Indiana
Bill to expand Indiana college credit and degree options heads to governor's desk • Indiana Capital Chronicle
On its way to the Indiana governor is a broad higher education bill that seeks to make college credits and degrees easier for students to earn.
Senate Bill 8, authored by Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, will require Indiana College Core courses to be more accessible to high schoolers across the state.
It also compels Hoosier colleges and universities, except Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University, to offer three-year degree programs by July 2025.
The final version of the bill advanced unanimously from both the House and Senate chambers on Thursday.
Not included in the legislation, however, is a since-deleted provision to allow Indiana’s attorney general to sue state higher education institutions that fail to report any contracts of value with or gifts from foreign “sources” located in foreign adversaries, like China, Iran, North Korea or Russia. That language was moved to another bill.
Another requirement for the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) to offer all College Core courses online by 2027 was also removed in backdoor negotiations. Instead, the final draft of the bill softened the ask, allowing the state education department to partner with at least one higher education institution to provide online access to those courses by 2025.
The Indiana College Core, a block of 30 general education credits that can be transferred to and accepted at colleges across the state, is one way for students to seamlessly transfer. Through dual credit, roughly 1,800 high schoolers currently earn the Indiana College Core annually.
All Indiana high schools — public and private — are expected to offer the College Core by the 2024-2025 academic year, or submit a report to the Commission for Higher Education (CHE) by Oct. 1 of this year detailing a plan to do so by the 2026-2027 school year.
Any schools that do not plan to offer the College Core will be required to submit a feasibility report to the commission, though it’s not yet clear what details CHE will request in that report.
Among other provisions in the bill is also the establishment of a statewide reverse transfer policy for Ivy Tech and Vincennes to award associate degrees to eligible current and former students.
Reverse transfer is a relatively recent but increasingly popular policy that gives students a second chance to earn their first college degree.
The process sees associate degrees awarded to students who transfer from a two-year to a four-year institution prior to completing their associate degree requirements at the two-year institution. Students are able to combine the credits they earn at their four-year school with those they’d previously earned at community college or through dual credit and retroactively be awarded a degree by the two-year college.
Republican lawmakers previously pointed to thousands of community college students who transfer each year to four-year colleges before finishing their associate degree. But many of those students ultimately drop out of college — degree-less and with debt.
To help more Hoosier students earn credentials — and inch the state closer to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s goal of having at least 60% of adult Hoosiers with a quality degree or credential beyond high school by 2025 — Senate Bill 8 mandates reverse transfer.
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Women of 250 honors women past, present and future, including C.J. Walker
This video spotlights the initiative and includes a look at Madam C.J. Walker’s enduring influence while encouraging viewers to nominate women who have made a difference today.
As dozens of people and music filled Indiana Avenue, Sampson Levingston gestured to the scene around him as evidence of a return to the area’s history as a hub of Black life and music.
“This is what Indiana Avenue is supposed to be. Black people having a good time on a Saturday in the summer,” Levingston said. “That’s our history. That’s our story.”
The fifth annual Legacy Fest, organized by the Madam Walker Legacy Center, honored that story on June 19 and 20. A block party with food trucks, vendors selling one-of-a-kind jeweled hats and patchwork denim, jewelry, and live musical performances capped off the Juneteenth weekend. The day before, Grammy-winning producer Teddy Riley performed in the Walker Theatre.
The block circles the Walker Building, a triangular African Art Deco theater topped with a red sign easily spotted in Indianapolis’ skyline. The 1927 building is the last building still operating in its original state on a street once filled with Black-owned businesses but now dominated by fences and parking lots.
After being forced by a former downtown Indianapolis theater to pay a “Black tax,” Walker promised to build a theater without discrimination. The building was home to Walker Manufacturing Company and a 1500-seat theater, the only theater without race-based discrimination in the city at the time. The theater still regularly puts on shows and holds the Madam Walker Legacy Center non-profit responsible for and supported by the Legacy Fest.
“There’s a lot of BS going on in the world and the country. You can get sad about it and pout,” Levingston said. “Madam Walker addressed the issue.”
Levingston runs Walk & Talk, historic walking tours allowing participants to literally step into Indianapolis’ Black history. On June 20 he led a group away from the music and crowd of Legacy fest and around the block, stopping at historic centers of the community such as Lockefield Gardens and the former Second Christian Church. On the tour, Levingston spoke about the impact of redlining and zoning restrictions on reducing the neighborhood’s density and businesses. In the Green Book, a travel guide listing businesses safe for Black Americans, most Indianapolis stores listed are on Indiana Avenue. Now the block is mostly residential. A closed convivence store is vacant and the Second Christian Church is a single-family home.
“Imagine if they won’t let people borrow for decades and decades how much wealth that drips out of a community,” Levingston said. “That’s why when you walk around you just see parking lots.”
Julia A. Royston, a Legacy Fest block party vendor, has been publishing books for 18 years. Many of the books she publishes are centered on increasing representation and putting out voices other than traditional publishing houses.
“No matter what season of the world we’re in, there’s still an opportunity for us to tell our story our way,” Royston said.
Lucy Tobier is the politics reporting intern for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at lucy.tobier@indystar.com or on X at @TobierLucy
Bloomington South’s Ellie Barada discusses state title win in 800m
Bloomington South senior Ellie Barada secured her second consecutive state title in the 800 meters at the IHSAA girls state track and field meet.
The USATF U20 Championships took place on June 18-19, while Nike Outdoor Nationals ran June 18-22 in Eugene, Oregon.
Some of the top high school track and field athletes, including recent graduates, fared excellent when the lights were the brightest.
Here are the top results from Eugene last week.
Ellie Barada
Barada, a Bloomington South graduate, qualified for U20 Worlds with a second-place finish (2:02.72) in the women’s 800 meter run. She won gold in the mile (4:34.25) at Nike Outdoor Nationals. The North Carolina recruit also ran anchor leg for the winning 4000-meter state distance medley relay team, which combined for a time of 11:36.99.
Noah Bontrager
Bontrager, a Westview graduate and Notre Dame recruit, won the U20 men’s 3000-meter run (8:32.53).
Collin Bumgardner
Bumgardner, an Indiana State recruit and Danville state champion, placed 12th in the boys 200 finals (21.49) and 16th (10.71) in the 100 finals at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Ellie Cooley
Cooley represented Carmel with a sixth-place finish (129-08) in the girls discus Emerging Elite event at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Rylan Hainje
Hainje placed first in the prelims of the 110 hurdles (13.44) before he placed third (13.36) in the finals of Nike Outdoor. The Franklin Central grad and Marian recruit suffered a false start in the 110 hurdles of the U20 prelims.
Konrad Hayden
Hayden placed 11th in the boys high jump at Nike Outdoor Nationals. The Fishers graduate recorded a leap of 6 feet, 8.75 inches.
Kallen Hoeft
Hoeft was a member of the mixed 4×400 relay team that finished as runner-up at Nike Outdoor Nationals. The Hamilton Southeastern quartet of Hoeft, Anissa Lammie, Jaxson Wanza and Chloe Senefeld ran a time of 3:30.01.
Lexi Kollbaum
Kollbaum was a member of the winning state distance medley relay team. The Bloomington South junior placed 36th in the 800 and 40th in the mile at Nike Outdoor.
Anissa Lammie
Lammie placed sixth (54.54) in the 400-meter dash at Nike Outdoor Nationals. She was also a part of the mixed 4×400 team that placed second with a time of 3:30.01. The Hamilton Southeastern junior ran the 800 leg for the winning state distance medley relay team.
Kaitlyn Oshimura
Oshimura, a Carmel graduate, placed fourth in the 1 Mile Emerging Elite race with a time of 4:55.64. She also placed 39th in the 800-meter run at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Jordan Randall
Randall, a two-time high school state champion for Warsaw, placed fourth in the high jump at both U20 (7-01.75) in the men’s event and Nike Outdoor Nationals (7-00.50) in the boys event.
Chloe Senefeld
Senefeld ran the 400 leg for the winning state distance medley relay team in the state category at Nike Outdoor Nationals. The Indiana quartet of Senefeld, Barada, Kollbaum and Lammie took home gold with a time of 11:36.99. She was also a member of the second-place mixed 4×400 team. The Iowa recruit was a national runner-up (59.27) in the 400-meter hurdles. She placed sixth (58.54) in same event at U20.
Kira Smith
Smith was a runner-up in the girls high jump at Nike Outdoor Nationals. She recorded a jump of 5-feet, 10.75 inches.
Jaxson Wanza
Wanza helped Southeastern earn a runner-up finish in the mixed 4×400 relay at Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Marc Ray is a high school sports reporter at the IndyStar. He can be reached at marc.ray@indystar.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.
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