Officials meet to update IU mission

IU officials are considering mission statement overhauls for Bloomington and satellite campuses, but that might mean more than just printing new brochures.\nAt an open meeting held for faculty, staff and concerned Bloomington community members Friday, IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis and IU Vice President for Institutional Development and Student Affairs Charlie Nelms joined IU-Southeast Chancellor Emeritus F. C. Richardson in discussing community suggestions. After brief opening comments by Nelms and Gros Louis, those in attendance were asked to step to a microphone and make their own recommendations about the future of the mission statement.\nNelms said one of the main goals of the mission statement revamp is to individualize each IU campus's mission.\n"The needs of Richmond are different than the needs of Indianapolis," Nelms said. "We need to make sure we have a mission statement for each campus."\nFor a new mission statement to go into effect, which usually occurs every four years, the new statement would have to pass a few hurdles, including the approval of the IU board of trustees and a go-ahead from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.\n"The commission is the only body in the state of Indiana that is authorized to approve mission statements for college campuses," Nelms said.\nNelms said mission differentiation -- pointing each campus in its own different direction -- is the key to a successful project.\nFor Bloomington, that means an emphasis on research and graduate studies, which means a more selective undergraduate admissions program.\nGros Louis said though the measure might result in fewer freshmen enrollments, officials do not intend to leave out prospective students.\n"To deny those who qualify under current admissions policy would be unfortunate," Gros Louis said.\nFriday's meeting was the third held by University officials. The first two took place for a Bloomington Faculty Council committee and a collection of IU's academic deans, respectively.\nAssociate Dean of the Faculties David Nordloh said Friday that a concentration on graduate studies in Bloomington may undermine the University's core -- the undergraduate sector.\n"A significant dimension of the research population ties directly into the University's undergraduate program," he said.\nNelms said the new mission differentiation will set apart each campus for the good.\n"IU cannot be all things to all people," he said. "It's not a matter of one campus being better than another, but rather that one campus is different than another."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.