Trustees to vote on proposed Media School

IU’s Board of Trustees are expected to vote on the proposed Media School and hear University parking privatization recommendations this weekend at their first Bloomington meeting this academic year.

The Board, which will convene in Franklin Hall, will vote to merge the School of Journalism, the Department of Telecommunications and the Department of Communication and Culture into a new Media School during Friday’s Academic Affairs and University Policies Committee meeting. If approved, the school will be placed in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Provost Lauren Robel, Interim Dean of the School of Journalism Lesa Hatley Major and Dean of COAS Larry Signell will present the proposal to the Board. The proposal’s language may incorporate recommendations made by faculty in recent weeks.

The Board may approve a new IU Bloomington degree during Friday’s meeting, a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental and Sustainability Studies.

Also, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer MaryFrances McCourt will present a “Parking Monetization Update” during Thursday’s Finance and Audit and Strategic Planning Committee meeting.

The parking proposal, given on behalf of President Michael McRobbie, could recommend outsourcing of University parking for the next 50 years. The Board will discuss McCourt’s presentation and revisit the proposal at the February meeting, McCourt said.  

If the proposal recommends privatized parking, open forums will follow Thursday’s meeting, McCourt said.

“We will focus on both objective and subjective criteria that we thought through from the analysis,” McCourt said. “Either way, people will have lots of questions ... It’s too big of a topic.”

Vice President for Capital Planning and Facilities Tom Morrison will ask the Board to approve window replacements in Teter Quad during the Facilities and Auxiliaries Committee meeting Friday. This project would replace 778 aluminum single-glazed windows and 21 entrance doors at Teter Quad. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $2.6 million and will be funded through Residential Programs and Services funds.

Morrison will also present a review of current projects, followed by an update on
repairs and rehabilitations.

Executive Vice President for University Academic Affairs John Applegate will present a student enrollment analysis at the University Relations Committee on External, Student and Human Resources meeting Thursday. James Wimbush, vice president for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, will follow Applegate’s presentation with a diversity update.

The Board will be faced with many “tough issues” this weekend, McCourt said.
“We are strong. We want to stay strong, but we are not escaping the headwinds,” McCourt said. “We have to think of new ways to do things.”

The full meeting agenda can be accessed at trustees.iu.edu/docs/agn-2013-10.pdf.

Follow this weekend’s meeting coverage online at idsnews.com and on Twitter @idsnews.

Follow reporter Hannah Alani on Twitter @hannahalani.