President Brand offers answers

Students do not often have the chance to present President Myles Brand with direct, uncensored questions, but during the IU Student Association town hall meeting Monday night, 85 students got their chance.\nThe session lasted an hour, and students remained in line to ask questions until Jake Oakman, IUSA president and the event's moderator, closed the discussion. \n"It is mutually beneficial," he said. "He gets to speak to students. We get to speak to him." \nBrand sported khakis and a button-down shirt, joking and laughing with the participants. \nBut the students did not back down from asking a variety of questions on a range of topics. \nThis summer's 7.5 percent tuition hike to compensate faculty salary increases raised a number of questions. Students voiced concerns about how their financial contribution to the University is delegated. \nBrand regrets tuition was raised.\n"I worked every summer and semester while in college," Brand said. "I know what it costs." \nMany students are concerned about the disparity between the salaries of administrators versus professors. Brand agreed.\n"We have to reward our facutly members," he said. "Excellence in the Universtiy depends on faculty more than anybody else." \nBut, Brand said IU has to comply with the rules of the market, explaining, "different fields command different salaries."\nHe also answered questions about IU's role in global causes, such as the University's contract with Nike and the comapany's questionable labor practices. Brand assured students he is not oblivious to the controversial issue, but emphasized IU could only instigate change in conjunction with the Worker's Rights Consortium, a labor rights monitoring group. \n"We will only be effective if we ban together," Brand said. "I'm not interested in feel-good politics. IU doesn't have enough muscle on their own."\nOne student showed concern about the U.S. News and World Report rankings, which placed IU poorly among Big Ten schools. Downplaying the ranking's importance, Brand was confident with IU's national stature. \n"The fact of the matter is IU continues to improve," Brand said. "Through the 1990s, and currently, we are doing well. We're moving in the right direction." \nBrand explained that national rankings are often influenced by high tuition and low acceptance rates, and that IU will not compromise its mission to public education in search of higher rankings.\n"I could get IU in the top five of public universities by cutting off the bottom half of the class," he said. "We give everybody who can make it through IU an education." \nStudents also expressed concern about the appointment of 32-year-old graduate student Sacha Willsey as student trustee, and her ability to represent the undergraduate population.\nIn his response, Brand emphasized that the student trustee is representative of all eight IU campuses. Roughly 30,000 undergraduates represent one-third of the entire student population on all of IU's campuses, Brand said. \nThus, the appointment of Willsey is more representative of the student population than it may appear to Bloomington students. Students responded by asking why there were not more student trustees so the entire student population may be more accurately represented. Brand sympathized, but explained that he had no control over the appointment of any trustee.\nBrand also took the time to clarify his role as president of all IU campuses, not just the Bloomington campus. \n"My level of responsibility covers the entire University," he said. "I must respect the range of authority of the Chancellor. I have a different role. I'm not as visible of a character, and students need to be aware of this role." \nOverall, students, IUSA members, and Brand were satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. \n"I thought they were forthright, difficult questions, and they covered a wide-range of topics," Brand said. "The students may have known the answers to their questions, but they wanted to hear it from me."\nJeff Wuslich, IUSA vice president for administration, said the meeting was important to help bring the student body together with IU's top administrator. "(Students) had a direct line to the No. 1 man on campus," Wuslich said.