Annual Mini University draws students of all ages

Something was a little bit different about the students in the Indiana Memorial Union Frangipani Room on Wednesday.

None of them were asleep. None of them were texting, tweeting or instant messaging. And their average age was about 62.

More than 500 students from 28 states are participating in this year’s Mini University, attending a week of lectures in the IMU taught by some of IU’s top professors.

“People come back year after year, sometimes until their health starts to deteriorate,” said Ron White, executive director of Bloomington Continuing Studies.

The students in the Frangipani Room were attending one of the most consistently popular lectures, given by Bloomington Faculty Council Agenda Committee Chairman Herb Terry and Perry Metz, executive director of radio and television services. Their topic was “From Rush Limbaugh to Keith Olbermann: Is it Time to Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine?”

“It’s a different group,” Terry said. “They are all here to learn. They’re less inhibited in discussions, and they know I’m not going to grade them.”

This year’s was the 38th Mini University, an event organized every year since the continuing studies department was formed in 1971, White said. The students enrolled this year range from 13 to 97 years old. White said most students are retirees, about half of whom are IU graduates.

White recruits IU professors nominated by their academic deans to speak each year. Some of the professors are asked to come back year after year because of the popularity of their lectures, White said. Terry and Metz have been giving lectures for seven or eight years, Terry said.

Classes are going on all week in the Union, mostly in the tree suites, and the largest lectures are being held in the Frangipani Room.

Participants also attend for the social aspect of the University, and evening activities happen each night. On Wednesday, participants visited the Brown County Playhouse and, this week, will visit Bryan House, IU President Michael McRobbie’s home.

As Terry and Metz’s lecture wound down and participants filed out of the room, one participant turned to his wife and said, “I never could have taken a lecture like that in the ’60s.”

The large group of students dispersed before meeting up again for their trip to the Playhouse.

“Basically, we own this end of the Union,” White joked. “This all shows that universities aren’t just for 22-year-olds.”