Going up at Purdue: A Day of Giving’s $110M haul; ‘Envious Composure’ along Mitch Daniels Blvd.
Purdue cranks up the Day of Giving volume to $110M. Campus’ latest sculpture is set in place. Early voting expands in West Lafayette City Council race.
Thanks for sponsorship help today from The Lafayette Master Chorale, presenting Joseph Haydn's "The Creation," 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at St. Mary Cathedral, 1207 Columbia St., Lafayette. Join us for the 225th anniversary of Haydn’s epic choral masterpiece depicting the creation of the world. Performed here last in 2000, this work is distinctly programmatic, with chorus and symphony reflecting one of the most enduring stories ever written. Tickets at lafayettemasterchorale.org.
Thanks also for support today from The Arts Federation. Drink beer and support the arts on Saturday, April 29, on top of the Tippecanoe County Parking Garage. Featuring incredible views of downtown Lafayette, attendees will sample beer, wine and cider all made in Indiana. Tickets available at https://theartsfederation.org/taptix/.
PURDUE’S DAY OF GIVING HAUL: $110.8 MILLION
Purdue’s figured out this 24-hour Day of Giving thing.
Fueled by several major gifts, the total from midnight-to-midnight Wednesday was a whopping $110.8 million, from 27,855 donors of all sizes. Consider that the Day of Giving concept started in 2014 with $7.5 million – then celebrated and defined with words like “whopping” – and corralled $68.2 million in 2022, a high mark for Purdue. In total, across 10 of these events, Purdue Day of Giving has pulled int $420.5 million, according to university figures.
“Thank you all for your extraordinary support that made this Purdue Day of Giving a truly historic one,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said in a release Thursday morning, after final tallies were posted just after midnight. The day featured Chiang participating in a run around campus with staff and students, along with a cookout at the president’s home, Westwood, for faculty and staff chosen through a campus lottery, all happening instead of formal ceremonies to mark the start of his presidency since the start of 2013.
Among the big gifts in the mix Wednesday: $17 million from Jeannie and Jim Chaney to support scholarships in the College of Pharmacy; $10 million from William and Barbara Rakosnik in support of the School of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Psychological Sciences and University Residences; and $1.2 million from Walter Gautschi for PhD student support in computational mathematics.
Here's a closer look at the leaderboard to see what schools, departments and campus organizations generated for the Day of Giving: dayofgiving.purdue.edu/leaderboards.
‘ENVIOUS COMPOSURE’ INSTALLED AT PURDUE
As Purdue was starting to rack up the first tens of millions of dollars in its Day of Giving Wednesday morning, Arne Flaten was giving crews with a crane hand signals – a little more this way/a little more that way-style – as the university’s latest, large-scale sculpture was lowered and rotated into place outside First Street Suites residence halls.
“That looks right,” Flaten, head of the Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance, hollered to two guys adjusting “Envious Composure” by artist Albert Paley not long after sunup Wednesday along Mitch Daniels Boulevard.
The installation wasn’t actually part of the Day of Giving. The delivery just happened to fall that way, Erika Kvam, director of Purdue Galleries, said.
Flaten said Purdue picked the 18-foot fabricated steel piece, with a painted finish, from Paley’s Rochester, New York, studio in 2019, as a Lonsford Committee selection for campus. (The Lonsford Collection includes major pieces across the West Lafayette campus, acquired through an endowment from 1936 Purdue graduate Florence H. Lonsford.)
Flaten said installation of “Envious Composure” was supposed to be in 2020. But that was delayed by the COVID-19 shutdown and all that followed.
Flaten said he and others on the Lonsford Committee had been hoping to work at some point with Paley, who he called “an artist who is among the most important monumental sculptors in the past half-century.”
The initial idea, Flaten said, was to commission a piece from Paley for one of the gateways to campus. He said that a visit to Paley’s studio included an up-close introduction to “Envious Composure.”
The sculpture had been a signature piece among 13 for a 2013 exhibition in New York City, called Paley on Park Avenue. It also spent time with the Dogwood Public Art Exhibition in Knoxville, Tennessee, and a yearlong exhibit in Boynton Beach, Florida.
“That was the one,” Flaten said.
The cost: Roughly $288,000, Flaten said. The acquisition includes Paley’s maquettes used as he made the sculpture.
Purdue will build a small, plaza-like space surrounding the sculpture outside First Street Suites, with a formal ribbon-cutting and campus visit from Paley in September.
EARLY VOTING CONTINUES IN WEST LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL RACE
Early voting in West Lafayette will pick up a second location, starting Thursday afternoon at West Lafayette City Hall. Voting continues, too, at the Tippecanoe County Office Building in downtown Lafayette.
Here’s a look at the stakes.
About the May 2 primary: The lone contested race includes incumbent West Lafayette City Council members James Blanco, David Sanders and Gerald Thomas, along with Iris O’Donnell Bellisario. Because the four candidates are running for citywide, at-large seats on the West Lafayette City Council, residents across the city who pull Democratic ballots may vote. Because there are no contested Democratic or Republican races in Lafayette, voters there will have no primary.
Meet the candidates: Here’s a Q&A, along with bios, on the four candidates.
Where to vote ahead of May 2:
Thursday, April 27, and Friday, April 28: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette; Noon-6 p.m., West Lafayette City Hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave.
Saturday, April 29: noon-4 p.m., West Lafayette City Hall and Tippecanoe County Office Building.
Monday, May 1: 8 a.m.-noon, Tippecanoe County Office Building.
Election Day voting: Polls will be open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, at these sites in West Lafayette:
Purdue Black Cultural Center, 1100 Third St.
West Lafayette Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road
Faith West Community Center, 1920 Northwestern Ave.
West Lafayette City Hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave.
Connection Point Church, 2541 Cumberland Ave.
Check your voter registration status: Go to the Secretary of State’s portal at www.indianavoters.com.
On ballots, so far: Here are the candidates who filed by February deadline in Lafayette and West Lafayette municipal elections. (Incumbents are marked with an asterisk.) Parties will have time after the primary to slate candidates for open slots. Same goes for independent candidates.
West Lafayette
Mayor: Erin Easter, D.
Clerk: Sana Booker*, D.
Council District 1: Aaron Abell, R.
Council District 2: Michelle Dennis, D.
Council District 3: None
Council District 4: Larry Leverenz*, D.
Council District 5: Kathy Parker*, D; James Waters, R.
Council District 6: Jeff Brown*, R; Stacey Baitinger Burr, D.
Council at-large (3): James Blanco*, D; Iris O’Donnell Bellisario, D; David Sanders*, D; Gerald Thomas*, D.
Lafayette
Mayor: Tony Roswarski*, D; Benji Milanowski, Libertarian
Clerk: Cindy Murray*, D.
Council District 1: Jerry Reynolds*, R.
Council District 2: Eileen Hession Weiss*, D; Mary Fisher, R.
Council District 3: Perry Brown*, D.
Council District 4: Lauren Ahlersmeyer*, D; Josiah Eller, Libertarian
Council District 5: Melissa Weast Williamson*, D.
Council District 6: Bob Downing*, D; Perry Barbee, R
Council at-large (3): Kevin Klinker*, D; Nancy Nargi*, D; Steve Snyder*, D.
OTHER READS …
Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith broke down how a new, two-year Indiana budget, lining up for passage Wednesday, lines up for education spending, including a “voucher buildout that ‘school choice’ advocates say makes the program virtually universal.” The new budget would raise the income ceiling to 400% of the amount required for a student to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program, equal to about $220,000. Smith has the details here: “Indiana nears universal ‘school choice’ in new budget. Critics say other K-12s miss out.”
Casey Smith also had this in the Indiana Capital Chronicle about Senate Bill 486, which no longer requires school administrators to discuss topics like class sizes, curriculum and student discipline with teachers and their union. Teacher unions have been pressing Gov. Eric Holcomb to veto the bill, after it made it through the Indiana Senate on a 27-23 vote. (Locally: Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican, voted no. Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, voted yes.) Here’s the story: “‘Union busting’ bill opposed by Indiana teachers heads to governor’s desk.”
The new player entrance at Ross-Ade Stadium, now under construction at the northeast corner, will be called Tiller Tunnel, named for former Purdue football coach Joe Tiiler, the university announced this week. Gold and Black reporter Tom Dienhart had this, including a conversation with Arnette Tiller, the late coach’s wife: “Tiller Tunnel ensures former Purdue coach's legacy: 'He never felt it was about him.’”
WFYI reporter Rebecca Thiele had this in the wake of a fire that forced the evacuation of Richmond neighborhoods, with the property owner – who didn’t heed city warnings about dangerous conditions – facing repercussions as residents take stock of the fallout from the toxic situation: “Richmond plastics recycler faces class action lawsuit for fire.”
Thanks for sponsorship help today from the Lafayette Master Chorale, presenting Joseph Haydn's "The Creation," 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at St. Mary Cathedral; and The Arts Federation, presenting Tap for TAF in downtown Lafayette on Saturday, April 29.
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Spencer Deery was endorsed by local pragmatic Republicans Ron Alting and John Dennis, and has voted to support every far-right bill that's being passed by the legislature. No surprise that gerrymandering got us a far-right culture-war panderer, but disappointing as hell to go from being represented by Alting to being represented by a guy so extreme.
"The new budget would raise the income ceiling to 400% of the amount required for a student to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program, equal to about $220,000." Screw you, public schools - we want to subsidize rich people say Republican politicians. Nice.