Despite gifts, Herbert still criticized

In the weeks following ongoing public criticism of IU President Adam Herbert from IU-Bloomington faculty, the University has announced more than $125 million in donations. Some faculty members have had mixed reactions to the recent successes in donations after criticizing what they had seen as Herbert's "poor job" of meeting with donors.\nIU received a $70 million anonymous donation Thursday -- the largest single donation from a private source in IU history. Herbert announced a $15 million endowment for the Cox Scholars program the same day. IUB also received $40.6 million for the Jacobs School of Music Nov. 17.\nFaculty members involved in the criticism had mixed reactions, saying they are glad IU has received so much gift money, but cautioned that it might not be due to a better performance from Herbert.\n"I think it's fabulous news that the money is coming," said law professor Fred Cate. "The president certainly gets credit for money that comes in on his watch."\nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said the president has an important role in the fund-raising process.\n"Fund-raising is a major responsibility for every university president," he said. He added that Herbert often talks with potential donors to discuss how the money will be used and to show appreciation on behalf of the University.\n"Sometimes only the president can tell them or give them the assurance they need that their gift is going to be used in the manner that they wish," he said.\nBut chemistry professor and METACyt CEO Ted Widlanski said an increase in donations does not necessarily mean a good performance from Herbert.\n"When an $85 million gift comes in, it comes in because of the hard work of a lot of people at the IU Foundation," said Widlanski. "The fact is that (Herbert) has done a very poor job over the last few years in a number of (fund-raising) instances."\nWidlanski was one of the authors of the METACyt grant proposal that yielded a $53 million grant -- at the time the largest in IUB's history -- from the Lilly Endowment last December.\nMembers of the Bloomington faculty held a special meeting Nov. 15, where they discussed several resolutions to be sent to the board of trustees. One resolution that passed cited "the President's repeated failure or reluctance to meet with donors and other key constituencies, and to respond promptly to communications from them."\nWidlanski said it takes years to develop gifts, and the president is usually involved only at the end of the process. He also said that even though recent donations have been large, it doesn't change the faculty's view on Herbert's performance.\n"The fact that these particular gifts worked out doesn't mean that other things weren't handled badly," he said.\nThe resolution to review the president was sent to the trustees last week after it was officially finalized. The trustees will meet Friday, and are expected to discuss the resolutions. Members of the faculty hope for a midterm review of Herbert, including input from faculty, students and other members of the IU community.