IU-Bloomington Wets Itself

The damn phone's been ringing since the wee hours of the morning. Shermlock Jr. attends Indiana University in Bloomington.

Apparently he's given our home phone number to the IU Notify system and they've been graciously calling us to keep us apprised of the lockdown of IU because of two individuals absconding after have a knife fight with an acquaintance on campus property . The all-clear call came a few minutes ago when the IU Administrators determined that a knife fight among friends posed no danger to the campus computer at large.

If they're this touchy, I wonder what the IU Administrators will do on Halloween? Be careful what costumes you choose, kiddies. I'd shy away from going to your parties dressed as say, the traditional pirate or musketeer waving around your cutlass or foil. Or any costume that is complemented with a firearm.

Today's, "There, I fixed it."

Handicap door opener too far from the door? There, I fixed it. Seen at the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI.

Workplace Safety Indiana University Style

Yesterday all members of the Indiana University Community received the following from IU President Michael McRobbie:

Colleagues,

In the wake of the heartbreaking tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, all those who lead educational institutions feel an increased obligation to take all possible steps to ensure the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors. I write to inform you of the planning and measures we’ve undertaken and to ask for your help in that effort. The IU Police Department maintains highly trained armed officers on all campuses, and each campus unit has mutual aid agreements with their local municipal and county law enforcement agencies. Response to any shooting incident would be nearly immediate. Given the nature of our campus communities, we continue to enforce a general ban on firearms on our campuses. We have updated emergency and response plans on every campus to better address prevention, response, and recovery from any kind of incident. As part of this effort, a comprehensive exercise and drill schedule is being developed. Exercises have already been conducted at IU-Northwest and IU-South Bend. An active-shooter exercise is planned for IUPUI in Summer 2013. But little of this preparation will be successful unless we all work together to maximize the safety and security of our campuses. IU maintains a robust emergency notification system that can reach students, faculty, and staff within minutes. It is extremely important that everyone register for this alert system. Only you can provide your cell and text number to the notification system. Please do so at http://onestart.iu.edu. This system will be the primary outlet for emergency messages in case of an incident. If you “See Something, Say Something.” Be aware of your surroundings. Report suspicious activities to IUPD. Know the contact information for your campus crisis management and behavioral consultation teams. Do not share your access cards or keys with others. Finally, some time ago we developed a single web site through which a wide variety of general safety and security information is presented: http://protect.iu.edu. Specific to shooting incidents, pay particular attention to the new information at http://protect.iu.edu/police/active-shooter.

There is no fool-proof way to prevent random acts of violence. But if we work together, we can significantly minimize the opportunity for such tragedies to occur at IU while also maximizing the effectiveness of our emergency response.

Yours sincerely,
Michael A. McRobbie
President

I feel so much safer. And I can't wait for the active shooter exercises. I can only imagine what it will involve. Likely duck and cover. Very nostalgic.

Today's Schadenfreude

As I've indicated here in my blog, I'm adjunct faculty (among other things) at IUPUI. Yesterday the following was asked on the adjunct faculty mailing list:

Heard a rumor that the University will be limiting part-time faculty to a max of six credit hours per term, so they will not have to offer healthcare benefits under the Affordable Care Act. Has anyone else heard whether this is true or not?

While one of the directors of a program that hires a large number of adjunct faculty looks into the veracity of this, I note that such cuts have been reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the Huffington Post and other news sources. Considering the political persuasion of almost all my faculty colleagues and how most of them likely voted in the last two presidential elections, all I have to say is:

Debt and Higher Education

I snickered when I saw this:

IU to offer financial literacy program to students

In part:

Indiana University says it's rolling out a financial literacy program to give students the tools to complete college without excessive debt.

It's sort of like going to your pusher to get advice on how to cut back on your drug use. My advice: Drop out of school and learn a useful trade. Then, and only then, think about going to college.

Dense

Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake. The other day I and a colleague were in Inlow Hall on the IUPUI campus, home of the Herron School of Art and Design. It's the end of the Fall semester so a lot of student art projects are on display. We passed under this:



and I thought, "Hmmm. Dead babies floating with a kayak. Odd." Then I looked closer. And finally got it. Oh my.

I took a picture.

Harder Work = Wasted Hours?

Saw this in the Jim Ersay Fan Magazine:

No-fee college applications week doesn't work for Indiana

Besides a sweeping conclusion as the title of the news article, I also have a problem with this:

. . . enrollment officials across the state say hundreds of hours of staff time were wasted sorting through applications and trying to follow up with students who never had any intention of attending college.

So instead of updating their Facebook pages, bidding on Ebay, or just surfing pr0n, the folks in Enrollment Services had to do real work? Awwwwww.

And I have a problem with this, too:

Indiana University says the free week of applications cost it more than $300,000. IU says it will not waive application fees this year.

Now I didn't just fall off the sugar beet truck. They had more applications because it was free. If kids would have had to pay for the enrollment application, then there would likely have been fewer applications. So the $300,000 cost is. . .BULLSHIT.

Weed!

IU president's son arrested on pot charges

In toto:

The son of Indiana University president Michael McRobbie faces marijuana charges after police searched his dorm room on the Bloomington campus.

Lucien R. McRobbie, 18, was arrested Saturday and faces preliminary charges of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, both misdemeanors.

A resident assistant in the McNutt Quad smelled the marijuana smoke and contacted the IU police department, The Bloomington Herald-Times reported. Police searched McRobbie's room and found marijuana.

McRobbie, a freshman, was booked into Monroe County Jail and released on his own recognizance, the Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported.

"The president considers it a private family matter and it will be handled accordingly," IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre told the Daily Student.

MacIntyre said the specifics of student disciplinary matters are not made public. "He will be treated just as if he was any other student," he said. "We treat all students the same regardless of who their parents might be.

Part of the requirements of being an IU spokesman is being able to say shit like that with a straight face.

Guns on campus

This Tuesday, October 7 the Indiana Student Affairs Association (ISAA) meets across the street in the Campus Center. Two panels look interesting:

Increasing Campus Safety: Outlawing Guns at Universities

Abby Stott, Marian College
Anthony Masseria, IUPUI
Emily Ritter, IUPUI

Over the last thirty years, there have been too many incidences of gun use on college campus. Not only have students lives been taken, but countless others have been affected in the process. In this session, we intend to explore how outlawing guns will increase campus safety. We will examine campus safety court cases and the feasibility of outlawing guns on college campuses. We will discuss current gun policy for the state of Indiana. By the end, we will offer proposed gun legislation.

and

Increasing Campus Safety: Guns on Campuses: Yes, No ?

Abby Stott, Marian College
Jessica Blackerby, IUPUI
Christy Moede, Franklin College
Karen Whitney, IUPUI

Violence on our campuses occurs too often. Do guns help or hinder campus violence? Is there another approach that does not involve guns that would reduce violence on campus? In this session, three perspectives pro gun, anti-gun and an alternative gun approach will be explored. The session will conclude with a robust group discussion. Court cases, constitutional and statutory law will be included.

I plan to attend and report back here on my Adventures in Wonderland.

Professors Gone Wild, Pt. 2

Here's an interesting way of punctuating a scholarly disagreement:

Professor Under Investigation For Mooning Incident

And the extended video is up on YouTube:



I get a chuckle out of Provost Gould's statement on the matter:

". . .we need to make sure everything is revealed before we take any action."

No, I think we've seen enough.

h/t Larry J. Zimmerman

"A+" in Intro to Bodacious Ta-Ta-s

I make 'em do the assignments. Guess I'm doin' it all wrong.

Professor Accused of Fondling Students in Exchange for Higher Grades

Empty Nest

It's only Mrs. Shomes, myself, and Thing One and Thing Two now. After a little over twenty-two years of living with us, Shermlock Jr. or "Bud" for short, has a full-ride fellowship for a PhD in Informatics down at Indiana University in Bloomington. Mrs. Shomes is going through heavy-duty 'Empty Nest Syndrome.' I'm feeling a bit sad myself but realize that Bud is off on a wonderful adventure. And he hasn't moved far so we'll still be seeing him often.

Such a lovely place. . .

I've spoken of the IUPUI Affirmative Action office's actions in addressing an employee's "racial harrasment" by reading "Notre Dame Vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan" during his break. The harm done to IUPUI's image should have resulted in some karmic retribution, right? The head of Affirmative Action, Lillian Charleston, retired early. And Marguerite Watkins, who said, "The Klan still rules Indiana. . ."? I just checked. She received a 3.5% raise instead of the recommended 4.5%, bringing her salary to $70,770. You'd think our KKK Overlords would have prevented even that, eh?

But they just can’t kill the beast. . .

A colleague sent me a link to a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, "American Politics Aren't 'Post-Racial'" written by Dorothy Rabinowitz. In part she addresses an incident that took place last fall here at IUPUI.The incident? One of our janitorial staff who was taking classes would read during his breaks. At the time he was reading, "Notre Dame Vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan." One of the other members of the janitorial staff took offense at this title. As Ms. Rabinowitz relates:

Mr. Sampson was in short order visited by his union representative, who informed him he must not bring this book to the break room, and that he could be fired. Taking the book to the campus, Mr. Sampson says he was told, was "like bringing pornography to work." That it was a history of the battle students waged against the Klan in the 1920s in no way impressed the union rep.

The assistant affirmative action officer who next summoned the student was similarly unimpressed. Indeed she was, Mr. Sampson says, irate at his explanation that he was, after all, reading a scholarly book. "The Klan still rules Indiana," Marguerite Watkins told him – didn't he know that? Mr. Sampson, by now dazed, pointed out that this book was carried in the university library. Yes, she retorted, you can get Klan propaganda in the library.

Mr. Sampson stood accused of "openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject in the presence of your Black co-workers." The statement, signed by chief affirmative action officer Lillian Charleston, asserted that her office had completed its investigation of the charges brought by Ms. Nakea William, his co-worker – that Mr. Sampson had continued, despite complaints, to read a book on this "inflammatory topic." "We conclude," the letter informed him, "that your conduct constitutes racial harassment. . . ." A very serious matter, with serious consequences, it went on to point out.

I suspect that many of the staff employees here at IUPUI would back down in the face of this official pronouncement, however unjust and unfounded the charges might be. Mr. Sampson did not and instead contacted the ACLU. And apparently someone contacted the press. This, at IUPUI, is the equivalent of shining a flashlight in a filthy kitchen; the cockroaches go scurrying. And they did scurry off and Mr. Sampson recevied a new letter:

. . . the new letter to Mr. Sampson by affirmative action officer Charleston brought word that she wished to clarify her previous letter, and to say it was "permissible for him to read scholarly books or other materials on break time." About the essential and only theme of the first letter – the "racially abhorrent" subject of the book – or the warnings that any "future substantiated conduct of a similar nature could mean serious disciplinary action" – there was not a word. She had meant in that first letter, she said, only to address "conduct" that caused concern among his co-workers.

IUPUI has received a huge load of negative publicity from this screw-up on the part of our Affirmative Action office. And the story can't seem to be killed as can be seen by its resurrection in the WSJ editorial. And what's the karmic outcome of all this? While the chief Affirmative Action officer Lillian Charleston announced her retirement soon after these events, we've yet to see what will happen with Marguerite Watkins. An average raise of 4.5% at IUPUI was to go into affect the new fiscal year starting July 1. Let's see how much Ms. Watkins' $68,377 salary increases.

Feelings. . . nothing more than feelings. . .

Today I had a cordial conversation over coffee with the IUPUI Vice Chancellor for Student Life & Dean of Students. It was a continuation of one begun in E-mail when we both served on the IUPUI ad hoc committee to review the recommendations of the Virginia governor’s task force on the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Our subcommittee was tasked with reviewing part VI-5 of those recommendations that in part said:

VI-5 The Virginia General Assembly should adopt legislation in the 2008 session clearly establishing the right of every institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to regulate the possession of firearms on campus if it so desires.

During the course of some of the E-mail discussion I'd written:

Dear Colleagues:

I'd like to address the comment:

"Do we want to support such an effort as VI-5 suggests? I also want to offer the idea of going one step further and recommending that Indiana Higher Education advocates that the law banning firearms in K-12 education settings be extended to colleges and universities. Any thoughts?"

The idea of inviting legislative meddling into the internal affairs of the University is for me troublesome. To this point I've been reluctant to call for legislative action to force IUPUI to adhere to the State Constitution and ALLOW members of the university community to defend themselves. But to get to the point: I disagree with the idea that the establishment of a 'gun-free zone' on the IUPUI campus will diminish or totally eliminate any firearms violence.

This notion is counter-intuitive in that it presupposes that those with criminal intent or sociopaths with homicidal tendencies carefully peruse laws, rules, and regulations and, when finding that firearms are disallowed, have an epiphany, turning their backs on violence.

History shows that regulations disallowing the possession of firearms are not sacrosanct. The following events occurred in 'gun-free zones' here in the United States:

Oct. 16, 1991, Killeen, TX -- 24 killed when a man drove his truck through a window of a Luby's Cafeteria and walked around the restaurant shooting people as they hid underneath their tables.

April 20, 1999, Littleton, CO -- 13 killed at Columbine High School.

Aug. 10, 1999, Granada Hills, CA -- five wounded when a white supremacist fires 70 rounds into a Jewish community and day-care center.

Oct. 2, 2006, Nickel Mines, PA -- five killed when a milk-truck driver entered an Amish schoolhouse, ordered all the boys to leave and began shooting the girls.

April 16, 2007, Blacksburg, VA -- 32 killed on the Virginia Tech campus.

Statistics show that contrary to popular belief, ALLOWING individuals to possess firearms reduces the number of people killed or wounded in public multiple-shootings. (See Chap. 6 of Dr. John R. Lott's book, The Bias Against Guns for extensive and detailed statistics).

Perhaps there is some thought that by making firearms less proximate, impulsive acts of firearms violence would be diminished. While this might be possible, the United States Secret Service Safe School Initiative Study (http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac_ssi.shtml) found that, ". . . school shootings are rarely impulsive acts. Rather, they are typically thought out and planned out in advance."

We should also remember that IUPUI is still by far a 'commuter campus' and not a residential campus. Some of the opposition to the possession of firearms on a campus, such as Harvard's College Alcohol Study, "Guns on Campus" (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/Documents/guns/) paints a colorful picture of an inebriated and irresponsible residential population that, with firearms proximate, are at greater risk of injury or are more prone to cause injury. Even if one accepts such notions, IUPUI does not fit this picture.

Despite all I've said above, I realistically cannot see IUPUI allowing the possession of legally licensed firearms on campus as has been done at universities like the University of Utah. It is a very emotional issue and one can imagine that the poison pill "hostile environment" would be used sooner or later. And one can imagine the Office of Risk Management having what my grandmother would call "conniptions" over the liability issues. What I would ask for is honesty in the support of a no fire-arms policy in that it would be done for the above reasons and not out of a notion that it would make the IUPUI campus safer.

I received a note of support from one of the committee members but the rest remained silent. Ultimately the Committee went ahead with the call for such legislation in Indiana as was called for in Virginia.

Today's chat with the Vice Chancellor revisited the subject of "hostile work environment" and how faculty have told her of their fear of students having firearms in the classroom. And while we know how unfounded such a fear is, it's still, in the environment of higher education, legitimate as all "feelings" are legitimate. That's what we have to work against. All our rational, logical arguments are for naught when feelings trump all.