This is only a test. Except when it isn't.

On Friday afternoon, IUB officials tested the new emergency alert system, in which all members of the IU community (faculty, staff, students) get contacted in the event of, well, an emergency. These systema re being put into place on campuses all over the country, in large part as a response to the terrible shootings at Virgina Tech in April 2007. At IU, the tests went smoothly. I got two phone messages and an email; anyone who had submitted a cell phone number got a text message. Kudos to IU, for installing this precautionary system and for successfully implementing it.

And for using it, early Saturday morning.

You cannot buy this kind of publicity

IU is still red hot on the east coast. See?

Send this link to your kids!

It's an MSNBC story about how college students can avoid crippling debt and learn some good financial management habits.

It's 8 a.m. Do you know where your classes are?

Being morning people, we never quite understood the objection to 8 a.m. classes. We say: It's time for IU students to wake up and smell the Starbucks.

The Kelvin Sampson situation

Sure IU beat Purdue the other night, and yes we want a winning men's basketball team. A group of five students in the stands held up placards during the game that listed some of Bob Knight's infractions; the last one read: "Who cares about phone calls?"

We do. Pat Forde at ESPN.con has is a good analysis of the situation. Money quote:

...the it's-just-phone-calls crowd is missing a central point.
Read this paragraph from the NCAA Committee on Infractions report on Oklahoma in 2006, when Sampson and his staff were slammed for making 577 impermissible
calls:

"The committee has consistently heard that the key to successful
recruiting is being able to develop relationships with prospects and their families. The obvious purpose of these violations was to be the first institution to make recruiting contact with prospects and then to build on the relationship by having multiple impermissible contacts with the prospects in the very important early stages of their recruitment. These calculated violations created a significant recruiting advantage over institutions abiding by the telephone contact limitations."

Sampson then went out and allegedly attempted to create the same recruiting advantage at Indiana. While on probation.

Read the whole thing.

A.J. leaves IU basketball team

From all the news reports, it looks like AJ Ratliff (a former Indiana Mr. Basketball) is undergoing a personal crisis of sorts. Not unusual, in a college senior, but not fun to go through and certainly not when there is a lot of public scrutiny of your motives. We say: Good luck to A.J. We hope you get everything figured out and get your life onto the path that will make you happy.

Boys are the new girls

As we have maintained for some time now, education systems now serve the interests of girls at the expense of boys. What a 180 from 30 years ago. Read more.

Boys

IU shoots up in the rankings

Go Big Red.

Kiplinger's released their new list of the best values in public education, and IU rose a whopping 21 places from last year. Read the whole thing.