IU columnists duke it out on IU's priorities

With more colleges emphasizing life sciences, we're told everything about campus dynamics will strengthen. Here at IU, the University could gain bargaining power for state and federal funding and open itself up to more grants from the private sector. We could rise in rankings and become a more prestigious hotbed of intellectual activity and research that could attract and produce the brightest minds of a new generation, all equipped with unicorns and the sword of destiny.\nWell, maybe not that last part. The idea of life sciences, though, does carry with it a transformative essence. Biotechnology is on the rise, and as we enter the 21st century, the strongest opportunities to make money seem to be in the technological fields. These facts make it easy to understand why IU President Adam Herbert recently declared that "life sciences is now our highest University priority." \nBut should it be? Proponents suggest an increase in life sciences could help the whole University, while others suggest it's a zero-sum game in which one side -- most likely liberal arts -- will lose marginally. As the idiom goes, will this rising tide of life sciences research lift all of IU's boats? Or does it offer a more unsettling situation, where it raises only a few of IU's boats while capsizing others? \nOur first and foremost priority is a general commitment to education. We are the largest public university in the state, and we provide the tremendous ability to get an education to many Hoosier students. Next, as the largest state university and the only university in Indiana widely renowned for its liberal arts programs, we have a commitment to the liberal arts. \nI won't exhaustively belabor the benefits of a liberal arts education. While many see liberal arts as an intangible fog with no immediate practicality, the truth is liberal arts educations provide students with a utilitarian groundwork to lead a productive life and become strong employees in a variety of fields.\nLike a farmer hanging a carrot in front of a mule, the state is pushing for a stronger emphasis in life sciences at its public universities. IU wants in on a slice of that pie, but our priorities can't be linked entirely to the state. The state has its own objectives, and although we're indelibly tied to them, we have our own too. We've made significant progress with donations to aid our liberal arts programs, such as the record-setting donation to the newly christened Jacobs School of Music. \nThere's nothing wrong with aggressively pursuing life sciences research and dollars. We should; we must. Our medical school needs it, and our growing research programs need it. I want all aspects of the University to succeed as much as the next loyal Hoosier. But we can't let the mystical transformative notion go to our heads. We shouldn't flip IU upside down and re-establish our mission and become another Purdue University. We owe it to the state and to the students to keep our liberal arts boats afloat.