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Indianapolis Star
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana's war on 'useless' degrees hurts all students
Indiana's elimination of over 400 university degree programs represent an unprecedented attack on academic freedom. A new state law threatens the existence of an overwhelming number of degrees. Public universities are cutting or consolidating about 20% of the degree options available in Indiana. This troublesome legislation limits access to the types of degrees and majors Hoosiers are able to pursue. Gov. Mike Braun said these changes will help students make wiser decisions about degrees that will lead to better career prospects. Bachelor's degree programs are safe if they produce an average of 15 graduates over a three-year period. The threshold is seven for master's degrees. In Indiana, it now seems like a degree is only as good as its potential to land you a high-paying corporate job. Career-readiness and professional development are undoubtedly important aspects of a college education, but they aren't the only types of growth and learning that matter. Mia Behringer, a rising senior at Indiana University-Bloomington, rejects the notion that the only goal of a college degree is to find a job. "Higher education is more than looking for a way to make money," Behringer said. "You go to school to expand on your lifelong learning." Behringer, who majors in art history and environmental sustainability, wasn't surprised when her art history degree was targeted. But the Ph.D program for art history at IU has been impacted by the legislation, too. Hicks: Indiana's college crisis has nothing to do with woke campuses or high costs 'It would have been nice to be able to have the option to go to higher education in my home state, but that's just kind of disheartening to see that cut off,' Behringer said. 'My plans now are to probably go study in Spain. I'd like to continue and probably do something abroad after kind of seeing the attack on academic freedom in the United States. And we don't really hold importance in sustainability programs or art history programs, and I can feel that.' The cuts make it increasingly difficult for humanities students to pursue higher education in their fields, overlooking academic careers that require these specialized programs. "To equate education with job readiness and making money is misguided," recent IU graduate Lilly Luse said. "The market will always change." Luse graduated this year from IU with degrees in comparative literature and film studies. The comparative literature major is on track to be suspended and merged due to the legislation. Luse hopes to use their degree to become a professor of cinema studies and plans on pursuing higher education to reach that goal. They find that pursuing a less popular degree has its perks, including smaller class sizes, more attention from teachers and increased collaboration with other students. Opinion: Indiana should cap out-of-state student enrollment to solve brain drain The success of a particular degree should not exclusively be defined by how many graduates it produces. Some advanced degrees are meant for academics and professionals within a field of study that might be far more niche than others. 'If we lose critical thinking skills, we're going to fall victim to certain messages,' Luse said. Luse is right. Stifling academic freedom restricts freedom of thought — part of a broader anti-intellectual trend Indiana lawmakers have embraced. 'People are so afraid to have challenging conversations about things like stifling queer life in Indiana (or) like the book bans,' Luse said. "We're going back to these really outdated modes of thinking that certain things are to be feared or not to be talked about." Opinion: Indiana should cap out-of-state student enrollment to solve brain drain Indiana is continuing down a path that diminishes the role and impact of a college education and learning as a whole, putting not just students, but all Hoosiers, at risk. This legislation claims to prepare students for the workforce, and it's clear that academia doesn't make the cut. There is always value in learning something new. Exposure to new perspectives and ideas helps us become well-rounded people. Learning for the sake of learning is important, too.
Indianapolis Star
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
Albert Trevino, founder of Rene's Bakery in Broad Ripple, dies after bout with cancer
When Olivia Trevino thinks of her father, she hears music. The 22-year-old student at Indiana University-Bloomington remembers mornings walking down the stairs of her childhood home, where there was seemingly always something on the stove and a song in the air. "There wasn't a time when there wasn't music in the house," she said. But most in Indianapolis knew Olivia's father for his food. For 20 years, Albert Rene Trevino provided residents of Broad Ripple and beyond with fresh pastries out of a royal blue retrofitted two-car garage on Cornell Avenue. Trevino's bakery, Rene's, has long been a staple of the neighborhood. When Trevino was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in April 2023, Olivia set up a GoFundMe page to help cover his medical bills. In less than 12 hours, the fundraiser received more than $10,000 in donations. Trevino died May 8 after two years battling cancer. He was 59. In the year preceding his death, Trevino stepped down from Rene's due to his health, and last July the bakery announced it would close indefinitely. In December it reopened under new owners, one of them a Rene's employee. Friends and family of Trevino remember him as self-assured but unassuming, relentlessly driven but undeniably silly. The man with an infectious smile loved to dance, even if he didn't really know how, Olivia said. Trevino was born in Gary in 1965 and raised primarily by his mother, Socorro. At 18 he enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he met longtime friend Matt Schuler his freshman year. Schuler and Trevino quickly bonded over their shared love of music — Schuler favored disco, while Trevino introduced him to Prince and other dance music — and an interest in cycling. The duo were among the founding members of longstanding Little 500 racing team Cinzano, Schuler as a mechanic and Trevino as an alternate rider. Schuler gave Trevino his first road bike, a Peugeot that Trevino would eventually ride from Bloomington to Gary and back (a roughly 400-mile round trip) "for fun." Trevino dropped out of school after his first year to manage the since-closed Jake's Nightclub on Walnut Street in downtown Bloomington and a ska band called Johnny Socko. He later managed The Vogue and the now-closed Patio in Broad Ripple as well. Wherever Trevino went, he created community around himself, Schuler said. He insisted on walking to most places and seldom let a familiar face pass without saying hello. As the world around Trevino grew more digital and isolated, his fraternal personality stood out even more. "You don't really have that kind of congregational unit (anymore), but Albert was always that person that kinda created that around himself and with all of his friends," Schuler said. The largest community Trevino created was that of his neighbors and customers at Rene's, which he opened at 6524 Cornell Avenue in March 2004. After his time in Bloomington, Trevino moved to Indianapolis and enrolled in Ivy Tech's culinary arts program. As part of the curriculum, Trevino spent four months in Paris, where he fell in love with the craft of pastry. Trevino worked as a pastry chef for high-end restaurants and a country club in Indianapolis through the late 1990s and early 2000s but had an itch to make the things he wanted. When Trevino met with the owner of the two-car garage on Cornell about purchasing some baking equipment, he instead received an offer to rent the space for a business of his own. Laurie Trevino, Olivia's mother who was married to Albert from 2002 to 2011, remembers Albert's elation when he returned from that meeting. "He came home and he was so excited," she said. A few weeks later, Rene's began with about 600 square feet and a handful of employees. Albert gave the bakery his middle name to make it sound more European, not that anyone passing by would know — the shop didn't even have a sign when it opened. While Albert was working to give rise to his dreams, he and Laurie were raising Olivia, who was less than a year old when Rene's opened. Four years later they had a son, Nicholas, now 18. Olivia described herself as a daddy's girl from birth. The day Laurie and Albert brought Olivia home from the hospital, Albert carried his newborn daughter throughout the house and showed her each room. That's how their relationship always was, Olivia said, her father taking her everywhere he went and teaching her to navigate the world around her. She remembers going to the bakery with Albert as a little girl to peel bananas and rumbling across town on IndyGo buses because her father insisted she understand the city's transit system. Around the the time Albert's health started to deteriorate in November 2022, he was living with Ana Rosales, his partner of nearly 10 years. Rosales started working at Rene's in 2014, and the two began a relationship shortly thereafter. From that November until Albert's diagnosis in April, Rosales was by his side nearly 24 hours each day. They would go to the bakery in the morning, sometimes as early as 2:30 a.m., to start rolling out dough on the kitchen's cool countertops. Rosales said nearly every day Trevino sang to her lines from the Velvet Underground's "I'm Sticking With You." I'm sticking with you / 'Cause I'm made out of glue / Anything that you might do / I'm gonna do. When Albert underwent treatment, Rosales took over much of the day-to-day operations at Rene's. After eight hours or so at the bakery, she would spend the night with Albert at the hospital. When the cancer made it difficult for Albert to speak, Rosales learned to read his lips. "When the bakery closed, we were literally stuck together," she said. "I didn't move from his side unless I needed to." Until the end, Albert was determined to overcome the disease that had taken his voice and his ability to run Rene's. After Albert's first surgery, Olivia saw him doing leg lifts in his hospital bed to stay in shape. Rosales once caught him hooking his foot under a piece of furniture so he could stay standing, refusing to let others see how sick he had gotten. "He was so determined to win this battle," Olivia said. "I think we saw that through the last two years — how strong he really is." Thanks to the money donated through Olivia's GoFundMe page, the Trevinos didn't have to pay a cent for Albert's cancer treatments. They plan to donate the remainder to the American Cancer Society in Albert's name. Meanwhile, Rene's remains reopened under the leadership of longtime Rene's bread baker Isaac Roman and restaurant industry veteran Thomas Hays. "He wanted to keep the bakery (open), and to have people keep the memory of him," Rosales said. "The bread recipes and croissants, stuff like that, it was for the people. For his people." The Trevino family will hold a "celebration of life" for Albert at the Indy Art Center (820 E. 67th St.) from 3-6:30 p.m. on June 1. Per Albert's obituary, guests are encouraged to "attend in casual attire (no black!), and bring happy, fun memories to share (no crying!)."
