War Changes Student Involvement In Past Years

In a lecture hall with over 200 students, Le Anh Long brings up the topic of the Iraq War to her Y100 class. Immediately, students raise their hand to express their thoughts. A debate breaks out among the students as Long tries to moderate.

“Heated debates seem to just come with the territory in Political Science classes, especially on topics like the war,” said Drew Litherland, a sophomore majoring in Political Science. With the presidential primaries nearing, along with the Iraq War progressing towards its fifth year, students at Indiana University are becoming more politically aware.

Karen Rasler, a Professor of Political Science and author of three books on international conflict, has seen this increase in awareness in many of her classes. Rasler noted that before the Iraq War, students came into the class with neutral opinions and formed their stances as they learned more in class. Today, Rasler said, students often come into class with fully developed stances and opinions on many issues.

Long, a recent graduate student and now a professor at Indiana University, has seen the same increase in engagement among students. As Long was finishing her graduate degree, the Clinton/Lewinski scandal had just occurred. Students often discussed the issue in class, but Long felt that there was no real activity among the student body. As a teacher during the Iraq War, Long has seen quite the opposite. Long said that students are now becoming active in local and national politics in an attempt to change the situation with the war. She credited this to the fact that students are in the demographic most greatly affected by the Iraq War. “People are dying,” Long said, “and those people are the student’s peers.”

Rasler also commented on the change of opinion among students in the past years. In the first year of the war, most classes had a supportive view on the administration’s actions towards the war. As the war entered its second year, however, “There was more willingness to talk about the administration in a negative sense,” Rasler said.

“The conduct of the war has been handled poorly,” Rasler said. According to Rasler, students share this point of view.

Long has seen a similar decline. After the September 11th attacks, Long said students and most Americans “rallied among the flag” and supported the U.S.’s decision to go to war. Long continued to say that as time passed and Saddam Hussein’s control was isolated, Americans saw there was still much to do. It was at this time, Long said, that students began to feel “married to the war,” and their opinions changed. Long also stated that the “d-word” hasn’t helped either. “Draft is a scary word among students,” Long said.

One positive change Long noted has been the increase in Muslim engagement on campus. The Muslim Student Union, Long said, has begun reaching out to help the community and educate others of their culture to lobby against the sudden increase in the religion’s negative public exposure. Long said that, “people suddenly cared, but not in a good way.” The Muslim Student Union recently held a “Fast-a-Thon” to encourage solidarity among Muslims and non-Muslims while raising money for the Bloomington Community Kitchen.

Russ Gault, a sophomore majoring in Business, is focusing on listening to the presidential debates and deciding which issues are most important to him, including the Iraq War. “I wanted to see President Bush make his move out of Iraq in his second term, but he’s let me down. Hopefully the next president can do what he couldn’t. I don’t know a timeframe, but I definitely want to see an exit strategy from the political candidate I vote for” Gault said.

(Major Assignment 1, J200) 

“Drunk Bus” Driver Keeps Students Safe

On a Thursday at 11 p.m., Robert S. Schmidt begins his south route for the Bloomington Shuttle Service. Tonight, his route will not be taking passengers to and from the airport.

“It’s pretty dead for the first two hours,” he says, as he takes his second loop through his route on the Midnight Special only stopping at the designated sign on Third and Jordan, waiting for a passenger to appear magically from the empty street.

As Schmidt enters his fourth trip on Third Street, students down the road begin waving their hands frantically. “Yes!” one student says as the door opens. The first riders of the night enter the bus, and the smell of alcohol comes rushing in with them. “Where ya goin?” Schmidt asks. After getting his destination, the doors close and Schmitt is back on his route. As the bus nears Kilroy’s Bar on Kirkwood, the students head to the front of the bus. “You guys are awesome,” says a student as he puts money in the cheese puff container now turned into a tip jar. Schmidt cracks a smile and wishes the riders a good night as they exit.

Schmidt is part of a joint effort between Indiana University and Bloomington Shuttle Service to battle drunk driving on the IU campus. Four shuttles, each known as The Midnight Special, run every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11 p.m. until 4 a.m., picking up students for free.

From 11 p.m. until 1 a.m., the buses run on separate, fixed routes spanning the entire campus. After 1 a.m., the buses stop following a specific route and instead take students anywhere they want to go within city limits.

“Oh my god, we hit everywhere. Anywhere and everywhere,” says Schmidt.

It is 12:45 a.m. and he has gone through his loop five times. As he enters the circle drive of the IU Auditorium, Schmidt parks the bus and takes his only break of the evening. He heads inside for a bathroom break and then has two cigarettes. Sitting in the bus with the lights off, he waits until 1 a.m. to pop a Commit lozenge in his mouth and start the bus back up.

At the Third and Jordan stop, riders wave their hands as the shuttle comes close. A group of students jump on the bus, and the same smell of alcohol from before saturates the air. “You learn to keep the window down. No matter how cold it gets, that window stays down,” Schmidt says as he heads downtown.

On a sharp turn, one of the students falls out of his seat. “I think this seat is broken,” he says as he sluggishly gets up and chooses another. The seat hangs on one hinge like a teeter-totter as Schmidt looks back. “The war is just beginning for the night,” he says. Dropping off the students at Kirkwood, the bus is once again empty. As the bus begins to take off, two female students come running out of Jimmy John’s, arms flailing. The door opens and the students get on. Before the door can shut, a hand blocks the door and a large group of students get on.

Destinations include: The Bluebird, Rockets, Kilroy’s Sports Bar, McNutt dormitory, and a house on Second and Washington.

The bus travels down Dunn St. and passes the front of Kilroy’s Sports Bar. A worried rider screams “SPORTS! SPORTS!” and Schmidt continues down the road. “I know, I know, I got a different route,” he says as he drives down a back road and takes a sharp right turn towards the side entrance of the bar. As the bus swings into the alleyway, the riders all scream and throw their hands up as they bounce into each other like thrill seekers on a roller coaster. The bus clears out at Kilroy’s Sports Bar and Schmidt continues to the next destination.

In an intersection, Schmidt a car blocks Schmidt’s path and he is forced to stop in the middle of the turn. “Here we go again,” he says as the car backs up after realizing it is in the way. With room to turn, the bus takes off again.

“People see the front of this bus and think it’s like any other truck. It’s not. We’re just like the big buses and we need room to turn. Just about every intersection, I have to stop and wait for cars to get out of the way,” Schmidt says.

According to Schmidt, that’s not the only annoyance of driving the Midnight Special. Every night, Schmidt expects at least one fight and one person throwing up. “If you don’t get any more than that, you’ve had a good night,” says Schmidt. Fighters get thrown off the bus immediately and as for people throwing up, “Let us know in advance,” he says. “It may be the drunk bus, but we don’t like to clean that up.”

The bus stops to pick up students in front of Forest dormitory, this time going to a fraternity on North Jordan. As the female students get on the bus, one unlucky soul chooses the broken seat. Immediately, the seat teters and the girl’s mouth drops. “I didn’t do it,” she says. “She’s a heavy girl, but we love her anyway,” her friend jokes. Another offers to let Schmidt borrow her super glue to fix the chair. The smell of perfume mixes with the familiar smell of alcohol and the girls giggle as one of them makes pig-snorting noises. The bus reaches their destination, and empties.

“When you pick up freshmen at the dorms, you never know where they’re goin,” says Schmidt. “Some say the frats, others ask to go to Kirkwood. Now what could they be doing at Kirkwood?” He makes a motion with his hands imitating holding a fake ID and smiles. “But I’m not the police, it’s not my business.”

The night progresses in much the same manner. Riders continue to fall in the broken seat after being warned. “You should fix that seat, its bad news,” one student offers. Complaints are almost guaranteed as Schmidt passes Kilroy’s Sports Bar to take the back way. The phrase “thank you” almost loses it’s meaning as it is repeated time after time.

“It’s like fun to me,” Schmidt says. Though the route ends at 4 a.m., Schmidt will not be going home for another two hours. After the last riders are dropped off, he will have to clean the bus entirely and refuel it for the airport shuttle service in the morning. “You’re pretty dead,” Schmidt says, “but some of us actually enjoy it.”

With the late hours of the route, Schmidt says having a family is tough. “No way in hell I could make it with a family. Most drivers have families, but I couldn’t do it,” he says. A recent diesel technology graduate from Vincennes University, Schmidt has been driving the Midnight Special for almost two years.

“This is what we do to try to help you guys out,” Schmidt says. “I have a certain pride in my work. Keeping you safe, keeping you from getting locked up. That’s a sense of pride people don’t realize.”

(Major Assignment 2, J200) 

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