Bepko best choice for now

Gerald Bepko, retiring chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, will be the interim president of IU until the presidential search committee decides on a permanent replacement. The trustees couldn't have made a better choice in the matter. Bepko has served IUPUI well for 16 years, and in that time, he has overseen the expansion of the IUPUI campus and the creation of a new University College. Enrollment at IUPUI is up 25 percent, and Bepko has helped to oversee the transition of IUPUI becoming an Internet 2-enabled campus, which is a high speed dedicated research Internet network. As chancellor of IUPUI, Bepko also has a role in overseeing the IU schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Law at Indianapolis. He is also IU's vice president of long-range planning, which gives him experience in dealing with all of IU's campuses and educational issues on a system-wide scale.\nBepko is also a teacher, instructing in law at the law school in Indianapolis, as well as doing visiting professorships at IU Bloomington, the University of Illinois and Ohio State University. Like Myles Brand, Bepko is an excellent fund-raiser, having increased outside support for IUPUI from $25 million to over $200 million since he was appointed as chancellor in 1986. \nBepko has stated that he will be retiring to pursue research at the end of his interim term, so there will not be any pressure on the search committee to keep him in the running, nor will there be any ill will if he is not considered a finalist because Bepko honestly doesn't want the full-time job. Many of the other mentioned candidates already have big jobs within the University system, and giving them the interim presidency would do nothing but increase their stress and workload. Bepko is on his way to a more relaxed semi-retirement schedule, and the interim position is a perfect fit for a man with years of experience and who will soon have more free time on his hands than other University officials.\nBepko is lending the University a helping hand in its time of need with no strings attached, and we appreciate the effort.\n-- George Lyle IV for the Editorial Board