Good news

Football Coach Terry Hoeppner got a clean bill of health and has re-joined his Hoosiers. And not a moment too soon - the team was 2-0, then went 0-2 while the coach was out recuperating from brain surgery.

Wonders never cease...

The ids (Indiana Daily Student) came out in favor of a tuition increase announced by the provost last week. Do you agree???

Or do you agree with the US secretary of education that: ‘higher education has become … at times self-satisfied and unduly expensive.’ ? Read more.

Don't worry - it's a separate budget

Athletics is proposing to spend $55 million to add and upgrade some of the sports facilities on campus. The budget for Athletics is mostly separate from the budget for the rest of the institution. What do you think? Is it worth it to spend this amount on sports facilities?

Hey - good news - one of the presenters at the IU Trustees meeting was football coach Terry Hoeppner, a week removed from surgery on his brain. Hep says he is doing well and plans to re-join his Hoosier team by Sunday. Welcome back, Coach!

Don't say you weren't warned

Most freshmen don't know this, but IU has an advising center for students who plan to go to medical school or law school. Here's word from the director: The first year in professional school is supposed to be difficult and intimidating. Read the whole thing.

The Health Professions and Pre-Law Center is a great resource - tell your kids about it!

Further proof

Youth really is wasted on the young. In case you were not already jealous enough of your college-age offspring, this online newsletter may do the trick. Live at IU boasts that it offers "A varietal feast of arts, entertainment, and other offerings."

Another newsletter, Active for Life, keeps you up on all the health and fitness-related news and activities at IU.

Teach your children well

Normally we would urge parents of college students not to hover around, but to let your children off their leashes a bit more than many of us are accustomed to these days. However, today is not a normal day - Elvira's cousin lost a son in a traffic accident on Thursday; the son was just 21 years old. And there is another report of students being shot, this time at Duquesne in Pennsylvania. That's the second campus shooting this month; never mind all the reports of shootings and real plans for real violence and mayhem at high schools around the country. There was even a high school student here in Bloomington who was arrested the other day and charged with bringing a gun to school.

We just called our kids to tell them we love them, and to remind them to drive very carefully all the time.

Since we're all concerned about safety, we'll admit that we've gotten some complaints from students about long waits for the campus escort service. This is a volunteer, student-run service that provides a ride home or a walking escort for anyone who does not feel comfortable walking back to the dorm alone at night. However, they do get over-booked and they can take a long time to show up - remind your kids this is not an emergency service! In an emergency, tell your kids to call 9-1-1, even from a cell phone.

Do you know why most public phones have big stickers that say EMERGENCY 9-1-1 in bold red letters? Because in an emergency people have been known to forget the number. They will even say, "I can't remember the number for 9-1-1." At least that's what they told us during IU's emergency training.

Get well soon, Coach Hep!

IU's popular football coach, Terry Hoeppner, is having surgery tomorrow. Hoeppner's Hoosier team is 2-0 this season. Coach Hep has been a team player and a terrific IU booster since his arrival in Bloomington not so very long ago. We wish him a speedy return to health and to the sidelines.

Meet the parents

Greetings. Our names are Elvis and Elvira; we are both parents of current IU students; we are also employees of IU and both of us have other connections to the institution as well. We will share posting and moderating duties for this blog, so sometimes you'll get Elvis's point of view and at other times Elvira will weigh in. If we disagree, you might get both of us.

So... welcome. If you've never read or used a blog before, the purpose is to share ideas, information and concerns. You are invited to send us your questions, your comments, your criticism... heck - your praise, if you have any. While we have the blessing of the powers that be to offer this forum and while we plan to moderate contributions for offensive language (which we define as anything that would get you a warning from the chair umpire in a USTA-sanctioned tennis match), this is YOUR forum. Or "forum and against 'em" as we used to say back in journalism school.

To get the conversation started we'll pose a couple of questions to you, with a nod to former New York City Mayor Ed Koch:

• How are we doing?
• Are your kids OK at IU?
• Did move-in and Welcome Week go smoothly?
• How about the first week of classes?
• In other words, how are we doing?