HORIZON The - Indiana University Southeast

Week of Sept. 22, 2008 Opinions The Horizon • Page 5Secrecy benefits nobodyI’m not entirely surprisedour police blotterseems to be a hit, but it isinteresting to see how studentsare intrigued withwhich of their buddies aregetting busted week toweek, and why they’re gettingbusted.It hasn’t been easy gettingit in here, though.After our first publicationof the blotter this semester,our access to it was noticeablyrestricted.Some entries weremarked with a stamp inred ink that read “Confidential,”and names wereomitted from almost all ofthe reports after we publishedit the first time.That’s why the blotter inIssue 2 was much thinnerthan Issue 1’s.After we sent a letter tothe IUS Police requestingopen access and citingIndiana state laws thatshow blotters as publicrecord, they have beencooperative in showing usthe reports. You’ll noticeour blotter is longer thisweek than it has been allsemester.I can’t really blame thepolice, though. It seemslike there’s still pressurefrom the school’s administrativeoffices keepingLettersDear Editors:I am very disappointed inthe manner IU Southeastrecently handled the naturaldisaster which hit our area.I would like to be able towrite that I am shocked that IUSoutheast remained openedwhile the majority of its studentswere out of electricity,the roads to the school wereblocked, and Floyd county wasunder a State of Emergency,but after attending IU Southeastfor many years, I havecome to learn that the universityhas a great disregard fortheir students’ safety.There have been a numberof times, in the past, when ourJerodClappsome departments fromcompletely disclosinginformation to The Horizon.Of course, this hasn’tbeen theonly timewe’vebeendeniedinformation.We’restill onlyallowedSenior Editor to getjlclapp@ius.eduinformationfromthe heads of some departmentson campus.Although they’re perfectlyqualified individuals, theycan’t always offer the kindof perspective that a goodnews story is supposed tohave.It’s been a difficultprecedent for us to overcomeas reporters. We’resupposed to keep our audienceinformed with what’shappening around them.It’s even more importantnow that we have peopleliving here.If anyone’s worriedabout looking bad, withholdinginformation looksworse than a willingness todisclose. Showing studentsget arrested for drinkingdoesn’t make the schoolregion has been under a stateof emergency and IU Southeasthas remained open, ignoringthe danger in which theyplace their students and thosein the community.Classes should have beencancelled on Monday. Our officialsdo not lightly issue a stateof emergency, and I don’tunderstand why IU Southeastis so flippant about such a seriousdirective.When school is not cancelledand the decision is leftup to the student, the studenttakes the risk of missing importantclass information, losingattendance points, and losingparticipation points, just toname a few consequences.look lax in its policies, itshows they take underagedrinking seriously.Speaking of confidential,we still don’t havemost of the names of whoreported the crimes in thisissue, or who was arrested.On reports involving theresidence halls, the reportsonly list “CA” rather thanthe name of the communityadvisers who report thecrimes. We’re not in thebusiness of pointing fingers,but people should beheld accountable for theiractions.I can’t see why thenames of communityadvisers have been omittedfrom the reports.Everyone living in the residencehalls knows communityadvisers areresponsible for reportingany illegal activity. Theyget free room and boardand are paid to keep studentssafe, which includesratting on them when theydecide to have a kegger.There was also a countof battery listed in lastweek’s blotter, but it wasmarked with a confidentialstamp. We don’t knowwhere it happened, whowas involved, or what kindof action was taken.Students need to knowwhat police do about suchincidents. How are studentsbeing protected?What measures are thepolice taking to keep thesethings from happening?Were these students whowere involved, or was itsomeone who doesn’t go tothis campus?Keeping students awareof any kind of suspiciousactivity can help to keepthem safe. When they havean idea of what to watchout for, they’re alreadyThese points might soundminor to some, but for the studentwho wants a great educationand wants to earn a goodgrade, these small items canadd up.IU Southeast has professedthat they “care” about their studentsand the community, butthis is a situation in whichactions speak louder thanwords.If an institution doesn’tclose when the majority of thestudents are out of power andare in dangerous traveling situations,it is showing it doesn’tcare about the students. Whenan institution doesn’t closewhen the county in which theyare located is under a state of‘[CommunityAdvisers] getfree room andboard and arepaid to keepstudents safe,which includesratting on themwhen theydecide to have akegger.’safer than they would be ifinformation were keptfrom them.As for us, our gripe isn’tthat we don’t have accessto any and all informationwhenever we ask for it,although that would benice. It’s that importantinformation is being withheldfrom students. Afterall, we are the ones whopay tuition and expect tobe served in return.Keeping importantinformation from us is adisservice.Universities are supposedto put students first,because they wouldn’texist without us. Keepinginformation from studentsshows how we’re second inline to the university’s ownself-image.Closing points of accessto information doesn’tmake students lose interest,it generates ideas ofdistrust and secrecy.This is a public institution,and what happenshere should be open to allof us.IUS doesn’t care about its students’ safetyemergency, it is showing itdoesn’t care about the community.The message, plain andsimple, is IU Southeast doesn’tcare about its students or itscommunity. I am not lookingforward to being a student atIU Southeast this winter.If the past is any indicator,we can all expect the doors toremain open regardless of theweather conditions. This hasbeen the case during previouswinters and during this mostrecent weather experience.What will it take for IU Southeastto care about its studentsand community?— Jennifer E. MayfieldChicago Cubs: It’sgonna happenFor as long as I can remember,I have been a fan of theChicago Cubs.They have supplied mewith uncountable heartbreakingmoments since the late’80s.My first vivid memories ofthe Cubs are from the 1989season, of ateam thatincludedGreg Maddux,AndreDawsonEricMcGuffinSports Editordemcguff@ius.eduand RyneSandberg,just to namea few.It is fittingthat myfirst memoriesof this cursed franchiseare of an extremely talentedteam that could not close thedeal. The 1989 Chicago Cubslost the National LeagueChampionship Series to theSan Francisco Giants, 4-1.Well, it’s almost 20 yearslater and the Cubbies havecontinued to break my heart,but this year, the 100 yearanniversary of the Cubs’ lastWorld Series victory, is theyear the Cubs break the Curseof the Billy Goat and return tothe World Series.This year’s edition of theChicago Cubs is built for postseasonsuccess.They have a deep and talentedstarting pitching rotation,including a trio of acesthat no team should want toface in a five or seven gameseries, a solid bullpen and oneof the best lineups in baseball.In addition, the Cubs areclearly the class of the NationalLeague, being seven gamesahead of the PhiladelphiaPhillies in the race for the bestrecord in the NL with 11games left to play.There is no team thatshould not fear the Cubs’starting pitching if they wereto have to face it in an Octoberseries.The first three pitchers inthe Cubbie rotation, CarlosZambrano, Ryan Dempsterand Rich Harden have a combined35 wins against only 12losses and 442 strikeouts.Harden was not a member ofthe Cubs until July when hewas acquired from the OaklandAthletics.History tells us teams withthis kind of starting pitchingare extremely tough to beat inOctober.If the starting pitching forthe Cubs is having an offnight, manager Lou Pinellahas plenty of arms in his arsenalwith one of the strongestbullpens in Major LeagueBaseball.Jeff Samardzija, CarlosMarmol and Kerry Wood havebeen very effective in the lateinnings, often coming on andclosing the door on opposingoffenses.Samardzija made his majorleague debut on July 25 andhas been lights out everysince. A fastball that reachesthe high nineties and animproving assortment ofbreaking pitches has helpedSamardzija to a solid 2.25earned run average and 21strikeouts in only 24 inningsof work.Marmol, the set-up man forKerry Wood, is arguably thenastiest of the Cubs’ reliefpitchers, looking unhittable attimes.Marmol was named to theNational League All-StarTeam for the first time in hiscareer this season and hasstruck out 113 batters in 84.1innings this season.He has one of the lowestERAs in the Cubs’ bullpen at2.67.The oft-injured Wood is notthe pitcher he once was, but hehas embraced the closer roleand has been very effective.He is tied for fourth place inthe NL with 31 saves in 31chances.Although Wood does nothave the same stuff he didwhen he struck out 20 battersin a game as a rookie, I ammore than comfortable whenPinella hands him the ball inthe ninth inning.I would argue there is not amore solid line-up top to bottomin baseball than that ofthe Cubs.The Cubs are near the topof the National League in allmajor statistical categoriesand have four players, AramisRamirez, Derek Lee, GeovanySoto and Mark DeRosa, intheir line-up with over 80 runsbatted in.This list does not includethe most dangerous lead-offman in baseball, Alfonso Soriano,who has 29 homerunsand 72 RBIs.The Cubs have receivedtimely hitting all season longand Ramirez had emerged asone of the best clutch hitters inthe game.All of the reasons listedabove are reason enough tounderstand the slogan for thisteam has been “It’s GonnaHappen,” but there has been adifferent feel to this seasonthan in any I can remember.In the past, once one thinggoes wrong with the Cubs,things seem to spiral out ofcontrol, but that has not beenthe case this year. Just recentlythe people were starting towrite the Cubs off after theylost eight of nine games, butunlike the Cubbies of pastyears, they bounced back,winning five of their next sixgames.Thursday’s game was agood microcosm for this season.The Cubs trailed theBrewers 6-2 heading into theninth inning. Soto tied thegame with a three-run homerunwith two outs in the bottomof the ninth inning andthe Cubs went on to win whenDerek Lee hit an RBI single inthe bottom of the twelfthinning.They refused to say die, justas they have all season.Only time will tell if this isthe year the Cubs return to theWorld Series, but if they don’tdo it this year, it may neverhappen.I’ll bet I’m not the first personto say that.There are 293 ways to make change for a U.S. dollar.