Bits & Bytes

• Defending the tragic with the absurd--In a letter to the editor in the Bloomington Herald-Times, Sierra Club activist Julie Grinstead responded to Congressman John Hostettler's note of how nine people died as a result of a failure to repair a levee because it was potential habitat for an endangered beetle. Grinstead stated that "despite what our highly evolved brains would have us believe, all life is connected in a web and we are all unique and vital parts of the web, from the lowly beetle to the lofty congressman."
• Hypocricy in the "diversity" offices--In recent issues of the Indiana Daily Student, students and faculty alike have decried the harrassment of Professor Lee, a History Deprtment faculty member subjected to alleged racial and sexual harassment. Meanwhile, the Animal Defense League has been busy putting up "wanted poster" style flyers against Psychology professors Preston Garraghty and George Rebec. Where are the concerned parties in this clear-cut case of students harassing professors?
• Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks,...Alfred Kinsey?!--In addressing a crowd of faculty, students, and parents on the March 1 Founders Day celebration, IU-Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth Gros-Louis honored Kinsey (founder of the Kinsey Institute) along with Lincoln, Parks, and distinguished IU faculty, for his "important research in the face of tremendous pressure and even hatred from [his detractors]." Sadly, it seems Mr. Gros-Louis considers sexual experimentation on children equally commendable with the heroic endeavors of the civil rights movement.
• Seth Stevens: professional liar--In the February 24 IDS, Animal Defense League extremist Seth Stevens is quoted on the front page as saying animal research is not transferrable to humans 90% of the time. On page 3, there is an AP story on how hog intestines can be used to repair human injuries.