clubs, not everyone’s really friends, and so like, when you go the vibe is kind of lost,” Habig said. “But if you’re all friends and you can kind of gauge someone’s humor, you can bring people up. And you could kind of see there were sometimes, like, moments of improv where something went wrong, but they were able to cover for it pretty well because of that.”
Of the sketches performed throughout the night, fan favorites included a skit about an “alpha male” training camp and another about three knights off to kill a witch. Stand-up was also performed by group member Austin Rubin, an IU senior. Beginning its shows with a short stand-up set by one of its members has become a bit of a signature for the comedy group. With a mix of light crowd work, as well as plenty of jokes about his own life, the audience seemed to enjoy Rubin’s set. But what the crowd seemed to especially love was the music that played between each sketch. The playlist included popular songs like “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” by ROLE MODEL, as well as “Rasputin” by Boney M. The latter quickly became an audience favorite when AJ Wilson, a sophomore member, gave a quick performance of the Slavic squat kick dance popularized by the song in between two of the sketches.
The group’s 25th anniversary show seemed to be a celebration of the Boy in the Bubble members before them and all the ones yet to come. Lituo Huang, a Boy in the Bubble member from 2004 to 2006, was happy to see the traditions and community built by former members still going strong. It’s something she hopes to see continued as the years go on and the group continues to grow.
“I’m just really hopeful that they’ll look back on their experience as well and just have these friends for life,” Huang said. “I mean, I think that all of my friends from the Bubble are much funnier than any of my other friends.”
SYDNEY WEBER | IDS Noah Schimpf, member of
URSULA STICKELMAIER | IDS
Members of Boy in the Bubble Comedy close out their alumni show
March 29, 2025, in the Fine Arts Building. Many former members visited to watch the comedy group’s 25th anniversary show.
Indiana Athletics parts ways with trainer Tim Garl
By Jacob Spudich and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer jaspudi@iu.edu | matfuent@iu.edu
Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual violence or assault.
Indiana Athletics has parted ways with head men’s basketball trainer Tim Garl, the Indianapolis Star’s Zach Osterman first reported March 31.
Christopher Lee, Garl’s personal attorney from the Indianapolis-based law firm Dinsmore & Shohl, emailed the Indiana Daily Student a statement detailing Garl’s departure from the program.
“Long time Athletic Trainer for Men’s Basketball at Indiana University, Tim Garl, was informed by Athletic Director, Scott Dolson, that his contract will not be renewed for his 45th basketball season,” the statement read. “Garl feels grateful for the incredible opportunities he has had during his career having served every head coach starting with Bob Knight.”
Indiana hired Garl as the head men’s basketball trainer in 1981. In the statement, Garl also went on to thank Knight and then-athletic director Ralph Floyd for hiring him for the position.
After Knight’s dismissal from the program in 2000, Garl went on to serve under six different head coaches.
At the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, he finished his 44th season in the position.
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In the statement, Lee said Garl appreciated and thanked all the head coaches he served under, as well as the players, athletic department staffers and “Hoosier Nation” for their support.
While working with IU, Garl also served on the United States Olympic Committee for 25 years, the longest serving member in the group’s history. On the committee, he served as vice chair and chairman of the USOC Sports Medicine Society.
In Lee’s statement, it said Dolson wanted a “fresh start” for the program as the
reason why the program was parting ways with Garl.
On March 18, Indiana hired Darian DeVries to be the next head men’s basketball coach. DeVries was previously the head coach at West Virginia University before leaving to replace former head coach Mike Woodson at Indiana.
The two sides part ways more than two months after former IU men’s basketball players amended a previous lawsuit against IU alleging the university systemically mishandled its response to known routine and repeated invasive rectal exams by for-
mer team physician Bradford Bomba Sr. The amended lawsuit alleges Garl assigned players to Bomba Sr. knowing the physician would sexually assault them.
At the time of the amendment, the lawsuit listed three former players. Larry Richardson Jr. and Butch Carter joined John Flowers, Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller in March to bring the list of total plaintiffs to five.
In response to the suit, Garl released a statement Feb. 2 that read, “The central premise of Plaintiffs’ case is fatally flawed – the evidence will show that the prevailing
standard of care at the relevant time included digital rectal examinations as part of a complete physical examination of college-aged males. In fact, failing to perform them would have fallen below the standard of care. But even assuming, arguendo, that rectal examinations were not required by the applicable standard of care, they were not inappropriate.”
In a motion filed by Lee and obtained by the HeraldTimes on March 10, Lee alluded to the fact Garl’s tenure with the program could come to an end as he argued
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec.
(Dec. 22-Jan.
Compromise
for an expedited ruling with the ongoing complaint.
“At the end of the season, Indiana University will announce the next head coach, so that individual can begin preparing for the 2025-2026 college basketball season. Such an outcome would bring an unfair, premature end to Mr. Garl’s illustrious career, and leave him searching for employment with these allegations still unresolved.
One of that individual’s first tasks will be to determine whether to retain existing staff or bring in new staff. Given that Mr. Garl is the only individual defendant named in the amended complaint, and is still employed by Indiana University as the head trainer for IUMB, should this case continue past the beginning of April, the next coach may decide not to keep Mr. Garl on the staff while the allegations against him remain pending.”
The Herald-Times reported that the court denied Lee’s motion for an expedited ruling and that the judge has not ruled on an original motion to dismiss the initial complaint.
Indiana Athletics could not be reached for comment at the time of publication. According to the statement, Garl’s last day with the program is March 31. For the first time in more than four decades, Indiana will be looking for a new head men’s basketball trainer.
homework with a personal challenge. Take charge of your destiny. Abandon limiting inner monologues. Create an inspiring objective and focus on it.
FITZSIMONS | IDS
Trainer Tim Garl yells from the sidelines in a game against Illinois on Jan. 14, 2025,
Indiana freshman Bryson Tucker enters transfer portal
By Noah Gerkey ngerkey@iu.edu
Indiana men’s basketball freshman forward Bryson Tucker entered the transfer portal, according to On3 Sports on March 28. Tucker is now the seventh Hoosier to enter the portal since Indiana failed to reach the NCAA Tournament on March 16.
Junior forward Malik Reneau, sophomore guard Gabe Cupps, sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako, redshirt freshman guard Jakai Newton, redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice and sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle have all entered the transfer portal.
Cupps recently committed to play for Ohio State and is the only former Hoosier from last year’s team to commit elsewhere.
Tucker arrived at Indiana as a four-star recruit and a McDonalds All-American.
The 6-foot-7 Bowie, Maryland, native was the only member of Indiana’s 2024 high school recruiting class.
The forward averaged 5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists on 37.8% shooting from the field during his freshman campaign. Tucker scored in double figures three times in 23 games this season, scoring 14 points against Eastern Illinois University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and 16 points against Minnesota. The freshman did not see action in any of Indiana’s last six games of the 2024-25 season. Indiana head coach Darian DeVries will have work to do in shaping the roster before next season. Tucker was the final rostered scholarship player with eligibility, pending senior forward Luke Goode’s fifth-year request. Tucker will have three years of eligibility remaining in his college career.
Trinity Reformed Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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 Latter-day 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.
Lutheran - Missouri Synod
University Lutheran Church and LCMS U Student Center
607 E. Seventh St. 812-336-5387 indianalutheran.com facebook.com/ULutheranIU instagram.com/uluindiana
Sunday:
Student Center open daily:
9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
The LCMS home of campus ministry at IU, our mission is to serve all college students with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, located across from Dunn Meadow and the IMU. The Student Center is open daily for study, recreation, and prayer. For full schedule, visit our website.
Rev. Timothy Winterstein - Campus Pastor
United Methodist
Jubilee
219 E. Fourth St. 812-332-6396 jubileebloomington.org
Facebook: First United Methodist Church of Bloomington, IN 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, social 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
Inter-Denominational
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
American Restoration Movement
North Central Church of Christ
2121 N. Dunn St. 812-332-2248 nc3family.org Facebook.com/nc3family
Sunday: 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., College Class
Come learn about historic Christian teaching on theology, ethics, and culture. We offer an alternative to the post-modern ideologies and teachings you often see in your lives today.
Shane Himes, PHD - Senior Minister
2401 S. Endwright Rd. 812-825-2684 trinityreformed.org lucas@trinityreformed.org facebook.com/trinitychurchbloom
Sunday: 10:30 a.m., Sunday Morning Services 7 p.m., Bible Study at the IMU
We are a Reformed Protestant church on the west side of Bloomington with lively worship on Sunday mornings and regular lunches for students after church. We love God and His Word. Please get in touch if you’d like a ride!
Monitor) csmonitor.com
Orthodox All Saints Orthodox Christian Church
6004 S. Fairfax Rd. 812-824-3600 allsaintsbloomington.org webbrk1@gmail.com Youtube video of services on
- Pastoral Assistant
Bloomington Bahá'í Community and Bahá’í IU Association
Freshman forward Bryson Tucker lays the ball up in a game against Minnesota on Dec. 9, 2024, inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Tucker entered the transfer portal March 28.
Indiana guard Yarden Garzon enters transfer portal
By Dalton James jamesdm@iu.edu | @DaltonMJames
Indiana women’s basketball junior guard Yarden
Garzon has entered the transfer portal with a “do not contact” tag, according to On3 Sports’ Talia Goodman’s report March 31.
Garzon, who has one season of eligibility remaining, becomes the sixth Hoosier to enter the portal since Indiana’s season ended March 23, joining Julianna LaMendola, Lexus Bargesser, Lilly Meister, Henna Sandvik and Sharnecce Currie-Jelks.
Garzon led the Hoosiers in scoring this season, averaging 14.4 points. The Ra’anana, Israel, native also added 5.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. She earned second team All-Big Ten honors in her third season at Indiana. The 6-foot-3 Garzon arrived in Bloomington in 2022, immediately becoming a starter. Across each of
ers as she currently has 220.
head coach Teri Moren explained after the
season-ending loss to the University of South Carolina that she and her staff had already been working on evaluating the holes in the Hoosiers’ roster heading into next season. But Garzon was still reflecting on her junior season instead of looking ahead. “I feel like now I’m kind of reflecting on this season, and it’s hard for me to look toward the future right now,” Garzon said March 23. “Obviously I hope I’m going to have a good summer. I’m planning to work hard and work on my game, but right now I’m kind of just thinking about now and trying to embrace the moment.” At the time of her decision, Garzon’s departure leaves junior guard Shay Ciezki as the lone Indiana starter slated to return to Bloomington for the 2025-26 season.
Society of Friends (Quaker)
Bloomington Friends Meeting
3820 E. Moores Pike
812-336-4581
bloomingtonfriendsmeeting.org
Facebook: Bloomington Friends Meeting
Sunday (in person & Zoom) :
9:45 a.m., Hymn singing
10:30 a.m., Meeting for Worship
10:45 a.m., Sunday School
(Children join worship 10:30-10:45)
11:30 a.m., Refreshments and Fellowship
12:30 p.m., Events (see website)
Wednesday (Zoom Only) :
7 p.m., Meeting for worship for Peace
Friday (Zoom Only) :
9 a.m., Meeting for worship
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 belief and no prescribed creed. We are actively involved in peace action, social justice causes, and environmental concerns.
Peter Burkholder - Clerk burkhold@indiana.edu
City Church 1200 N. Russell Rd. 812-336-5958
citychurchbloomington.org
tiktok: @citychurchbtown
Instagram: @citychurchbtown
Sunday Service: 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 11:45 a.m.
City Church is a multicultural church on the east side of Bloomington. We provide transportation from campus. Our college and young adult ministry meets on Tuesday nights.
David Norris - Pastor
Sacred Heart Church
615 N. Fairview St. 812-345-5239 sacredheartbloomington.org facebook.com/sacredheartbloomington
Sunday: 10:30 a.m.: Refreshments and Fellowship 10:45 a.m.: Worship Service Tue., Wed., Thu.: Midweek Meals (Check Facebook)
United Church of Christ and American Baptist Churches-USA 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-Mutai Senior Minister
Baptist Emmanuel Church 1503 W. That Rd. 812-824-2768 Emmanuelbloom.com
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Rose House LuMin & St. Thomas Lutheran Church
3800 E. Third St. 812-332-5252 Stlconline.org lcmiu.net
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 Non-Denominational
Christian Student Fellowship
1968 N. David Baker Ave. 812-332-8972 csfindiana.org
Instagram: @csfindiana
Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) exists as a Christ-centered community focused on helping students truly know Jesus Christ. Our ministry operates from an on-campus house where students can live. Reach out to schedule a tour of the house or a visit to our Thursday night worship service!
Ben Geiger - Lead Campus Minister
Stephanie Michael - Campus Minister
Joe Durnil - Associate Campus Minister
Hailee Lutz - Office Manager
Sacred Heart is a nondenominational church that seeks to follow Jesus by acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. We strive to be a safe, inclusive community where you can bring your doubts, questions, struggles, and joys before a loving God and find true belonging. All are welcome! Dan Caldwell
Episcopal (Anglican)
Canterbury Mission
719 E. Seventh St. 812-822-1335 IUCanterbury.org facebook.com/ECMatIU Instagram & Twitter: @ECMatIU Youtube: @canterburyhouseatiu9094
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
Independent Baptist
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.
Student 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
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
Unitarian Universalist
Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington
2120 N. Fee Ln. 812-332-3695 uubloomington.org facebook.com/uubloomington
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.,11:30 a.m.
via in person or livestream
We’re a multi dynamic congregation actively working towards a more just and loving world. We draw inspiration from world religions and diverse spiritual traditions. Our vision is “Seeking the Spirit, Building Community, Changing the World.” A LGBTQA+, Dementia Friendly, Welcoming Congregation to all ages and groups and a Certified Green Sanctuary.
Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray
Unity of Bloomington A Center for Spiritual Growth
Discover a vibrant, welcoming community at Unity of Bloomington – “a positive path for spiritual living”. Our center offers a space for spiritual growth; embracing all with open arms. We proudly affirm and welcome the LGBTQ+ community, fostering love, acceptance, and inclusion. Join our loving congregation, where everyone is valued and encouraged to explore their spiritual journey. At Unity of Bloomington, all are welcome and together we thrive!
Minnassa Gabon - Spiritual Leader Phyllis Wickliff - Music Director Reformed Protestant
Trinity Reformed Church
2401 S. Endwright Rd. 812-825-2684 trinityreformed.org lucas@trinityreformed.org facebook.com/trinitychurchbloom
Sunday: 10:30 a.m., Sunday Morning Services 7 p.m., Bible Study at the IMU
We are a Reformed Protestant church on the west side of Bloomington with lively worship on Sunday mornings and regular lunches for students after church. We love God and His Word. Please get in touch if you’d like a ride!
Jody Killingsworth - Senior Pastor Lucas Weeks - College Pastor
her 97 games wearing an Indiana uniform, Garzon was in the starting lineup.
Against Purdue on March 2, she set the program record for the most career 3-point-
Indiana
LAUREN MCKINNEY | IDS
Junior guard Yarden Garzon surveys the defense gainst Purdue on Feb. 15, 2025, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Garzon entered
transfer portal March 31 after three seasons in Bloomington.
Indiana alumnus Kyle Hart returns to MLB
By Will Kwiatkowski wdkwiatk@iu.edu
Kyle Hart took the mound for the NC Dinos under the bright lights of Korean baseball, competing among former MLB players searching for a way back to the big leagues. For Hart it wasn’t just a second chance — it was the start of his resurgence.
“Playing in Korea was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It gave me a fresh start, a new perspective on the game,” Hart said in a phone interview with the Indiana Daily Student. “Over there, it wasn’t about proving people wrong, it was about proving to myself that I could still be the pitcher I always believed I was.”
Following his bounceback year with the NC Dinos in 2024, Hart earned a spot in the San Diego Padres’ starting rotation. As the team kicks off the season, Hart made his first start in five years March 31 against the Cleveland Guardians.
The tall lefty, standing at 6-foot-5 and 200 pounds, had an outstanding 2024 season with the NC Dinos. Hart earned the Choi DongWon Award, the Korean equivalent of the Cy Young Award, after leading the league with 182 strikeouts in 157 innings. He posted a 13-3 record and a 2.69 ERA, becoming the league’s top starter.
There wasn’t a sudden change when Hart went to Korea; rather, he attributed his success overseas to his relentless work ethic and desire to win.
Back in 2015, during his standout senior season as Indiana’s leader on the mound, Hart anchored the team’s starting rotation. Despite facing Big Ten competition, he topped the conference with 10 wins while maintaining an impressive 3.29 ERA over 98 1/3 innings.
“Every time I went on the field, I just wanted to win,”
Hart said. “I wanted it so bad for my teammates. That was just it. It was the purest, simplest form of baseball that I ever played because we just wanted to win.”
The year prior to his senior year, Hart faced a grueling setback. He underwent Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss the remainder of his junior year campaign and forcing his hand to forgo the MLB draft and return to Indiana for another season.
Despite injury setbacks, Hart graduated as one of Indiana’s most accomplished pitchers, ranking second in program history with 31 career wins. A projectable left-hander with dominant pitches, he remained a sought-after prospect and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 19th round of
the 2016 MLB Draft. Hart spent three years in the minor leagues, making 59 starts. His final season came in 2019, when he pitched across Double-A and Triple-A, recording a 12-13 record with a 3.52 ERA over 27 appearances and 156 innings pitched.
His performance that year was convincing enough to earn the then-27-yearold starter a shot in the big leagues the following season. He made his debut in the infamous COVID-19shortened year.
His debut, like the 2020 season, was short lived.
Despite a disappointing MLB debut that lasted only four games, where he surrendered 19 earned runs over 11 innings, Hart didn’t give up. His stint with the Red Sox ended quickly, but
he returned to the minor leagues, continuing to improve with the goal of earning another shot at the MLB.
That dedication, he said, helped him become the pitcher the Padres are now willing to give a second chance.
“2020 was a bad year for everyone,” Hart said. “I took some learning points from that year and moved on.”
After another challenging three-year stint with the Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies organizations, and running out of options, Hart decided to give the KBO a try.
“I literally had no other job offers,” Hart said, “so the decision to play in Korea was super easy.”
Hart’s ability to make adjustments throughout
his career has been crucial to keeping his career alive in the face of adversity. In Korea, the adjustments he made to his pitching arsenal helped reignite his career, making his return to the MLB one of the more unique comeback stories.
One of Hart’s biggest adjustments, his arm angle, simply came from the grind he and many other professional baseball players must become accustomed to.
“My arm slot naturally fell into a slightly lower position, which I feel allows me to be a little more athletic,” Hart said. “I didn’t necessarily do it on purpose; it just happened, and it felt right. Some of my pitches improved, so I just stuck with it.”
During his time with
Boston, Hart’s arm angle was a relatively-high 53 degrees, which Hart said made him feel like he was “fighting himself” in his delivery. The move to a lower arm angle opened Hart’s ability to be loose and athletic with his mechanics, something Hart said made him more confident on the mound. Hart’s spring training numbers don’t stand out — he posted a 9.39 ERA across two starts and 7 2/3 innings — but he still managed to impress the man who matters most, Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla.
With Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish opening the 2025 season on the injured list, Hart has earned a spot in the starting rotation to begin the year with the club. He said his journey to the MLB has been shaped by perseverance, adaptability and an unwavering drive to succeed. Now, as he embarks on this new chapter, he’s not just looking to make an impact, he’s focused on pushing his game to new heights.
Hart is ready to prove that his hard work and reinvention were just the beginning of something even greater in the MLB. In his return to MLB on March 31, Hart secured the win over the Guardians. He struck out Steven Kwan for his first strikeout of the season. Hart pitched five innings, allowing two runs on five hits,
another round’s spring concert
Fri, April 4 at 8 pm
ladies first a cappella spring showcase
Sat, April 5 at 8 pm
Tchaikovsky’s swan lake
Sun, April 6 at 4 pm
african american dance company 50th anniversary spring concert
Fri, April 11 - Sat, April 12 at 7:30 pm
plato’s closet presents: 16th annual trashion/refashion runway show
Sun, April 13 at 7 pm
natalie boeyink jazz ensemble - free!
Mon, April 14 at 7:30 pm
rebel with a clause
Thu, April 17 at 6:30 pm
breaking away + zana: women of the little 500
Fri, April 18 at 7 pm
mind unveiled: psychedelic fest
Sat, April 19 at 1:30 pm
BEAT spring show
Mon, April 21 at 7 pm
hayes carll & corb lund: bible on the dash tour
Tue, April 22 at 7 pm
iu soul revue spring concert
Sat, April 26 at 7:30 pm
TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
San Diego Padres left-handed pitcher Kyle Hart throws during spring training workouts Feb. 13,
